The Boy I Love

Heavy

Of course I end up waiting for my parents. I fall asleep at the kitchen table, again. I just have to make sure that they don't forget, that they actually sign the form. I need them to.

I'm woken up around two. I hear a door opening, and look at the clock, before hearing my mom's voice shushing my dad. "Shh, quiet down."

I stand up, and I guess I make enough sound, because they both look at me. My mom immediately goes into disappointed parent mode: she crosses her arms and lifts an eyebrow at me. "Tyler, you said you wouldn't wait up for us."

"I know, Mom. But this is really important."

My dad sighs and scratches the back of his head, coming over and putting on his reading glasses. "Alright. Where do I sign?"

I point, pushing a pen into his hand. He signs on the line, and I immediately feel twenty million times better. I exhale carefully, mentally making a note to not lose this one. "Thanks."

My mom finally gives up on being disappointed and comes over to ruffle my hair. I would duck, but I don't honestly want to. "Oh, Tyler, it seems like so long since we've seen you last."

Probably because it's been at least a couple of weeks, if not longer. "Yeah. Sorry about the forty something calls."

"Oh, don't worry. We were on the plane, it didn't even go through," my mom says, pecking my cheek as she moves on to the fridge. "Do you need any more frozen dinners? How are you for food?"

Food. The one indicator of my parents' presence in the house. They'll come and go and restock the food in the house before disappearing again. "Yeah, I'm running a little low. I could use another loaf or so of rye bread. And some more frozen dinners would be good, too."

"Alright, we'll make sure we buy you some before our next flight," my dad says as my mom moves on, once again, to surveying the house.

"Tyler, what did you do to the house? It looks like a tornado came through here," she says, her voice indicating that the corners of her mouth are turned down. It's a very specific tone.

"I lost my first form, for the tournament. I was going crazy trying to find it."

"You did, though?" my dad asks, gesturing to the form still on the table. I grab it so I don't forget to pack it and flip through it one more time to make sure I have everything filled out.

"Yeah. I mean, no. Coach printed me a new one."

"Doesn't your coach usually have a no-extra-copies rule?"

"Yeah. I was the only person who didn't hand their form in, so he figured he could, this time. Like I said: really important tournament." More important than my other tournaments, which you both missed.

"Oh! Tyler, the whole house?" my mother calls from the top floor (she moves from place to place pretty quickly. She doesn't stay rooted anywhere for very long).

"I needed to find it," I call back to her. "Really important."

My dad pats me on the shoulder, giving me a small smile. "I'm glad you found it, then. Everything signed and good to go?"

I finish checking it for like, the third time. "Yeah. It's good. Thanks a lot."

"No problem, Tyler." He goes to the staircase. "Dear, we'd better get going if we want to pick up some food and bring it back here before our flight!"

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," she says, hurrying down the stairs. "Alright. Tyler, do you need anything else?"

How about parents that care about me? "Nope, I'm good. I'll see you guys... later." In a month or two.