When Frank got home his mother was still passed out on the couch. He sighed and put the shopping in the kitchen and un-packed it. He then returned to the living room and threw a blanket over his mom, switched the TV off and gathered up the empty mugs and glasses discarded on the coffee table and dumped them in the sink.
“Frank?”
He sighed and turned to go back into the living room to see his mother sat up, looking groggy and just plain pissed off. She always looked like that when she woke up, much to Frank’s disappointment. But then again, who actually did ever wake up all perky and happy? He knew he certainly didn’t.
“Yeah?” he mumbled, not meeting her eyes.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she demanded, glaring at her son. It failed to look menacing because her make-up was smudged and one side of her hair was matted and clinging to her head from where’d she’d been lying down.
“I didn’t know if you’d want to carry on sleeping,” he explained.
She shook her head, muttering to herself how useless her son was sometimes.
“Did you do the shopping?” she asked as she stiffly got to her feet, tugging her clothes into place and stretching.
“Yeah. I just got back,” he answered and then started to head for the front door.
“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked, hands on hips, still glaring at him.
“I’m going to meet Jamia,” he replied, frowning and crossing his arms over his chest, holding his ground as he and his mother stood there, glaring each other down.
“No you’re not,” she stated firmly. “You don’t think the house keeps itself clean do you?”
“Can’t you do it yourself for once?” He asked flatly. “All I ever do is act like the parent. I do the cooking and cleaning and shopping and you just complain and order me around.”
She gaped at him. “What makes you think you can talk to me like that?!”
“Since you made it clear you didn’t care anymore! Since you stopped making any effort to actually act like my mother! I don’t have to respect you like that if you’re not going to the responsible adult!”
“Do I have to remind you who it is that earns the money around here? I’m the one with a job; you’d have nothing without me!”
“I don’t care who earns the money! We both know that it would be me who had a job if it wasn’t for the fact you only work so you can hook up with people! I know you only work at that bar so you can mess around with other guys! It’s like you don’t even remember your husband!”
She stared at him, lost for words.
“Don’t bring your father into this Frank.”
“No, I’m going to do what I God damned want! You act like you were never even married to a guy that loved you!”
“That whole marriage was a mistake Frank!”
“Are you saying that I’m a mistake too?”
“No! I’m just saying that I wish I’d never married your dad, not that I don’t regret having you.”
“Well it feels that way,” Frank spat, his fists clenching.
“You’re just being pathetic Frank! I’m not arguing with you anymore, now go and do your chores!” she snapped and headed for the stairs.
Frank stared at her, not really believing his mother was acting like this. He watched as she disappeared upstairs and walked straight over to the front door and left the house as quickly as possible, slamming the door behind him and stalking along the road.
He decided he wasn’t going back there tonight. He was sick of his mother.