Mystery Boy

"Honey, wake up. Airea, get up."

I moaned as I rolled over, pulling my face out of the soft pillow. I blinked a couple times before and looked up into my mother's face. "What's wrong?" I questioned, groggily, dropping my arm above my head.

Mom smiled and perched herself on the edge of my bed. "Nothing," she said with a shake of her head. She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. "What do you say we go get some breakfast?"

I closed my tired blue eyes. "What time is it?" I asked..

"Quarter to eleven," Mom murmured, reaching out to brush my hair out of my face.

I liked the feel of her fingers on my skin as she pushed my hair off of my cheeks. I said, "Jacky leaves in three hours. He's going to call me when he gets in."

"That won't be for awhile," Mom replied, "I'm sure we have time to get breakfast."

I opened my eyes. "It's a ten and a half hour flight," I said with a smile.

"My point exactly," Mom murmured, "With the time change, he'll land in London at 6:30 tomorrow morning."

"What time will it be here?" I questioned, not bothering to do the math myself.

Mom thought for a second and then she answered, "Around 1:30 AM."

I sat up and pushed my covers off of me. "Plenty of time for breakfast."

"And lunch and dinner," she added.

"Just let me take a shower," I replied as I reached over to my side table and grabbed my cell phone from where I'd plugged it in. I handed it to Mom as I stood up. "Babysit my phone, will you? Incase Jacky calls before he leaves."

She grinned at me. "He doesn't leave for three hours, Air."

I shrugged. "He'll only call if he's with Ronnie," I said, "So, he'll have to call before he leaves Ronnie."

Mom asked, "Doesn't he have a cell phone?" as I stood in the doorway of my room, a towel grasped in my fingers.

"Sadly, no," I replied. I hopped into the shower after that and washed myself and my hair. I noticed happily that my mom still splurged on over priced shampoo and conditioner, as well as body wash and shaving cream. Ina wasn't one to care about scented body washes and bath salts. We never had any at Dad's and it was nice to be able to use what I had grown accustomed to.

I took longer then I thought in the shower and a half an hour later I stepped out of the bathroom and wrapped a towel around my body. I took a left into my room and closer the door behind me.

I dressed in a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. It was pretty mild outside, comfortable. I dried my hair in my room and did my make up. I knew that Mom and I would eventually start walking around, so I grabbed my tennis shoes and yanked them on over my mitch-matched socks. Within an hour of when Mom woke me up, I was trampling down the stairs with my things and taking a quick right into the living room where my mom sat on the couch, talking on the phone.

"Is that Evan?" I asked as I plopped down beside her.

She shook her head and held up one finger. Motioning for me to wait minute. "Yeah," she said with a smile on her face, "She's right here next to me now looking more beautiful than ever."

"Who are you talking to?" I asked again, tucking my feet under my butt.

Mom looked to me and said, "Aunt Haliegh," quickly and then laughed again at something her sister had said.

My mom was the youngest out of her siblings. She had a brother and a sister. All their names starting with the same letter. Aunt Haliegh was four years older than my mom and had lived a completely different lifestyle. My mom married young, having fallen in love with my father before he was a big-shot lawyer. My aunt, on the other hand, waited longer. She was more rational than my mom. She married just six years ago and settled down to raise her children.

Uncle Hal was a spit-fire. He was the middle child and had always been the most laid back of my mother's siblings. When I was young he dated girl after girl, always saying that she was "the one". He had yet to find her.

"Is she coming to visit?" I asked my mom excitedly, picturing the blonde woman and her daughters in my head. "Is she bringing Kara and Billy?"

Mom nodded her head. She told Haliegh to hold on a second before she turned to me. "She's going to come stay the night with the kids," she told me, "Is it all right if Kara and William sleep in your room with you tonight?"

I grinned and nodded quickly. "Of course, when are they going to be here?"

"Uncle Travis is headed out for business around two, they'll be over after that," she replied.

I nodded eagerly, "Sounds great," I added.

Mom chatted for another few minutes before she hung up. She put her shoes on her feet and motioned towards the door. "Ready?" she questioned, grabbing her keys off of the coffee table. "I was thinking we could go to McDonalds or something."

"Yeah," I agreed, "I haven't eaten out in awhile."

"I think breakfast is ending soon, but chicken sounds good, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, actually," I said again.

The two of us headed out to her car and climbed it. It wasn't anything too lavish, but it was left over from the days when my parents were happy together.

"Can I put something in the CD player?" I questioned, reaching into my bag.

"Go ahead," Mom replied, motioning with her right hand.

I grinned and pulled the silver CD out of it's slender case. It wasn't a professionally made CD, but it was one that Ronnie had given to me. I pushed it into the player and skipped through the tracks until I got to number four.

"Listen up cause this is not the end
Your the last thing that crossed my mind
Relationships are based on trust
Well I guess this one was based on lies!"

"Who is this, Honey?" Mom questioned as Ronnie's voice filled our car.

I grinned proudly. "Jacky's band," I said, "He's the guitarist."

Mom nodded. "I heard you tell Nash that he plays," she replied with a smile.

"He reminds me of Jacky," I murmured, "From what I've seen, besides being seven and having long hair, they could practically be the same person."

"Jacky's as quiet as Nash?" Mom asked as she drove.

"Yeah," I nodded, "He's even quieter in some cases."

"That's surprising," Mom mused softly.

I furrowed my eyebrows and asked, "What is?"

She looked over at me and smiled comfortingly. "Just that someone as outgoing as you would be interested in someone so introverted."

"He's not with me," I replied honestly, "He's just soft-spoken. But he's like no I've ever met. When we talk, I know exactly what he's trying to say without him having to say anything more."

