30.9.08

setting it straight

"Why didn't you tell me?" Her mother wasn't concerned about her hand.

"What? What am I supposed to tell you?" Bex didn't like this. They brought out the worst in each other. Bex had barely done anything in the kitchen. She didn't want to chance infecting her hand.

"You and that boy."

"He's not a boy." Bex was getting testy now. Her mother made her feel she'd kidnapped a kid from the high school and was making him into her boy-toy. "He's twenty-one."

"He doesn't look a day over sixteen." Her mother gave a slight gasp.

"Well, he's older than me, what is your problem?" Bex was furious.

"I hope you're happy." Her mother's words sounded like punishment.

"I am." Bex supposed she'd have to heat up the chili her mother brought. Although, she really detested it. She didn't like her mother's southern cooking. It always made her feel fat, afterwards. It gave her gas.

"I love him." Bex confessed which even shocked herself. Here she could say it so plain to her mother, and she was frighten to even mention it to Oliver because what if wasn't true. What if she didn't even know the concept. She was sure she'd never learned it from her mother and all the marriages she'd been through. Her mother was a flirt. A flirtatious flirt which had given her a house, a lake house and lord knows what else. Really, did someone who only made muffins every Sunday morning really deserve that? She'd never worked a day in her life. It was all so unnerving.

"Obviously, he's smitten." She told her. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."'

"But I do. I do, Mom." Bex kept nodding. She wasn't going to let her mom see her sweat. "I know exactly what I'm doing." She didn't though, but her mother didn't have to know that.

"Your brother is on his way back, you know." Her mother informed her.

"I didn't think he was coming back?" He loved being a missionary in Mexico.

"Well, you're going to have to explain this to him. Your falling out with Dayton. He'll be absolutely upset to know that you're no longer married to Dayton."

"Mom!" Why did she have to live this lie? "I wish you'd never told him that. Why did you?"

"People in our family get married, Bex. They don't just live in sin." Her mother's eyes lit.

"God, Mom!" Bex shook her head, no, slamming down the container of chili on the counter. "Why are you like this? You never give up, do you?"

"I so tried my best with you," Her mother began. "Got you in to a good University. Hoped you'd find someone with a future. And look what you did? You go and fall in love at the library."

"As if Dayton was just wonderful," Bex heaved. "He was just going to work in a car garage, you know."

"Exactly, and I thought you'd wake up and realise you have to find someone who would take care of you. Really take care of you. Not..not this..kid, who can barely take care of himself."

"Here!" Bex handed her back her Tupperware container full of chili. "I don't want anything from you. Nothing!" She gave her back the groceries too. Her mother wasn't welcomed here, anymore.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bex's Mom is really not quite what I expected.

UmassSlytherin said...

living in sin????????? living with oliver would be pure heaven, imo!

excellent chapter! boooooo to bex's mom!!!

:)

L said...

Yes, boo to Bex's mom. She should fall of a cliff. >|


I really like Bex & Oliver. I don't think it'll be getting boring anytime soon. :]

Cate said...

Well I have to say that her mother needn't be over-concerned for Bex's hand. I don't think it is anything serious.
Yeah, I don't like her mother using the expression "boy" or "kid" either. It really makes Bex sound like she's got a toy boy, which she hasn't.
WOOOOOOOOO! Bex loves Oliver!!! Well done, she's said it. (Now she only needs to tell HIM) Bex needs to worry less about this whole love thing.
What? Live it sin? WTF. *shakes head* Bex's BROTHER could understand his sister "living in sin", surely.
I'm chanting "boooooooooooooooooooo" to Bex's mum with you, umassslytherin.

Aurley said...

Bex's mom... EW! :[
And nice ending~ I like it very much.
Keep up the clever writing!

Sydney said...

'he doesn't look a day over sixteen.'

just like michael cera!

Diana Coronado said...

Bex make your own life !!

Hehe

Yesha said...

didn't her mother realize that bex was living in sin when she and dayton were still living together? O_O

and lol @ smitten.