Falling

31

Vinny Taylor

The cold breeze slapped my cheeks as I ran through the park with Luna at my side. She was loving every second of it, her mouth wide open with glee as the two of us neared the end of the path where we had started.

She just loved burning off her energy while I needed to blow off steam for a completely different reason. The week had gone by quickly and Friday had snuck up on me before I even realized it. Having dinner with Carson's mom shouldn't make me so nervous, but all I could think about was me messing something up and her thinking I wasn't good enough for her son. I already knew I wasn't, but I at least needed to fake it.

Once Luna and I reached the end of the path, I gave her some water from her bottle with the attached bowl which she gladly took. After she took a drink, the two of us walked home. As soon as we arrived at the house, Luna immediately went to her bed to lay down while my mother called out my name.

"In here, Vin!" she called from the kitchen.

I followed the sound of her voice to where she stood in the kitchen in front of an ironing board, ironing a dark blue button-down shirt.

"Hi, honey!" Mom greeted with a wide smile, looking up from the ironing board. "I was thinking you could wear this to your dinner with Carson and his mother tonight."

The shirt was obviously an old one of my father's. Probably too small for him but too large for me.

"Mom, I think that's a little too... formal," I told her with a strained smile. "It's just at their house, it's not like we're going out."

"Sweetheart, you're meeting your boyfriend's mom tonight," she said. "You need to look presentable!"

"I've already met her. Many times."

"This is different," she retorted. "You're meeting her as her son's boyfriend."

"Are you trying to make me more nervous?" I asked her, raising my eyebrows.

"No, no, of course not," she said, waving her hand. "I just want you going there looking like a respectable young man."

"That shirt isn't even going to fit me."

"Sure it will," she assured me. "Logan's worn it."

"I'm smaller than him."

"Vincent, honey," Mom sighed. "Wear the shirt. You'll look so handsome."

I let out a sigh of my own. "Sure, Mom. Whatever you say."

She sent me a content smile before turning back to the ironing board and continuing on the shirt. I turned on my heel and went upstairs to shower. When I was finished, I went to my room to see the shirt was hanging on my door. I sighed, snatching it off the hanger and put it on after drying off.

Once I was dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror and glared at my appearance. The shirt was too big and I looked ridiculous. It wasn't entirely noticeable, but the shoulders were too broad and it wasn't fit around my torso like it should have been. Maybe I would have fit in it a few months ago, but not now.

I didn't bother changing out of it before leaving my room and going downstairs to where my mother waited for me. She stood at the bottom of the stairs like she was in a teen romance movie waiting for her prom date to descend the stairs while my father sat on the couch in the living room.

"Oh you look so handsome, Vinny!" Mom squealed, clapping her hands together.

"Okay."

"You do," she assured me, grabbing onto my arm and bringing me to the living room in front of my dad. "Doesn't he look great, Jeff?"