His Second Chance Mate

18th May, 2021 Three. Two. One. I silently stalked towards my target, slipping my arms around my mother’s waist. I softly lay my head on my her shoulder, blinking slowly, trying to look as adorable as possible. My mom barely spared me a glance before turning her attention back to the dishes she’d been watching. “What do you want?” She asked with a smile. Seeing as acting cute hadn’t had much of an affect on my mother, I released my hold on her and decided to be helpful instead. Scoring as many brownie points as possible was essential for this particular mission. I picked up the towel and started drying the washed dishes. I’d probably brainstormed a hundred ways to start this conversation but now, all of them flew out of my mind without so much as a toodle-oo. I could feel my mom staring at me curiously but I focused intently on drying the dishes. I only had one real chance at this and I absolutely could not mess this up. Once my mom made a decision almost nothing could change her mind.  Squaring my shoulders, I nodded to myself. Procrastinating was not going to solve anything. I could guess the way this conversation would end, and the number of chores I helped with would not have any effect on my mom. It was better to get this over with. The faster I asked her, the faster she would refuse. Then I could proceed with my ritual of shutting myself in my room crying for a few hours, dehydrating myself into exhaustion, falling asleep dreaming about running away, only to wake up the next morning as if nothing had happened. This process was something I was unfortunately way too familiar with. But something told me that this time was different. Would be different. I really really needed to go this time. Though I’d dreamt about running away hundreds of times, I’d never seriously considered it- mostly because I was too big of a coward, but this time I might have to, even if I didn’t want to. I glanced guiltily at my mom. Everything depended on her right now. I cleared my throat. It was now or never. Right? At least, I thought with a sigh, I could honestly tell Katie I’d asked my mom but she’d refused. Running away from home to go visit a monument was stupid and uselessly melodramatic. Plus my mom would probably kill me when I came back. I knew with a weird sort of certainty, that she’d never forgive me if I tried that. And truth be told, I’d be on my way to college in a matter of weeks. I could leave campus and visit any time I wanted to. But something told me I needed to be there, exactly eight days from now- on the night of the full moon.  And I intended to be there. I could only hope I wasn’t heading there to be murdered by a dangerously handsome serial killer. Though I don’t think people have any dream manipulation technology. Yet. For weeks now, I’d been having the exact same dream with the full moon shining down onto the the- though now wasn’t the time to get lost in my weirdly HD dreams that were telling me that I had to be at a certain place on a certain day. I took a deep breath, cleared my throat and decided to take the plunge. I’d barely managed to get one word out before breaking into laughter. My mom had turned to look at me with an expression of exaggerated shock. “Oh! And she talks too!” “Moooooooooooooooooooooooom,” I whined. “What? I’ve been washing the dishes at a snail’s pace because it seemed like you had something you wanted to talk about but I’m still almost done and all I’ve heard is one word!” I grinned at her. “Well, I was thinking! Sue me,” I retorted, still drying the dishes. Why were there so many? “I would if you had any money.” She stuck her tongue out at me. I mocked glared at her but had nothing to say. At least, she seemed to be in a good mood. “Will you pleaaase get to the point now? I honestly cannot waste any more time washing these dishes. I can’t wait to put my feet up.” I nodded. “It’s nothing special really.” “Clearly. That’s why you’ve been lost in thought for so long. For nothing special.” “Honestly mother, when’d you become so sarcastic?” I tried to scathingly glare at her, but I couldn’t help but smile. Though, if we kept joking, at this rate, I’ll probably never get the chance to ask her anything. She shrugged, turning the faucet off and wiping her hands on a towel, before starting to wipe down all the counters. “Well, I had to deal with my disappointment of a daughter somehow.” “Moom! How can you say that to your only child. I’m telling dad!” I turned around to glare at her only to be smacked on my lips. “Snitches get stitches, baby. How are you going to survive if you don’t know the basic rules of life?” “Isn’t that for like, gang life?” She only shrugged, breezing past me to wipe down the stove. “If you don’t hurry, I’m going to run out of things to do here. I have a date with my bed.” I turned back to the dishes I’d been drying for what felt like forever. “Okay. Fine. You're right. It is something special. Katie invited me to her beach house, along with a few other friends.” I paused turning to look at my mom who was still scrubbing away at the stove. At least, she hadn’t immediately responded with a no. Maybe I still had a chance! The words spilled out of my mouth in my excitement. “It’s only for a week and all of us are girls. Absolutely no boys allowed. It’s just that we’ll all be off to different colleges in a matter of weeks and some of us might never come back here and just...I’d really like to go and...,” I trailed off twisting to look at my mom who was looking at me with her poker face on. What was she thinking? Actually, it