phil
i'm awoken in the night by an insistent knock on the door.
i groggily get out of bed, shoving my glasses on my face. lily starts barking, waking an irritated dan.
"shut up, you annoying dog!" he shoves a pillow over his head.
i open the front door and am faced with my mum.
"phil! how are you sweetie? can i come in?" she greets cheerily. i stumble backward, letting her inside. what is she doing here? is she aware that it's three in the morning?
she sits on the couch, hands folded in her lap, while i turn on the lamps. she's acting as if nothing is wrong, as if this is all completely normal.
"oh, a dog. phil, you never told me you got a dog!" mum looks at lily with a weird expression. if lily could glare, she'd be doing that. she keeps growling lowly, backing up into her cage.
"mum, what're you doing here? it's the middle of the night." i respond, annoyed. i'd really like to get back to sleep, where dan's probably already fallen back to. my mum keeps toying with her fingers, looking everywhere but my face. her eyes flit from the tv to the bookshelf to lily's cage.
silence.
"mum. i'd like to get back to sleep now. can this wait until morning or is it urgent?" i impatiently shift my weight from one foot to the other.
mum's eyes widen as she looks behind me.
"phil? what's going on?" dan's whiny, tired voice sounds from behind me. he's rubbing his eyes and hasn't yet assessed the scene in front of him.
as soon as he's fully opened his eyes, his widen as well.
"mum, i'd like for you to meet my.. friend, dan. dan, my mum." my voice is noticeably nervous. dan takes a step forward, awkwardly, and outstretches his hand.
"hello, i'm dan. phil's, um, friend."
my mum looks from me to dan, me to dan, me to dan. anxiousness and fear build up inside me. i'm not sure why, he's just a friend. but it's the look on my mum's face as she stares at the two of us, in our pajamas and dan shirtless, shows exactly what she's thinking.
"oh, hello. i'm phil's mum." she breaks out of her shell of shock long enough to introduce himself. they give a firm handshake and she stands, probably to leave.
"phil, i'm going to be in town for a.. little bit. call me tomorrow, okay? we need to talk, but not now. i love you, sweetie. goodnight." she steps out the door as quickly as she'd came. i lock the door behind her, and the worry sets in.
what'd she mean, she's going to be in town for a bit? where's my father? has something important happened? is her reasoning for leaving because she thinks i'm with dan? that we're sleeping together?
dan looks over at me, worry on his face as well.
"are you okay? what did she mean? is she upset that i'm here? because i can leave, i don't want to upset your mum."
"no! no, don't leave, you're fine. i don't know what she meant. i'll just have to call her in the morning. besides, this is my flat, i can have over friends if i want. i'm a grown adult." the last part comes out jokingly, and dan giggles a little.
"okay, well, i'm going to back to bed then. coming with?" he starts towards the bedroom, his voice trailing through the hall.
i decide not to worry about what my mum said. for now.
author's note:
the suspense
