Tahlia Moore had a huge secret she developed over the summer. When the pressure from her friends and the jealousy from new relationships boil to the surface, she's forced to choose between confessing her feelings or sparing them to keep the ones she...
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"Are you going to bed anytime soon?" I turned my head to look over the couch and into the kitchen. My mom just turned the kitchen light on while immediately reaching for her "hidden" bottle of wine in the cabinet above the fridge. "It's almost eleven and school is bright and mearly the following day."
"I know..." My attention fell right back on to my phone as Tonya and Josie continued to go back and forth about this Griffin guy. A guy she managed to get so easily while I'm struggling to move on from whatever Victor and I had. I kept telling myself that it was nothing to dwell on, but I had to look at him everyday and pretend. "Why are you up?"
Before answering, she made her way into the living room and sat on the armchair to the right of me. "Couldn't sleep. Big report tomorrow and I can't wait to have prepared all last week just to get turned down once again." She took a sip of her wine then kicked her feet up on the ottoman which was also our coffee table. "Get this. I supervise a guy named Robert, Bob for short, for two weeks and he tried to tell me how to do my job. I've been in quite a high position for a little over two years now. I'm pretty sure I know how to do my job!" She scoffed in disbelief then took another sip of her wine. "And your father wants to tell me something as if he knows for one bit the shit I go through in general in that suffocating environment."
I watched her frown and sigh and just show all the emotions of a tired and frustrated woman. Her wine was meant to calm her down, but it appeared to be firing her up. I've never had a job in my life and had no idea what she was going through. I wanted to be the support system she was to me from time to time. But how?
"What did dad say?"
Her eyes darted to me as if the answer to my question was obvious. "Don't do anything to get you fired." She cracked a smile to avoid from screaming. "I didn't leave Chicago to be promoted into some bullshit." Her wine glass was empty before the five minutes of this conversation was up. She let out a yawn then got up to rest her hand on my shoulder. Her gaze was so deep into my eyes, I thought I could see her soul. "Did you ever work that thing out with Cory?"
My heart rate jumped a bit as she released my shoulder from her grasp. "Yeah. It's all clear." My eyes followed her to the kitchen where she rinsed out her glass and set it in the sink. "He wasn't talking about race at all. Apparently I'm just too quiet."
"Just like your fucking..." She bit back her words while tightening her robe around her body. "Just be in bed before eleven. Also, I'll be taking you to school in the morning. I need the car to run some errands."
"Why can't I just get a lift instead? You leave too early." She pointed at me and nodded slowly. "So... see you tomorrow night?"
"Goodnight, Tahlee."
The grade was unacceptable in my opinion, but everyone else seemed to love it. I guess it was better than the average D he carried since high school began. All thanks to his new "study buddy" who seems useless.
