Hot Chocolate || Malcolm Wilkerson ✔

Chapter 7

"I didn't think you were going to show up." Lois says, folding her arms across her chest.

Malcolm shrugs, shuffling around a little, not meeting his mother in the eye. "I didn't think I was going to either." He says. "But I'm here now."

Lois stares at him, nodding as she looks over him closely. "What's with the hair?" She asks.

"I've just been too busy with work and school to get it cut." He says, which isn't a lie. He has been too busy to worry about getting a haircut.

She nods, seeming to accept that answer. "Well it's good to finally see you again, Malcolm." She says, moving out of the doorway to let him inside.

Though, Malcolm makes no move to go inside. He's still got to introduce Chelsea to his mother before he can go inside. Just hopefully his mother will like her. If she doesn't, well they'll just be going straight back home without so much as a hello to the rest of the family.

It's not like Chelsea is his girlfriend or anything though. She's just a friend, so hopefully things will go okay.

"Uh, mom?" Malcolm starts. "I want to introduce you to someone first."

He doesn't look over at his mom as he turns to Chelsea so he's got no idea of her reaction to this, and can only hope that she'll react fine to it. Grabbing Chelsea's hand, he brings her into view of his mother so she can meet her, all the while praying that his mother won't explode.

As Chelsea comes into his mother's view, Malcolm finally looks over at her, discovering that she looks surprised to find that he's brought someone with him. He also finds himself worrying about what she's going to say as she looks over at him, waiting for him to talk.

"Malcolm, who is this?" Lois asks, looking between Malcolm and the stranger next to him. She wasn't expecting this.

Malcolm looks over at Chelsea, before turning back to his mother. "Mom, this is Chelsea Barton." He says. "She's a friend of mine."

She better not react terribly to this....

"Hi." Chelsea says, waving a little, as she begins to feel a little intimidated by the woman standing in front of her, and staring at her.

She supposes that this must be what Malcolm was referring to. Though she's still not convinced that she and the rest of Malcolm's family are as bad as he says they are.

"Well, I didn't expect you to be bringing a guest." Lois says, looking towards Malcolm, before turning back to Chelsea, holding out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Lois." She says, as Chelsea shakes her hand cautiously. "If I knew that Malcolm would be bringing a friend from college with him then I would've cleaned up the house a little more."

No she wouldn't have. Malcolm knows for a fact that she wouldn't have done that. The house is constantly a mess, and that's not likely to change.

"That's okay." Chelsea says. "And, I'm not actually a friend from college. I work at the Starbucks he regularly goes to, and I'm usually the one that serves him."

Malcolm looks over at her. Even though it's the truth, he didn't particularly want his mother knowing that he goes to Starbucks regularly. Not that he really cares what his mother thinks about what he does with his own money.

"Oh, well okay then." Lois says, surprise to hear that her son regularly goes into Starbucks. Though she can clearly see why, only she's not too impressed that he's wasting his money there. "Come on in then."

She stands out of the doorway, and both Malcolm and Chelsea follow her inside.

Malcolm has to fight the urge to run out of there as soon as he steps foot inside. All he wants to do is run out of there and never return.