Driving Me Crazy

Chapter 8

            Taemin tossed a set of sheets and a blanket onto the couch. "Are you all set?" he asked Mateo, who merely nodded. All of his bravado was gone. His attitude toward Taemin had shifted significantly. He realized that he couldn't continue antagonizing Taemin if he wanted to have a roof over his head. He had to admit that it had been pretty cool of him to intervene on his behalf with his mom, a move that had left Taemin in the doghouse in Magdalena's eyes. Just thinking about his mom made his eyes begin to sting with unshed tears. Taemin saw that lost, misty look in Mateo's eyes.

"Let's have a chat," Taemin suggested, moving the pile of sheets so that he and Mateo had room to sit beside each other. "What are you thinking right now, man?"

Mateo thought it felt nice to be called "man" when he felt like anything but a grown man. "I just don't know what to do because I can't keep living this way with my mom. I left because I've tried to talk to her, and she just won't listen," he lamented.

Taemin nodded, silently encouraging Mateo to continue. "She's just such a hard-ass all the time," Mateo complained. "I'm not even a bad kid. I don't drink. I don't run with gangs. I just sit at home and study. She thinks she knows what a bad kid is. She's not seen what bad is yet, pero lo va a ver," he concluded with a threat that she was about to see what bad was.

"Listen," Taemin finally spoke, "I get why you're mad. Your mom has been really hard on you. I'm not going to insult your intelligence by reminding you that she loves you. Even though she does it out of love, she's wrong."

Mateo half-smiled at Taemin, vindicated that he had seen things his way, but then Taemin spoke again.

"But," he began, "you're a wrong too."

Well, so much for him being on my side, Mateo thought.

"Your mom shouldn't have broken your door and invaded your privacy, but by running away, you took the nuclear option. I feel like there has to be a place between the status quo and a mushroom cloud," Taemin advised Mateo. "Where do you think you could land in between those extremes?" he asked.

Mateo merely shrugged and pulled the hair away from his face and tucked it behind his ear. "It doesn't matter what I do, she won't accept it. It's her way or the highway. It's always been that way," he groused. "No matter what I say, she'll be pissed."

Taemin nodded slightly. "I mean, I get what you're saying," he empathized. "She is a hard woman to please, but I think it just means you've got to get creative," he advised. He found that his words were strangely fitting for his own relationship with Magdalena. She had said she had never felt pleasure with a man before. So, Taemin had his work cut out for him in convincing her that he could make her feel something. He would have to take his own advice and get creative in his problem-solving.

Taemin grabbed a notebook that was on the coffee table along with a pen. "Let's make a list of your demands," he suggested.

"My demands?" Mateo scoffed. "That's not the way it works. My mom doesn't accept demands."

"Okay, let me re-phrase that. Let's make a list of your must-haves. It's like buying a house. They always ask what the deal-breakers are, like what things are absolutely crucial. Let's think about those things," he encouraged.

"Well, number one, I want my damn door back!" Mateo said.

"Door. Check," Taemin said, noting the bedroom door as the first item of importance.