The man with the gloves [bucky barnes ff]

13

ISLA'S POV

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom." I speak into the phone as I get ready for the party. If this is how my life will be from now on, partying every weekend, I don't want it. It's honestly just exhausting and stressful. Getting ready, planning when and where to meet up with your friends with them changing the time and place every minute, getting there, being surrounded by strangers, loud music and cheap alcohol. And the thing I hate the most is the going home afterwards. You're sweaty, tired, hungry, exhausted but you can't go to bed right away. You have to undress, remove the makeup, take a shower first and after taking the shower you're not even tired anymore.

All this thinking makes me want to call it off and just stay at home instead. But it'll be a great way to get to know a few people and I need to go to take care of Gen. She's there already and she told me that she'd be drinking tonight, so I will keep an eye on her. Besides, I should enjoy it. It's a great feeling to be able to decide where to go and when to get home without having to worry about lying to your mother or having a friend to cover up for you.

"How are you?" She asks me. I decided to give her a call back before going to the party to have it over with. That sounds cruel. I love my mother and of course I miss her and if she called me to just ask me about my life here and the city, my friends, whatsoever I wouldn't mind talking to her everyday but she keeps judging me and dictating my life even from a distance.

"I'm well. A bit tired. I'll probably go to bed early" I lie.

What was that again? The lying to your mother part?

It's just easier that way. That way she won't have to worry about me being out at this late hour and I won't have to get terrorised by her worrisome phone calls and text messages. She already freaked when I told her about the get together at Ade's and Adrian's house and I didn't even describe it as a party but just a small gathering with friends. She got mad and thought I was being careless for going to a strangers home and she didn't even care when I said that they were Gen's friends and that she knew them for years.

"You should. I can only imagine how little you probably sleep there. And let me take a guess. The only food you eat is takeout, am I right? Or those disgusting instant noodle cups you always eat." She starts castigating me.

I put the phone down and turn on the speakers. I don't have a make-up table so I placed a small hand mirror on the floor and leaned it against the wall in my bedroom. My legs start cramping from sitting cross legged and my back hurts from sitting bent over. My posture is terrible as it is so this will probably cause me a terrible pain in the spine tomorrow.

I just let her speak and don't interrupt her, mainly because I don't even know what to say anymore. If I try to justify myself she'll find a way to call me disrespectful for talking back to her.

"How are your neighbours? Do you get along with them? You should. It's important to have a good relationship with them. I didn't raise you to be rude and hostile?"

"The people here have a different relationship with their neighbours, mom. They don't visit each other after church or bake cakes as welcoming gifts." I try to explain to her, not mentioning the one neighbour I do seem to get along with. She'd be worried because of the age difference and the fact that he's a man.

And I would expect it to be weird. He's much older than me, is a silent man who's wearing black gloves all the time and doesn't know anything about today's world. If I didn't know better I'd assume he's a time traveler from the thirties or something.

But he seems nice. He helped me yesterday with my shower head, complimented my food and didn't act inappropriate when I let him stay for a few hours. It was risky of me to let a stranger in my apartment in the middle of the night so I am thankful that I trusted my guts.