wasn’t hard to guess. I turned around, disappointed. “It’s okay." I took a deep breath, trying to stop my voice from shaking. "I don’t really have to go. I’ve tried telling them no already, but they kept bugging me so I promised I’d ask.” I mechanically focused on drying the same plate that I’d been drying for the last five minutes. “I’ll just give them some excuse. Katie’s the only one who really wants me there anyway. It’s okay.” My voice cracked at the end, but I thought I’d pulled off the nonchalant act pretty well. It wasn’t like I hadn’t expected this outcome. In all my life, I’d spent exactly zero nights away from home, without my parents- whether it was for sleepovers or trips. The only sleepovers I’d ever had were the handful with Katie at home. She’d always been understanding of my parents who had always been overly protective of me as far as I could remember. And while 13-year-old Me considered my mom the biggest villain of her middle school life, 18-year-old Me was considerably more mature. At least, I wanted to believe I was. I tried not to instinctively argue and beg and plead or cry. Nothing would change my mom’s mind anyway. The only things yelling would result in were a sore throat, puffy eyes, an upset mother and a strained relationship tomorrow morning. Still, I couldn’t help but be upset. I was leaving for college in a few weeks. She couldn’t exactly keep me cooped up in this house for the rest of my life! Some of my classmates got into all kinds of trouble and never seemed to get into trouble with their parents. I pushed the familiar feelings of resentment down. It was useless anyway and it wasn’t like I didn’t see this coming from miles away. I sped up my pace and finished drying the remaining dishes, and began to put them away. I wanted to be in my room before the tears started. I kept my head down, scurrying around the kitchen, putting the spoons and forks back in their places. I picked up the last two dishes left on the counter, the big rice cooker and pot. I turned around only to find my mom silently standing in front of the cupboard where the cooker and pot where supposed to go. “Excuse me,” I mumbled silently, surprised at how normal my voice sounded. My mom moved silently out of my way, but still said nothing. I could feel her eyes on me, but I didn't look up. I was almost free.. I opened the cupboard, wincing at the squeaking sound it made. I put the cooker in, crouching down to put the pot in its place when my mom finally spoke. “No to the beach,” she announced finally. I sucked in a breath, shocked at the sudden pain in my chest her words brought. I blinked back the tears that had materialized in my eyes at the sudden pain. Hearing her refuse felt a hundred times worse than just assuming that she would. It felt like a huge door that I'd been desperate to pass through had just been shut, right in my face. I slowly got to my feet, taking a step backwards. I closed the door of the cupboard softly, feeling weirdly fragile. I couldn’t find it in myself to look at my mom so I addressed the cupboard instead. “I figured you’d say that anyway,” I turned away, nodding. I grabbed my phone off the counter, clutching it like a lifeline. I couldn't stop the tears from falling but I refused to make a sound, not wanting my mom to know how upset I was right now. “That’s why I said I’ll come up with some excuse. Don’t worry.” I tried to tell myself I wasn’t disappointed. The probability of my mom saying yes had always been low. But I’d hoped. Maybe, a lot more than just hoping. I think the moment she’d refused it hit me just how desperately I’d wanted to go. Now there wasn’t anything I could do, save running away and I didn’t see that ending well. I snorted quietly. I don’t think even 13-year-old Me had been this devastated at not being allowed to go somewhere. I calmly walked out of the kitchen, passing through the living room and heading towards the stairs. I wanted to curl up in my bed as soon as possible. I tried telling myself that it was okay and it was no big deal. Even if I couldn't go there this full moon, I could wait for the first long weekend during the semester and go then. Though it wasn’t what I wanted, better late than never, right? I covertly wiped at my tears. I was so lost in my thoughts that I nearly missed what my mom said next.  “You can go to the temple though.” I paused, confused. I wasn’t imagining things, was I? I was too young to have gone crazy already. I whirled around, half of me filled with hope, the other with doubt. She did not just say that.  “What?” I squeaked. “I said you can go to the temple. That is where you actually wanted to go, right?” My mom smiled at me from the other side of the room but I was still frozen in disbelief. “Are you for real right now?” I still couldn’t believe. My mom was letting me go there? “I am for real right now.” Ignoring the finger quotes she’d made, I hurtled my way towards her, crushing her in a hug. I whispered my thanks about a million times into her hair, my tears still flowing uncontrollably, now tears of happiness. I hadn’t expected her to agree to the beach house with five other girls and here she was telling me I could go to a mysterious temple in the middle of forests where hundreds and thousands of strangers would gather. Maybe my mom had been possessed? If so, I could only thank the friendly ghost right now. Exorcisms could wait till I came back! My mind refused to focus on anything other than the fact that I was going there soon. I.....I was going! I was going! I WAS REALLY REALLY GOING!!!!!