All I Ever Wanted

Chapter Twenty-Two

Phoebe and I walk down the street just behind Mike. She’s biting her lip to keep from laughing and I smirk at his back. We pass a shop with a closed sign in the window. Mike looks to his right and sees his reflection in the glass.

He pauses for a few seconds staring in shock at the image reflected in the window. If his eyes get any wider I think his eyes will pop out of his skull. Then he turns to face me with frustration. "Why did you do it?" He points his finger at me.

I smirk and roll my eyes. He only wears a tie because his mother wanted him to. He only listens to his mother because he's scared of her. But really? That woman from yesterday was timid, not intimidating.

Mike gives me a curious look.

I smile back "What?"

Mike shakes his head "Nothing." He then continues to take off his tie and throw it in the bin. Now it’s my turn to give him a curious look. He explains "If I kept it I would most likely end up wearing it again. I thought I'd save myself the embarrassment."

"Your mothers scary enough you would wear the clown tie?" I ask sceptically.

"No." He answers. "You however are another matter."

I laugh and hold out a piece of black fabric embodied with little paw prints. "I don't want you to wear the clown tie. Phoebe wants you to wear the puppy tie." He looks at me and I look back.

He takes the tie.

The restaurant isn't the best but the prices might make you think otherwise. We've been sitting here for fifteen minutes and our food still hasn't come. My eyes widend when I saw the menu. The cheapest thing on there is enough to buy a diamond necklace.  Mike's mother must be rich. I glance over my menu to observe Mikes mother. She introduced herself as Eve but the label on the handbag says Evelyn. The label is just in case the bag ever becomes lost and also holds a phone number. The handbag is beige and looks expensive. Perhaps Evelyn just won the lottery?

She tosses her unnaturally straightened, blond hair over her shoulder. It’s such a light colour its almost white. Her eyes connect with mine and I notice they're a bright blue. I see where Mike got his eye colour from. Evelyn's eye colour is the only thing about her that isn't false or altered. Her eyes are her most beautiful feature.

Her timid self seems to evaporate and she asks in a hard tone "Why are you here?"

I shrug not wanting to tell this woman the real reason Phoebe and I are here. "We just wanted to tag along."

Evelyn applies lip gloss and it doesn't appear she's listening to me. I study her face. When I first walked in I thought Evelyn much too young to be Mike’s mother. Now I'm closer I see the lines in her face and the mask of make-up covering them.

She puts away her lip gloss and turns to me. Her cold demeanour is still in place. "Well next time you think to tag along honey, don't. Be less selfish and don't inflict your ugly mug upon others. It's not nice." What a way to speak a child.

Mike winces and mouths to me 'sorry'. He obviously thinks she’s offended me in some way and is trying to make up for it. He moves to defend me but I shake my head slightly.

I lean forwards. "Evelyn. I understand you are jealous of me. You are upset you need a layer of make-up and hair dye to make yourself look anything close to as good as I do. I forgive you." I lean back. Her face twists from shock to anger and she swings her bag towards my face. I already knew what she was going to do so I catch the bag in my left hand. "That’s child abuse Evelyn." I inform in a sickly sweet voice. The bag slips off her shoulder and she stalks out of the restaurant without it.

I open the bag and take out some notes. I leave some on the table and leave the rest inside the bag. I sort through to find lip gloss, eye shadow and other expensive make-up items, some unused. I pull out some forms. I scan through. "Seems your father left your mother lots of money in his will." I tell Mike. I give the cash to Mike and some unused lipgloss to Phoebe. "Today’s your lucky day. Come on, let’s get out of here."

Back at the house Mike tells us off “I want to be on good terms with my mom Emma! What did you have to say that for?”

I scowl at him. “Why? She’s mean and rude. Why would you want to her ever again?”

Mike looks at me unconvinced. “She’s going through a tough time! Cut her some slack. She’s my mother she gets a second chance.”

I laugh. Where have I heard that one before? I look at Mike pityingly, if he wants to play that card there is nothing I can say that will make him change his mind. “Fine.” I smile insincerely and leave the room. What Mike does is none of my business anyway. People let you down, so choose who you trust carefully. I don’t trust Evelyn or my mother or my father. However I trust Phoebe and Mike. I know they won’t let me down.

I look out the bedroom window. It faces onto the street and I can see every car that drives down the street. I’m looking for a sleek black truck with a man at the wheel. I’ve convinced myself I will never see it again, but I can’t help but look. If by chance it does show up, Phoebe will rush over and sit on the plush leather. The car will drive away to a destination unknown and Phoebe may never come back.

I push the thoughts out of my head and replace them with positive ones. Somehow, everything’s going to go just right.