Chalk It Up To Fate

Chapter 7: Reece

I shot out of bed in a panic. I check my phone. 5AM. I look around in the dark, wondering what woke me up.

I waited with baited breath, until I heard it again. The sound reverberated around the quiet house. "Shit," I muttered as I rushed to my bedroom door.

I hurried downstairs to the kitchen where my mother stood with her back to me. Around her were fallen pots and pans scattered as if she was throwing them around like confetti. That explained the sound. She was humming a tune only she could hear before reaching into another cupboard, pulling down more pots and pans that fell near her feet.

I cleared my throat, "Mom?"

She turned, flashing me the sky blue eyes she passed down to me. They were filled with joy, unlike the hopeless ones I have seen all week. She pushed her raven hair back away from her face to get a better look at me. "Reece! Hello sleepyhead! I was about to wake you myself if you didn't come down here for dinner!" She said with a smile on her face. She turned around and continued humming her tune, pulling more pots and pans down, which made a terrible metallic sound as they hit the floor.

"Mom, it's five in the morning. School starts in three hours." I said in a bored tone, used to her errotic behavior.

Mom bent to the floor, grabbing a pot. She scrunched her nose and looked up at me. "Reece, I'm not falling for that again! I'm making some pasta! I want to hear all about your date last night with this girl!" I sighed as she filled the pot with water and set it down to boil. She reached into our pantry and scrunched her nose again. "I swear I just bought noodles," she said, confused. Mom hasn't gone shopping in a few years. I pulled the water off of the stove and dumped it out.

"You might have accidentally put them in the garage when you put the meat away."

She looked at me with a flash of clarity. "That's right! I will go get them right now!" She rushed out of the kitchen and walked through the door that leads to the garage.

I grabbed the leftover spaghetti Mrs. Peters made us for dinner from the fridge and scooped it into the same pot my mother had tried to boil water in. I turned on the stove and started warming it up when my mother came back. "I couldn't find it," she stated walking over to the stove. She peeked over my shoulder to see the pot of pasta. "Oh! Duh! I already put the noodles on heat!" She hit her head with the palm of her hand before hip checking me. "Move over! I've got this. Tell me about that beautiful girl you keep talking about."

I move, leaning my back on the counter and crossing my arms. I let myself think about Amanda and the dream I just had before Mom woke me up. I smile at the memory remembering it as our first kiss. The way the breeze blew her hair, showcasing her beautiful eyes filled with wonder over the outlook. "She's...perfect," I tell Mom with a soft voice. I continued, "She is kind to a fault. The type of person that has never met a stranger, and can talk to anyone. She finds beauty in everything and sees the good in everyone; even when they don't deserve it." I let myself feel sad. That was one of the reasons I had to let her go. I was never going to be good enough for her. She is such a beautiful soul, and deserves someone who feeds into her greatness, not someone that will hold her back; taint her beauty.

"She sounds wonderful," my mom says from the stove, picking up forks off the floor and plating the left over spaghetti, "When am I going to meet her?"

I took the plates from my mother and headed to the kitchen table. While Amanda and I were dating, I never let her come over to meet my mother...not that Mom would remember that she met her. 

I've never invited any of my friends home for that matter. I love my mom, but I felt that I was more of a parent to her than she was to me...even on her good days. Not many of my friends have met my mom.