Growing Pains

Chapter 64 - I forgot what I was waiting for

D A I S Y

I woke up before noon most weekends. I didn't need an alarm. My mom and Jason's voice were always alarming enough. They could be in any room of the house, and I would still hear their morning conversations as loud as if they were in bed with me.

Jason would probably get into a fight with anyone who accused him of it, but he had always been a mommy's boy, always one to sit and listen while mom talked about her day. I had watched way too many shows about the highs and lows of hospital wards, but had somehow never seen the appeal of our mom's nursing stories. Jason was different.

Just this morning, I had heard him say, "So Jennifer didn't do it?" 

To which mom had said, just as outraged, "No! She just clocked out and left."

I had no idea who Jennifer was, but I had lost the rest of the narrative, and I also didn't care enough to try and find it again. I wanted to go back to sleep, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do it. I was awake, and I was hungry.

I went down the stairs and surprised them both in the kitchen, hands on my waist, hair as crazy as my eyes, and the ultimate question, "Do you mind?"

Jason was putting his empty cereal bowl in the sink. Jason took breakfast very seriously, so much he wouldn't go to bed happy if he didn't know he would have his cocoa puffs waiting for him in the morning. He was weird about it too. He poured the milk first, and he filled the bowl up to the very top, and then microwaved it for almost a minute. I had known something was wrong with him the first time he had done it.

"Good morning, honey," my mom said, ignoring my question. She was nursing her cup of coffee, black, and steaming, just the way she liked it.

"Is it really a good morning if I woke up to the knowledge that Jennifer, of all people, just clocked out and left?" I asked.

Jason walked right past me, smiling to himself, in my t-shirt. He was wearing my t-shirt!

I pointed at it, "That's mine!!"

Jason just looked down at himself and shrugged, "It was in one of my drawers."

"It's not my fault you wear boys t-shirts, honey. I can never tell what's yours and what's his. I just can't." She took another sip of her coffee and shrugged.

"Maybe start doing your own laundry," Jason said, lingering by the door.

"You don't do your own laundry either!"

"But I'm not complaining, am I?"

I stretched my hand out for him, "Just give me back my t-shirt."

"What if I don't?" he said. "I'm pretty sure this is a man's size anyway."

I gasped. Mom laughed.

"It's not! Mom!"

She looked at me. I wanted an apologetic look, of course, but got a compassionate one instead, "You did put on some weight."

I rolled my eyes, "Why do I even bother?"

"I know, right?" Jason said, disappearing into the living room.

I reached for the kettle in the corner of the counter. I had just filled it up with enough water to make myself coffee when I heard the sounds coming from the living room.

"I hope that's not what I think it is!" I said, loud enough for Jason to hear me. He didn't answer, so I left the water boiling and walked over to the living room.

Jason was sprawled on the couch watching the sad horse show.

"You're gonna watch it without me?" Lazy morning light spilled all over him as he smiled, not even bothering to look away from the tv screen.