There's a Rebel in My Bed! [✓]

7. Hold Onto Sixteen Part 2/2

                                              There’s a Rebel in My Bed!

                                Chapter 7 – Hold onto Sixteen Part 2/2

                  Song of the Chapter – Hiding my Heart – Adele (2011)

 

 

There was a knock at the door.

Adele’s Hiding My Heart was still blaring softly through my darkened room, lit only by a lamp that’s light bulb was nearing the end of its life span.  My eyes opened slowly from my curled up position in my bed.

“Fuck off.” I cussed.

“Excuse me?” Mom’s voice spoke, muffled on the other side.

My eye twitched once I heard it. “Oh, my bad. Come in, mom.”

The door opened silently and she slipped in. She came in with a night gown on, curlers in her hair and a cup of tea in her hand with smoke still piping out of it.

“How you holding up?” she asked sincerely, resting the mug on the night stand and sitting gently on the bed.

“I’ve been better.” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

Mom didn’t know why I was sad. She just wrote it off as some teenage angst problem which I happily went along with. It was better than telling her the truth. It might kill her.

She placed a gentle hand on my back. “Your friends are still throwing you that party you know.”

I looked up at her before resting my chin on my folded hands, still lying comfortably on my stomach. “I don’t feel like celebrating my birthday.”

“They spent a lot of time planning it Evan. It’s only fair that you go.”

I scoffed, rising up and sitting up. “Why didn’t I know but Evelyn did? I mean, our birthdays are kind of the same day.”

Mom smiled a little. “Evelyn broke Chris and he told her. She promised not to tell you.”

I rolled my eyes, bringing my knees to my chest. “Keeping secrets isn’t exactly her strong suit.”

Mom got this glint in her eyes and then it hit me. I just noticed what I had said.  My eyes widened a little and before I could change the topic she was already opening her mouth to ensure we stayed on it.

“Evan,” I sighed. It was unavoidable. “Ev told me you’re not a virgin anymore.”

I stayed silent, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t know what to say.” I said, chuckling a little.

“I wish you’d tell me I was wrong.”

I looked at her this time. Right into her eyes that resembled Evelyn’s heavily. “Why?”

“Because I would have hoped you would have waited a little longer. Virginity is sacred in this day and age Evan. Not a lot of teenagers your age have it in tact. It makes you special.”

The Adele song switched as the atmosphere in the stuffy room grew more depressing.

She placed a hand on my shoulder. “I still love you though. I think nothing of it but please Evan, you’re going to be sixteen, hold onto being a child a little while longer for me and your dad.”

My gut twisted a little when I heard dad. We weren’t going to have some big funeral service that a man of his stature and professional status commanded. In his will, he specifically asked to be cremated and have a small, simple ceremony with his immediate family. He asked for it to be on my birthday which wasn’t that far away.