𝑰𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒏𝒐

21 : Sudden Insight

𝕊 𝕆 𝕄 𝔼 ℝ

April 23rd, 20xx

As I laid my outfit on the floor, my mom knocked on my door. Looking at her, she stood with a smile on her face. Her arms were crossed but she looked pleased with herself.

"What are you doing?" Mom peered over me as I squatted, hair dangling down like a shield. I chuckled because I could see up her nose.

"This is for tomorrow. Oakley's friends are coming to Fresno, remember?"

"What are you guys doing?" 

"Just hanging out, I think. We planned for me to show them around," I shrugged, getting up to walk back to the closet to find another shirt.

"I liked that one."

"I didn't. Makes me feel too exposed. I want to look good in front of his friends."

"Why?" she chuckled.

Swallowing the truth, I shrugged again. It wasn't as if I didn't care about my regular outfits but I wanted to look good in front of them. I might even curl my hair. But that would look like I was trying too hard since Oakley knew what I usually dressed like.

"This is hard. Being a girl is too hard," I groaned.

"Yeah, boys have it easier. They just have to brush their hair," she agreed.

"Not Oakley, he has to make it fluffy. He has to wake up a bit earlier sometimes." He said he wasn't fully a boy, would it be wrong to include him with them? I threw the question into the pile I had saved up for him.

"You know his schedule?" 

"Sometimes, on the weekends, he does his hair in front of me. I help him if he wants a little braid or something." I shrugged.

"You guys sure are close. And only in a few short months."

"Yeah, since we met back in...February." 

That was only about two months and a few days ago. Why did it feel so long? Had time started to move slowly or something? Maybe it was how everything seemed to crowd around us, my feelings and his sister's surgery, that made it seem like it was longer than three months that had passed.

Strange.

"That's not too long. So, how old are his friends?" 

"They're not that much older, they're in college."

"College? Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that," she sighed.

"It's not bad, Oakley knows them. If you can't trust him, trust my trust in him. We'll be fine. I'll be fine." 

"I hope. Listen, I have to go to bed, I have an early shift tomorrow. Your dad can't make it this weekend so you got lucky. I'll see you tomorrow night," she said as she stepped forward to kiss my forehead.

"Love you too, Mom." 

When she left, she shut my door. For the next hour, I spent my remaining energy on finding the right outfit. It was a little different than my casual wear but hopefully, Oakley wouldn't notice and it would be good.