They exited Capri’s pickup, a bright red Dodge D150 Adventurer ‘Lil Red Express truck she’d brought home from an auction in Denver, all tricked out with oak wood panels, gold pin-striping over the wheel wells, and dual chrome exhaust stacks. The vehicle was her pride and joy.
Capri followed as they headed for the front porch. “I still can’t believe Reva bought all that stuff for Lucan. How many little pairs of cowboy boots does one toddler need?”
Lila laughed. “Apparently, a dozen.” She inserted the key into her lock, twisted until she heard a click, then pushed the door open.
There was an immediate shriek as she stepped inside the dimmed living room.
“Mom! What are you doing home?”
Lila clicked on the light. The laughter died on her lips as she stepped into the living room, her eyes widening at the sight before her. “Camille. What in the world?”
On the sofa, amidst a scatter of cushions that looked like they’d been caught in a mild tornado, lay Camille, entwined with the new football jock from her high school. The jock, whose name escaped Lila at that critical juncture, had his arm around her daughter in a way that was a tad too familiar for Lila’s comfort. Several buttons were undone on her blouse, adding even more horror to the situation.
Their heads turned towards the door, expressions morphing from surprise to sheer mortification.
Capri, ever the instigator of mischief, couldn’t stifle a chuckle, her eyes twinkling with a mix of amusement and nostalgia. “Well, well, what do we have here?” she quipped, her voice laced with a mirth that only served to heighten the tension in the room.
Camille, a flush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks, scrambled to sit up, disentangling herself from her companion with the grace of a newborn giraffe. “Mom! I—I didn’t hear you come in. I thought you’d be out longer,” she stammered, her voice a mix of defiance and panic.
The jock, now sitting upright but looking as if he wished the earth would swallow him whole, managed a feeble, “Hi, Mrs. Bellamy,” before silence engulfed the room, thick and palpable. “I’m Cody Meacham. Uh, we met a while back…at a game,” he reminded.
Lila, her initial shock giving way to a measured calmness, set her purse down with deliberate slowness. She fixed her gaze on Camille. “I see we have a guest,” she said, her voice steady, betraying none of the turmoil that churned inside her.
Capri, leaning against the doorway with the ease of someone who had navigated many a teenage drama of her own, winked at Camille. “Honey, you’ve got to pick a better hiding spot. The sofa is the first place any mom checks.”
Camille quickly recovered and shot Capri a look that was part grateful, part exasperated. “We were just studying,” she ventured, the words sounding feeble, likely even to her own ears.
“Studying,” Lila repeated, raising an eyebrow, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth despite her resolve. She turned to Cody. “It might be time for you to head on home.” It was then that she realized she hadn’t seen his car out front.
As if knowing what her mom was thinking, Camille quickly explained. “It’s parked out back.”
The kid jumped up and grabbed the jacket strewn across the back of the sofa. “So, I’ll be going, I guess.”
The boy, looking for a lifeline, glanced at the open front door.
“Yes, Cody. You should be going,” Lila suggested, for a second time. He glanced about, his face filled with impending doom.
Lila nodded, then turned her attention back to Camille. “We’ll talk about this later, young lady. In the meantime, I think it’s safe to say you won’t be going to the prom.”
The edict met with immediate protest from Camille, her eyes wide with disbelief and the beginnings of indignation. “But Mom! That’s not fair! It was just studying, really!”
Capri, unable to resist, muttered in a playful yet pointed tone, “Ah, the age-old study session that leads to prom cancellation. Been there. Done that.”
Lila threw her friend a look before turning back to her daughter. Maintaining her firm stance yet with a hint of compassion, she replied, “Decisions have consequences, Camille. We’ll discuss this later, in detail. For now, your focus should be on your actual studies, not…extracurricular activities.”
The room fell into a tense silence, the weight of Lila’s words settling over them like a thick fog. Camille’s shoulders slumped, resignation mingling with her frustration, as she realized the gravity of her mother’s decree.
“That’s not fair!” She fisted her hands, turned, and stomped toward her room.
Seconds later, they heard a door slam.
“Grounding her from prom is a little harsh, don’t you think?” Capri cautiously offered.
Lila rubbed the space between her eyes. “Perhaps. But I don’t like him. And I don’t like Camille’s choices since he came into the picture.”
Capri motioned for Lila to follow her into the kitchen, where she pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. “Sit. Are you actually going to make her miss her prom? I mean, she wasn’t naked or anything.”
“Yeah, we got home in time,” Lila said, her voice laced with misery. “Camille used to be so…easy. I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”
