All the little thins about you and me

The Call

I was mostly a calm person, even in the most dire situation I somehow manage to keep my calm, I considered it my winning quality. I give off a blissful sigh and recline back on my couch.

Finally, I can relax a little, after all the stress I've gone through for the exams, being in this state of laziness is a true bliss. I lean back on my couch and wrap myself in a bundle of warm blankets and pillows. The weather is cooler outside, I can hear the wind blow on the windows, the sound is somehow calming. It’s cold in the room, mainly because my heater decides to stop working, it’s out of service and my technical abilities have only managed to make the situation worse so now I have at least three mini blankets and a big fluffy quilt to cover myself and just to complete the scenario, a bowl of chocolate chip ice-cream on my lap. Perfect. My image right now is not really the epitome of grace, but it's surely the ultimate epitome of comfort and happiness.

Seriously, I was the kind of person who really felt compelled to work, excessively, maybe a little too much. I'm clearly a workaholic, my mantra is: no pain, no gain, and so I have to work. A lot. Working and studying made me happy, to a certain extent, but at the end of the day I'm reduced to a zombie version of me, alive but tired as hell. What can I say, that's how I am. But as a reward, I've got two weeks of vacation now, the winter break. I am so happy. Though I have quite a lot of work for the next semester as well, but I don’t want to think about it now, besides I have enough time to relax, so no worries.

I can spend the rest of my week ignoring my academic responsibilities, just binge-watching shows on Netflix and chill, but for real, like real chill. Maybe I can invite Rhea for a movie night, but she is busy these days with her theater rehearsals, even though I'm sure we can manage one sleepover. I take a mental note to send her a message later.

To recompense myself for my hard work, I am re-watching The Avengers for the twentieth time. I quite love this movie, especially the part where Captain America and Iron Man are fighting like an old-wedded couple.

As Iron man and Captain America are arguing over who is the best, by the way, my vote goes to Captain, right at that moment, my phone starts ringing. That stupid phone. Not now, I think as I take the remote pausing the movie. I try to reach for my phone under the mess of quilts, it's surely somewhere there, not easy to find with all that heavy number of blankets, I contort in different positions until I find it, it's still ringing, disturbing the quiet peace of my flat and piercing my poor ears. In the end, I grab it, fishing it out of the blankets. I frown as I look at the name on the phone. Mom. Why though? Is she calling to convince me to come home for the break again? I sigh, this was supposed to be my relaxation time.

However, something was wrong, I could feel it. I frown as the wheel in my head is working fast. I know her well, she would never call me at this time which is 10:00 pm to be precise, it's too early for her, especially on Monday. Mom calls only on weekends, that's how she works, she has fixed timing for everything, for being a woman who had an uncompelled love for shopping coupons and a tendency to change her hobbies every week, she was quite predictable. Currently her hobby was to organize dog's weddings, last week it was learning nail art. Thus, my conclusion was that it was unusual for her to call me out of time. She was predictable and organized but still a mess, just like me.

I tug my hair back nervously, whenever mom calls me out of her normal timing, something bad happens. I know it for a fact. Maybe she's calling to ask about my exams or she wants me to come home for vacation, but we already talked about it last weekend. For a second I consider ignoring the call maybe later I'll tell her I was sleeping. But I know she won't stop calling. I pout and swipe my finger to the green icon. 'Hey mom,' I greet her in an obviously annoyed voice, I try hard not to sound too whiny, but it's too hard.

“Hey sweetie, how are you?” her voice sounds too sweet, I can smell her despicable intentions, but I keep my prejudice to myself.

“Hi mom, I'm fine, actually great, Friday was my last exam.”

“Oh yes I recall that, so how was it?”

“It was good.” I am still trying to figure out why she called, definitely not to ask about my exams, that is for sure.

“Mom…”

“And how are your friends dear?”, I am tempted to reply with an emo remark like ‘I don't have friends, Mom, I'm a nerdy lone girl’, but then she would insist I need to see a therapist, I really don't want the conversation to drift to that direction, so I keep my comment to myself.

“They're fine, mom…,” if 'fine' is the right word to describe them. Rhea is probably at the theatre, or at campus, Mik would be in the library and Veronica is doing one of her hippie activities, which I quite don’t understand.

“And Sapphire is fine?”, mom’s voice breaks my train of thoughts, “Mom you don’t even like my cat”, I reply.

