My Buddy Archie [1]

25*..

I tuned out of Vince and Brendon conversation when my eyes flickered to the post-it note on my desk. It’d been sitting there for almost three weeks now, staring at me. Archie’s mum’s number was written on it with Maria Coleman above it. I frowned at it. Archie Horan sounds better then Archie Coleman…

“Niall, sure you don’t want to come out to lunch with us?” Vince said. “We’re going for ribs.”

I shook my head, “Bring some back for me.”

“Suit yourself.” He and Brendon left the office, leaving me alone, finally.

The post-it note was ripped off my desk and I held it in my hand as I told myself to make a decision—now or never. I mean, I had to call her. Archie said he wanted to meet her, and I can’t just tell him I’ll do something and not do it. That would be lying and I don’t want to teach him to be like that. But then again, I still really, really don’t want to talk to this woman. I hate her. Four years have gone by and she just now want to see him? Where has she been? Why now?

I ran my hands over my face. I have to call her—I just do and I know it, no matter how much I don’t want to.

With a sigh, I pulled my phone out and called this…this bitch…

“Hello?”

“Uh…hey, this is Niall.”

“Oh! Oh my god, hello!”

“Yeah, hey…”

There was an awkward silence.

“So,” I sighed. “You said in your letter you wanted to see Archie…”

“Yes, I do. I miss him. How’s he doing?”

“He’s…” he’s fucking great no thanks to you. “He’s well.”

She laughed, “That’s wonderful. Oh, he’s probably a lot bigger now, huh? What’s he like?” The fact that she was asking me what her own child was like, so casually, was making my blood boil. She clearly wasn’t understanding the severity of the situation.

Ignoring her question, I said, “He told me he wants to see you too. So, when would be a good time for you?” I was talking through my teeth and I hope she could notice. I hope she sensed that I was forcing myself to keep from hanging up on her.

“Um…how about this weekend? Sunday? Does he like parks? We could go to the park.”

“It’s cold,” I snapped. “He doesn’t like being cold.”

She paused for a moment, “Oh.”

I sighed again, rubbing my temple, “There’s a Rec Center near my house. We could go there.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Could you text me the address?”

“Sure,” I quickly hung up and sent the text. There was no reason for us to talk any longer; I’ll save my real questions for when I see her in person. “Fuck,” I mumbled.

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On Wednesday I told Archie that we were going to see his mum in a few days, and just like the first time, it killed me to see how happy he got. I told myself he was only excited because she had the 'mum' title; when he actually sees her, he’ll freeze up like he usually does with strangers and keep his distance. It’s just the ‘mum’ part he likes—not her specifically. He doesn’t even know her.

And yet, he kept asking me questions about her, what she was like, what color her hair was, if she like fucking macaroni…he wanted to know anything and everything about her. A cruel part of me imagined his reaction if I told him she didn’t want him at one point. Would he cry? Would he even understand what that meant? I don’t know. But I just wanted to tell him something that would make him remember that she may be his biological mum, but other than that, she’s nothing.