Tattoos and Scars | Completed, Unedited

24 | Mom is Approaching

Adrian

Before the words can escape my mouth, my phone buzzes with a notification. It's a string of red emojis, and some text after. Whenever Blake texts me, he always adds emojis beforehand so that I can understand more.

It's not like my dyslexia makes me illiterate or anything. I know how to read and write, just takes me a while to form out the letters. Sometimes a 'b' looks like a 'd' and I write '9' like 'p'. Sometimes the entire word just jumbles up and I have no idea what I'm looking at.

I stare at his text message. Wow, a99roaching. alert. 1 hr.

"It says 'mom is approaching'," Bailey reads out. I hold in a frown. I was going to figure it out myself. I send Blake a thumbs up emoji, and just to mess with him, an eggplant and peach emoji.

He sends a tongue emoji back along with water droplets.

I send a smirking emoji along with a finger and a donut.

He sends me an emoji of a ring.

I send him an emoji of a bride.

He sends me an emoji of a pregnant woman.

I send him an emoji of a woman holding a baby.

He sends me an emoji of an old couple.

I send him an emoji of a grave with a heart.

And there you have it folks. A romance story through a string of emojis. I inform the driver to take a turn home. We have just enough time to make it. You see, my mom knows everything.

She knows I do illegal things. And she knows I lead a gang, but she's fine with it as long as my morals and principles are good. Maybe like 'don't waste food' or 'respect women'. Stuff like that.

But everytime she visits me, it's like a storm. She dotes me with love and affection, and then starts going around the house ordering people around. I'm guessing Blake went home since the last time he decided to stick around, I'm pretty sure my mom made him wear bowties.

He's been traumatized since.

I take out a cigarette and light it. I notice Bailey give me a dark look, but I ignore it. I really need one right now. I take a long drag, and blow out the smoke. Bailey is hiding something from me.

I've been working with criminals. They're professional liars. I know I lie when I see one.

I decide to shake it off for now, but I'll interrogate the four men. Maybe her dad too. But not right now. I have my own problems to deal with. The yacht starts to slow down to a stop and I spot a car waiting for us at the docks.

"Let's go," I tell Bailey, and she gives me a slight nod. She's straying far from me, probably because I have a cigarette in my hand right now.

Blake was right. I always do fuck up.

I drop the cigarette on the ground and diffuse it with my foot. And then my mom's voice rings through my head. 'DO NOT LITTER'. I sigh to myself and pick the cigarette up and toss it in a designated area.

Bailey eases up a little more, but still keeps her distance from me. I internally sigh and walk faster towards the car, with Bailey following at the same pace. I open the passenger door for her, because as Blake said 'be a gentleman'.

But she gets in the back seat. This date is going so smoothly right now. I'm not sarcastic often, but I hope you recognized that I'm being sarcastic at the moment.

I ignore the fact that just hurt my feelings by sitting in the back seat and I start driving. I observe her in the rear view mirror and notice that she's typing something in her phone.

"Um... Bailey," I start, catching her attention. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for getting annoyed earlier. If you don't want to tell me then that's your choice. I'm not going to invade your privacy."

"It's okay. It's not your fault, you didn't know," She assures me, with a smile. An empty smile, but it's still something.

—————

"There you are!" I hear my mom's chirpy voice sound through the hallways. "My little baby boy," She coos, wrapping her arms around me. I hug her back.

"I missed you too."

"Is that a girl? Adrian, sweetheart, I haven't seen hanging around with a girl since A-"

"Anna," I interrupt. I haven't told Bailey about Ava. "That's who you meant right?" My mom gives me a questioning look until she catches on.

"Yeah." She turns to Bailey. "What's your name?"

"Um... Bailey."

"Nice to meet you! So, how did you meet Adrian? Spill every single detail," My mom squeals. I double take on what she just said. "I bet it was super romantic!"

Bailey looks at me, giving me an amused look. I turn away from them, trying to pull myself together.

It's no big deal Adrian. You just kidnapped Bailey and trapped her in your house. Not a big deal at all. Of course, until Bailey spills everything to my mom and she kills me for it.

Am I hyperventilating? "Mom! Now is that really necessary?" I ask nervously, trying to hide it with laughter.

"Of course, honey. I want to know everything! What you two are planning to name my future grandchildren. When you're planning to get married-"

"Mrs. Black," Bailey starts, looking completely horrified. "We're not dating."

"Adrian, honey, didn't you tell me you were going to ask her to be your girlfriend this morning?" My mom asks innocently. Bailey looks surprised, shocked, emotional? I don't know, I'm not a face reader.

Why is this my life? My mom just spoiled my little surprise...

"Uh, I didn't get the chance to." I turn to Bailey. Now that the secret is out, might as well. "Bailey? Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes," She replies with a playful eyebrow. "You're terrible at this."

I chuckle. "I know."

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vote, comment, follow!

this chapter was really hard to write, i mean look at their relationship! it's so complicated.

but nonetheless, even if adrian isn't a romeo like blake, he made it work.

although i was hoping it wouldn't work so that i would get him.... jk jk.