“Honey, I was just asking”, she almost sounds upset. But I'm losing my patience, she's just dwelling now. Sigh, “Ok mom sorry, but what is the ma ...”, she interrupts me mid-sentence, “and sweetie the flat, hm the flat is fine, right?”

“Yes, mom everything is FINE. Now would you tell me why you called?”, I know I'm sounding impatient and rude, but I suppose I have my reasons, my self-control has a limit after all. “Honey, did you consider it to share with someone?” ah, that dreadful question.  I take a pause before answering her, “We already talked about this. I don't understand why you're bringing this argument back again, I already told you I won't share my privacy with anyone…”

“I know honey, but I don't like the idea of you wandering all alone in

your flat.” I take a deep breath before answering.

'I don't wander mom, besides I'm fine on my own and I am not sharing my space with anyone. End of the discussion', I tell her calmly.

“Actually sweetie, it's not the end of the discussion'. There is something in her voice, a dangerous note like she's about to launch an atomic bomb on me. Metaphorically speaking, obviously.

“You know Aunt Sara, right?” Do I know her? Of course, I do, she was my saving angel, but why is mom bringing her up.

“Of course, I know her. What is happening, mom?” I knew something would go wrong, Aunt Sara is the half owner of the flat in which I am living currently and my mom's best friend. She and mom gave me the apartment for free, no rent, no fee, it is basically every college student's dream. But I guess mom is about to shatter my dream in pieces. Maybe she had a fallout with her best friend, and now she wants me to pay the rent and perhaps that's why mom was so keen to make me have a flatmate, or maybe things are even worse, Aunt Sara wants me to leave the flat. I throw the blankets away in frustration, I need to stop before I go crazy.

“Mom what is the matter, I had talked to Aunt Sara and she knew I would take care of the house... She wants the flat back, right?”

'What? No.”

“No?”, ok I’m relieved for a second.

“No Anne, that's not the matter. Well, not exactly, actually I wanted to tell that... you know Aunt Sara…” she is repeating herself.

“Mom…” I say exasperated, “...and you know she has a son.”

Ok, I wasn't expecting that, wait, is she planning something, like sticking me with her best friend's son. She wishes.

“I don't want a boyfriend,” I cut her off. Better if she understands that immediately. “For once I'm not going to argue on that,” she says with a sigh, “the fact is you will share the flat with him”, she concludes. For one long painful minute I remained silent, it was like my mind had stopped working after hearing such dreadful news. Then my mouth drops open, my hands start shaking, my ears start fuming with anger as I realize what she said. “What is that supposed to mean !?”, I whisper slowly, trying to sound as threatening as possible.

“You heard me, sweetie.”

 Her tone is cool and calm and I wanna scream. “Mom, you can't do this to me! you're... you're heartless. How can you do this?! You know me... I... you.... why?”, I'm struggling to find the right words to express my emotions , I feel angry and betrayed and angry. A long pause and then, “Anne I could not say no to Sara, his son is coming to Bradford and he needs a place to stay.”

I jump on my feet and start walking around the living room, trying to cool down myself. I'm so pissed off right now I could break something. Or someone. No, this is not happening. This is horrible. This is too...

“Anyways Daniel is coming tomorrow, just... try to not scare him off, ok?” she waits a second and then says softly, “please.”

“No…” I cry.

“Anne, please try to understand”. No, I won't understand this bullshit.

“You can't let your daughter live with a stranger, if you would have wanted you could have dissuaded your friends, you know that”, I'm whining, I know, but I try to make one last desperate attempt. “Anne, he's not a stranger, I know Daniel, he's a good boy.”

“That doesn't mean anything to me. I don't know him! so for me, he is like a stranger.”

“Don’t be silly honey, you knew him when you were little; listen, sweetie, I've to go now, your dad is calling me.”

“No, wait … mom…”

“Bey honey, love you.”

“Mom…” The phone goes dead, I glare at the screen for five exact seconds, trying to figure out how to deal with this terrible news mom gave me. I sit back on the sofa, looking at an uncertain spot on the wall, completely defeated. Sometimes fate plays horrible games with you, just a few minutes ago I was relaxing, so happy for my vacations and now all the happiness is gone, only because of this Daniel. God knows what kind of person he was, how am I going to deal with him. How? Why? I emit a little cry falling back on my couch. This is just not what I wanted.