I Never Told You What I Did for a Living

I killed the engine once we'd arrived at my house. Gerard opened his door and stepped out of the car, looking around.

"Nice place," he observed. "Do you have some rich roommates or something?"

I laughed. "Number one, we're not rich. Number two, I don't know if you can call my mom a roommate."

"You live with your mom?"

I shrugged. "It's a free place to stay. Plus, she's not that bad."

"True, I guess if you have something like that available, it's a nice way to save money when you're going to school."

I got the groceries out of the trunk and headed up the sidewalk, Gerard on my heels. As I opened the door, I immediately heard footsteps inside the house.

"Lily, is that you? How long does it take you to get a few groceries?"

"Sorry, Mom," I called. "I ran into a friend."

My mother appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking all too embarrassing. She wore old, ratty sweat pants and a t-shirt that was equally old. It looked as though she hadn't bothered to brush her hair that morning, and her face showed age beyond her years.

"Oh," she stopped when she saw Gerard. "I've never met this friend before."

"I know. He's a friend from college."

"From... college?" she asked, turning back to me.

"Yeah," I spoke a little louder than necessary, warning her to keep quiet. "We met about a week ago."

She nodded, though it was obvious that she hadn't caught on.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. - " a horrified look crossed Gerard's face and he turned to me. "I don't know your last name," he confessed.

"It doesn't matter," Mom interrupted. "Call me Penny. I don't go by Mrs. anymore, anyways."

Gerard smiled politely and shook her hand. I went into the kitchen and set the bags on the countertop.

"Mom, we're going to go out for awhile and catch up," I said as I took a head of broccolli out of one of the bags and put it in the fridge.

"Hold on, not so fast. I don't know anything about him yet. Let me learn a little before you go running off."

I sighed. "Sorry," I mouthed to Gerard over her shoulder as she turned to face him.

He smiled. "Well, my name's Gerard. I major in fine arts, I have a younger brother named Mikey, I'm an Aries, and I have nothing but honorable intentions," a childish grin lit up his face.

Mom didn't seem impressed, but I was. Most guys were intimidated by my mom, but somehow he wasn't.

"Where are you going and when will you be back?"

I shrugged. "We'll probably just go for a coffee or something. I've got my phone on me, so call if you need me. See you later," I spoke quickly as I attempted to usher Gerard out.

"If you're not home by dinner, I'm calling the police to search for you," she threatened.

"They'll only tell you that I haven't been missing for over twenty-four hours so they won't go looking for me," I replied just before closing the door.

Once we were outside, Gerard turned to me. "She seems nice," he smirked.