Page 22 of Safe and Sound

“Darling.” She leans in for a kiss and hug. “You look good. Clearly, time with Ren suits you.”

I take in my robe and bare feet as her words wash over me in waves of nausea. I stand back so she can come in and turn to her finally.

“Mom. What are you doing here? I thought…?” I thought I had another month with Ren.

“Oh, well, it wasn’t that I wasn’t having fun and God knows I love being with Benny but…,” she knows. Oh God, she knows. “Well, I felt like you might have needed me!”

“Oh.” My stomach rebounds from the swoop it just did. “That’s…sweet mom.”

“And I was afraid you might be overstaying your welcome with your brother.”

“O…overstaying?” And there goes my stomach again. “Why…why would you think that?”

Dear God! Did Ren call her and tell her he wanted me to leave?

“Oh, well, he’s told Ben he’s dating someone.”

“He did?” Is he talking about me? Would he tell his Dad about us?

“Apparently, he’s been dating her since spring.”

Spring? My stomach lurches. If he said he’s been dating someone since Spring it couldn’t be me.

“I think he said he met her online on some dating site.”

I deleted my profile but…did he not delete his?

“Oh God!” It comes out as nothing but a barely there whisper so Mom doesn’t hear it and just keeps on going.

“He seems serious about her. He told Ben he wanted us all to meet her.”

It definitely isn’t me. I wouldn’t have to meet my own mom and stepdad. Oh God!

No, no, no! It was always a set-up. A punishment like I first suspected. He made me fall in love with him and…took everything from me.

“I have to…,” throw up, “leave. I don’t want to hinder him from being with…her.” I can't say the word girlfriend. It just won't come out.

“Alright, sweetie. I’ll help you pack.”

“No!” My mom can’t find out I was sleeping with him. “No, Mom, it will only take me a few seconds. I just need to grab my bag really.”

No one must ever find out!

Mom is content to sit back down on the sofa as I rush to the room to throw clothes on and grab things from the closet. I don’t have time to pack my stuff from the drawers. I can buy new underwear but I’ll never be able to replace my heart. I swipe the tears from my eyes and head downstairs. I need to get out and try to forget any of this ever happened.

“I thought we could go do our nails…”

“No, mom. I’m…not feeling good. It’s why I was still in my robe. I just want to go home and lie down for a little while.”

“Oh, well now that you say something, you do look pale, sweetie. Guess it was a good thing I came or you could have gotten Ren and his girl sick.”

I fight back the acid that floods my mouth as I wait for the elevator to take us down. Dreams that I thought were coming true are now shattered and in ashes. When we're finally home I head straight to my room and cry myself to sleep after throwing up.

I wake to a commotion coming from downstairs. Voices carry up the stairs to me. I recognize one of them and it breaks my heart.

“Ren?! What? Ben! What is going on?!”

My mom keeps yelling for Ben as her voice gets closer and closer to my door. I sit up too fast and get so dizzy I have to rush to the bathroom to make it in time. The world is spinning around me and I’m so sick I can barely hold myself up.

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