Diaries

Chapter 15

My mother seemed more concerned than excited to see me. She opened her shiny new doors to us, and what appeared inside was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The floors were marble, the walls didn't have chipped cream colored paint like our's back home. They were crisp and white. The furniture was all brand new, and the TV was almost like those at the movie theaters.

I wanted to hug her, but I didn't know how. Hugs between my parents and I were very rare, they happened almost never. The last time I could remember hugging my mother was at my grandmother's funeral, and even that was an awkward side hug where her makeup transferred all over the dress I hated anyway.

"Jessica... what are you doing here?" She spoke as if she'd seen a ghost. She in no way looked pleased.

"Uh... well... I... I umm... I..."

Leo cleared his throat, he looked all around while remaining in the same spot he took two steps to after coming in.

My mom's eyebrows raised, "are you stoned?!"

"No!" I said immediately.

Her eyes switched from me to Leo.

"Oh, mom uh... this is Leo. My--"

"Boyfriend." He extended his hand to her with his good boy smile.

From observing him, I could only imagine what I must've looked like, too. His eyes were low and red as fire, and the same dark circles Swifty called out in me the other day, were ever present under Leo's today.

"Nice to meet you, Leo... you from Brooklyn?" She shined her fakest smile over him.

"Yeah, I'm from where you're from." He said what seemed politely, but was taken as an insult to my mother probably because she was already losing her way in her new place.

"Alright... well... again, Jess how did you get here?" She began brushing my clothes off as if the dirt and dust would fly right off. She was acting like an actual... mother, to me, in a way.

"Dad is losing his mind, home is a mess, I didn't know where you were, I--" before I could finish, she pulled me into the warmth of her arms. I could smell the perfume she'd always sampled when we'd take trips to the mall once every few years, Chanel No.5.

"Are you okay? Did you catch the Subway?" She cupped my face in her hands, pressing her forehead agaisnt mine as tears began to flow from her eyes.

"I'm okay, yeah Leo helped me." I mumbled, feeling strange with the amount of affection she was now suddenly able to give.

"Thank you," she turned to him, "Jess has never been on the Subway before... or even out of our borough!" She managed a laugh between her tears.

"Maria, could you get them something warm to eat please? They came all the way from Brooklyn on the subway!" She shouted even though the apartment was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Leo and I both exchanged glances, smirking at how you could take the woman out of Brooklyn, but not Brooklyn out of the woman.

An older Latin woman of about sixty came out with a basket of what smelled like clean laundry, placing it down. She smiled at us warmly.

"Hi, my name is--"

"She doesn't speak much English." Mother cut in, "why don't you go and get cleaned up." She said, "the bathroom is right down that hallway. Leo, you can have a seat." She gestured to the authentic leather couch, one we could never have dreamed of owning back home. Our couch had a tear in the middle seat, which made it very displeasing.

I headed down the hall as she instructed, looking all around. There was no sign of another man at all. I almost wondered, did she live here alone? How did she do it? Did Swifty only assume she was with a man, simply because he was a sexist prick who couldn't believe a woman could do anything on her own? ... But if so, how?