Ardor

Chapter 2

"Ardor Blair Hollander!" I heard someone say from the kitchen. I slowly closed the front door and my eyes, hoping that if I didn't see her, she wouldn't see me.

Wrong.

My mother walked out of the kitchen in her pajamas, arms crossed over her chest.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

I began to think of ways to get myself out of this situation when her brown eyes landed on mine. She shook her head and sighed.

"Ardor, why?" She asked, her voice soft. Taken aback at how motherly she sounded that I almost fell. I peered wearily into her eyes for signs of anger but found none. Why was she being so nice? Geeze, eat a Snicker. You're not you when you're angry. Why wasn't she yelling?

"Why... why what?" I asked gauging her emotions. She shook her head and sighed.

"Every Fridays? Yes. Every god damn Fridays you come home late without answering any of my calls or texts or voicemails! This is an ongoing pattern, Ardor!" She yelled, running her hands through her shoulder-length brown locks.

Now, that's the mother I know so well.

My heart began to beat rapidly. What the hell was I going to say? There was this cute guy that I've recently been hooking up for the past month and he really wanted me to come over so I did and shit happened but its okay, mom. I'm here now.

"Well you see, mom, I was super busy today with soccer practice and then tutoring..."

"Oh, save it," my mother interrupted walking towards me slowly, her eyes narrowing. God my mom was like Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, and the "Eye Spy Book" all in one. She constantly has the urge to get to the bottom of a situation, even if it didn't involve her.

"No, mom. Look. I know I always have some lame excuse to say, but this time I'm serious," I said slowly making my way towards the couch and sitting down. Man, I didn't know how tired I was until I actually sat. Surprisingly, she followed and sat down across.

"So soccer practices, huh?" She asked with a hint of a smile playing on her lips. I looked at her and nodded slowly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?" she asked again catching that I was unsure of myself.

"Yup," I answered back confidently. Damn right I went to soccer practice...

"Wow," she said quietly, mostly to herself. "You must be working extra hard then?"

Be calm, Ardor. Just answer the question.

"Yeah, I am. Being captain is stressful, you know?"

"Yeah," she said casually putting her hair into a ponytail and laughing, genuinely laughing. Wow who knew lying was this easy?

"Almost as stressful as seeing your daughter come home with hickeys on her neck. The hard life, huh?"

Damn.

I quickly moved my hands to my neck and looked down. How the fuck did I forget? I glanced back up to see my mother looking back at me with no emotion. This was so embarrassing.

Damn, Josh for doing this to me.

Damn, me for actually liking it.

"Go to your room, Ardor,"

"But mom, look I-

"Go before I lose my temper because I'm this close," she said holding up her index and thumb finger to prove her point.