Behind These Bars

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-One
When Morgan and I walked into the food court we immediately began to look for the guys. This was easier said than done as it seemed almost every single person in the mall had chosen this exact moment to get something to eat. After ten minutes of solid searching, Morgan hit me on the arm. "Look! There they are!" I followed Morgan's gaze and saw where she was looking at. There in a small booth was Jason, Matt, and Tommy.
Morgan and I weave our way through various chairs and bags trying to reach the boy's booth. After several elbows to the ribs and whacks from shopping bags, we finally reached the booth. Panting from our trek I looked at Jason. "Leave it to y'all to pick the farthest booth away from the food court entrance."
Jason just laughed and held his hands up in a defensive position. "Don't look at me, look at Matt. He's the one who chose the spot." Morgan and I turned our eyes towards Matt who currently had a mouthful of hamburger. This didn't deter him from defending himself however. "Ay! Tis was te ony ooth open!" Various pieces of chewed burger went spraying all over his tray.
Cries of dissent and disgust rang up from all of us. In response to our protests Matt just shrugged and continued to eat his hamburger. Morgan just rolled her eyes at him and squeezed into the booth beside Tommy, who promptly gave her a kiss on the cheek and slid a tray of food towards her. I sat down next beside Jason. Our side was a bit more roomier as it was only the two of us and not three like on Morgan's side.
Jason smiled at me while I leaned over to kiss his cheek. He then slid a tray of food towards me. "Grilled chicken salad with ranch, correct?" I beamed at him. "Yep! Thanks for getting it." "Of course. Anything for you dear." I couldn't help bursting out laughing at Jason's tone and term of endearment. After eating a couple of bites of my salad, I turned towards him again. "So how did shopping go?" Jason swallowed his current bite before responding. "It went well. Tommy and I lost Matt around five times, but other than that I think it went well. What about you? Any luck?" I couldn't help but give an unlady like snort at the bit about Matt. That kid is nuts. "I think it went well. Hopefully y'all will agree with me when you see them."
We spent the next twenty minutes eating and catching up with one another. After we were all done, we began to head to the parking deck to get into Tommy's SUV. Of course, that took us another fifteen minutes as we lost Matt twice on the way there. Note to self: buy that kid a leash sometime soon.
By the time we pulled up to my house after dropping Matt off, it was already five o'clock. Leaning between the two front seats I looked at Morgan and Tommy. "Thanks for bringing me guys. I had a blast." Morgan leaned sideways and gave me an awkwardly angled hug. "Of course! We will have to hang-out again soon." Tommy just smiled and waved at me as Jason and I got out of his SUV. Walking towards my front door, I looked towards Jason with a raised eyebrow. "You do know that I have arms right? I am capable of carrying my own shopping bags." Jason just looked at me in feigned shock. "You have arms? I've never noticed! Besides, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I made you carry your own bags? Oh, that's right, a bad one." I just rolled my eyes and muttered 'suit yourself' under my breath as we continued on our way to my front door.
When we reached it Jason sat down all the bags and walked closer to me. Wrapping his arms around me, he leaned down and kissed me. As I kissed him back, I still couldn't believe how lucky I was that a guy like Jason Worthington would want a delinquent like me. When we broke apart Jason put his forehead on mine. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?" I smiled softly at him. "Yep." He gently held my head and kissed my forehead before he began his way back towards Tommy's SUV but not before shouting "Goodbye dear!" at me. I just laughed at shook my head at his crazy antics. I think Matt was rubbing off on him too much.
Reaching for my purse, I grabbed my key to unlock the door. When I went to unlock the deadbolt I realize something is wrong; the door was unlocked. Turning to look behind me, I realized that Tommy's SUV had already left. Now, I can't say that the next few decisions that I made were my finest, but I just couldn't help it. I was curious.
Opening the door as quietly as I could, just to be sure it didn't squeak, I grabbed the bags from the porch and silently deposited them them right beside me in the house. Carefully shutting the door I walked a few steps into the house. That was when I heard it. The TV was on. Looking for something that I could use as a potential weapon for self defense, I spotted my mother's favorite blue and white vase sitting on the side table. Grabbing it, I stealthily walked towards the living room. Hiding behind a large column near the couch, I peaked out to the side. Looking into the living room I saw the TV was on and I also noticed someone sitting on our couch. I couldn't see their face, as they were facing away from me, but I could see that they had what looked like a drink in their hand. Pressing myself against the column I tried to slow my rapidly beating heart. 'Okay', I thought to myself, 'There is an intruder in my house who is possibly armed.' That was when it really hit me that someone was actually inside my house. 'Oh my God. Lord please help me.' If there was one thing that I learned during my stay in juvie, it was this: Act first and ask questions later. And while it wasn't the best motto in life to have it sure seemed to fit here.
Tip-toeing out from behind the column I slowly walked within a few feet of the intruder. Taking a deep breath, I raised the vase above my head about to strike when two things happened. One, the intruder turned around to look at me and two, when I saw who it was I about dropped the vase. That was when reality set back in and we both screamed at the same time. "Mom?" "Evangeline!" I lowered the vase and put my hand over my rapidly beating heart while I breathed deeply. "What are you doing here?" My mother got up and turned around to look at me. "Well this is my house so I do have a right to be here. Now what are you doing with that vase?" I threw my hand that wasn't gripping onto the vase into the air. "I thought someone had broken into the house so I grabbed it to protect myself. Gosh! I could have killed you!"
My mother waved off my response as if it was nothing and began walking towards the kitchen. I set the vase down onto the couch and followed her. "An intruder? Evangeline that's absurd. Why wouldn't it be me or Robert?" I stood there looking at her with my mouth agape completely flabbergasted. "Oh, I don't know mother, maybe because y'all haven't been home in a week and left me no hints as to when you would be back! Where did y'all even go?"
My mother finished pouring herself a glass of wine and took a sip before she responded. "Evangeline where we went is none of your business." That was when I became livid. "None of my business? None of my business! I think it is my business when you leave me for more than a week with no other clues as to where you went besides a stupid little note that told me nothing!" By the expression on my mother's face I could tell that she was angry now as well. "Well where were you when I got home young lady? Hmm?"
I crossed my arms over my chest. "I was out Christmas shopping with my friends." My mother made an affirmative noise as she took another sip of her wine. "And before you went out did you call and ask me if you could go?" "Seriously? No mother, I didn't call and ask you if I could go because your phone is here and you didn't give me a number to call!" I was almost trembling with anger at this point. My mother in response to my outburst just grabbed her wine glass and began to walk towards her room.
"Where are you going? We aren't done talking about this!" "To my room. I can't deal with this right now." I followed after her. "That's right. Run away like you always do!" Even after her room door was slammed in my face and locked, I continued to yell. "Leave me alone in this big empty house like you always do! I hope you have fun with your hangover in the morning!" When I finished my rant I was breathing heavily and I was about to cry.
Walking back towards the couch, I put my head in my hands as I felt a single tear escape my eye and run down my cheek. "Well, so much for getting along."