“Oh my God, Amber! What the hell are you doing?” My mother shrieks. Her focus zeroes in on me - my shirt open to the waist, Logan’s hand on my breast. Logan snatches his hand away, twisting his bare chest around as he pinches out the joint in his other hand. Her face turns white as she sniffs the air. Her eyes widen. “My God, have you been smoking pot in here?"
"Fuck, Mom! Don't you ever knock?" I say, scrambling madly to fasten my bra and button my shirt. I glance over at Logan as he grabs his t-shirt, jerking it over his head. My mother’s mouth gapes open and her brown eyes dart back and forth between Logan and me.
“Get out!” She squeezes her eyes shut, placing her hands up. “Larry...Logan...whatever your name is...Get out.” She stares at him with a lethal glare. “Get out of my house before I call the cops!”
“I’m outta here, Chica.” Reaching for his cell phone, he shoves it in his pocket before sliding past my mother and walking down the hall.
Gliding my foot along the floorboards, I nudge a small bag of pot under my bed. “I thought you were going out for the night, Mother,” I say dryly.
"Classy, Amber! Really classy. My God, what were you thinking?” Her voice seethes with anger and utter disappointment.
I hear that lovely tone all too often. It’s the sound I hear whenever I upset the delicate balance that is my mother’s life….which is often. It’s in the recriminations I hear telling me, literally, that I have, once again, fallen short of her expectations. It’s in her every comment to me that I never fucking measure up. Any involvement in my life on her part is a major inconvenience. One she usually delegates to the household staff. Oh, but the snide remarks, she saves those jewels for herself, doling them out without hesitation.
“Oh, I don’t know….I was thinking I’m a nineteen-year-old adult, and can have whomever I want in my room. I’m so sorry, Mother,” I say, sarcasm dripping from my voice. “Did I ruin your day?”
Her lips press into a thin line. “Don’t you get smart with me, young lady.” She grimaces, her face full of disgust. “And, frankly, considering how I found you, I use the term ‘lady’ lightly.”
I sigh. “We were just fooling around. It’s really no big deal.” I smirk at her saying, “What? Geez, you are the very definition of uptight.” I roll my eyes and shrug, picking up my phone to scan the display. “Besides, I didn’t think you were coming home until later.” My face turns back to her as I tighten my lips and raise my chin. “It’s none of your business anyway. If you could learn to knock, this episode could have been avoided, and we could continue ignoring each other.”
“This is my house.” Her voice is coarse and her eyes narrow. “Don’t forget it.” Her eyes widen as she searches my face. “Oh my God, so help me if you are pregnant....Oh, my God what will people say?” Her face pales as her hand covers her mouth, and her eyes dart back and forth. “If the media finds out, I’ll never recover. My God, do I need to get a Plan B pill for you? How could you do this to me? I’ll never live it down if you are pregnant."
I curl my lips into a sadistic smirk, as I watch her have a complete meltdown.
“I didn’t screw him. We were just fooling around. My God, could you be more repressed? I’ve been on the pill since I was fifteen. Remember?” I tilt my head with a sneer. “Oh, yeah, you probably don’t remember since you had Elise take me to the gynecologist.” I pretend to check my phone again. “Get a grip.”
“Just fooling around?” She says, her eyes bugging out of her face. “Are you kidding me? You looked well on your way to doing a lot more. Exactly how many men have you slept with, Amber?” Holding her hand up, glancing away, she says, “Wait, wait….I don’t want to know. Spare me the details.” Her eyes are frantic, filled with worry. “Does he know who you are?”
“Relax mother, he doesn’t know I’m the deputy mayor’s daughter. He doesn’t even know who you are. He knows me through Angela.”
“Angela? I should have known,” she says, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “This is the last thing I need….Damn it!” Every problem always becomes all about her,