Can I Be Your Girl

16

I found my mother inside the parlor aimlessly playing a tune on the grand piano with a solemn look on her face. I smiled fondly before inserting my hands in the pockets of my shorts and ambling to the middle of the room where she sat on a piano stool. She looked up and met my gaze.

"Hi mom."

She gave me a small smile. "Hi son."

I gestured to the grand piano and smiled myself. "You're playing a sad song," I noted lightly. "Heaven Knows."

I watched as she gracefully nodded. "Rick Price," she concluded with a sublime smile on her delicate face.

I took a chair from a corner and placed it beside the piano. As I sat there patiently waiting as her fingers hovered over the piano keys, I entertained the peaceful silence before her sad melody gradually wept through the air. I pursed my lips while listening to the music that honeyed the silence and bled all over the four walls of the room. My mother was sad as she silently formed the lyrics with her mouth.

"Mom? Let's talk?" I implored when the music ended and took her small hands, enclosing them with my own.

"Aren't you going to Japan tomorrow? Have you packed?" she easily digressed, acting as if she was oblivious of my intention. I playfully growled and stomped my foot childishly which elicited a chuckle from her.

"Oh, my baby boy." She brushed my unruly hair to the side. "You're really an adult now. You probably don't need me anymore."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Yeah well, as much as I love hearing your acceptance that I no longer wet my pants, that's not the conversation I came here for."

She eyed me with narrowed eyes before huffing and turning her right cheek on me snobbishly. A second passed and she sighed. "Fine! If this conversation stops that man from pestering me, then let's."

"Mom, don't be immature," was my failed attempt at consoling her.

"I'm not!" was her quick reply with a glare that almost made me run for my life.

I squeezed her hands and pouted like a child. "Please forgive dad. He really feels bad about it."

"He feels bad? Well, I'm humiliated! He didn't even take an hour before he left me to be with that woman!"

"Because she needed him," I reasoned.

"And I didn't?"

"And that's why he's beating himself because of it. Mom, dad really is sorry, but Aunt Alicia's condition is not going for the better; we don't know what's got into her. I hope you understand that he loves you not her." I paused and smiled. "At least talk to him before I leave?"

Her bottom lip wobbled as her eyes shifted to the side avoiding me.

"Please, please, please..." I gave her a clear view of my teeth. Her lips twitched, but she fought to stop them from forming a smile.

"I know you want to..." I teased her more, tugging her arm like how I used to do when I wanted something from the store.

"Okay, okay. For you I'll talk with him."

I hooted and stood on my feet, then jumped happily as she laughed at my antics.

*****

I turned over my bed so my back was on it while my right hand held my phone to my ear. After preparing my luggage, I called my friends to discuss what to do once we land Japan.