Jason caught tantalizing whiff of his mother's lamb chops before he heard voice. "Babycakes, is that you?" " If by you, you mean Jason," he shouted from the hall, tossing his book bag down at the foot of the stairs. His mom was always using cutesy nicknames that embarassed him. As if being called "dumpling" in public wasn't bad enough, she used the same terms of endearment to address her husband, Mark. Jason was loath to be too closely associated with his stepdad, a mustachioed real estate agent whose boisterous and borderline slimy personality would fit right in at a used car lot. Jason and Mark got along fine so long as they weren't speaking to each other. But when they had to interact beyond polite dinner table conversation, Mark quickly grew frustrated with Jason's indiference to professional hockey and unwillingness to act like one of Mark's poker buddies. For his part, Jason was reminded of how much he missed his dad, who was alway's traveling for work.
His mom, clad in black yoga pants and a loose T-shirt, was standing over the stove, tending to frying pan. " Sweet pea, will you try these and tell me if they need more salt?" As a radiologist at the Oakdale Hospital, Claudia Moreland wasn't some sort of Suzy Homemaker offering Jason fresh-baked chocolate cookies as he did homework, but she prepared dinner almost every night, and Jason loved her cooking. He speared a thinly sliced potato with a fork and popped it in his mouth, scalding his tongue with oil.
"Hot, hot!" he gasped, fanning his open mouth.
His mom couldn't refrain from laughing. "What did you think was going to happen?"
"You couldn't have noticed you were eating them straight out of a frying pan that's still cooking over high heat?" she shot back. "Now tell me, are they okay?"
"Yeah, Mom, they're great." He grabbed another forkful, and this time blew on it before taking a bite.
"How was your day?"
"It was okay," Jason replied. "The same."
"All right, well, I think we'll eat when Mark gets home. Do you have homework to do until then?"
"Sure, yeah, I'll be in my room."
Jason did have homework, but as soon as his door was shut he logged in to Facebook. The little red "1" at the top his screen made his breath shorten.
Hi J,
I'm supposed to be studying right now, but I can't make myself open my history book. So instead of working, I keep watching the video you sent me of Stephen Colbert singing " This Year" with the Mountain Goats. Oh. Em. Gee. Are you kidding me? WHERE did you find that? Obsessed.
I think I've watched it like 20 times to the point where I'm singin along and everyone in this computer lab is looking at me like i'm crazy, but I don't even care. If I get kicked out of school for this, it will be worth it because tMG videos are literally my favorite thing in the entire world.
How was your weekend? Did you go out or did you lock yourself in your bedroom and listen to emo? I'm not judging unless you were wearing guyliner in which case we're in a fight. Write me back soon, becasue if you don't , then I have to do my homeworks and UGH.
Xo
Lacey
PS: Watch this one!
