Nick's friends made it into town later that night and I wondered where in the hell everyone was going to sleep. We're all at his parent's house attempting to steal whatever is edible and already prepared when his mom walks into the kitchen,
"Ok, I know everyone except you and you." She points at me and his friend Tommy's girlfriend or whatever she is. Nick looks over his shoulder then back into the refrigerator, I must remind myself to thank him for leaving me stranded like that. Just as I'm about to speak Aaron walks up beside his mom,
"That's Quinn, she's with Nick and that's Becky, she's with Tommy." She looks over at Aaron,
"Thank you for the information Walter Cronkite." She smiles as she extends her hand,
"Nice to meet you." I smile and nod, not trusting myself to say anymore, I don't get a bad vibe so I assume Nick straightened out the whole girlfriend story Aaron was threatening to tell.
"Momma, we're taking this." She nods as he pulls out another dish in a tupperware container,
"Is this some good? What is it?" She thought for a minute,
"That's chicken and rice and if it wasn't any good it wouldn't be in there." He looks at her and rolls his eyes,
"Here guys take this." Tommy and an eager Becky take the containers from Nick,
"We'll take it over and get it warmed up, see you Jane." He walks over and gives her a kiss on the cheek,
"Bye Tommy, nice meeting you Becky." Becky smiles,
"You too Mrs. Carter." She holds up her hand and smiles,
"Jane." Becky nods her head and follows Tommy out the door. Jane turns and looks at Nick,
"Your dad wants to speak to you." He sighs,
"Now?" She shrugs,
"Yep." He looks over at me,
"I'll be RIGHT back." He places a bowl on the table and gives his mother a look that says 'behave' that she returns with a smile. I stand in the middle of the kitchen and look around,
"Have a seat, Nick will only be a minute." I nod as I have a seat, this is quite uncomfortable. I wonder if the talk with his dad is just to get me alone, ok, I'm paranoid,
"So, how long have you and Nick known each other?" Maybe I'm not paranoid,
"Um...six or seven months." I can tell that takes her off guard,
"Six or seven months, wow long time." What did you think, six or seven hours?
"How did you meet?" I look over her shoulder at the direction Nick walked in,
"We met backstage at a concert." She nods and gets up,
"A Backstreet concert?" Here we go, she thinks I'm a gold digger,
"Yes ma'am." I can hear cupboards opening and closing,
"Would you like some coffee or tea?" I clear my throat,
"No thank you." I look over to see her prepare a pot of coffee,
"Where do you live?" My nails become quite interesting as I look down,
"Miami." She smiles as she returns to the table,
"Nice, we go there all the time. What do you do?" Nick, where the hell are you?
"A computer programmer." She seems to be impressed,
"You must be really smart?" Why wouldn't I be?
"You seemed surprised. Did you think I wasn't?" Oh my God, that just came out. I insulted the woman in her own house. Now she definitely hates me,
"This isn't a battle. We're not enemies." I sigh,
"I'm sorry, I know you're just looking out for your son." She smiles,
"Is that what you think? I'm trying to figure out if you're after my son?" She shakes her head,
"I was just making conversation. I'm not always weeding out the bad. My son is an adult, that's his responsibility and although it may look like he is clueless about the company he keeps, he's not, I know from experience." She stands up and pulls a couple of mugs out of the cupboard and place them by the coffee maker,
"Besides, its up to him to figure that out. I don't mommy him to death and if he gets burned." She shrugs her shoulder,
"It's just one more lesson learned." I shake my head and look down,
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you." She smiles and places her hand on mine when she sees the tear fall down my face,
"I'm not insulted but tell me...why are you so defensive?" I shrug my shoulders as she gets up and grabs a napkin,
"I...I dunno, I guess it's my nature, bad habit." She nods and hands it to me,
"Part of it's because you're black and-" I frown, didn't mean to but I did,
"Because I'm black, so black people are defensive?" She laughs,
"There you go again. No, you always want to show people the stereotypes aren't true. And you're a woman, so you always want to prove you're just as capable as a man." I look at her, I feel like I'm in Sociology class,
"And you're a computer programmer but even under the clothes I can tell you probably have the body of a stripper." I look down at my T-shirt and jeans,
"So, you always want to prove you're not a bimbo." I look up to see her smiling at me. That smile was constant I realize, not once has she lost it, I wonder how hard that is, I wonder how sincere it is. Just then Nick appeared and stood behind his mom, mouthing if I was ok, I smile and he reaches down and hugs her,
"See you tomorrow for the BBQ momma." He looks over at me,
"Come on." We walk out and hear Jane,
"Oh watch out for-" just as Nick trips and falls on his face,
"Son of a bitch, damn dogs."
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Mixed Feelings
Chapter 49