"And what about you?" Mom questioned, "Does he understand you?"

I nodded quickly. "We're a team," I said, "I'm there for him and he's there for me."

Mom didn't reply as we turned onto the street that held the McDonalds. I didn't know what she was thinking, but I wished she would've said it out loud so I could've stopped myself from worrying, stopped myself from being self-conscious for Jacky.

Mom and I ate breakfast together and her laughter caused me to forget that I was worried about what she thought of him. We both ate chicken tenders and fries and joked around like we'd never been separated.

"Want to go walk to that little shop you like?" Mom asked, looking out the window of the building, "It's not too far down the street."

I nodded. "I love that store," I gushed, picturing the small little boutique that sold all kinds of clothing.

Mom and I finished up and headed down the street towards the decorative sign that hung above the door. I went inside quickly and looked at the walls that held so many items of clothing. It was a unique little shop that made custom shirts and kept a copy of each one to hang on the walls as examples.

My eyes raked over the different colored shirt and various sayings and numbers. "Can I get two?" I asked Mom, looking back at her as she trailed into the store behind me.

She chuckled and asked, "Don't you have enough of these? You used to come here every weekend."

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "I was their best costumer," I replied, "But I want to get one for Jacky and Ronnie."

Mom crossed her arms. "Do you have any money?" she inquired playfully.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my wallet, holding it up so that she could see it.

She nodded. "Okay then, I'll make you a deal," she told me before she let her arms drop to her sides. Then she continued, "I'll buy you a shirt if you buy your friends' shirts."

I pouted and bit my lip. Each shirt was ten dollars but the lettering was fifteen dollars. I knew if I bought two shirts then it would take a lot of my money. "Well..." I trailed off, "What if you bought mine and Jacky's and I bought Ronnie's?" I grinned up at her nicely, and grabbed onto the sleeve of her shirt. I wasn't even slightly ashamed of my begging.

Mom groaned and pushed her light hair out of her face. "Why can't you buy your boyfriend's? You have the money!"

I jutted out my bottom lip. "That would cost fifty dollars for him and Ronnie," I whined.

Mom laughed. "Well, it will cost me just as much if I buy yours and his!"

I shook my head. "I'm your kid," I told her, "I don't count!"

My mom rolled her eyes but motioned around us anyways.

I grinned and wrapped my arms around her shoulders in thanks. I had no idea what I wanted to get written on their shirts, but I knew that they'd wear them most often if they were black or red, so that was an easy choice.

I grabbed two T-shirts and moved towards the area that held rubber letters in different plastic containers so that you could pick the ones you need so that the employee could put them on the shirt for you.

"What are you writing on them?" Mom asked as she followed me around.

I grinned and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, yet," I replied, looking around the walls for ideas. I grinned when I noticed a white hoodie near the ceiling. "I want that one," I said to my mom, pointing across the room.

"Which one?" she asked as she followed my gaze.

"The hoodie," I told her, making my way towards it so I could get a better look.

"I thought you were getting shirts?" she questioned, following after me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I changed my mind."

She didn't reply as we looked up at the simple white fabric. It was a zip up hoodie that had stick people on the front who were all guys. They had shaggy hair and reminded me as much of my friends as stick figures could.

I told the teenager at the counter that I wanted that same image on a black pull-over. I move to the letter container and grabbed the ones that I needed.

"You can pick the stick figures that you want," the guy told me as he set a plastic container on the counter.

"Thanks," I replied as I started looking through it, trying to pick out ones that reminded me of the guys. When I had picked them out I asked, "Is there any way to get little words written underneath each of them?" I motioned towards the stick figures.

"I guess so," the worker replied, "But it's going to cost more."

I looked up to my mom. "I'll pay for it," I told her, trying to keep her from getting angry with me although I knew she wouldn't.

I had each of their names written under their images, making sure that the images were specific enough to each boy that you could tell which Ronnie was which. Across the lower back of the hoodie, I had the guy put "Falling in Reverse". It took about twenty minutes for him to do it the way I wanted because he kept asking me if it was correct since there was a lot of lettering.

"This looks so great," I said with a grin as he handed it back to me. "Thank you so much," I gushed, grinning.

He smiled back as I pulled out my wallet to pay for my part of it. "It's thirty-five," he said as I handed him a ten. I didn't reply as Mom handed him thirty dollars.

It took me another twenty minutes to pick out shirts for Ronnie and Jacky. For Jacky I picked out a simple 'Nightmare Before Christmas' shirt that had Jack standing on top of the unfolding hill in front of the moon and above the pumpkins. I had his last name put on the back.

For Ronnie, I found a shirt that had an artsy image of a microphone on it. The cord of the microphone curled all the way around the shirt and came up to the chest area and looked like it was being plugged into the wearer's heart. Like Jacky's shirt, I had 'Radke' written on the back.

Mom and I left the store around two o'clock when she got a call from Haliegh saying that they were on our side of town. Mom and I walked back to the car, the guys' shirts folded in my bag, as I told her about each of the boys that I had put on my hoodie.

"You have to come meet them, Mom," I gushed, "They're amazing."

We drove back to Mom's townhouse and I shouted excitedly when I saw my aunt's familiar car in the driveway. Her children were the closest things that I'd had to siblings.

"Kara! Billy!" I shouted as I busted through the front door.

My aunt was sitting with her kids in the living room. Kara, who was five, stood up from the floor and raced over to wrap her arms around my legs. "Air!" she shouted, "I missed you! I thought you'd left forever!"

I leaned down and pulled her into a hug. "Of course not, Kar," I said, "I'm here to visit you."

Holding my younger cousin in my arms made me realize just how much I'd missed her and her baby brother, William.