What do we do on a Wednesday night? [Aine, backdated]
His mother's been fussing all afternoon. It's a habit she's gotten into, something she does any time anyone mentions even the possibility of company coming over. Every room must be clean, everything must be perfect. Cait figures it's just a mother thing. Her friends' moms do the same, from what she's heard. Never mind the fact that one of the kids inviting a friend over tends to result in the most minimalized of tours. "This is the hallway. Over there's the kitchen. This is the bathroom. This is my room." With the girls you might eventually add "This is the media room." With Dane, you usually get "This is the basement door. Don't open it unless you're being chased by a raging psychopath." Or something like that, anyway. And then they spend most of their visit holed up in one of the three messiest rooms in the house.
In Dane's opinion, of course, his room really isn't that bad. And usually, when driven to compare, Mom does have to admit that it's much better than either of his sisters'. After all, unlike other people, he has to at least keep his floor pretty clear and, being on the first floor, he does try to respect the parental impulse to keep all immediately visible areas presentable. Although, Mom does wish he'd put a little more consideration into the fact that he's invited a girl over. She had to come in before taking Cait out to a friend's house and make sure that he'd at least gotten all of his dirty clothes off of his sofa and the foot of his bed. And oh, honestly, why couldn't he put all of his DVD's back on the shelves so they could at least find whatever it was they wanted to watch tonight?
Dane almost felt like pretending he was eight again and saying something stupid like "She's not a girl, Mom. She's Aine." Instead, he just shooed her out because "It's 4:50, Mom. Cait was supposed to be at her study group twenty minutes ago." And he had approximately ten left to trade his glasses in for contacts and feed his mewling cats.
In Dane's opinion, of course, his room really isn't that bad. And usually, when driven to compare, Mom does have to admit that it's much better than either of his sisters'. After all, unlike other people, he has to at least keep his floor pretty clear and, being on the first floor, he does try to respect the parental impulse to keep all immediately visible areas presentable. Although, Mom does wish he'd put a little more consideration into the fact that he's invited a girl over. She had to come in before taking Cait out to a friend's house and make sure that he'd at least gotten all of his dirty clothes off of his sofa and the foot of his bed. And oh, honestly, why couldn't he put all of his DVD's back on the shelves so they could at least find whatever it was they wanted to watch tonight?
Dane almost felt like pretending he was eight again and saying something stupid like "She's not a girl, Mom. She's Aine." Instead, he just shooed her out because "It's 4:50, Mom. Cait was supposed to be at her study group twenty minutes ago." And he had approximately ten left to trade his glasses in for contacts and feed his mewling cats.