Amnesia • hemmings

1.7

That night, I picked up Vivian to take her to my house, to meet my mum. Well, to properly meet my mum.

I dressed kind of nicely, in a pair of black skinny jeans, that weren't ripped, and a plain black shirt. I knocked on her door at exactly 5:30, and Ashton answered.

"Hey, Luke!" He smiled when he saw me at the door.

"Hey, Ash." I smiled back, then he turned around quickly.

"Vivian!" He called upstairs, then turned back to face me. "Come in, she's still getting ready. My mum is in the living room if you want to sit with her, my dad is at work still."

I walked into the living room to find Mrs. Irwin sitting on a couch, read a book.

"Ah, Haddix." I said as I sat down on the couch across from her. She looked up, surprised, having not noticed me walk into the room.

"Yes, one of my favorite authors, I've read all of her books." Her face relaxed when she saw me, and she smiled.

"What's your favorite?" I asked, gesturing to the book she was reading. The book she held was called Running Out Of Time, one of the first books I read by Haddix.

"Oh, it's hard to choose. I'd say, either Double Identity or the entire, The Missing Series." She smiled. I freaked out a little when she talked about those two books.

"Really? Those are my favorites, too. I'm almost positive I've read The Missing Series about 10 times." I laughed. Before Mrs. Irwin could say anything else, Vivian came walking into the living room.

"Hey Hemmo." She smiled, walking over and sitting down next to me on the couch.

She was wearing a plain white, short-sleeved, v-neck shirt, tucked into black high-waisted shorts, and she had a white bandana with black designs wrapped around the top of her head. She only wore a little bit of black eyeliner and mascara, and bright red lipstick.

"Vivian, you didn't tell me about Luke's interest in Haddix books." Her mum said, looking to me.

"Oh yeah, huh." She smiled. "I forgot to tell you."

"Well, what time will she be back by?" Her mum asked, looking to me.

"I'll have her home by 10, Mrs. Irwin." I smiled.

"Just call me Anne, and have her back by 11." She smiled back. Man, this family smiled a lot. I like it.

-

"Mum!" I yelled when we got down the block to my house.

"Yes, Luke?" She yelled back from the kitchen. We had cleaned the house the night before, ridding it of any trash or dust anywhere. My mum had gotten a lot nicer since she had found out I had a girlfriend.

"Vivian is here!" I yelled, walking Vivian to the dining room.

"Well, let me meet her!" She said, walking out of the kitchen. Vivian walked over to my mum, and she held her hand out. My mum toon her hand, shaking it gently.

"Hi, I'm Luke's mum, you can call me Liz." She smiled.

"I'm Vivian." She smiled back, my arm still wrapped around her waist.

"Dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes, do you like spaghetti?" My mum said, starting to take the bowls and utensils from the middle of the table, setting them out on the tall round table.

"Yes, I do." Vivian replied.

"Good. You two can go watch tv in the living room, or go to the music room, Luke's room, whatever you want. I'll call you when the food is done." She smiled again, walking back into the kitchen.