On Thin Ice

44

"Elijah..."

I groaned, rolling over and burying my head in the pillow.

"Elijah," Fox's raspy voice repeated.

He shook me awake, causing me to turn my head toward him while keeping it on the pillow and open my eyes. It was then that I heard a faint buzzing coming from the floor.

"Your phone keeps going off," he said.

I leaned over the side of the bed and picked my phone up off the floor where it must have fallen last night. Luckily, I checked the caller ID before blindly answering.

"It's my mom," I told him, sitting up and rubbing my eye with the back of my hand. "My head hurts. It's too early to deal with her."

My hangover wasn't too bad but it was bad enough that I didn't want to add speaking with my mother to it. I decline the call and silenced the ringer, moving to put the phone down on the nightstand. Just as I was about to place it down, her name popped up again.

Fox released an unsatisfied groan from his throat as he glanced over my shoulder at the caller ID.

"What the hell could that woman possibly want from you?" he asked, his tone dark and still full of sleep.

I couldn't find the answer to that. All my mother ever wanted from me was to be her perfect son and part of me still wished that she would come to her senses and love me for how I was now. It felt slightly fatuous to still have that desire for my mother's affection. I was eighteen, a legal adult, I didn't need my mother anymore, especially since I had integrated into my father's family.

Despite that, there was still a slight pull on my heart every time I thought of her. There was a weaker part of me that wanted to allow myself to fall into her trap with the hope that she had changed her mind even though the smarter part of me, cynical as it may be, knew she hadn't.

I allowed the call to go to voicemail and in less than five seconds she was calling again. My thumb hovered over the screen, ready to answer or decline.

"Don't answer it, Elijah," Fox said in a stern tone, sitting up so that we were shoulder to shoulder. "She doesn't deserve you."

"What if something is wrong?" I asked in a small voice as I continued staring down at the screen.

I had everything I wanted; I felt at home with my family, I had a group of friends that actually liked me, and I had Fox. But the thought of my mother actually needing me was enough for me to want to try again with her, to see if she could love me for how I am now.

"It's not your problem," Fox tried to assure me, placing his hand on my bare shoulder.

"What if Dave hurt her?" I wondered, a horrified look on my face as I turned to Fox.

He didn't answer as she called back again. I couldn't blame him, really. It was a tough situation. What if he told me not to answer and she was actually in danger? What if I answered and she pulled me into her trap again?

Before she got sent to my voicemail again, my thumb was sliding over the screen before I could stop myself.

"Mom?" I answered, my tone slightly panicked as I tried and failed to keep an even tone.

"Elijah, I need you to come over," she replied.

"Is everything okay?" I asked her, feeling Fox's eyes intently staring at the side of my face.

"I have some news to share with you," she vaguely responded. "It's urgent."

"What is it?"

"I need to speak to you in person about it," Mom insisted.