Page 51 of Afflicted

"Kaitlyn?" Mom asked gently.

I pulled a pillow over my head as she flicked the light on.

She perched on the end of my bed and the mattress dipped.

"What?" I asked sleepily as I gave in to the fact that she wasn't going to leave.

"Your father just left for work and I was wondering if we could have a chat?"

"I'm not moving to the city for two weeks," I grumbled as I pulled the pillow from my face and sat up.

"Okay," she said, surprising me.

"You changed your mind just like that?" I asked suspiciously.

"I spoke with your father about it and we've agreed that it would be disruptive to your schoolwork. And we know how hard you've trained to get on the squad and we wouldn't want Demi to take that away from you."

"Okay... thanks," I said, feeling a little off balance at the sudden shift to my point of view.

"I don't want you to think that you can't talk to me about things in your life. I want to know how you're doing, what you've been up to with Lacey or... anyone else," Mum said diplomatically.

"Oh. This is about Ryan?" I asked.

"I'm just sad that you didn't feel like you could share something like that with me," Mom said and I realised that she was trying not to cry.

"Seriously Mom, it's not that big of a deal. He only just asked me to be his girlfriend and before that we were just seeing how things were going." I shrugged. I hadn't purposefully kept it from her, I'd just known if I told her about him then she'd have made it into more than it was.

"But you're serious about him now?" she asked, seemingly pacified by my response.

"To be honest I'm not sure. I think he's more serious than I am about it. I don't really want to get too deep into anything with college coming up next year. It could just make things messy when I leave."

"That's very sensible but it's not usually so easy to tell your heart to cooperate. Just look at me and your dad-"

"I know I know, he wasn't your type at all but when you got to know him your heart made the decision for you." Mom loved to talk about how she'd been all set to go off travelling the world when this brawny engineer had started repairs at the office she worked in. He'd taken a liking to her right away but she'd always preferred academic types. Dad was so persistent that she eventually agreed to go out with him just to prove to him how incompatible they were and within a matter of months they were engaged. Gran always called it a whirlwind romance and told me to watch out for them because they took you by surprise and changed your whole life. I was never sure if she was advising me to go for it or avoid it.

"And maybe your heart will pick Ryan," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, maybe." I felt bad voicing it but I really didn't see me and Ryan making it long term somehow.

"Maybe he could come over for dinner?" Mom offered hesitantly.

"I dunno. You didn't see what Dad was like the other day, I'm surprised Ryan didn't go running for the hills." I shuddered with embarrassment at the memory. Ryan hadn't messaged me since and I hadn't been able to bring myself to text him either.

"What if..." Mom hesitated guiltily. "What if we planned it for a night your dad has to stay in the city?" she offered.

I couldn't help but laugh. "You really wanna meet him huh?"

"I just want to be involved in your life. A boyfriend is a pretty big deal."

I sighed in defeat. "Okay you win. If he ever speaks to me again then I'll ask him over when Dad's gunna be out."

"Great. I'll have a think about what to cook." She beamed as she stood.

"No Reese either," I added before she could leave the room.

"I thought you and your brother were getting on better?" Mom asked with a sigh.

"No."