Save Me

I groggily blinked my eyes open as the bothersome noise of a cell phone going off woke me up. I looked up at Tryce, smiling at his sleeping form as I untangled myself from his arms and crept out from bed. It’s the summer, my dad barely knows that I exist and am rarely “home”, and I decided to have a sleepover with my boyfriend that I haven’t really taken out yet. I have to get on that.

I cast a lingering smile back at him as I hurried over to my backpack in the corner of his room. It had a couple days worth of clothes in it to keep at Tryce’s place since I spend a great amount of my time here. I pulled my cell phone out and I could practically feel my heart sink as the caller identification flashed across the screen.

MOM.

“Hey,” I picked up the phone quickly, smiling as her familiar voice greeted me back. She sounded frail, weak, as if the weight of the world is finally crashing down on her, burying her alive. “I’ve missed you, Mom,” I murmured as I carefully let myself out of Tryce’s room and made my way out of the house so that I could pace his driveway while I talk to her. “So much. You have no idea.”

“I’ve missed you too, baby,” she murmured. Her tone hinted that her time was coming, and a few tears slid out of the corner of my eyes. I’m going to miss her forever. She obviously sensed my quickly declining mood, prompting her to change the subject. She knows me so well. “How are things down there?” She murmured.

“I still barely talk to Dad.” I commented. “I’m constantly sneaking out, my door’s always locked. He thinks I’m in the house, but I never am. I’m always with Tryce at his house. I’ve slept here the past couple of nights and it’s just like it used to be, but his sister is really loose now. She doesn’t have much respect for her body, in my opinion.”

Women who have no respect for their body deserve no respect from me.

“The poor thing,” my mother murmured from the other end of the phone. “She was such a young, beautiful, smart girl too.”

“She’s still got a lot ahead of her, but she’s due for a huge reality check soon,” I commented absentmindedly.

“And how are things with Tryce?” My mother prompted, giddiness obvious in her tone. When she found out that I reconciled with Tryce, she practically jumped for joy. She loved him and is happy for me. She’s always wanted me happy, and Tryce obviously makes me happy.

“My boyfriend is quite amazing actually,” I said, not being able to stop a huge smile from setting itself on my lips.

“Your boyfriend?” She asked me excitedly. “Oh, Morgan, I’m so happy for you two!”

“Yeah. I’m excited too. We’re not, like, completely official though, Mom,” I murmured.

She whined on the other end of the line. “Why? What could possibly be standing in your way, Morgan? This boy is amazing. He’s everything you’ve dreamed of and more. Tie a rope around his ankles and reel him in. Don’t let him go, boy,” she instructed. Ah, good old Mom, never letting me miss out on something amazing.

“We haven’t had our first date yet,” I commented.

“Well take him out!” She said as if that was the solution to everything.

“I will, I will. I just need to find the right time to ask him, Mom,” I responded.

“There is no right time. If you are dating, every minute is perfect,” she instructed.

“I don’t need dating advice from my mother,” I told her in a tone that implied that I wasn’t all that mad.

“Well I think you do. You haven’t brought home a proper man or woman to me in a long time, Morgan,” she murmured.

“You approve of Tryce though,” I commented.

“Most definitely!”

“Good, because I’m sticking with him for as long as I can,” I muttered absentmindedly.

“I wanna see him, Morgan.”

“Mom, you can’t see him. You’re not in the proper condition to get on an airplane.” And there goes my good mood, launched right out of that goddamn window.

“We are in the age of technology! Let’s video talk or something! Whatever you kids call it!” She said victoriously.

“Video chat?” I said as a hollow chuckle forced its way past my lips.

“Yeah! That! I can borrow my friend’s laptop. I miss waking up to your grouchy face and messy hair and I keep finding all of your old bandana’s around the house. I want to see my baby boy. And I want to meet his goddamn boyfriend.”

“Do you even know how to video chat, Mom?” I asked, dumbfounded that she’s making such a suggestion.

“No, I don’t, but you can teach me!” She said as if that was the most obvious answer, which, truth be told, it was.

“I’ll ask Tryce about it,” I murmured, giving in since I could never deny anything from my wonderful mother. “No promises though,” I added on.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta go do something, but I expect to hear from you soon, okay?” She murmured in that caring yet commanding tone that only a mother could pull off.

“Okay, Mom,” I murmured. “I love you. Bye.”

“Love you too, baby. Have fun today.” And with that, the line went dead.

I stared down at the now blank screen of the cell phone that was situated in the palm of my hand, a few more tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes. I never realized how much I’ve missed my Mom until now.

*

“Morgan, are you okay?” Tryce asked worriedly as I went back into his room. “You weren’t here when I woke up,” he murmured as he came over to me, wrapping his arms around my body and tugging me down onto his bed so that we could cuddle. I love the way that his warm body easily encases mine, surrounding me with a scent that is uniquely Tryce.

“I just got off the phone with my, Mom,” I explained.

A soft sound of realization broke free from the back of his throat as he pulled back to look into my eyes. “How is she?” He asked worriedly.

“Not good,” I commented. “Her voice sounds so weak,” I murmured, “but she did everything in her power to make it seem like nothing has changed.”

“That’s an admirable woman right there,” he commented absentmindedly.

“Most definitely. No one is as amazing as my mother.” Tryce just nodded, rubbing my back as silence surrounded us. It wasn’t awkward, it was companionable, it was peaceful and that’s all that I needed right now.

“I told her that you’re my boyfriend now,” I murmured absentmindedly.

“Oh really now?” He asked.

“Yeah, and she’s happy for us. She says we have to go on a date first for it to be official though,” I commented.

“I see, I see,” he murmured into my hair.

“And she says she wants to meet you,” I babbled on.

“How is that possible?” He asked around a light chuckle, kissing my forehead before allowing my hair to fall back over it.

“She wants to ‘video talk’ as she so politely suggested,” I said, holding back a tiny chuckle at my mother’s lack of technological knowledge.

“Video talk,” Tryce got out around a chuckle.

“Yeah, and she seemed pretty insistent on the idea too.”

“I’ll think about it,” he murmured.

“All I ask,” I commented.

“But, before I make any decision, I think I should take you out first. What’s the point of meeting your mother if we’re not official?”

“Oh my God, you are such a fucking cheeseball!” I declared as I got off the bed for the second time today, heading for my bag to grab a change of clothes.

“You love it,” he commented. “Now get dressed. And look pretty for me!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.”

This is why I love him. He always knows how to take my mind off things, how to cheer me up. It’s like he always knows what I’m thinking, as if he was made for me.