Machine

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It was like I was in a daze. One moment we were staring at each other, probably thinking the same thing, -wondering what to do next- as a loud ringing suddenly bombarded the room.

My phone began to vibrate.

I was getting a call.

I checked who it was calling me and quickly answered it when I saw it was by my mom.

She finally noticed I was gone. About time.

"Hi mommy." I said in my most innocent tone, hoping she wouldn't be too mad. Though, too mad was an understatement.

"Where are you?" She didn't even bother to ask if I was okay. "Who are you with? Why are you there? How long have you been gone?" She paused, and then gasped, as if realizing something awful, "Are you with a boy?"

I wanted to hit my head against the wall until I passed out, of course, her endless amount of questions were basically consuming me.

I had no room to breathe here.

"Mom! I'm not with a boy-I mean, I am but-"

"But what? You have a lot of explaining to do." Why couldn't she realize that I was an adult? Why did I have to make stupid excuses for her? It's my life, I'm almost twenty goddamn years old.

"He's..." I quickly thought for a moment, "he's gay!" Best I could do.

"I am not!" he shouted, shooting me a horrified glare. -It was strange how suddenly offended he got. And it was obvious my mother heard.

"Who was that? Tell the truth, Nia. Are you dating someone? What did you do with them last night?"

"Well do you think of me as some kind of slut?" I basically screamed in the phone, "I'm not that low, mom!"

"I'm not saying you are I just-"

"I'm coming home now, let's just talk about it then, okay?"

She was quiet for a moment before, again, sighing. "Fine, just get here soon, your grandparents will be here shortly."

Oh no.

After hanging up, I frantically dumped the books on Ed's bed, out of my book-bag, and threw the bag over my shoulder. -The books were his. The book-bag was my two hundred dollar bag.

"I have to go." I said feeling as if I didn't even have time to breathe.

I had a nearly six hour drive back home, and I still had to be there before my grandparents would be.

It's impossible.

He just stood there, watching me try to rush out. "That's it, then?" He said, crossing his arms.

I looked over at him, "What?"

"You drove eight hours here to kiss me and then just turn back and leave?"

I blinked, "Well...I mean I just wanted to see you-And-and make sure you were okay." I added that last part quickly, as my face began to turn red, "Not to mention the kiss was just as much of a surprise to me, as it was to you."

"Was it really though?"

I nodded, not wanting to say much more, or else my embarrassment would clearly show, not that is wasn't already.

"Fine." He pointed to the door, "I'll see you next week in class, then."

I waved, "Bye, Ed." I ran out of his room, up the stairs, and out of the dorm building to my car.

I basically dove into the seat and turned the engine on. Without a second to spare, I left the campus.

~~~

After many hours on the road, and me nearly falling asleep on multiple highways, I had finally pulled up the driveway of my home.

My mom rushed out the moment I turned the engine off. I sighed, and got out of the car, hoping she wasn't too mad.

"Where the hell were you!?" She was pissed. I had noticed how my grandparents were walking out of the house too, clearly they were worried as well.

"I told you mom, I was okay."

"It's Christmas, Nia. How could you be so selfish as to leave half the day and-"

"It's only noon! And you know what? It shouldn't matter, I'm almost twenty, mom, stop forgetting that I have my own life now."

She completely ignored me, "Where were you?"

I rolled my eyes, wanting her to see how annoyed I was, "I went back to the university."

"What? Why?"

"I had a friend there. I felt bad that he was alone."

"Are you dating him?"

"No, hell no."

"That's not like you, Nia, to go through all that trouble just to see a boy."

"Well, things have changed, I'm not twelve anymore." I noticed how my grandparents were giving me a disapproving look, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to be controlled by my mother just because she had hope of us being forever alone together. I want a life, and I don't want to sit around thinking a husband was going to magically appear on my door step.

Who says I have to wait for a husband anyway? Who said I needed one to be happy?

I walked passed my mom, and into the house. They all followed closely behind me.

"Let's just forget about all of this." I said as I sat at the table where the -huge- Christmas dinner was placed at.

My mother took a deep breath, and sighed. It was obvious she didn't want to forget about it, but she knew it wasn't in her place to pry. So, she nodded, and we all sat on the table.

At first it was quiet, but as time went on, we started to talk more, and everyone began to explain how their lives been, and what they have been up to.

It was nice, to see our little family again. Even though my grandparents always thought I was strange. It was nice to see them be happy.

Three hours passed, and we had all nearly ran out of things to say, so I politely excused myself, and went up to my room. I was exhausted. I hadn't slept the night before, so I laid on my bed, and easily began to drift off to sleep.

The only thing on my mind, was that kiss; and how badly I wanted to do it again.