Rehabilitation

20

Nathan said he needed to go somewhere so he didn't walk home with me. I was happy because I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone but then again a distraction would have been nice.

Sally had driven away with the bodies in her car. For all we knew she could be opening her boot at any moment. Maybe she'd already called the police. Maybe they were already on their way, looking for us.

Then there was the whole thing with my mum. I still hadn't returned her call. I was too scared. I hadn't spoken to her in so long and I'd been fine with that. I didn't need her in my life but I did need to know why she'd left. And I needed to know what she wanted now after all these years.

By the time i'd gotten home i'd decided to call her back. I pressed the number and the phone began to ring.

Hello?

I didn't say anything.

Hello? Who is this.

"Its y/n."

Oh my god. y/n, is it really you? I'm so happy you called me. God i've missed you.

I didn't know what to say or even what to think about all this.

"What do you want?" I tried not to sound blunt about it and sound polite instead.

I just...I thought it was time. Time to check in. I don't want to talk about this over the phone. I tracked down where you lived and got this number. Could I come over?

I considered it. I couldn't imagine it. My mum. My mum that I hadn't seen since I was 15. I should be happy right? That I get to see her after all this time. Then why did I want to curl up in a ball and cry. Or shout down the phone at her that I never wanted to see her again.

"Okay."

We said bye and I hung up the phone. I began to pace the kitchen.

When I was 15, young and unaware, I used to wonder where she'd gone. One moment she had been there, and then the next minute she was gone. she wasn't the best mum but she cared and she tried. She'd never called or left a note. I thought maybe something had happened between her and my dad but he seemed just as confused as I was. She'd just picked up and left, just decided one day, I don't want to be part of this family.

The doorbell rang, interrupting my thoughts. I took a deep breath and then walked over the the front door.

I held my breath, praying it wasn't my mum, it couldn't be her, i'd only hung up on her 10 minutes ago. I didn't think she'd meant she would come over now. I gave a sigh of relief when I saw it was Nathan.

"Hey," he said cheerfully, he was holding up a plastic bag in front of him.

When I looked at him confused he said, "I got takeaway. I said I'd cook for you, this is the next best thing."

I smiled now and moved out of the doorway so he could come in. We made our way to the kitchen and he placed the bag on the table.

"It's Chinese, I didn't know what you'd want so I got a few things."

"Why didn't you just ask me?" I said taking a seat at the table while Nathan got out some plates.

"I don't know, I just...I wanted it to be a surprise."

I didn't think Nathan would do something like that. He'd actually wanted to surprise me.

He must have noticed me deep in thought because he said, "Are you alright? What's going on with you, I mean, beside from the whole, we might be getting arrested any second thing."

We were now both sat at the kitchen table digging into our food. He really had just gotten everything. I felt slightly guilty since I only had rice and chicken chow mien and he'd spent money on all that food.

"Yeah, just tired." I replied.

"You said that yesterday."

I looked up at him. I wanted to tell him. I didn't know why, maybe because I just wanted to talk to someone and he was the only one here or maybe I felt like I could trust him.

"My mum called."

He looked up from his food, "Your mum? I thought you said she left."

"She did."

His faces morphed from confusion into pity, "Shit, that's heavy."

"I haven't spoken to her in six years. And she just decided to call one day. I mean what the fuck."

"You know what you should do? You should shout at her."

I raised my eyebrows at him and he continued, "It's supposed to be some therapeutic shit. To deal with it."

"I'm not going to shout at her." I said.

"Just think about it."

I nodded and forced a smile.

"If you ever want to talk about it, or anything, I'm here."

"Thanks Nathan."

"You're welcome, Donut."

Nathan was so complex. I thought he was just some prick who made inappropriate (but hilarious) jokes, but he was so much more. I never thought him and I could actually become friends. Now that we had spent more time together I'd seen a completely different side to him. He'd bought me Chinese, a simple act of course but I appreciated it.

I'm here. I knew Nathan well enough to know that he wasn't just saying that because he thought it was the right thing to say, he wasn't like that. It was because he meant it.