The soft rumble of an engine woke me from my sleep. Through my half-lidded eyes, I noted the sunlight straining to penetrate my little curtain, telling me that it was already morning. I felt hardly rested, having spent the majority of the previous night tossing and turning in bed, my mind too busy for sleep to come.
I groaned, blindly reaching for my bedside table in an effort to find my cell phone. After five unsuccessful attempts, I finally felt the cool glass screen of my iPhone underneath my fingertips. Picking up the device, I fumbled with it, almost sliding it off the table, my fingers not following what my brain told it.
After the mini heart attack at almost dropping my phone, I brought it to my face, seeing '11.43' in big white numbers. I sighed, dropping my phone back down onto the bed, throwing my arm over my eyes.
Outside, I heard the car pull away, the purr of the engine slowly fading into the distance. Upstairs, the light thud of footprints told me that that must have been my mother, back from spending the night at Richard's.
A part of me just wanted to go back to sleep, maybe spend the rest of the day in bed, wallowing in my self-pity, but another part of me didn't want to be that kind of dumped boyfriend. It was bad enough that I had spent the previous night wondering what I had done wrong or what I could have done better, I didn't need to rot in bed too. Besides, I had come to the decision last night that I hadn't done anything wrong.
Now, I wouldn't say that I was the perfect boyfriend but I was not the cause of our breakup...was I? Damn it, I thought I had figured this all out yesterday. I mean, sure, I was the one who broke things off, but my reasons were warranted, right?
I sighed, shaking my head. I wasn't going to be hung up on this and it was exactly this thought that made me all the more determined to not waste my entire day in my room. I threw the covers off, grabbing my phone and trudging up the stairs.
The house was quiet but the smell of freshly brewed coffee told me exactly where my mother was. I made my way over to the kitchen, the aroma of coffee thick in the air. My mother was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring out the back door to the yard beyond, the sun shining brightly onto the green grass. As she stood there, I guessed that she was probably thinking about what a beautiful day it was, occasionally sipping her hot java.
"Hey, Mom," I called, diverting her attention from the scenery. She turned to me, eyebrows raised in surprise as she took another sip of her coffee.
"You're up early," she noted. "It's so rare for you to be up and about before noon on the weekends"
"Yeah. Figured I should try being productive."
"You, productive?" she said, a smirk playing on her lips.
"I take offense to that, Mom," I replied, though she could probably tell from the slight smile on my face that I was joking. "Judging by that smile on your face, I take it that last night went well."
She blushed at my words, nonchalantly taking another sip of her coffee in an effort to hide her reddening cheeks. "It was nice," she replied simply.
"Nice? That's all?"
"What did you expect?"
"I want to know if you guys did it?"
"Excuse you, but I don't have to tell you anything about my private time with Richard," she said, putting a hand on her hip in an attempt to appear more intimidating. I wasn't falling for it, though.
"Wait, so you can tease me about my sex life but I can't do the same for you? Seems kind of double standard, don't you, Mom?" I challenged back.
"I am your mother. I can have all the double standards I want," she scolded. "Besides, what teenager wants to hear about their mother's sex life. Shouldn't you be covering your ears and shouting 'la la la' when I even remotely insinuate being involved in coitus?"
"What am I, six?" I said before realizing that most six-year-olds would not even be hearing or even understand the concept of sex, let alone the word coitus. "It's just been a long time since you had a boyfriend and I'm curious as to how much you like the guy."
She walked over, patting me lovingly on the cheek. "It's really sweet of you. I like Richard plenty, and I know how to take care of myself if that's what you're worried about."
"I don't doubt that you can take care of yourself, but I just want to make sure that he's treating you right."
"Don't worry, sweetie. Richard is a very kind man," she said, giving me a small smile as she returned to lean against the counter again. "So, enough about me. Since you're so interested in talking about relationships, how about we talk about yours. It's Sunday so I'm assuming you're going out with Evan?"
I tried not showing my mom that something was wrong but I couldn't help the slight drop in my features at the mention of his name. Being my mother, it was no surprise that she caught this change in expression, no matter how slight it was.
"Did something happen?" she asked, concern washing over her face.
"Evan and I...uh...we aren't together anymore," I said, voice catching as emotions tried to surface once again. As much as I had come to terms with it in my mind, saying it out loud had a different weight to it.
"Oh, honey," my mother cooed, setting the mug down on the countertop before walking over and pulling me into a motherly hug. "What happened?"
"It's for the best anyway. He didn't want to come out, so I figured that I couldn't do it anymore," I explained, telling her the simplified version of everything that went on yesterday. Pulling back, she looked me in the eyes, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she tried to make sense of my words before her concerned expression returned.
"Oh, baby," she said, pulling me into another hug. I could tell that she knew there was more to my story but decided not to press, instead opting to be the caring mother. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. As okay as I can be, at least."
"Well, it's his loss. You're a great guy and anyone would be lucky to have you."
I chuckled. "You're my mom, you have to say stuff like that."
"Well, yes, but there is still some truth to it," she smiled back. "Are you sure you're okay?" I nodded to her question, patting her reassuringly on the back.
"I'll probably just go out today. I need to get my mind off of things," I said, pulling away from the hug.
"That's good. Call me if you need anything," she said.
