Meeting The Mom

"I'll be over in two hours." I said to Tyler, when I got out of his car. He nodded his head, before turning the car in the direction of his house to park.

When I got into my house, I went up to my room and did my homework. One hour later, I took a shower and now I was trying to figure out what to wear. I didn't know what kind of person Tyler's mom was and frankly, I didn't want to screw it up for him.

After ten minutes more of indecision, I finally settled on a simple dress. It was a mere casual dress that was lime green, patterned with a few flowers. I didn't do anything to my hair. I let it hung loose in its natural curl. I slip on a black slipper and went downstairs.

While I was getting ready, Sarah had came home and now she was in the kitchen getting dinner started. "Hey Sarah."

She looked around at my voice. "Oh hey, want to help me with dinner?" She asked hopefully.

I looked at her, regretfully. It was actually the first time she was asking me this and I felt bad that I couldn't. "I'm sorry. I can't. I'm actually going over next door to have dinner with the Kings. Mrs. King asked me over." I said. I hope she saw how sorry I was and that I'm not trying to get out of doing this with her. "We can do it a next time." I added hopefully.

"Sure, of course." She said. She then walked over to the counter and took up one of the two chocolate cakes that was there. It was covered with chocolate icing and it looks lovely. She placed the cake in a white cake box. "Since you are going over to Mrs. King, I think it would be nice if you brought one of these. She would be grateful." She held up the cake to me.

I took the cake from her, astound by her kindness. "Okay, thanks." I held the cake in booth hands and looked at her. I was glad that we were communicating more now. "I'm going now. Please tell Dad that I'm next door having dinner."

"Okay, bye." She said. I waved at her and turned to leave. "Have a great time." She added. I nodded and continued to walk to the front door.

When I was in my front yard, I stopped to take a deep breath. Okay, Emily. You can do this. I thought, giving myself a pep talk. How hard can it be anyway? Hopefully, she is nice and I can make it through the evening. And hopefully, she won't embarrass me.

Heaving a deep sigh, I pulled myself together and head for Tyler's house. When I was at the door, I balanced the cake in my right hand and use my left hand to ring the doorbell. When the sound went off, I stood and waited, shifting from one foot to the next in nervous anticipation.

Finally, the door open revealing a woman. I've always seen her a few times from my house, but it was the first time I'm seeing her up close. She had green eyes like Tyler's. However, her hair was blonde, while Tyler had brown hair.

She wore a bright smile on her face as she looked at me. "Hello! You must be Emily."

I smiled hesitantly at her, not sure how to react. "Yes I am."

Mrs. King pushed the door open wider and stepped aside. "Oh, please come in. I'm so happy to meet you."

I stepped inside the house, relaxing completely. She seemed like a nice lady. I returned her smile. "I'm so happy to meet you too, Mrs. King." I said sincerely.

She fanned her hand. "Oh please, call me Rachel. Mrs. King is too formal and it make me feel old." She laughed lightheartedly.

I couldn't help but laugh too. "Okay." I said. Remembering that the cake was in my hands, I held it up to her. "This is for you. My stepmother baked it."

"Oh lovely." She said, taking the cake from me. "Thank you dear and please tell her thanks for me as well."

"I will." I said.

I barely got the words out, when she continued. "Oh my, I'm such a bad neighbour. I've been here a year now and I still haven't gotten the chance to meet my neighbours." She chuckled to herself. "I will have to introduce myself to your stepmother one of these days." She turned to look at me then. "Please, please, have a seat." She pointed to the couches in the living room.

"I'm going to put this in the kitchen." She added as she turned away from me. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs when she reached it. "Tyler! Emily is here!" She shouted.

By the time Tyler came down the stairs, his mother had returned from the kitchen. Tyler, who had just reached my side, put his hand around my waist. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"You two are so lovely." Rachel exclaimed. She turned to face me. "You know, I didn't believe when Tyler told me he has a girlfriend. I'm so used to him throwing away his life, bringing different girl after girl here all the time."

Tyler sighed beside me. "Mom," He began, clearly embarrassed by what his mother was saying.

Rachel ignored him and continued. "I'm so glad that he found someone like you to inspire and make him a better person."

I grinned at Tyler teasingly, revelling in his discomfort. "Yeah, me too." I said, patting his arm lovingly.

