Pretty Boy In Love

|14| Possessive Non-Girlfriending

"Mom, please! He has no where else to go!"

I fell like I've repeated the line multiple times. It's not like I don't understand where she's coming from, I do. The house feels squished with just the three of us, we don't need a drunk man boy in our space too. And also, the drunk part really does not work well in Noah's case. If I were my mother, I wouldn't want my daughter to be friends with suspicious drunkard.

"No means no, Juliet!" Her hands have been crossed over her chest, signaling that if I didn't stop soon, she'd be in tears.

My eyes involuntarily roll to the side to get a full view of Noah. He's stroking the beard of one of the many Shakespeare painting hung up around the house. He looks like he just escaped from an asylum, practically stumbling over his own feet.

The walk back home was dreadful. Danielle came to have a less than a minute chat with her friend and then left while I was using the washroom, so I never got the chance to ask her for a ride. Since I don't have a car and Noah's was apparently still at whatever bar he sneaked into, we had to walk. Or more accurately, I had to walk and on top of that, drag Noah along behind me. He kept asking questions that made no sense and stopping mid sentence, distracted by a car. Oh, when he sobers up, he will get it from me.

I felt bad enough fro dragging Cass and Liv out to the hospital on a girls' night, so asking them to drive was also out of the option bin. Maybe also, I wanted to be alone with Noah without having Cass' looks distracting him.

Possessive non-girlfriending much?

When I focus back on my mother, her face is completely changed. I understand that women can be stereo-typically bipolar, but mom was literally wearing a smirk instead of her frown and she replace her furrowed eyebrows with wide eyes. Mom looks like she did before dad left us. Joyful, clever, and teasing.

She eyes me and then Noah, before resting her eyes innocently back on me. Oh dear. "You like him don't you?"

"MOM."

"Don't mom me." Her eyes twinkle. "Tell me if you like him or not and I'll consider letting him stay."

This so embarrassing. Sometimes it's even hard for me to admit my feeling to myself, let alone my mother. She doesn't need to know this information. There's no guarantee that we'll work out, anyways.

But, I don't lie. Not to my mother. Not anymore.

"Fine, okay? I do. However, I just want him to stay as a friend. I'm not trying to make a grand gesture on him, so don't even think about it." I warn her, eyebrows rising as high as hers are.

Mom is a sucker for love notes and awesome ways to ask someone out to prom. I mean... obviously? I am named Juliet after Romeo & Juliet.

Back when I was dating Cullen, it had been Valentine's day and mom helped Cullen prepare a love song for me(he was a guitar/singing kind of guy) and booked us a reservation at the fanciest restaurant she could find. Dad gave her the money, extremely excited also. It was only months later that he left.

Her smile is childish. She's happy that maybe she'll be able to help another one of my "boyfriends" woo me with her extensive romantic knowledge.

She uses a sing-songy voice to pry Noah away from the painting and in front of her for an introduction. I can tell that she's trying to contain her excitement. "You're welcome to stay here for one night. You can't go upstairs, though, so you'll have to make do with the couch. I'm Ms. Merrill by the way."

Merrill is mom'a maiden name as far as I know. She changed both Rosie and mine the second after the divorce. I went from Juliet Frasier to Juliet Merrill. I like Merrill better anyways.