'What is for tea?' A slim figure appears at the door, sliding slightly on the wood, before steadying herself on the breakfast bar. The woman the other side of the counter looks up from her phone, smiling at the girl.
'What do you want?' Her daughter thinks for a moment, looking around the kitchen. 'It has to be something that your brother and sister will eat, I don't fancy any more fights with Maddie about dinner.' Her older daughter laughs, knowing what mealtimes with Maddie was like. 'You and Theo, you guys were perfect. You eat anything, Maddie on the other hand.' The woman pauses. 'What do you eat at uni?'
'Pasta bake, I sometimes make a vegetarian shepherds pie, you know the usual. I'm not as good of a cook as you though mum.' She tells her, deciding that it's better to tell her something rather than the fact that she eats nothing besides pot noodles and toast. She just doesn't have the time, anyway caffeine makes up part of a healthy diet, right? 'Can you do a spag bol?' She queries, she likes that. Just as she is about to turn around, to go and watch some telly, her mum stops her, grabbing at her arm.
'What is that?' The red-head demands, as the young woman stops in her tracks, internally begging that this isn't going to happen. She had been back home a couple of days, Dianne had noticed something off about her daughter. She hadn't been able to put her finger on what it was, not until now.
'This?' She asks, pointing to the bracelet on her wrist. 'This is my brace-'
'Ruby Amelia Sugg, you know I don't mean the bracelet.' Her mother sighs, moving nearer her daughter. 'Please say that isn't what I think it is?'
'It depends.' The younger woman says, grinning. 'If your talking about my tracksuit bottoms, I haven't really been to Bali. Emma found th-'
'I'm not talking about the fucking tracksuit bottoms.'
'Don't swear mum.' Her daughter reminds her. She knows it's probably not a great idea to talk back to her mum, but her cheeky personality couldn't resist winding up her mum. 'You don't let me, double standards.'
'I swear to God Ruby, you are walking a very, very fine line. Now let me see your ear.' The girl shrugs back a little, as her mum grabs her hair. Her daughter manages to maintain the façade, even when her mum is prodding at her ear. 'When did you get it done?' She goes to open her mouth, to come up with a lie. Just as if her mum knows, 'Don't you dare lie.'
'My birthday.' It rolls off her tongue with ease. 'I went with Zara, at that little hairdressers.' She tells her mum, this is only half true. She did go to the hairdressers with Zara, around her birthday. She just didn't get the piercing done then.
'I don't believe you.'
'Well I did, it's not my fault it's taken till now for you to figure I had a piercing.'
'Please say you haven't got a tramp stamp either.'
'Hypocritical mum?' The younger girl replies completely outraged. 'You have a tattoo on the back of your neck, everyone can see it.'
'That's not the same thing Ruby.'
'But it is though, it's not my fault you've only just realised I have a second lobe piercing. It's not even a cartilage.' She had wanted one, but she chickened out at the last moment, deciding that she would test the waters before she rocked the boat. 'And no, I don't have a piercing. Not that it is any of your business if I did have one.'
'You know I regret the tattoo, now I'm older.' That was true, she didn't hate it, but she did question what she was thinking when she went to the parlour. Maybe she would like it more if it was somewhere else. 'Either way, it's irrelevant. You are my daughter, what I say goes.' The girl shakes her head in utter contentment.
'Mum, I'm eighteen. I go to university, whatever I do or don't do isn't any of your business.' She points out.
'I pay your rent.' She's met with a shrug,
'Stop paying it then, if you are going to lord it over me. I have a job. Anyway, I did it months ago.' The young woman pushing this story, purely because it means that she can tell her mum that she is blind. This wasn't quite the case, he had been drinking and booked an appointment to get her ears pierced, when she came to it she thought it was a good idea. And she really loved it, it didn't matter what her family thought, as long as she was happy with it.
'What's all these raised voices for?' A stern voice comes into the room, 'What has happened?'
'Your daughter has got another piercing.'
'For God sake Ruby, why did you mutilate your body like that. I don't see why you wanted one in the first place, but two?' The girl rolls her eyes.
'Mum has a tattoo.' She argues, staring daggers at her mother, she didn't need this sort of drama in her life. 'Why is me having a piercing worse? If I hate it, I can always take it out.' She's getting annoyed now, she knew they would overreact. It's not even that bad, it is literally just a piercing. 'Get over it. It is one little piece of jewellery.' She sighs. 'Why is it such a big deal? I bet grandma didn't go ape shit when mum got her tattoo.'
'I was twenty-eight.'
'I'm eighteen, we were both adults. What was the issue?'
'I was a lot older than you.' She retorts, as her daughter rolls her eyes.
'You shouldn't have a say in what I do, or I don't do now mum, I am an adult.'
'I'm your mother.' She replies, studying her daughters face. She doesn't know why she's got an issue with the piercing; her daughter is right. 'I guess it's a big decision to make, such an adult decision. I guess I don't like my baby girl growing up. How do I know you went to a safe place? Some of those places are dodgy.'
'It's okay mum.'
'But please don't ever wear two earrings at once when I'm around, I think it looks chavvy.' She kisses the girl on the head. 'And there was no way you did that before you went to uni.' She grins.
A/N Thoughts??? Also wanna put it out there that I have nothing against tattoos and piercings, this is inspired by the fact that I got talked into getting another lobe piercing and I have yet to face my mum and dad, and they are going to go mental if they realise... ALSO thanks guys for 7K reads on Colder than Ice and 2K on this. I am literally in shock, I thought like five people would read it. I am shocked...
