the essence of life is love

Naamloos deel 59

Rick drives away hurriedly on the narrow road, and Kaan looks concerned as he gets into the car with Seb.

"Did something happen?"

"It's Bo. Inez is worried. First because he wasn't home, now because he is. She just found him. Apparently, it was alarming enough to wake Rick."

"Damn."

Kaan looks surprised at Seb. Seb stares ahead. He doesn't know what else to say. If he starts now, everything will spill out. He already let too much slip to Rick yesterday.

"What's wrong, Seb?"

"My lines. I'm afraid I don't remember them anymore, and I'm not sure if I put the script in my bag."

"It's okay, they have a new copy there."

Seb knows that, but his notes are in his script. It doesn't matter much, he hopes, he already knows most of it. It's not very exciting. It was mainly a distraction to prevent Kaan from talking further about Bo and out of fear that Seb himself wouldn't be able to hold back. This morning, the house felt strangely empty, even though Bo only spent a few nights with him. It created more connection than the years with Lara.

"Can you tell me how things are going between you two? Is it getting exciting?"

Kaan mentions that he watches every episode to see how things are going between him and Bo. In the series, they are now at the point where they only talk after that first time. This week will be exciting. Then come the next recordings, which also show a lot of nudity. Seb composes himself, joking that Kaan, like everyone else, just has to wait and see.

Rick walks in, Bo sits on one of the chairs. Over the past few days, it's clear he hasn't been home, there are some newspapers lying around, things are not tidy. On the bar, he sees the bottle with a glass lying on its side. A yellowish thin stain is spread across the bar. The smell of alcohol is noticeable. Inez stands with a red face, her arms crossed, tense in front of the window. Her coat and bag are in the other chair, she still has her pumps on. Apparently, she hasn't had time to take off her shoes, or something else has happened. The silence is icy, just like the last argument. With his hands in front of his face, Bo sits in the chair, his legs, like Seb's over the past few days, pulled up in a fetal position. The scene reminds Rick of the classic relationship between a mother and her child. One feels safe in that position or wants the attention he used to get from his parent. The other shows that there is only one in charge, even though the child is no longer a child but an adult man who can make his own decisions, even the most unfortunate, the most mistaken ones.

"Good morning."

His voice is neither cheerful nor despondent, in everything here, he is impartial.

"Coffee, anyone?"

No response. Still, he puts three mugs on the bar without cleaning anything of the whiskey. They stand on the dried-up stain.

"Bo, Inez. Sit."

Suddenly his voice sounds deeper than usual, soft and compelling, letting the others know that he is in charge now. Slowly, they start to move, Inez sits first, leaning against the seat of the bar stool. Her entire posture indicates that she is ready for an attack, nothing in her body is relaxed, not even her eyes, which are slightly squinted. Bo, on the other hand, is totally relaxed, more defeated and slackened as he lets himself fall half over the stool. Rick remains standing opposite them, leaning back.

"Tell me." It sounds like a command without raising his voice. Bo doesn't look up, not at his mother, says nothing.

"I found this here early this morning."

"May I ask what you came to do?"

Inez looks at Rick in surprise. This is not at all the tone he normally uses with her.

"I'm here almost every morning to check."

"Why not just say to control me?"

"Because you've been doing stupid things lately, you know that very well."

"Why am I doing those? Because you've kept everything a secret for so long. And why? To supposedly protect me."

There's nothing left of Bo's subdued posture. He attacks his mother with equal force in his voice, he has started to reclaim his life from his mother. She clearly has difficulties with this.

"And this? What do you want to achieve with this? Why alcohol again? Is that the solution?"

"No, it's not. But why shouldn't I drink. Everything you've told, what you do by treating me like a little child."

"It seems like you still are one. You're no better than your father."

The envy in her voice is audible, nothing is what she imagined for her family. With a flat hand, Bo hits the bar. Inez is startled by the violence that emanates from him.

"That! That's exactly what it is. You trying to make me different than I am, not letting me make my mistakes. If I think about it now, Dad didn't make such a bad choice to take his life. You are more the instigator than you think. It's just that I have people around me who love me. You don't."

Rick has let it go so far.

"Guys, save your accusations for later. First, coffee, then I just want to know what happened last night, facts, no opinions, please."