Drowning

Chapter 31:

About 15 minutes later, Ezra pulled up to my house. The ride was silent and awkward. We exchanged a couple of sideways glances on the way, but neither one of us attempted to speak. I knew this is the end of our little fling; I just hoped that we could start acting normal together when we saw each other again. I didn't know what normal was with him, but I was hoping it was nothing like what just happened in the kitchen. Ezra had to be unstable.

My Mom's minivan was in the driveway. The back hatch was open and I could see piles of groceries inside. My Mom walked back out to the van and started fumbling, trying to pick up too many bags at once. Ezra watched my Mom struggling for a few seconds and then shut off his car.

"What are you doing?" I asked. My heart was racing.

He didn't answer me. He just climbed out of the car and started towards the back of the van. I jumped out of the car behind him, racing to try to find out why he didn't just drop me off and then bolt.

My Mom looked up at him and smiled. "Ezra, it's so nice to see you again."

"Hey, Stacie." He returned her smile. Ezra had turned on his "Mom" charm. "You want some help with those?"

"Really?" She beamed back at him.

Ezra had her fooled. He was really good at this. This dark, bad boy pretended to be all sugar and honey. He pushed his hand through his hair and back off his face. He knew I was watching his every move.

"Here, how about you go back inside and I can get the rest of these." He took the straps from the groceries out of her hands.

"Thank you."

Mom finally looked over and saw me standing behind him. Her face looked a little confused at the sight of me in unfamiliar clothes. She looked between us, trying to figure out what we were doing together. My Mom was too sharp to fall for any lie I was trying to quickly fabricate in my head.

"Hey, Mom," I hugged her quickly, trying to buy myself a few more moments to think. She ran her hands over my back and paused when she realized I wasn't wearing a bra. The thought never even crossed my mind that I didn't have one on. I had a large chest, so there was no way I would have gotten away without her knowing. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed hard before pulling away to glare at me disapprovingly.

"Hey Peanut, what are you two up to?" She looked suspiciously between us, assessing the situation some more. She was sniffing this out; I could feel it. It was time to start weaving another web of lies to someone I loved to keep my secrets. If I put enough truth in the story, maybe I could pass it off as slightly believable.

"JD drove me to that concert last night. It ended pretty late and I forgot my keys, so I went back to the band house instead of coming home." The story came rushing out of my mouth too fast.

My Mom furrowed her brow looking down at the baggy clothes and too big socks. She was about to open her mouth to say something when Ezra jumped in to help.

"Some jerk at the concert spilled beer on Riley. Aiden let her borrow some clothes when we got back to the house. Everyone had to go to work this morning except me, so I told her I would drive her home since she didn't have her car." Ezra looked down at my Mom and flashed her an award-winning smile.

Relief washed through my mother's eyes when she heard Ezra say it was Aiden's clothes I was in. Ezra and I just lied to my Mother and she actually believed it. That was a first. I had always been a terrible liar and never got away with anything. He was a terrible influence on me.

"Sounds fun." She said with the smile returning to her face. The sparkle returned to her green eyes.

I reached in the back of the van and grabbed a few bags. I walked side by side with my Mom up to the door, with Ezra following close behind us.