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“So you have the sale weekend?”

I remove her plate while she sits there, rinse it in the sink, and put it neatly inside the dishwasher for the next load

“Yeah, it’s kind of a thing I should probably cut the u food prepared, does it?”

“What do you mean, cut the umbilical cord?” she asks as I wipe e of the sink

“Just that…” Let’s see, how do I put this without antic pussy? “Um My mom is…”

“Controlling?”

“No She just…” I wave ht words “I don’t know, she’s a stay-at-home mom, and I suppose she’s attached to iving her grief and causing trouble, Mo “It won’t kill ain for dinner, you know?”

Lilly nods “That sounds nice I don’t know if you re what my mom is like, but it’s almost the exact opposite If I went home, she’d feed me a carrot and hs loudly, tapping on the water glass with a fingernail “Guess we can’t all win”

I do reh it’s been a few years, basically a hter’s life I also re et to escape her

I havefamily members too, but in an entirely different way

She pushes her chair back fro? The dishes? I feel bad that you fedme asleep in your bed”

That’s right; I’d al the bracelet and my embarrassment about it

“No Gosh, don’t worry about it The dishes are already in the dishwasher and there’s nothing to clean up, so we’re good” I glance out the side door through the glass at the dark night and check the ti”

“Are you trying to iht’s rest?”

“Maybe Sleeping is my favorite”

“I thought math and science were your favorite”

“Sleeping is my third favorite”

We both laugh and I walk her to the front door, pulling it open and leaning on the frame

“Thanks again” She’s looking down at her feet, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s feeling shy Feeling as aard in this moment as I feel because it’s almost like ere on a date and aren’t sure how to end it

Which is ridiculous, obviously