Comfort

My House

(925 words)

I just got back home. I hugged my mum when she opened the door.

"Hey, you're back! What have you been up to?" She said greeting me.

"Hey, oh just helping Grian with his cat. Pearl went missing." I said calmly.

"Goodness!" She said worried.

"Oh we found her, it's fine now." I reassured.

"That's great, I'm glad you were there to help!"

"So, I have a favor to ask." I said settling in.

"Hmm?" She questioned curiously.

"Would you stay here and take care of everything for, let's say, 6 days..." I said cautiously, petting an excited Benji.

She looked at me, well it was more a glare.

"You're lucky I'm able to take off of work easily."

"So you will?!" I asked excitedly.

"Now hold on... Why? What are you doing?"

I was kind of scared to answer that, nor did I know how.

"I'm going to the Bahamas, with Grian..." I said lightly.

Hearing it out loud, it's sounds bad, and crazy.

"What?" My mum questioned.

"I'm going to—"

"No, no I heard you, but what?" She cut me off.

"He had an extra ticket and he was going to take someone else, but... Something came up and I offered to go and he agreed." I explained.

"So, you already made the plans without a house-sitter." She said disappointed.

"Yeah... I'm sorry."

"No, you saw your opportunity to go to the Bahamas and took it. I've taught you well." She smiled.

I laughed and hugged her, "Thank you!"

"Yeah yeah. One issue though, you and Grian have already spent a lot of time together, you sure you two will be alright?"

"What do you mean?" I said ending the hug.

"Well, when you spend too much time with anyone, weird things can happen. Fights, arguing, or—"

"Oh, it's me and Grian. I'm sure we'll be fine." I said not letting her finish.

She chuckled a bit, "Alright. So when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning..." I said quietly.

"Go pack." She sighed, sending me away.

"Thanks again!" I said heading out.

It was nice to be back home, my own clothes, shower, house. I should enjoy it while I'm here. I gracefully packed everything, dancing to my Spotify playlist around my house. When I finished, I smelled food, the familiar smell made my mouth water, mum made dinner. I walked into the kitchen, still a little sweaty from packing and dancing.

"Wow, I haven't smelled your cooking in forever..." I smiled.

"Well, you've been working so hard recently. You deserve a break." Mum smiled back, finishing setting the table.

I sat at the table and grabbed some of everything, mashed potatoes, corn, chicken. Mum was chuckling at me.

"Speaking of you working so hard, how much time do you have outside of work?" She asked.

"More than you think. I'm basically self-employed mum, I can take care of myself." I replied.

"No, I mean your social life." She continued.

"I have all the hermits and tons of friends outside of work." I asked confused.

"Okay, no." She sighed annoyed, "I mean, your love life..."

"What?" I asked, realizing her point.

"You're not getting any younger. I'm not saying you need to get married or anything, I just want you to be happy. And love is an experience to say the least, I hope you get to have that." She said sternly, cutting up her food.

"Right, well... I just haven't found anyone that I'm, interested in."

"What are you interested in?" She asked, squinting at me.

"Right now, food." I said stuffing my face.

Relationships never have been a worry or concern of mine. Sure, I've dated people, felt things for some... But currently, I'm happy where I am. It's also difficult to have a relationship with my job.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying your dinner. But you also seem to be enjoying your time with Grian." She said taking her first bite, smirking.

I choked a little, "Excuse me?"

She laughed and then swallowed her food, "Look, it doesn't take a genius to see how happy you are around him."

"Yeah, that's because he's my friend." I retorted.

"Alright. Have fun on your vacation then." She said snickering.

"We will." I shook my head.

We finished our dinner silently, not just because our last conversation, but also because the food was too good to speak. Once we finished, we could talk again.

"So, did you finish packing?" Mum asked.

"Yea." I replied.

"Okay, make sure you sleep, you spoon.  You have to get up early."

I laughed at her, still being my mum.

We cleaned up our mess from dinner, I said goodnight and goodbye to her in case I didn't get to see her again in the morning. I took a shower and finally made it to bed. Trying to sleep was a struggle, but I'm not worried if I sleep well, I'm going to get jet-lag anyway. My mums words were stuck in my head, about my love life, and, Grian...

Me and Grian have been spending quite some time together recently, but that doesn't mean anything. I scrolled though the comments on my video I recorded at Grian's, giving up on sleeping. People were wondering why I was there, I never did explain in the video, just stated I was there. May have been a bad idea in hindsight... I didn't read that many when most of the top comments said things like 'Grumbo has sailed away.' The comments usually help me sleep, but not tonight.