I've Seen Your Lightsaber

“Oh.”

That’s all Lorraine had to say. The natural vibrant loudmouth mother was hushed for once. Cassandra was unconventional to say in the least. She had expected a Jewish girl. A young, sweet, innocent, Jewish girl. Not some Lisa Rowe and Edward Scissorhands love child that mated and had a baby with a pink fluff ball with needles stuck through it. Taking a deep breath she held out her hand, “It’s nice to meet you Cassandra.”

Cassandra looked down at Lorraine’s thin hand and eyed her wedding ring, white gold with a fairly average sized diamond, not bad. She took her hand and firmly shook it, a pleasant smile on her pierced face, “Nice to meet you too Lorrie.”

Lorraine couldn’t wait to let go of her hand, she cleared her throat awkwardly and looked over in the direction of the kitchen checking to see what was cooking in the pots.

“May I ask what you’re making for us?”

No babies…

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

The lid to the pot was slammed down, there was a baby in there! Oh God, she was a cannibal, the things her daughter had told her were true. Jesus, Lord Almighty, please have mercy on this family! Don’t let the satanic child draw them to the fiery damnations of Hell, or the ‘dark side’ as her son would put it.

“It’s chicken,” Cassandra eyed Lorraine, she had her hand over her heart and looked as if she were about to faint. “Are you alright?”

Lorraine’s cheeks turned a bright red, “Yes, I’m fine. I’ll be right back Satan-Sweetie. Sweetie. I’m just going to find Marissa, excuse me for a moment.” She wore her classic bright smile, the one she wears when her mother-in-law comes to visit, or when she finds out that her daughter buys these ‘Special Edition’ items that cost more then what she makes in two paychecks. Yes, that smile.

The Finkle’s, as intelligent as they all were, weren’t that great at noticing the obvious. Most of the time they couldn’t take things for what they were, there was always some sort of hidden meaning or ulterior motive behind people’s actions. In such cases as these they draw out maps and diagrams as to what their motives could be. Marissa was bent over a white board with her lower lip clenched between her teeth. All it said was ‘GUS’ in big red letters. There had to be a reason for him calling her a cutie, absolutely had to be.

She wrote ‘cutie’ in small words in the corner, on the other end she wrote ‘failed attempt at humor’. The sound of the pen tapping the board echoed throughout the room. They were all connected somehow. Maybe Gus had cracked a terrible joke because he had thought her shirt was cute. Yes, no? She looked down at her shirt and smiled, it was a Rocko’s Modern Life shirt. Of course he thought it was cute. How could anyone not see it and smile?

Marissa felt very relieved since she had solved her puzzle, Gus thought her shirt was cute, not the girl herself.

“Ouch, my pride is kinda hurt,” she mumbled to herself.

A second ticked by before Lorraine had snuck into her daughter’s room and attempted to lock the door behind her. She didn’t feel a lock, “What? No! Oh wait.” She leaned against the door and smiled at the memory of Lance locking Marissa in an Antique trunk on ‘accident’ when they were very young, after that all locks were gone. All except for the front and back door.

“Mom?”

Lorraine shook her head and fluffed her already poofy hair, “Hey hon, just checking up on yah.” She smiled and sat on her daughter’s bed, she looked down at the white board and smirked, raising a perfectly waxed eyebrow, “Who is Gus?”

Marissa’s face turned a light pink and quickly used a wipe to wash off all the letters, “Nothing, no one. Just a boy.”

The Scooby-Doo theme song rang loudly, the small red head grabbed her phone and checked the caller ID, Han Solo. She almost melted at that moment, her young teenage heart beating wildly in her chest. What was the point in deciphering Gus’ message? She had Ethan, the Han to her Leia. That’s all she needed. She ignored her mother’s one sided conversation of a foreign exchange boy she once knew in high school.