Holding On To Happy | ✔

08. New Rules

It was dark out by the time Alyssa dropped me off at home. Faye's text still occupied my mind. What could she possibly want to see me for? A few ideas came to me, but none of them settled the anxiety I was having about it. Alyssa thinks that Faye just needs closure and that I should go see her, she even offered to go with me until I told her the meeting was happening before school.

My mind was so cluttered that I didn't notice mom sitting on the sofa until she said my name, almost sending me through the roof. She's hardly ever home at night since that's when the restaurant was the busiest, so I definitely wasn't expecting her to be here.

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

She made a face, letting me know that I just asked an incredibly stupid question. "Sit down," She ordered, pointing to the living chair. "We need to talk."

Doing as she asked, I tried to get a read on her features. Was she mad? Did someone die? There was certainly something different and it wasn't just the fact that she was home and actually talking to me. I couldn't put my finger on what it was though.

"Where were you?" She asked after taking a sip from the mug she held in her hand.

"At Sweetie Pies and then the library," I replied slowly, still trying to figure out what all of this was about.

"Who were you with?"

"Alyssa. Why are – "

"From now on I want you to call or text me and let me know where you are and who you're with."

"Okay..." If I did something wrong and she was pissed about she was doing a great job at hiding it.

"Also, your curfew is at 10 on weekdays, 12 on weekends."

Curfew? Since when did I need a curfew? I never normally stayed out that late, but the fact that she was telling me I couldn't rubbed me the wrong way.

"Why?"

She looked at me the same way she did when I asked her why she was here, but didn't answer me as she lifted herself from the couch and headed into the kitchen. I wanted to follow her and ask her what the rules were for, but I decided against it. Instead I went up to my room, closed the door and plopped down onto my bed.

Pulling out my phone, I looked over Faye's text again. I'd replied with "OK" and asked why, but she never replied back. Everyone was acting a bit out of the norm today. Maybe there's a full moon tonight? 

I plugged my phone into the charger and sat it down on the nightstand before getting up to grab some pajamas from my dresser.

My phone dinged just as I was about to leave to get into the shower and I rushed to it, hoping it was Faye. It wasn't though. Instead it was dad confirming my plans to visit him this weekend. After sending him a quick reply letting him know I'll be there I set my phone back down. Only it dinged again before I made it out the room. I was feeling popular today.

Calvin: Are you feeling better now?

I felt myself smile at the text. The feeling of his hand in mine came back to me as I chewed at my lip. It was a simple message and I shouldn't read to much into, but that didn't stop the butterflies from erupting in my stomach. Pacing around my room I try to reply, but each draft made me cringe. I was thinking too much about this and it's not like this is the first time we've texted. Swallowing my fear I quickly sent a text before I had time to back out again. 

Mia: Yeah, the pie really helped

Calvin: Good, I was just checking. I'll see you in the morning