AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I was wondering if we might be able to look at some dates in the new year, actually.”
My mother frowns, or at least attempts to. There’s a slight narrowing of the space between her eyes. “Why in the world?”
“I just figure things are going well—El and I are having fun… Maybe it’ll look better—more like we’re not rushing—if we slow it down a little. Neither of us are going anywhere, you know?”
“Oh, I’m not convinced of that. No, I really think the sooner this is settled, the sooner we can all move on from your scandal.”
“No one’s even talking about it anymore, Mom.”
She snorts. “Oh, no? Would you like me to tell you how many questions about your legal troubles I had to answer Saturday night?”
My jaw tightens, but I try to make my face look regretful. “Dad wasn’t very happy with me at the party…is that why?”
“I can’t really speak for your father,” she says, dismissing the question.
“I just wonder which is it? Were Elodie and I actually lovely, or were you doing damage control the whole time?”
Her mouth draws into a thin line. “A bit of both.” Her voice sends chills down my spine. So cold.
I swallow and take a breath in an attempt to settle my suddenly hammering heart. “You know I’m almost completely clean now, right? No more drugs. No more binge drinking.”
“I should hope not.”
“That’s not very supportive, Mom. It’s kind of a big deal. You know I’ve been taking drugs since I was fifteen.”
She rolls her eyes. “Boys… At least you grow up eventually.”
If we survive. “So you did know.”
She scoffs. “Of course.”
“That didn’t bother you?”
“Like I said, most young people grow out of it. There’s nothing wrong with having a wild youth. Unless you let it get out of hand…” She says this meaningfully.
“So, I’m basically being punished for a problem you could have nipped in the bud when I was in high school if you’d bothered,” I say.
She manages to look affronted. “Oh, believe me, young man, I did plenty to make sure your behavior didn’t become a problem. You have no idea the amount of information I had to dig up on people to keep them quiet—or to keep you in school. The headmaster still shudders when he passes me on the street.”
Despite my instant curiosity about what she’s got on Headmaster Howard—which, if this had been a conversation we’d had a few months ago, I would have eagerly asked, and she’d have just as eagerly spilled—I have another, more important question. “Was that to protect me or the family?”
“One and the same.”
“Is it? Letting a teenager get blitzed every night with his friends is protecting him?”
She lets out an impatient sigh. “What are you getting at, Olivier?”
“What if I’d OD’d?”
“We would have kept that quiet, too.”
I gape. “I meant would you have given a shit?”
“Ollie!”
“I’m serious, Mom. You’re saying some seriously questionable crap right now, and it’s making me wonder what I mean to you?”
“Questionable? You’re my son.”
