Kathleen Adams rang the doorbell and waited anxiously, tapping her foot. Where was Stacey?
Despite her best efforts, her mind kept replaying the argument with her son that had prompted this unannounced visit. Having taken the morning off from work to prepare a nourishing repast for his first day of summer home-school prep, she had knocked on his door and entered. Unfortunately, with a look of guilt tantamount to being caught watching porn, Greg sat before the Game That Should Not Be Mentioned playing on the screen.
"I don't fucking believe it..." she had growled the moment her eyes had taken in the scene.
Her blood was already boiling. The additional sight of the closed workbooks of the thousand-dollar prep course that she'd splurged for only made things worse. After a disappointing academic year, he'd promised her that he'd apply himself to preparing for the next semester, and he was already wasting his time. His excuses did nothing to help, either.
"You don't get it, mom - the school year was so stressful. I need this to decompress."
"Well, Gregory, if it weren't for this game, maybe the year wouldn't have been so stressful? Hmmm?!"
"But, it's not fair! Jason Cleaver's mom doesn't make him study like this!"
Unfortunately for the poor boy, Kathleen was insanely jealous of Helen Cleaver. "Jason is a varsity athlete who'll probably get an athletic scholarship to the college of his choice! Besides, he spends his summers going outside with pretty girls, not sitting alone on his fat ass wasting his time in make-believe land!"
"That! Tha... that's not even the point! Besides, you're one to talk about being fat!"
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" Her face blushed even as she remembered it. It still made her wince, hours later. She had to pinch her love handles through her overly snug summer dress - the physical pain actually helped hide the knots inside.
The idiot teenager had crossed a line. Even he knew it. The look on his face told the whole story and he actually had begun to apologize. "I-I'm sorry I didn'-"
"Was I the one who couldn't meet the basic requirements to get on the soccer team?"
"No... but..."
Her anger caused her to interrupt him, ceding any moral ground. "And, asshole... at least I'm getting laid. Let me guess, still busy in Candace's friend zone?"
She regretted it as soon as she said it. For one, it began with a lie - she couldn't remember the last time Simon touched her. Beyond that, she knew that the honors student and athlete had been the subject of her son's deepest desire for over a year.
"W-wow..." the boy choked.
The pain on the face she'd grown to know intimately and love over many years was obvious to Kathleen. The pang in her heart urged her to apologize, but she hesitated for too long. He had already returned to the game, headphones shutting out the world. She reached out for his shoulder, but resisted, not wanting to make a bad situation worse.
She went in to work for the afternoon, not wanting to be in the house. She accomplished basically nothing as her mind kept replaying the horrible events.
Even worse, as she was getting into her car in the parking lot, she got a chiding text from her husband later that irritated her deeply. Daddy's boy had clearly whined to his father afterwards.
"YOU'RE BEING TOO HARD ON GREG. LET HIM ENJOY HIS SUMMER"
She called back immediately to give him a piece of her mind, but the coward didn't pick up. She channeled her fury into her subsequent text.
"AT LEAST I'M TRYING! OUR SON IS GOING TO BE A FAILURE!"
No response.
She had waited for Simon's arrival after work to hashing things out as a family. However, when she heard the car come into the driveway, Greg slinked by her.
"Where are you going?" she asked as the boy reached for the door, his paunch visible through his shirt.
"Dad's taking me to get ice cream."
"Wha-?" Before she could finish her sentence, the door slammed shut in her face. "God damn you Simon..." she muttered. The motherfucker always had to be the favorite parent. Fuming and feeling lost, she got in her own car and sped towards Stacey's.
Now, standing at her door, Kathleen realized that nearly 5 minutes had passed with no answer. She looked to the driveway once more to confirm the sight of Stacey's red Cayenne parked on the driveway before returning to the doorbell. She took in a deep breath and pressed the ornate doorbell thrice in rapid succession.
Another minute went by. Just as she turned around with a defeated sigh, she heard the pounding of footsteps stomping up stairs. She turned around to investigate when the door opened quickly to reveal a sweaty woman with disheveled hair in a white cashmere robe tied together with a slipshod knot.
"Um hello, can I help yo- oh! Kathleen! Oh god!" Stacey audibly let out a sigh of relief with her hand on her flushed chest before breaking into a big smile. She then rushed forward and pulled her into an embrace.
"S-sorry for the surprise, Stace." Kathleen sighed, melting into her friend's arms. When she inhaled, she realized that Stacey was rank with the smell of sex. Kathleen's eyes grew wide when she remembered that Simon's SUV was nowhere to be seen in the driveway.
Stacey noticed her expression when she pulled back from the hug and blushed. "Umm... soo... uhh... that obvious huh?"
Kathleen shook her head, averting eye contact. "No, Stace - I'm really sorry. It's none of my business. I didn't know. I'm just gonna head back."
Stacey put her hand on her clearly disturbed friend's shoulder. "You're not going anywhere. Come inside."
Once inside, Kathleen smiled awkwardly as she looked up the empty stairs, wondering who had induced her friend to break her marital vows, "You sure your guest won't mind?"
Stacey laughed, "Nope. He's a... good boy. Now take a seat."
It was a testament to their long friendship that within 5 minutes, Kathleen had forgotten all about the revelation of her friend's infidelity and was now busy pouring out her soul.
"So, yeah, I don't know. I feel like I'm losing him. He's failing to live up to his potential, and when I try to help, his father coddles him and makes me the bad guy. I'm tired of Simon and him ganging up on me just for being the responsible parent. I..." Kathleen sighed deeply as she blinked away tears. "I donno, Stace. Ugh. Thanks for listening as always."
"Of course, hon. I'm so sorry."
"What bugs me the most is that it didn't always used to be like this. Ugh..." she began to cry again, but held herself in check. "I remember when my little math star wouldn't stop following me. He used to worship me!"
