Achieving Unbroken

-Chapter 46-

Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Forty Six

—

"Come over here sit next to me
We can see where things go naturally
Just say the word and I'll part the sea"
Sit Next To Me | Foster The People

—

Jason
[Friday, August 13th, 2018 - 5:43 PM]

I aggressively button the fifth shirt that I've tried on today. The urge to scream is strong as I flop on top of the bed, grunting.

"Mom!" I scream like a whiny little boy in distress. In perfect motherly form, my mom is at my door in an instant.

"Yeah Sweetie?"

"I'm nervous," I mumble, eyes squeezed shut in exaggerated agony.

"Don't be," she hums. Then pauses. "You'll be less nervous if you find something presentable to wear."

"I thought this was fine."

"What about this?"

Slowly opening one eye, I peak over to where she is and see her holding a dark blue button-down

"It's wrinkly," I groan. Her eyes roll, annoyed.

"Jay, have I failed as a mother so much that you don't know what an iron is? It takes five minutes, you've got time."

Surprised and pleased by this news, I sit up.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Mom shrugs. "I'll bring it to the laundry room to iron it, meanwhile, this bedroom is in no shape for a lady to see it."

Wincing, I look around at the scattered clothing and schoolwork all over the place.

"I'll clean it," I agree, nodding. With a satisfied smile, my mom gives me a nod and leaves the room, my shirt in tow. I heave off of the bed and begin tidying up; throwing dirty socks in the hamper, re-hanging the shirts that I had removed from my closet in a rapid attempt to find something presentable for Lilla, putting my school papers in their assigned folders and binders.

"Jay?" I hear Mom calling. Soon after, she's in my room again, the now smoothed navy blue shirt in her hands. "Here you go! Put it on and head down to the lobby. Lilla will probably be here soon."

My fingers fumble with the buttons for a moment, but at long last, the shirt gets buttoned. Doing one last scan of my room to make sure I don't need to fix anything else, I run downstairs and zip out the door to head to the lobby.

I'm only in the lobby for a (stressful) few minutes when Lilla graces me with her presence.

She is wearing a black sundress that tightens at her waist and softly flows behind her. Air freezes in my lungs, briefly, because... She looks really hot.

"Hey, Jace," I hear her say. Coming back down to Earth, she's right in front of me, even more beautiful up close. Her eyelashes flutter and my breath stops in my chest.