Snippet #2231475

Donald waited atop the stairs until Victoria closed the bathroom door. I hope she doesn't start poking around there too, he thought as he descended the staircase and headed to the kitchen, where his mother still was.

"Uh... Mom. I dunno how to make a bed. Yeah. It's girl stuff." What a pity there aren't any girls around to help, he added to himself sarcastically, painfully aware of how pathetic his ignorance of basic daily life skills must have sounded.

"Well, it's about time you learned!", she said, that stupid smile ever plastered on her face, making Donald wonder whether all women were annoying in one way or the other once you had lived with them for a while.

"Fine, so, we're going to my room." He was not a very subtle person, and he could not wait to get her out of the kitchen and into his room, or any other room with a closed door and drawn curtains where she could not see his girlfriend sneaking out.

"Uhm... yes?" She looked as if she was starting to worry about her son's mental health. "Donald, is there anything you're not telling me?"

"What could there be? Let's just go upstairs."

Before closing the door, he coughed as loudly as he could, and closed the door a bit too noisily to make sure the sound reached the end of the corridor. He pretended to pay attention while his mother explained how he should place the sheets under his pillow after folding them, but he could only think about Victoria. Has she left already? Has anyone who knows her seen her? Is she gonna regret coming here and run to her parents like a dumb 5-year-old? He wanted his mother to be done explaining very badly, because that was possibly the most boring and girly subject she could possibly talk about, but at the same time he also wanted to keep her inside with him, lest she decided to look through the window or take out the garbage and caught a glimpse of Victoria; she could not be too far. He did not even know whether she had left the house at all, and it would be extremely hard to explain what she was doing on their laundry area during her school hours.

"...and that's all! Now, I'll undo it so you can make it yourself and show me if it's clear to you", finished his mother. "Meanwhile, I'll open these drapes, it's so dark..."

"No!", he nearly shouted, so vehemently he startled her. "I mean... I'm tired. I... maybe I can try making the bed next time. I wanna lie down a bit now, I didn't sleep tonight. Leave the drapes that way, they're fine." He lay on his bed and kicked his shoes away. "Turn the lights off before you leave." She turned around to do so, but he decided it was better to be on the safe side and hold her a bit longer. "Wait, Mom?"

"Yes?"

Shit! I should've thought of something to say before calling her back! "Er, tell my father I'll skip muay thai today, if you see him." It was a pointless thing to say, since he believed his father could not care less about his training schedule ever since his expulsion from the professional mixed martial arts team, but it was all he could think of. "And close the door."

"OK, darling, I will. Sleep well." With that, she left the room; luckily for his masculinity, she had at least not thought of kissing him good night (or morning, for that matter).

Donald yawned as he hid Victoria's mobile phone under the pillow of the double bed he was not going to use. Maybe sleeping was not such a bad idea. He closed his eyes and felt himself dozing off, in spite of the energy drink he had had before his girlfriend's arrival. There was nothing he could do to conceal her now anyway, and her text messages would still be there later... Less than a minute after that, he was asleep.