The Tourist Trap

Chapter 6

"You're kidding. The Kents are actually here?"

My mom turned off the water faucet and started doing the dishes. I just told her about my encounter with Jared, and now she had just looked at me as if I had just announced i was pregnant. Her skin took a waxy sheen that made me think of my last stomach flu. How had I forgotten that mom, aka Jared's mom, had once been best friends?

"Yeah, sorry," I said cringing as I dried the casserole dish. "I guess I should have started the story with some kind of warning. Are you freaked?"

"I guess. A little," mom said blowing her blonde bangs off of her face. "I mean, I haven't seen Susan in... what? Twenty years?" She widened her eyes in disbelief.

I couldn't even imagine what it would be like not too see Donna in 20 years. I shudder at the thought at not being able to call her every night and tell her all about my day.

"I shouldn't have brought it up" I said. I felt bad for putting that crease in my mothers head. Clearly there were some unresolved issues and the pot was feeling the brunt of the issue. 

"No, its alright. I want you to be able to tell me what's going on in your life. Don't start keeping secrets on my account. The last thing I need is you running around town with this Kent kid and feeling like you can't talk to me about things."

I scoffed and felt a rush of heat rise up my neck. "Believe me, I am not going to be running around town with the Kent kid," I said grabbing a glass to dry.

"Why? What was he like?" mom said. She rinsed the pot, then turned her full attention to me.

"Obnoxious."

Gorgeous.

"Arrogant."

Smart.

"Reckless."

Exhilarating.

My mother smirked. "Sounds like a Kent."

"But he has some good points too, right?" I said, tilting my head and trying not to look too interested. "You were best friends with his mom, so we know she must've been WAY cool."

"Ha ha," my mother said with sarcasm.

"No, I'm serious. What was Susan like?"

My mother rinsed another dish and looked through the window at the waning sunlight. She took a deep breath and sighed wistfully. I had seen enough year books and old photos of my mom to know that she was quite the hottie in her day. It was in moments like these that you could totally see the gorgeous girl that she had been back then.

"Susan was funny. She was adventurous and a little wild. Kind of like Donna."

"Ah, so I'm boring like you and Donna's wild and cool like Susan." I said with a grin.

"I never said either one of us were boring. But Donna does remind me a little bit of her. She had that huge heart that both you girls have. She was crazy about animals. Even more so than me. I think she was the only vegetarian that ever grew up here.

"Really," I said with surprise.

"Yep. And you should have seen her house. She fed every cat and dong that came along. It got to the point where her father had to keep a chalk board with all the animals names on it so they would be able to keep up with them and recognize if one went missing. After a couple of days if an animal still wasn't accounted for, he would run out to the barn and the garage and the basement, checking to see if there was a cat about to give birth.

"Wow, must've been a lot of hair around." I said.

"She was always covered in it. You couldn't go over there in your good clothes."

I laughed and said "It's weird."

"What?"

"I can't imagine a girl like that falling for some player lime Mr. Kent is supposed to be. She sounds too independent." I said with a shrug. "What happened? What's the real story?"

As many times as I've heard people talk about it I've never once heard my mom say a word about it. She should have been the most reliable source since she was her best friend, right?

But the second I seemed to ask the question, my mothers face seemed to shut down.

"It's all in the past, Cassie." She said, her voice uncharacteristically cool. "There's really no point in stirring the mud."

I wanted to point out that she had no problem dredging up the cat story just moments ago, but something about her demeanor tells me to keep my mouth shut. 

Maybe this really is the scandal everyone claimed it to be.

*   *   *   *  

Hello everyone!!! I know that this was kind of a short chapter, but I just wanted y'all to get a little bit of mother daughter bonding time with a little bit of back story on Susan Kent.

It's also the first time Cassie's mom has made an appearance. How do we like their relationship so far? Thoughts? There will be a lot more of her in upcoming chapters.

As well as Jared ;  )

LOTS OF THINGS COMING NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!! 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE AND COMMENT!!!!! 

Much love, Kylie <  3