Solitude

Fifty-One

"-and this forty-year-old woman who has never met me before decided she was entitled enough to comment about how me having two partners is signs of the end time." I roll my eyes in exasperation while mom helps me brush my hair.

She hums, encouraging me to continue and I sigh.

"Nothing! I just ignored her."

"Well, that's good. There's no reasoning with crazy. I love how you're –"

"MARTHA ROLLINS, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Mason barges into the room, a livid expression on his face.

I furrow my brows, surprised to see him in my home. He's in a sweatshirt on joggers and looks way to casual to be the Mason Richmond I'm dating. There's no makeup on his face, no rings on his fingers, no watch around his wrist... He's so ordinary.

He glances over to my mother and offers a polite smile as he mutters an apology for interrupting whatever discussion we were having. I am about to ask him who let him into the house when Cece peeks in from behind him, a remorseful expression on her face.

"Don't scream at my child, Mason. Don't yell in general. It's distasteful," mom scolds; her voice soft and loving as it usually is. She shakes a spray bottle and begins to go to town on my hair, not the bit bothered about our guest.

Mason bites the inside of his cheeks as he tries to contain his emotions. His nostril flares in a rather comical manner, but he manages to exhale deeply and force a creepy smile onto his face.

"I'm sorry," he says in a soft tone. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, K." He sounds sincere, so I smile.

"Okay. Why are you so mad at me then?"

Interested to know what is happening, Cece walks into the room and sits on the bed beside my mother and I am a little pissed that from my position on the floor, everyone is hovering over me.

"Have none of you picked up your phones today?" He quirks a brow at me and when I shake my head, he turns to Cece who shrugs.

"Contrary to popular belief, I have a life outside of social media," she says with sass and Mason scoffs in disbelief.

"There's an issue with the Wi-Fi, but it's gonna be fixed soon," mom explains and Cece groans in protest as she huffs and crosses her arms.

Mason shakes his head causing his hair to sway. It isn't particularly styled today. In fact, judging by the way it sticks out in odd places, I'm guessing a comb hasn't touched it yet. Whatever happened was enough to make Mason throw on the first thing he saw and run here.

Now that I really think about it, I can swear the joggers belong to Jonathan.

Were they getting naughty without me? How unfair!

"I haven't even posted anything in a couple days. I haven't done anything to upset the... oh!" I draw my lower lip between my teeth as my face turns red. I knew I was going to have to deal with this, but a part of me was hoping they just wouldn't notice ever and we could go on like the lunch with his father never happened.

"I'm done with your hair and all your things are packed," mom interrupts as she gets up. "Cece, I repacked for you. You were going with a lot of unnecessary things. Why do you think you'd need salt? That's so random!"

"Hey! It's good for –"

"You guys deal with your problem. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my study room. Please, don't need me. I have work to catch up on."

"Don't you want to know what your daughter did?" Mason dramatically rests his hands on his waist and I roll my eyes at him, but he ignores.

"I know what my daughter did, and no, I'm not adding my piece in this conversation. You both handle it as a couple – can I call you a couple if one of you is absent? You know what? Don't answer that." She waves herself off. "I'm out!"