The Story of Tonight

Chapter Sixteen

"Mom?"

Vanessa faintly heard her daughter's voice, followed by feeling herself being shaken. The pounding in her head followed, which only emitted a groan from the young mother.

"Are you sick?" Lia continued speaking, not remembering a time that she was the one waking her mother up. She was the most punctual person she knew.

Vanessa squinted her eyes open, only to be met with a partial view of her daughter over her.

"No, I'm not sick," Vanessa finally replied, half-convincingly. She knew she wasn't sick. Hungover? Absolutely, but she wasn't going to tell her daughter that.

She rose up in her bed, and looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. She was already twenty minutes past her initial alarm.

"Shit," Vanessa mumbled under her breath, not having felt this hungover since the night after she found out she had passed the bar.

"Are you going to work today?" Lia smirked at her mom's disheveled state, knowing from enough movies and the empty wine bottle she saw in their recycling bin what was more than likely the cause of her mother's morning look.

"Yes, Lia," Vanessa forced a grin for her daughter before she managed to get out of bed and head straight towards her medicine chest in her adjoining bathroom, closing the door behind her.

She used the sink water to swallow the two tylenols and then took a look at herself in the mirror, grateful she at least didn't look as bad as she felt. Her mind wandered back to the kiss. She might have convinced herself it was a dream had it not been for the good night text Lin had texted her around 1:00 am. She didn't know what this meant for them and their relationship. She splashed some water on her face, and found a ponytail holder on her sink to get her hair out of her face. She had too many thoughts going through her head, but had the pressing countdown to get to her office before eight and send her daughter off to school.

"Did you eat anything?" Vanessa asked as she came out of her bathroom and slipped a robe on, only to find Lia sitting on her bed.

"Uh-huh," Lia answered her but was more distracted by the text she had just received from Lindsay saying they were outside. "I gotta head out. My ride's here!" She gave her mom a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing her bag.

"Did Lin call you a cab?" Vanessa followed behind her daughter as she left her bedroom. She knew if Lin was here he'd come up to get her. She was slightly disappointed that he hadn't.

"I spoke to him about my ride last night," Lia said with a smile, as she chose her words carefully, praying that her plan would continue to go off without any delays.

"Alright, love you," Vanessa was glad it seemed like time at the theatre and a good night's sleep had lifted Lia's mood. She headed straight towards the coffee pot to life hers, "Don't forget you have a dentist appointment after school. Lin's picking you up."

"Sounds good, love you too. Bye!" Lia managed to get out of the apartment without any more probing. She took a second on her stoop to check her makeup in her compact mirror, having spent a few more minutes than usual on it that morning.

She hurried over when she spotted the Black Range Rover Lindsay had texted they were in and got into the back passenger seat.

"Did you have to walk far?" Lindsay asked once they were on the road headed to Christine's house.

Lia shook her head, "Nope. Parking by my place is just nonexistent so I figured it would be easier to pick me up over here. Thanks again, Ayden."

"No problem, Em," Lia gave him a small smile, feeling butterflies in her stomach.