Blinded by Pity (boyxboy)

Chapter 6

I stared at the empty wine glass in my hand. My mother had been going on and on about the ordeal she had the last time she went to the hair salon. I get it. It came out orange instead of blonde. It happens. Get over it. It looks great now, move on.

Jackson let out a sigh and I glared at him from across the room. You can't let her know that you aren't interested in her stories because then she'll ask questions. Questions are never good.

"So enough about that."

Finally.

"What exactly are you doing with your life, Steven?"

Jesus fucking- thanks a lot Jackson.

"What in the world is that supposed to mean, Mom?"

She scoffed. "It means exactly what I said. How are you contributing to society? You still have no job, as far as I know you haven't participated in any major charity events. Hell, you don't even go down to the soup kitchen to help out."

I eyed the bottle of wine sitting just out of my reach on the coffee table. Jackson apparently saw this and got up to refill my glass. At least he understood that no matter how annoying my mother was to him she was at least 10 times worse on me.

As he was doing so he said, "well Angela, we did recently attend a fundraiser held by the mayor to raise money for clean-"

She abruptly placed her glass on the table before speaking. "Do you seriously think that counts, Jackson?"

Jackson's jaw clenched, that is so sexy- nope. Not the right time for that.

"Why would it not count?" He filled my glass as high as possible while still keeping it reasonable. We couldn't have my mom thinking I'm an alcoholic on top of being a complete bum...

She stared at me as she spoke. "All those nice, uppity fundraisers entail is my son's overconfident husband signing a check while nothing actually gets done to help the needy."

She kills me. What in the world gave her the right...

"Mom, why don't you inform us of all the needy people you've so graciously helped." I crossed my legs and waited for her response.

She took another sip of wine. "This isn't about me. I've worked hard from the time I was 14. Plus, I'm not part of the social strata you and your husband so thoroughly enjoy."

Maybe it was the wine or maybe she had just pushed me a little too far...probably both, but I started laughing so hard I doubled over. Tears started forming in the corners of my eyes. Jackson looked at me like I had lost my mind and my mother's face grew redder after each passing second.

"You are just off your rocker! You are well off- actually, more than well off. Jackson and I paid off your house and bought your last car- that's really not even the point. The point is that you've been doing this since I was born. You parent by saying and telling, never by doing. Why does the rule 'actions speak louder than words' simply not apply to you? I'm just done with it. Get out of my house!"

My mother gripped the arm of the chair so tightly her knuckles turned white. "I certainly did not come here to be judged by my own son and his buffoon of a husband! Call me when you're ready to grow up and live in the real world, Steven. Until then, I'm done being your mother."

I feigned surprisal. "Are- are you breaking up with me?" I couldn't hold a straight face and started laughing again.

As she made her way to the door she turned back to say how disappointed she was that she had raised a child who so careless, disrespectful- the list went on and on. I stopped listening as soon as she began.