He walked down the stairs in a pair of boxers, yawning loudly and stretching.
"Afternoon, sleepy head." He heard his mother exclaim from the living room. He looked over to see her between half shut eyelids. She was sitting on the couch in front of the television, turned around in her seat to look at him.
He finished yawning and looked at her confused. "What time is it?" he asked. Looking for the clock on the wall.
"12:40" she replied. "You slept in kind of late today"
He remembered the night before and cringed. He had stayed up all night reading textbooks for school.
"Yeah... I've been studying for mid-terms. I'm surprisingly nervous."
She smiled at him and stood up, walking around the couch. "You'll do fine, I just know it."
She was wearing a light blue dress today. It struck him as odd, and looked somewhat out of place on her. It wasn't that she wasn't feminine, it was just that her choice of clothing rarely consisted of a dress unless it was a special occasion.
This was definitely not a special occasion dress, though. It was a very plain, sky blue sundress. It hugged her just enough to give the mind only the smallest impression on the curves of her body.
"You hungry? I can whip you up some breakfast... er... lunch" she corrected with a smile.
The growling of his stomach was all the answer he needed, but just to be safe he smiled and happily accepted the offer.
Sitting at the kitchen table, he watched as she began to open up the pantry and look through her options. He looked at the probing look on her face and smiled. She looked so cute when she was thinking hard.
He had started to notice her body during her daily visits to his room. After 38 years and one child, he knew that she was no supermodel, but she had definitely kept up with herself. It wasn't until recently, though, that he had truly started to really look at all of her features. He didn't find her sexy, so to speak, but he found her extremely cute, which worked better for him anyway.
She reached to move something on the top shelf, her large breasts protruding outward. He smiled and couldn't help but watch intently. In the month since they had started their visits again, he had tried twice more to get her to take her top off, but she had quickly refused both times. He was still too nervous to try and push for it, so he hadn't pursued further.
"How about Bacon and Eggs? It's all I can find right now. I'll have to go grocery shopping today, I guess." She said.
"Sounds good to me, you know I'll eat anything you make."
She smirked and looked over at him. "And you'll like it, too!" she commented with a laugh.
"You know I always do, you are the best chef in the world, after all." He said with a smile.
"I want you to remember something, son. Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE in life."
He gave a genuine laugh at that. He enjoyed talking and joking with his mother. They both had the exact same sense of humor, as well as the same interests in literature and films. Some of the best memories of his childhood were nights where he and his mother had stayed up late to watch monster movie marathons on cable.
"So, why are you studying so hard? I thought you had gotten caught up with all of your classes again." She said, as she put the eggs in the pan to fry.
He put his weary head on his arms on the table. "I have, but I am terrible at taking tests. I could know every single answer and still fail it. I just start reading the questions and all of a sudden I'm totally confused."
"I'm sure you'll do fine" she said, "You just have to stay calm, read every question twice if you have to."
The smell of the bacon began to waft into his nose, slowly waking him up.
"Do you want to go to the grocery store with me in a little bit?" She asked.
He tried to remember if he had planned anything that day, but couldn't remember anything specific. "Sure, just let me eat and take a shower and we can go."
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He walked up and down the aisles, regretting his decision. It had been so long since he had gone grocery shopping with her that he had forgotten how insanely boring it could be.
"Hmmmm... Should I get fresh tomatoes, or just go with the canned?" She asked. A question for him as much as for herself.
I honestly could not care any less...
He thought. He stared off down the aisles, burning the memory into his mind to turn down the offer next time she asked him to go. As he was trying to memorize his hatred for grocery shopping, he heard the loud sound of her yelp in surprise. He turned quickly to see a box of spaghetti hit the ground as a kid, probably around 16 or 17, not much younger than he was, step away from her.
"Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going..." the teenager said.
His mother gave him a small wave to tell him that it was alright and proceeded to pick up the spaghetti noodles as he walked away.
"Dumb kid." Daniel said quietly.
"Oh be nice, he probably just got all flustered because he can't find his mommy."
Daniel laughed audibly. There was that great sense of humor again.
They continued on down 2 more aisles. The constant questions about which pasta he preferred over another, or which pudding was better were beginning to break his tension. He wanted out so badly that he stared at the cleaning supplies, silently debating on whether downing a bottle of bleach was preferential to continuing the shopping trip when he heard her yelp again.
He turned to see another teenage boy quickly walking away.
"Sorry about that." The boy said as he hurried away. She just brushed herself off and continued on, barely paying attention.
Daniel watched him pass as he rushed off. He was probably about a year younger than the first kid. As soon as he reached the end of the aisle, the first boy appeared and high fived him.
