Of Rage And Love

Jimmy got home at about eleven. He usually stayed out later, but that was when he felt like being the leader of his friends' crazy plans. He didn't bother trying to sneak in - he'd stopped caring about waking his mother or Brad long ago, and sometimes even relished a confrontation with his step-father about his... 'extra-curricular activities'. Apparently hanging out in the 7/11 parking lot and winding up the stores patrons wasn't what 'well-balanced young men' should do with their free time.

He'd stopped trying to remind Brad that he wasn't a 'well-balanced' kind of person.

"Jimmy?" His mother called from the kitchen.

Why's she still up? He frowned to himself as he walked through to her.

"D'you want some coffee?"

He stopped. Usually when he came in he got the modern day equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition from his mother about what he'd been doing and followed that up with a slanging match with Brad.

"Jimmy, do you want some coffee or not?" She looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

His mother handed him a mug of coffee, and it was her turn to frown.

"You're acting strangely. What've you taken?"

Jimmy could've laughed - he was the one acting weird?

"Mom, I haven't taken anything. Promise."

Her eyes narrowed, but she relaxed.

"I believe you."

"Makes a change." She was about to protest, but he carried on. "Where's Brad?"

"He's gone out with some people from work."

"That why you're still up?" He sipped his coffee, the bitter liquid burning his throat.

"Pretty much." She leant back against the work-top. "How come you're back so early, anyway? Don't you have some grand scheme of destruction to oversee tonight?"

He did laugh, then. Only a few short months ago she could never have brought up what he and his friends did in such a casual way. It probably helped that Brad wasn't likely to overhear them. This was how it had been after his father had died and before his mother had met Brad - the two of them, not shouting.

"I didn't feel like it." Jimmy admitted. "Me and Tunny didn't even join in with the planning tonight." His mother snorted into her drink.

"The both of you? What, has Hell frozen over?"

She was smiling, her eyes shining with laughter, and he saw the Mom he'd known years ago. This is what she'd looked like when his father was still alive, and then again once the pain of losing him had eased in the months before she'd met Brad. She'd been young when she'd had Jimmy, he knew that. She was, if he was being honest, still beautiful. And he did still love her, despite the things they screamed at each other on the bad days.

"Shut up." He was laughing again. He could barely remember the last time it had been like this.

"So what did you do?"

"We talked."

"What did you talk about?"

There was a moments hesitation as he decided whether to tell her the truth or not.

"We um, we talked about leaving."