The Girl in Blue

8- The Girl Gets Nervous

Sutton

"Mom. I promise that I'm eating healthy," I say into my phone as I'm headed to the union for lunch the next day. "Fruits and veggies, the whole nine yards."

"Are you sure?" She wonders skeptically. "What did you have for breakfast this morning?"

Leftover pizza, I think to myself, but just to appease my mom, I tell a little white lie. "Fruit salad, the healthiest breakfast there is."

"I know that you're lying," She sighs. "I'm just worried, you know. Your metabolism will slow down and all of this junk food will catch up to you."

"You'll still love me when I'm fat," I assure her. "But I do go to the gym, really. When I have time, at least. I run on the treadmill and I use the elliptical and everything. I'm not completely useless."

"Alright, well at least I've warned you, that's all that I can do, I guess. How are your classes going?" She changes the subject.

"Classes are fine," I assure her and that's the truth. The semester just started though so it only goes downhill from here. My parents are both professors at Brown University meaning that they both value academia very much and they've always put school first for all three of their children. They always insist that we strive for excellence which is very intimidating and it's a good thing that my sister and I went so far away for school so that they can't see how truly mediocre their oldest children have become.

"Just fine?" She echoes and I can practically hear her eyebrows raising to the top of her forehead. "What are your grades?"

"It's the beginning of the semester," I remind her. "My grades will go up and down at least five times before exams."

"Okay, alright, I'll stop badgering you about it," My mom concedes. I had class on the other side of campus so it's a pretty long walk to the union and it's cold today so I'm grateful that I'm wearing a thick red sweater today but my boyfriend jeans cut off short and my ankles are freezing so I'm speed walking as fast as possible to make it to the union.

"I'd appreciate that," I assure her. "Have you talked to Lana lately? She's starting a huge film project that she's pretty excited about."

"She talked to your father about it, I heard about it secondhand," She says. "It sounds exciting but she's never done well with partner work when it comes to films, you know. She really likes to have control over every aspect of her creations."

"I know but she also knows that that's not realistic and she's not going to make it in the real world by being a one woman show so she's getting over it," I assure her. "And it helps that her partner is apparently really cute and talented."

"Cute?" She wonders curiously.

"That's what she said."

"Please tell me that she's not sleeping with him," My mom mumbles. "Or does she actually like him?"

"Neither, she just thinks that he's cute," I say. My parents both know that both of us have had some one night stands because we tell our parents almost everything, mostly our mom who then tells our dad. Of course, they're not happy about it but they recognize that we're adults and that we can make our own decisions. My mom sees it as her job to make sure that we're as educated, safe, and healthy as possible. She also worries for Lana due to her lack of long term relationships and hopes that she doesn't get stuck in the casual sex lifestyle forever. "She's got her hands full already."

"Okay, I won't ask what that means," She decides. "Your brother misses you. But he won't come to the phone because he won't admit that he misses you. I'll tell him that you said hi though.