Without Flaws | Fyodor Academy 1

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

       I've never really had a close look into what my mom did as part as her career. I only got to read her research papers like everyone else, or news articles written about her. Sure, she sometimes talked about what she was working on but when did I ever get the opportunity to have a conversation with her?

       Not often.

       So I honestly was in a bit of awe when I got to my mom's main science lab. Just like her, I had a love of science and this lab had a lot more equipment than the one at Fyodor Academy. I just hoped it wasn't too obvious that I was loving being here right now.

       Unfortunately, it was. "I see you're liking all this equipment," Mom said as she was leading me to her office.

       "That's an overstatement," I said. "It's just equipment. Nothing special."

       "Oh, come on," Mom said. "I've never seen you looking at something so lovingly before."

       "I look at my boyfriend lovingly all the time," I said. "You would know if you spent more time with me and not just talk to me whenever you need something from me."

       Mom sighed. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. I promise I'll try to spend more time with you and call you more often."

       "That's funny because you said that exact same thing at the end of Parent Orientation Day and look what happened. You still didn't answer any of my calls or texts. Correction, you did once you found out about the research I've been working on."

       Mom stopped in front of her office, turning to face me. "Parry, I'm very busy with my work. Every day, it's research after research or press conference after press conference."

       "Oh, no, I totally get it," I said. "You're too busy for your own son because work and all that is much more important. It's so important that you can't even take five minutes out of your day to answer my calls, or even call me back."

       "That isn't true," Mom said as she opened her office door. "I'm not too busy for you."

       "Could have fooled me," I muttered under my breath. Mom didn't hear it. Even if she did, she would either ignore it or deny it. Either way, it would only make me feel worse about this whole thing. All I wanted was for my parents to pay attention to me, and not just when it suited them.

       I followed Mom into her office, immediately sitting down on one of the chairs. "How long is this going to take?" I asked. "I've got something more important to do."

       "More important than working on your cancer research?" Mom asked.

       I shrugged. "It's in the hands of highly intelligent scientists. I'm technically not even needed here."

       "It's your research, Parry," Mom said. "And if that's what you think, then why did you even agree to meeting me here?"

       I grabbed Mom's yellow smiley face stress ball off her desk. I tossed it in and air and caught it, repeating that over again. "Jules thought I should be here since it's my research. You know Jules, right? My boyfriend?"

       "Yes, Parry, I met him a few weeks ago when I went to your school for parent orientation day," Mom said. "I know who your boyfriend is."

       "Oh, that's right, you actually went to parent orientation day," I said. "I forgot since you've missed every other parent orientation day."

       I tossed the stress ball in the air again but this time, Mom snatched it out of the air before I could catch it. She placed it on the desk. "This is a serious conversation, Parry."