N♂RMAL

01 | Preparations

I let out a groan as I fell onto the hotel bed. It was too firm for me to actually bounce back up and land softly again as I normally liked to do, but it was a bed—a very much need bed. My mom calmed walked into the room after I had rudely shoved her aside and placed her stuff on top of the bed adjacent to the one I now claimed as mine.

I could almost hear her eyes rolling in their sockets as I tried to burrow myself deeper into the itchy hotel comforter.

"Come on, Carson. I'm hungry."

I tried to moan in protest, but my mother was apparently dead set on getting food. She picked me and tossed me over her shoulder before picking up the car and room keys and walking out the door. I squirmed on her shoulder and whined in a high pitched noise that most definitely should not have been coming from a seventeen year old boy.

People in the halls gave us strange looks, but I refused to acknowledge them. As soon as we were in the elevator, my mom let me down and my head spin from the blood leaving my head.

"I think I saw a Wendy's down the street. I could really go for a spicy chicken sandwich right now."

I nodded along with her. She had gotten me hooked on the fast food item a few years ago. We had a Wendy's close to our house, so it was my go-to fast food fix. "With large fries and a chocolate frosty."

"I've trained you well, son."

My heart warmed slightly at the term.

Once the elevator reached the ground floor, we walked together in silence to the car. She climbed into the driver's seat, and I slid into the passenger side. We adjusted the seats to our own liking since I was the one who had offered to drive here. I fiddled with the radio while my mom navigated her way to the Wendy's she saw earlier. I eventually came across a station with a confusing mix of 80s rock and pop from the 2000s. With an inward shrug, I left it, figuring that we probably wouldn't be listening to it for too long anyway.

She found the fast food joint within a few minutes of leaving the hotel.

"Eat here or back at the hotel?"

"Hotel," I replied, wanting to be as close to a bed as possible.

She pulled into the lot and up to the drive-thru. I lowered the radio volume so that she could comfortably talk to the voice box. The person manning the window greeted us with a bored "I-really-hate-my-life-at-the-moment" tone. I silently made a promise to myself that I would never work fast food.

Mom placed our orders, and the guy replied with a bored "Can I get you anything else?" Mom answered with a negative and was given our total. She hummed softly to herself as she slowly made her way up to the first window. She dug around for her wallet before producing a twenty to give to the cashier.

The person gave her back the appropriate change before instructing us to pull forward to the next window. We waited in the car for a couple of minutes, listening to the quiet tunes of "Tainted Love" humming through the speakers.

When an employee finally popped into the window, we smiled and she took our bag of food. She placed it in my lap as she was given our frosties. I immediately began digging through the bag to munch on some fries. Once my mom had enough napkins to soak up the Pacific Ocean, she drove off, back to the hotel. I offered her some fries on the way, which she promptly ate.

"God, these taste so good right now."

"You picked well," I commented, taking another fry for myself.

We made it back to the hotel quickly, and I think it was mostly because of how hungry Mom was. I smiled at her antics as she rushed to the elevators. I followed quickly, also eager to eat my food. Especially when it was so deliciously warm snuggled against me.

Within moments of the room door being open, the TV was on and we were comfortably eating our unhealthy dinner. Mom flipped through the hotel room channels while I focused on savoring my sandwich. She eventually settled on a crime show, and I inwardly shook my head. Mom was obsessed with these crime shows, which led to both her and I being fairly paranoid people. Her favourite was Criminal Minds though.

We lazed around for a while once our dinners and desserts were tucked away safely in our stomachs, probably to be turned into fat later. We didn't care though; it tasted way too good. Once it reached around nine, I got up and pulled some things from my bag.

"I'm gonna take my shower."

"Alright, sweetie," my mom mumbled, focused on her show.

I chuckled softly at her before locking myself into the bathroom. I quickly went through the motions of taking my shower. I had never really liked being completely naked, so showers were not my favourite activity in the world. Nevertheless, the deed had to be done.

I walked back out no more than ten minutes later, rubbing a towel through my hair and rubbing my nose. Mom was still transfixed by the show, so I gathered up our trash into the Wendy's bag and tossed it into the tiny hotel room trashcan. I brushed my teeth and plugged my phone into a nearby charger.

Today was boring, I thought to myself as I brushed my teeth before bed. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I kind of liked things to be boring. It felt normal to me. I liked the quietness and the relaxation. I sighed inwardly as I reminded myself that it would be this quiet for long now. College orientation was starting tomorrow, and I was in no way ready for the onslaught of university life.