"Well, fudge nuggets." I stuck out my bottom lip childishly as I watched the weak claw of the Crane Game drop, yet another, Papa Smurf.
My insides were still tingly over the fact that Ben had remembered our encounter here and had lead me down the pier with his hands in front of my eyes.
However, the hushing of breaking waves, distant squawking of seagulls and the heat of the melting, crimson sun on my face gave it away immediately.
"So close." Ben grinned as the words hissed out of his mouth like they were hot venom. "Why not just use your powers?"
I gave him a blank look with a raised eyebrow.
"It's more fun this way." I shot back, slotting in another coin as the upbeat chiming of the music began again.
"Ooh, I like a girl who's up for a challenge."
He curved a hand around my waist and, on impulse, I slammed my hand onto the 'drop' button. I hadn't even shifted the crane yet.
"What was that all about?" He laughed, clutching my side.
"I-I don't know." I retorted sheepishly.
His arm slid off as his phone started chiming loudly and a guilty sense of relief poured over me like warm water.
Why was I so reluctant to see this through and maybe actually attempt some poor flirting?
It's not like Jazmine hadn't given me enough lessons on it.
"One sec." He gave me a brief grin before darting off outside.
In the next lonely 10 minutes, I had spent all my money with no Papa Smurf.
<><><><><><>
It was late by the time I had got home. Ben had given me a ride home in his black BMW and the journey had been pretty quiet the whole way.
I couldn't wait to have a long soak and let my bruised and tired body melt away in a pool of bubbles and vanilla-scented bath gel.
It had been a whole day since I had been in the house and I turned the corner to find my mother sitting up on the long-abandoned armchair, watching the news and completing a month-old Sudoku.
The room was tidy; no usual clutter of bottles, the floor was clear. The sofas were neat and clean, without the usual imprint of my mothers body to dent it inwards. The coffee table held three lit candles, an old mug and a water bottle.
"What's all this?" I breathed, the scene enough to quicken my heartbeat.
At my voice, she turned her head with a look of excitement on her face.
She was wearing a touch of make-up; a little lipgloss and mascara. She was also lacking her usual lazy attire of sweats and slippers, which was replaced with a fitting purple shirt and loose jeans.
"Rose! I'm so glad you are home!" She chirped. "Sit down, I want to say something.
I gulped, though her tone hardly gave the impression that the conversation topic would be educational nor mundane.
I sat down, compliantly, waiting eagerly to hear what she was about to reveal.
She dropped her hands on her knees, leaned forward and looked at me.
"I know your little secret." She grinned, her eyes pooled with bubbling giddiness.
My heart dropped and crashed to the bottom of my chest as my accelerated breathing stopped completely.
She knew? How?
"You-you know?" I licked my lips anxiously. What would she make of this? What did this have to do with her sudden change of lifestyle?
"Of course I know! You didn't think you could keep something that big away from me forever, did you?" She grabbed her water bottle from the coffee table and took a sip. "And I would be a terrible mother if I let you go through this alone."
I stuttered slightly, then drew back the words and thought about how I was going to approach this.
"That explains the, you know, change I'm seeing." I bumbled.
She sustained a chuckle and looked around at the place like I was, before her eyes landed back on me. What was that look on her face? I couldn't tell if it was pride or the eagerness to scream my secret to the world.
"Ah!" She let out her giddiness in a small, exhilarated gasp. "I can't believe my little girl is going to Chilton Academy of Media Studies and Journalism!"
My eyes widened drastically. In the chaos and rush of everything that had happened recently, I had completely forgotten that I applied to the city's most respected university.
I never thought I would actually get in.
That's what my mother thought my secret was? I didn't even know!
She leaned forward out of her chair and suffocated me in a 11-second long embrace.
"I swear," She began, her eyes swelling up with tears as she delicately brushed a finger beneath them. "Everything will be different now."
<><><><><><>
My mother had fallen asleep next to me, one of the oldest Friends episodes still playing on the TV, illuminating the middle of the room.
Pulling an old blanket over her figure, I felt my phone vibrate wildly in my back pocket and I pulled it out.
You received a message from: TerraStorm:D
Train leaves in an hour at 00:56. Platform 13. Please come with us
I gulped, the familiar lump returning in my throat that wouldn't be suppressed no matter how much I tried.
I stared at the screen a little longer as I read the sentences over and over. Finally, I turned off my phone, dug it into my back pocket again and made my way back to the HQ.
<><><><><><>