This Unconventional Kind of Love

Chapter 6: Learning to Fight

Copyright © 2020, Nikki B. Lourie if you are reading this work on any other domain than Wattpad, it has been plagiarized. 

"Mother?"

"Wow, the runaway daughter has returned," her mother quipped, standing from her seat on the bed. Janessa wasn't only surprised by her mother's presence in her room, the state of her room wasn't how she had left it. Her favorite shirt, her thick fluffy sweater, and her body-hugging black jeans were only a few of the articles of clothing strewn about her bedroom floor. Open for all to see, her closet was equally a mess. Trinkets and personal paraphernalia were haphazardly tossed to the carpet; lotions and perfumes left opened and spilled to damage the furniture and her belongings. It looked as if a natural disaster had struck her bedroom.

"What happened here?"

"Why are you here?" her mother countered. Her hands gripped the waistline of her jeans tightly until her knuckles were red. Despite her ill temperament, her mother was flawless as usual. Her blond curls were neatly braided back into a fishtail swaying down the middle of her back. She wore a floral burgundy shirt with folded sleeves and white acid-washed jeans with simple white penny loafers, a style Janessa always thought was reminiscent of the 80s. A style she thought her mother pulled off well.

"I came to get my things. Didn't Father tell you?"

She watched her mother's jaw wiggle about on its hinges before she spoke. "He told me about your little stunt."

"Stunt? Mom—"

"No, Janessa, your father and I have done everything in our power to care for you, and time and again you have disrespected us. You run away as if we're abusing you. You sneak off like a hot whore looking for her next john—"

"Mom!" Her heart was pounding against her breastplate as anxiety-riddled her nervous system. She couldn't allow herself to succumb to these emotions or her mother would win. Narcolepsy would win. But she would appear weak, giving her mother the upper hand. Breathing deeply, Janessa willed her emotions back under control.

"What do you expect, Janessa? We have given you everything and yet here you are being absolutely ungrateful!"

Her bottom lip trembled as she fought back tears. "I'm not going to stay here and allow you to cut me down. I am an adult!"

"An adult who can barely wipe her own ass without falling asleep on the toilet."

"The last time that happened I was a child who was panicking about her first menstruation cycle because you were too busy to have the talk with me! You can't keep bringing that up when it was your fault!"

Her left ear rang as her cheek radiated with pain while her furious mother stood before her heaving with anger. "You are so disrespectful. You can leave, Janessa, but you don't own anything in this house."

She turned tossing pillows on the floor, snatching more clothes from the closet to chuck at her daughter, kicking shoes, doing anything she could to relay just how fed up she was to her offspring. "I bought you every single thing in this house!"

"I'm pretty sure Daddy helped," Janessa spat back still clutching her stinging cheek.

"At the end of the day, you leave the way you came...with nothing! You want to know what the real world is like so much, then have at it, but don't expect your father and me to help you. Get out of our house."

"Mom, please don't do this!" Janessa begged, stepping close to her mother. Her mother stepped away, crossing her arms about her chest as she glared at her daughter.