“So I have the basics of what our project should be,” Ned started.
“Great,” I said.
“Any thought from your side?” Ned asked, and looked at me with his intense blue eyes.
“I think your plan would work. Whatever you think is best,” I answered.
“Alright,” Ned said, and opened his notes, “I wrote down what each of us should do in this project. I do the comic drawing and you do the book printing, so you’d need to contact printers who would agree to do this with our book.”
I nodded, “Absolutely,”
He looked at me, “You cool with that?”
“Yes,” I said, and averted my eyes.
“We need to finish this project by the end of this week, so we can hand it over,” He explained, “Do you have the time this week?”
“I can’t say that right now,” I said, “I’m a bit overloaded with Mom’s illness and everything.”
“What’s up with your mom?” He asked.
“She… has had dementia for a few years,” I replied, “We’ve been back and forth with her medications recently, and she isn’t getting any better.”
He rested his hand over mine, but I pulled it away, “I’m sorry about your mom,” He said.
“It doesn’t matter,” I shook my head.
“I kind of know how you feel. My mom’s not living with us anymore,” Ned started.
“What happened?”
“She ran away with her new boyfriend last year,” He explained, “She just took her stuff, and never looked back.”
“I’m sorry,”
He snickered, “We’re all sorry for each other more than to ourselves.”
“I guess so,” I said.
****************************************
When I got home, I got upstairs to my bedroom, and texted my friends.
Me: HEY
Jane: You seem happy
Max: Oh, I sense good news!
Me: You’d never guess what happened today!
Max: OMG
Jane: Oooh
Me: After class, Ned took me to his house
Max: I see
Jane: :D
Me: We talked about our project
Me: And our moms
Me: We were both sad and grieving
Me: He even touched my hand
Max: No shit!
Jane sent a surprised face sticker
Max: Then what?
Me: He’s different
Me: I never felt so at home before
Jane: You likie ;)
Me: Shut up
Max: oh, someone’s crushing
Me: We’re just friends
Me: He’s a good friend
Max: Yes, I see
Max: Maybe even more
Max sent a married couple sticker
Max sent a baby sticker
Jane: Ned and Celia, sitting on a tree!
Max: K I S S I N G
Me: SHUT UP
Max: Then comes babies
Jane: someone’s mad :D
Me: You two are crazy!
Me: LMAO
Max: K I S S I N G!
Jane: hahaha
Max: What we mean is
Max: Try and get to know him better
Max: You never know
Max: He might be your knight in armor
Max sent a winky face sticker
Celia sent a poop face sticker
Jane sent a couple sticker
Me: I don’t know
Me: I’m not ready for anything yet
Max: I know, honey
Max: Take your time, but don’t lose him
Max: Good guys are hard to find
Me: I mean
Me: He’s not even my type!
Jane: Says the girl who’s crushing ;)
Celia sent a glaring face sticker
Me: Stop it
Jane: Let us know when you start to like him :D
Me: Don’t get your hopes too high
Me: I might not
Max: okay ;)
Jane: We believe you
Celia sent a laughing face sticker
Me: You girls are unbelievable
Chapter Ten
My dad and siblings were sitting in the living room in the afternoon. My dad came home early that day, which allowed me to relax and unwind after taking care of Mom, and doing the chores. My siblings did their homework on the floor, on the Turkish carpet, while my dad sat beside Mom, who was talking to herself. He held a mug of coffee, and watched a show on TV not minding her interrupting his show. I noticed how he held her hand in his lap with gentleness. He still cared about her, even when she wasn’t mentally present. Dad noticed me staring at him, and that made me flinch and turn my eyes to the TV screen.
“Anything interesting happened today?” He tried to open a conversation.
“Just a few suborn stains on the dishes,” I mockingly replied, “Other than that, no, nothing new happened today.”
I knew he meant about Mom’s progress, but I had little faith about her condition getting better. I couldn’t imagine that a miracle would happen and magically heal my mom. I didn’t believe in miracles, and prayers haven’t helped me so far. Deep inside, I knew that I gave up on hope. I gave up on fake expectations, and pretending that everything will get back to normal. But Dad on the other hand, still fights to get her normal self back.
He nodded slightly, like to assure himself. “She’ll get better,” he said.
I saw the sorrow in his eyes; like he was clinging to the last bit of hope he had in life, to get my real mom back. To get his wife back. To get a beautiful mind back, and impact lives of other people. I couldn’t tell him that it won’t happen, because he loved her so bad, and his eyes proved it. I couldn’t let him in the dark side. My side.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “She might.”
I felt my phone buzz, and pulled it out of my pocket. Ned had texted something on Bubblechat.
Ned: Hey :)
Me: Hi
Ned: You feeling better today?
Me: I guess
Me: I don’t know
Ned: Okay
Ned: Just wanted to ask you something
Ned: But before you brutally