"Well, I'll leave you kids to it. I'm going to finish with dinner." Rachel said, turning around and head back to the kitchen.

"Come on." Tyler said, turning and heading back upstairs. Following him, I head up the stairs as well. Tyler turned left and went inside the last room down the hall. When he went inside, he sat on his bed. I went in, but stood in the middle of the room.

"I like your mom." I commented.

Tyler sit back on his bed and sighed. "Yeah. I just wish she weren't so invest in my personal life."

I smiled. "Oh, come on. She only means well."

"I know." He rest is head on his pillow and looked up to the ceiling. He continued, as if to himself. "I know she's upset that I do what I do, but I can't change...it's not who I am. I hate to disappoint her, because I know how much this means to her; it's her dream for me to find a nice girl. So if this makes her happy, them I'm happy."

It was the first time I've seen such raw emotion on Tyler's face and in his voice. He really did care about his mother and he really hated that she was disappointed in his behaviour. He would do anything to make his mom happy, if it means to pretend to have a girlfriend. I couldn't help but see Tyler in a different light.

"Where's your dad?" I asked.

He looked at me then. "He lives out of town. He and Mom are divorced. He would come here and visit me occasionally and I would go there and visit him." He answered. He then patted the bed beside him. "Come and sit down. I don't bite." He grinned mischievously and winked at me. "Hard." He added.

I shake my head. So much for my earlier thought. "You're such a perv!" He chuckled at my response.

I crossed my arm over my chest and decided to walk around his room instead. He had a few posters on his wall and the only other thing that hang on his wall was a wall bookshelf, position directly in front of his bed. I didn't see it when I came in, because it is beside the door. I walked over to the bookshelf. "You read?" I asked surprised.

"Yes." I heard him answer, but I didn't look around at him. I was busy reading some of the book titles:

The Lord Of The Rings, The Hunger Games, The Harry Potter Series, The Lightening Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympian), The Last Mission....

Wow, he has good taste in books. I can't believe he actually read these. I began laughing to myself.

"What's so funny?" Tyler asked. I turned to look at him, still laughing.

"It's just so hard to imagine a boy like you reading. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed it." I commented.

Tyler placed his hand over his heart. "That hurt, Emily. It hurt deep." He said in mock hurt.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I call it like I see it." I walked over to a chair that was situated in front of a table and finally sat down. My eyes caught some magazines that was on the table. Adult magazines. Why wasn't I surprised? I held up the paper in my hands and turned to face him. "You are sick, you know that?"

"I'm a teenage boy." He said innocently as if this was an innocent act.

Rolling my eyes, I put the magazine back on the table. "Yeah, a sex-crazed, horny teenager." I said.

Before Tyler could open his mouth and say something obnoxious, I heard his mother downstairs calling us for dinner. I got up from the chair and head downstairs with Tyler.

When we reached downstairs, I saw that Rachel was carrying the food to the table.

"Do you want some help?" I asked.

She nodded her head as she placed the bowl in her hands on the table. "Sure, thanks."

I went into the kitchen and took up a dish and began to walk to the dinning room.

"So, did you kids have fun upstairs? Did anything interesting or exciting?" Rachel asked, coming behind me with the last dish. Not sure what she was asking, I turned to look at her and she winked at me.

Realization hit me as I figured out what she was asking. My eyes widen in surprise and I almost dropped the dish. Putting the dish on the table carefully, I faced her. "W-what?" I stuttered.

All of a sudden, she began chuckling at my expression. "I was just joking, dear. I know you are not like that. I knew the moment I saw you that you are a kind, intelligent and honourable person. So unlike the impolite bimbos that Tyler normally brings here."

"Mom!" Tyler cut in and I laughed a little at her words.

"Don't 'mom' me." Rachel said with a glare his way. "Don't think I don't know what goes on in your room every time a girl comes over. Doing homework? I wasn't born yesterday, Tyler. By the looks of those girls, they don't even know what homework is."

She turned to me again. "It's a good thing he found someone like you. You're a good girl, Emily and you are good for him. I just know it." She said, a smile on her lips. I didn't know what to say, so I nodded my head. "Okay, let's eat."

We all washed up and settled down to eat. I couldn't help but feel guilty. Rachel was such a nice woman and I felt bad that I was lying to her about me and Tyler's relationship.