Dripping Gold [boyxboy]

Dripping Gold {5}

"Mom, dinner is burning," I said.

"What? Well if it's burning, turn the stove off!" she called from the basement.

"Why bother now? It's too late," I said.

She hurried up the stairs, stopping to shoot me a glare before continuing on her way to turn the stove off. She checked the food and miserably tossed a lid on the pan.

"Well, you tried?" I offered.

"Shut it, you," she said. "You're no help."

"What can I say? I take after my mother," I said.

She gave me another glare and grabbed plates out of the cupboard. She slid one to me and sat across from me at the counter, setting the pan between us.

We scooped burnt food onto our plates and started eating. Mom's eyes kept flickering to the clock.

My dad was home late a lot, but that was normal. Sometimes I was surprised that my mom expected him to be home on time. Dad worked late and traveled a lot.

"So, how was school?" mom asked.

"It was fine," I said. I tried to keep these conversations short and with little detail. My mom wasn't very good at keeping things to herself. Anything I told her would get passed along to whoever she talked to next.

Mom started babbling on about her day and the things that had happened to her. She threw out names that I didn't recognize and situations that I really didn't care about, but I nodded along when it was appropriate and cracked a smile when she started to get annoyed at my lack of attention.

I finished dinner and excused myself as quickly as I could, hiding myself away in my room for the night. I laid on my bed and my eyes roamed over to my comic book shelf, wondering if I should read through something to kill time or actually do my homework for once.

My phone buzzed and I picked it up, checking the I.D. before answering. "Hey, Wally. What's up?"

"Um, well, I just..." He was stumbling through his words.

"Calm down," I said, sitting up a little, curious now. "Take a breath, Wally."

He stopped, probably taking my advice literally. "Okay, well, it sounds stupid, but I...What if I asked Five out?"

My eyebrows shot up. "And here I didn't even know you had a crush on her until just a while ago. Look at you growing up, kid."

"Maybe it was stupid," he babbled nervously. "Never mind. It's stupid. You're right."

"Hey, I didn't say it was stupid," I said. "I'm just surprised. I'll help you, whatever you need."

He was silent a beat. "Thanks, Robin. You're a really good friend, you know that?"

I smiled sadly, because I really wasn't. Wally was the kind of friend everyone should have in their life. I was the one that was no big loss.

"I hope it'll work out for you, Wally. I really do. When are you going to ask her?" I said.

"Tonight, I think. We were going to the coffee shop to study together later anyways," he said. "If it goes horribly wrong, I'll call you."