Bloom

34. frustrated t-shirts

Zephaniah

Stepping out of bed, I pressed my palms to my eyes for a brief moment before I walked over to my parents' room, seeing mum with two laundry baskets full of clean clothes.

"Zeph, hey." Mum said softly, giving me a smile as she noticed me. "Did you sleep well? Is your headache alright?" She questioned, referring to the fact that she went to church service with dad, whereas I had stayed home due my tired state, a headache included.

Sitting down onto their bed, I nodded slowly, even if the bouncing was still present. "Is okay, mumma."

"Yeah? You can always take a paracetamol, if not, okay?" She suggested, starting to fold some clothes on their bed.

I hummed, watching her. "Can I help, mum?"

Mum gave me a soft smile, briefly touching my cheek. "If you want to, Zeph. But it's totally okay if you feel too tired for it."

"I want to." I sat down on their bed, dragging one of the baskets towards me. If I could be helpful in any way at least, I'd do it. "Where's baba?"

Mum took the towels out of my basket, she knew I didn't like to touch them. She folded them quickly but neatly, impressing me. I couldn't understand how she did it. "Downstairs, grilling some chicken for your lunch tomorrow."

"Oh," I swallowed, not wanting to be reminded by Uni already. "That is sweet." I mumbled quickly, realising most students had to do it themselves, according to Ittarah. Folding some of my own boxers, I neatly piled them up and placed them at the right corner of the bed, straightening them.

Yawning, I moved onto dad's boxers, they were the same size, though he had black ones- mine were grey, so mum could tell the difference somehow. Scrunching up my nose when I held up a different one, I looked up at mum. "Baba wears briefs?"

She chuckled and glanced at me, "He does. He says his boxers roll up when he wears trousers, he doesn't like the feeling of that."

"Yuck," I whispered carefully as a joke, briefly looking at mum. "It does not happen to me."

"That's good to know, Zeph." Mum laughed softly, her dimples appearing as she did so.

I chuckled and neatly placed the pile of dad's underwear next to mine. Shirts were next, but as I attempted to fold my own- it wouldn't become as neat as I would've wanted it to be, making me grow slightly frustrated. I huffed and threw it onto the bed.

"What's up, Zeph?" Mum asked calmly, pausing as she was folding the towels still.

"Don't know how to fold it neatly." I mumbled, staring at it while tugging at my fingers.

"That's okay." She shrugged, picking up my NASA shirt. "Watch and learn," I intensely watched how she folded it, remembering which side she started on, so I could copy her actions and do it myself next time.

Finally having processed it, I tried to do it myself and within no time- a neat pile of shirts were placed on the left corner of the bed. Okay, they weren't as neat as mums, which irritated me, but I understood the technique she used.

Once mum was done as well, she placed everything back into the baskets, placing them on the floor next to their bed. Her hand made its way to my hair, softly ruffling it while she kissed my cheek for a brief moment. "Thanks, Zeph. See, your shirts look very neat."

"Yeah," I smiled slightly, feeling warm as she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug. "Thanks, mama. For explaining it to me."

"I love you."

"I love you too." I whispered, my hand getting tangled in her hair as I slowly played with her golden strands. "How was it, uhm, church?"

Mum pulled away, standing up after that. She stretched out her arms, her eyes squinting as she looked back down at me. "Good, Zeph. The girls from youth group asked where you were."