The Girl With The Tattoo

6. moments or happiness

Sophie

"Soph, do you want anything to eat?" I hear my mum shouting from downstairs.

I am quite hungry so I decide to step out of my room to actually go and eat. Sometimes I forget because I'm usually busy studying. Mom wants me to excel at school as well as dance so I have to study every night.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" I tell her, running down the stairs to talk to her.

When I enter the living room, she's sitting on the couch watching some Television. She looks really comfortable, she has her legs up and she's wearing the robe mom got her for her birthday last year.

"Do you want me to make you something or should I order us some food?" She asks me, which makes me smile immediately.

"Order something!" A smirk appears on my face.

"Good, now come here and we'll decide what to get." She tells me.

I hop onto the sofa, and she moves her legs so that I can sit with her. We look through a few leaflets that we have in our house, scanning them to decide what food we want to buy.

After a while, I choose exactly what I want, before staring at the TV whilst thinking of a few things that have been on my mind for a few days...

And I decide to ask mum a couple of questions "Mum, can I ask you something?"

She looks at me instantly, and I can tell that she's worried.

She's a worrier.

"Yeah, what is it?" She asks me, shuffling around a little so that she can get a better view of me.

I gulp, before asking "H-how did you know that you loved mom? I mean, like what made you realise it?"

She furrows her brows for a second, before answering my question "Well, I guess I just knew. I just found myself wanting to spend as much time as I could with her and when she'd leave I'd get this empty feeling and I just wanted her back. And then my feelings just continued to grow for her. I didn't really have to question whether I loved her, I just knew it."

Hearing how my mum fell in love with my mom makes me think about myself. I don't know if I'm ever going to fall in love... I really hope I do! I've always wanted to get married and have a family just like my parents.

If only my life was as easy as theirs.

But then she questions me "Why are you asking that, honey?"

"Uh- uhm..." I stutter, trying to think of an excuse "I was just curious."

And then, my face turns a bright red colour when she asks this "Is there someone in your life right now, Soph? Someone you like?"

"Uhm... no. Not exactly." I lie, because things are a little complicated with me right now "I was just wanting to know for the future, that's all."

I guess that she can tell that I'm worrying, as she rests her hand on my leg, and she has a serious look on her face "There'll be someone out there that loves you for you, Soph. I know that you're a hard worker, and you're so focused on dance and school, but there'll be someone who loves that about you."

She continues "Just because you're not dating now, doesn't mean you won't in the future. You're only young, Soph, and you've got a whole life ahead of you."

For some reason, I feel like I could get emotional right now... My mum knows that I don't get along with other people my age. I'm really quiet and it doesn't attract attention to me. So, therefore, I struggle to make friends.

"Thanks, mum." I thank her, smiling appreciatively.

"Yeah, no problem." She smiles back "And you know that if there's anything that's bothering you then you can talk to me."

She has that serious look on her face "I know mom can be a little hard to talk to, so I want you to know that you always have me."

I also smile at that, which shows that I'm thankful for her.

I would talk to her right now about some of the things that are bothering me, but I'm enjoying spending time with her and I don't want to ruin the moment. So instead of letting her in on things, I change the topic of the conversation.

"So, what did the doctor say about the baby at your appointment?" I ask her about my baby sister "Is everything okay?"

Mum looks at her stomach for a quick second, before saying "Yeah, she's great! They said she's a little small but she's your mom's kid so what were we expecting!"

I laugh at her joke, before replying with "I'm so glad that she's okay. You and mom need this. Maybe having a baby will stop the arguing..."

I can tell that she's tensing up when I mention the fact that her and mom sometimes get into arguments when mom gets home from work. Usually, it'll be over something stupid but I just wish that it never happened anyway.

"Yeah, maybe it will." She smiles, but I can tell that she's worrying about a lot.

But then, all of a sudden, we hear the doorbell ring which must be our food!

"Foods here!" Mum announces, and I jump off of the couch so that I can go and answer the door.

I hand the money over to the delivery driver, before thanking him. He hands me mine and mum's food and I put it on plates for the both of us to eat off of.

I sit down beside her, whilst we talk about things such as my schooling, my grades and how I've been doing at dance. We laugh a lot and it feels nice to just spend some time with my mum without there being any arguing in the house.

Afterwards, I decide to leave some pizza for when mom gets home because it might make her less grumpy.