| torn up

~ chapter 22 ☁️

Before that moment can potentially play out though and before I can even respond back to his earlier comment, an abrupt knocking on the driver's side window interrupts us. We both jump up in surprise, looking over to the panel of glass behind Mason to see my Mum standing there with a big smile on her face. My eyes widen in horror at the sight, wondering what on earth she's doing here.

Mason quickly reaches down to lower his window so that my Mum can now (much to my dismay) lean in to talk to us.

'Hey sweetie. I was wondering when you'd be home.' She cheerily beams at me and I notice her energy immediately decline a little a second later when she reluctantly drags her gaze over to Mason.

'Mason.' She greets, sending him a tight lipped smile.

My Mum does not like Mason.

She may not admit it but ever since he came into my life, she's not been happy. I first had to tell her about him when she overheard me gushing about him on the phone to the girls. And ever since, she's just been kind of hostile towards him. Luckily, I don't think he notices it as she doesn't go far enough as to be rude or anything, she's just a bit cold to him. And I'm positive he interprets her standoffish attitude towards him as just her being an overprotective parent.

But I obviously know her well enough to know that's wrong. She's usually so sweet to all my friends and so the stark contrast between how she treats everyone else compared to him is almost laughable. I've tried interrogating her a number of times as to why she won't give him a chance and just treat him as another one of my friends but she always denies it.

'Miss Allen.' He acknowledges back respectfully, giving her an awkward smile in return.

'Oh, hey, Mum. What are you doing here?' I probe with an exaggerated smile, making sure to give her a pointed glance when Mason isn't looking.

If she knows me well enough then she knows that in my head right now, I am screaming at her to just leave and to stop purposely making everything so awkward. And she does, of course she does, but she just chooses to ignore me and my silent pleas.

'Oh, I just wanted to thank Mason for so kindly picking you up and dropping you off.' She announces, cooly lying and nodding in appreciation towards him.

My eyes narrow at her in suspicion over Mason's shoulder but she doesn't seem the least bit fazed, her smile only widening further at the sceptical look on my face.

'It's no problem really.' Mason assures between us, shaking his head slightly at her.

'Well now that you've done that, mind waiting for me inside?' I tensely ask, painting a forced smile onto my face a second later when I see she doesn't make any move to.

'Oh no, it's okay. I think I'll stay and then we can both go together, spare Mason the trouble of having to walk you to the door.' She thoughtfully chuckles.

I watch as she turns her attention to him and fixes him with an intense stare until he eventually swallows and backs down, weakly smiling and nodding in agreement.

No way is she seriously using intimidation tactics like that on him in front of me, I think.
I feel my fingers clench around my bagpack in my lap, forcibly breathing through my nose to try and not lose it with her. When I realise she doesn't look like she's going to give up anytime soon, stubbornly standing still in her position at the window and raising her eyebrows- I decide to call it quits. I don't want to start anything with her in front of Mason, the thought of that mortifies me and so I sigh in defeat. And don't think I don't miss the look of triumph that crosses my Mum's face when I do.

'Okay well. Bye, Mason. Tonight was fun, we should do it again soon. I'll text you later, okay?' I promise with hopeful eyes as I turn to look at him.