Mother Dearest

Mom and I entered the car. The space was quiet, not even the radio was playing. As she started driving it was Heleth who broke the silence. "She's knows something, she's being too distant for a mother"

'You don't know my mom then,' I look back at Heleth.

"You clearly don't know your mom," she retorts, "trust me, so far you've enjoyed relative freedom. You have great grades, you haven't been involved in any drama, at least until I came around, and now she wants to fill your time for some vague reason that you're behind."

'Yeah, but she does have a point too,' I look at my mom, 'I really don't have any extracurricular things for colleges to look at.'

Heleth adjusts her posture, "your mom is a lawyer right? She knows how to make an argument, she knows how to bullshit you. A well educated woman like herself would have enrolled you in extracurriculars your sophmore or junior year if she really was concerned. She doesn't care, it's your last year of school. She wants you occupied."

'You make a good point demon,' I raise my eyebrows, 'but there's no way I can bring it up. What if I reveal something she doesn't know about? Then I'm truly fucked.'

Heleth puts her hand on her chin, "for a son of a lawyer you really lack deduction skills don't you?"

I sigh, 'get to the point, Heleth.'

"Your mom knows something, enough to concern her to the point of making you unavailable to other people. How does your mom feel about your sisters having sex?"

I think back to moms talks with us after Dee got her first boyfriend, 'Ummm, she's okay with it, but doesn't want to know about it, as long as they're safe.'

"See now we're getting somewhere," Heleth thinks some more, "if your mom found out you had sex, she wouldn't be upset. In the issue of safety, if she found out you snuck out and didn't use a condom she would of been much more confrontational I would guess."

I nod to Heleth, 'that would be correct.'

"Therefore, if she knew about Alex, you've would of already known about it. Likewise with Viv I doubt she'd be okay with you betraying Jesse." Heleth points at me.

'Yeah you're right she wouldn't be okay with that would she,' I start thinking myself, 'that leaves one person, someone that mom would feel more awkward talking about than anybody, Wendy.'

Heleth pats me on the shoulder, "now you're getting it, she knows about Wendy. It wasn't hard to see she was trying to seduce you. Plus it's your mom's friend, which would explain her awkwardness. And in being her friend, she'd have the right to be offended and keep you away from her, we already know they aren't on speaking terms."

"We're here," mom says, "what have you being staring off at?"

"You have to confront her, or she's gonna start restricting us more Ed," Heleth pleads.

I look back at mom, I've never once argued with her. Always going with what she says, but Heleth is right. Her interfering is not in my best interests. "Mom we need to talk," I say fighting every instinct I have.

Mom was taken aback, I was her meek son, I've never done anything like this. Instead of defensiveness however her facial expression softens, "I think we do, Ed."

I can't give away what I know, I need to be tactical while confrontational. "What is going on? You never cared about extracurricular work until now, something is up."

"Well... I... I just realized you're behind, I never gave it much thought before now." Mom stutters losing her well spoken demeanor.

I got her, "You're telling me, that you, the best educated person I know whom holds all her children to a high standard, overlooked extracurriculars for 4 years."

Mom sat there, unable to think of a way to affirm her story, she was trapped and I got her. It felt good winning a victory like that. "Here's the truth, I know while they help you didn't need one. You'd might not go to Harvard but you'd be successful all on your own."

I looked at her, what she said definitely was truthful however she's still holding out, "then why the internship mom, what reason could there be in forcing the internship."

Mom looked at me, took a deep breath and spoke, "because I know you're growing up and I can't stop you. You're an adult, and are close to leaving."

Moms eyes start to tear and I immediately felt guilty, I put my hand on hers. "I'm sorry mom, I shouldn't have pushed it."

Her tears stream down her face, "it's okay, I was being ridiculous. And I'm so sorry but there's more. Wendy said she was interested in you, my son! And I felt betrayed, and I felt even more betrayed when she followed through on Sunday. And I know you're a grown up and can make your own decisions but I still feel protective of you, and I can't help but feel angry that some cougar I thought was a friend took you away from me. I just don't want to lose my son."

Her face was puffy, mom was always so collected I've never seen her like this before. I hugged her, "I'm sorry mom, I'll do the internship, that way we can spend time together. I'll even avoid Wendy, she shouldn't of hurt you like that."

She hugs me back, "I don't want you to be ****, you don't have to do the internship."

"Its okay, I'll do it for you."