Stole My Heart

14. I'll Do You One Better

It's Friday during eighth hour. I finally convinced Mom and Dad to let me go to Seth's this weekend. After running multiple plays, multiple times, we are dismissed. I quickly grab my stuff and climb into my truck. I drive just above the speed limit on the way home.

I go up to Mom and hug her. Then, I walk upstairs and turn on the shower. I strip off my clothes and step into the water. Ten minutes later, I step out, feeling refreshed. I secure my towel around my waist and walk down the stairs. My laundry should be done by now. Mom spent almost an hour teaching us to do laundry before giving up. We were purposely being difficult.

I get my black sweatpants and put them on. I grab a plain black shirt and put it on too. After that, I take all of my clothes and fold them. I take my leaning stacks upstairs. Once I'm back in my room, I get out my grey duffle bag. I put a few pairs of sweatpants and a pair of jeans in. I grab several t-shirts and a nice shirt for church Sunday morning.

It took forever for me to convince Dad. He informed me that if I pulled a stunt like last time, my punishment would be ten times worse. I don't plan on getting into trouble this weekend, though.

I go into the bathroom and grab my toothbrush. I throw everything into my bag and zip it. I walk downstairs, and Mom has made a snack. She hands me three celery sticks with peanut butter. I wrinkle my nose but eat them anyway.

I thank her and head to the living room to watch my show. Dad has a conference and won't be back until tomorrow sometime. The triplets are going to Downtane today, so it will just be me and Mom tonight. Mom gets dinner in the oven and joins me on the couch. She sits down, and I put my legs on top of hers. She begins to rub them, and it feels good. The timer on the oven goes off, and she stands up.

We eat the Mexican chicken she made. There is quite a bit of leftover. We go back to the couch with two pints of Tom and Jerry's. I turned on her favorite movie, The Proposal. I'm the only one of us that will sit down and watch it with her. Several spoonfuls of ice cream later, we're both too full to get up.

Mom picks out another movie for us. She puts her feet on my lap as we watch. Halfway through the movie, I look over and see her asleep. I smile to myself. I gently slid off the couch so as not to wake her. I gently put my arms under her and lifted her. She is pretty tiny, so I can carry her with minimal effort.

I carefully carry her through the hall to her room. I gently lay her down and cover her up with the blanket on the edge of the bed. I walk back out of her room and up to mine. I turn on my show. I watch until I fall asleep.

The next morning, I got up around nine. I take a shower. When I get out, I smell food. I put on clothes and head downstairs. Mom was cooking sausage biscuits.

"Good morning, kiddo," Mom says as I hug her.

I get out the orange juice and pour a glass.

"Want one, Momma?"

"I have coffee, thank you, though."

We sit down and start eating.

"How's school going?"