"Briar, I'm home!" I heard the door being locked from the inside and my mom giving a relieved sigh as she took her heels off. "Briar?" she called again. I was in my room buried deep under the covers and my laptop accompanying me with Netflix open to the movie I was watching, Baz Luhrmann's 1996 rendition of Romeo and Juliet with the lovely Leonardo DiCaprio. It probably wasn't the best choice considering my current circumstances and Leo reminding me of Cooper so much but I always found comfort in the reality of failed romances. My parents got through it which virtually means anyone can.
"There you are." I paused the movie and closed my laptop. "Yeah, sorry my laptop was too loud. I couldn't really hear you," I said knowing I had muted the movie just to stare at DiCaprio. My mom hopped on my bed with a smile on her face. "Well, I have good news and bad news so which one do you want to hear first?" I layed back in bed and smirked. "The bad news, of course," she concluded. She gave me a sly smile then sighed. "Well, my company has assigned me the task of going on an extended business trip for the next eight weeks so we won't be spending this summer together but you have two choices. This is where the good news starts. You could spend the summer with your father in boring old Ohio or stay here by yourself without any supervision." She raised her eyebrows then continued, "I absolutely trust you, Briar and now that you're almost seventeen I think you can handle staying here by yourself for long periods of time without getting into trouble."
I was devastated by the fact that my mom had to leave for summer I mean we've spent every summer together since I've been born but part of me didn't mind being left by myself. She was right. I'm almost seventeen and soon enough I'll be forced to live on my own as a dreaded adult. I looked at her. "Okay, Mom. I'll deal with staying here by myself but this can never happen again. You understand?" My mom laughed then pushed me in my forehead. "Great! I have to start packing. I leave tonight" I gasped. "Are you joking? We've barely spent one measly summer day together and now you're leaving me!" I dramatically fell back on my bed, hitting my head on the headboard. I groaned and rubbed my head.
My mom left to go to her room while I was acting out my scene. "Oh, Briar stop the drama. I'll be back before school even starts so we'll have that time to spend together." I rolled out of bed with my oncoming headache. "Fine, Mommy but when you get back I'm going to be in your face the two weeks we have left together." She groaned, "Jeez, fine but once school starts I don't want to see your face." I made my way to her room. Her suitcase was already filled with neatly folded clothes and she was in the bathroom grabbing her toiletries, she's always been a fast worker, dedicated to everything especially her job. I think that's what may have caused the split.
After zipping up her suitcase she went to her purse and brought out a debit card. "There's two hundred on there now and I'll be wiring money into it while I'm gone. If for some freak reason the money doesn't get on there, I'm leaving four hundred with you in cash." She put the card in a bulky envelope which she handed to me. "Wow, you were prepared," I mumbled. She smiled while taking her suitcase off the bed. "Sweetie, either choice you chose, I was still going on this trip. If you would've chose your Father's then I had a suitcase I picked up on my way here since your old one broke." She made her way to the door where a pink suitcase was stationed. I shook my head then gave her a hug. "Call me as soon as you land and no later." She nodded then made her way out the door and down the stairs. "You're phone should be back on by now!" she called from the first floor then she disappeared to a waiting cab.
I turned and went back into the house. Part of me wondered what in the world was I going to do by myself for the next three hundred weeks. Obviously I couldn't go to B&N in fear of running into them. Mason wasn't here to help me through this and telling my mom probably would've been futile since she's been so caught up with work and the aftermath of the divorce.
