Sparks (Inferno 0.50)

He usually likes to sleep in late and because it’s a weekend and not a weekday, I’ll allow it. Come tomorrow morning though, we’ll get back to our school work and he’ll remember that I’m the adult in this house—no matter how he thinks he can speak to me.

I turn on the coffee machine and drop a single-serve cup into the appropriate compartment and wait for the magic to happen. I won’t be very nice to him until I’ve had some caffeine in my system and I don’t like to be unkind to Luke when it’s something that’s beyond his control.

The wait for the coffee is my doing—the calling me by my name is his fuck up, soon to be addressed.

Seconds turn into minutes and minutes turn into hours before he finally walks into the kitchen. His hair is a mess, his eyes are still showing signs of sleep, but he smiles when he sees me, and I nod in return.

“Good morning,” he says, as he walks over to me and kisses my cheek.

“Morning,” I reply curtly. I turn my back to him so I can reach into the cupboard for his favorite mug. It’s simple—dark green—his favorite color and has a small cobblestone, well design in the middle of either side.

“Thanks,” he says with a wide yawn once I’ve set his mug in front of him. I take the seat across from him and clasp my hands together on the island top and wait for him to take a few sips.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?” he asks, sucking his teeth.

“You can’t call me Taylee. My name—to you, is Mom. Do you understand me?” I ask him quietly.

His eyes linger on the caramel colored brew in the mug and he chuckles.

“Sure thing.”

“I’m serious. You’re the son and I’m the mother and no matter what you saw, you have to remember that,” I insist firmly.

“Got it,” he says, blowing out his breath and looking at me with amusement dancing in his still tired eyes. “Anything else? Mom?”

I sit back in my chair and stare at him. He seems to hear what I’m saying, but I don’t think he’s taking it too seriously.

“You’re not too old to spank. I don’t care how much bigger you are than me, I’ll bend you over my knee if I have to get some respect out of you,” I warn him.

A small smile curves the edges of his lips, but when my eyes turn stern, it fades away as quickly as it began to appear.

I get to my feet and am ready to go clean up the counter and turn the coffee pot off when Luke speaks up.

“I just have one question for you,” he says conversationally.

“What?” I ask much louder than I mean to. I clear my throat and give him a sheepish glance to which the smile begins to appear again.

“Are you gonna dress up before you spank me?”

I sent Luke to his room for the remainder of the day, but that still didn’t feel like enough distance between us, so I decided to go out for a walk.

Maybe this will keep me from wanting to throttle him, I think as I make my way back down toward the beach.

I’m not looking to do anything in particular, I just want to get my mind off of how defiant he’s suddenly become. Good children aren’t defiant; they listen to their mother and they do as their told, yet he feels that because he caught me in a moment of weakness—of self-pleasure, that he no longer has to see me as his mother.

Bullshit; I’ll beat him before he treats me any differently than he did when I was still some kind of sanctimonious idol in his eyes.

I decide to go back to the diner we had went to the previous night. If I can find our waitress, maybe I can talk her into going out on a date with him. Hopefully that’ll shake some sense into him, but knowing Luke, this is a dead horse before it’s even been beat.

I walk up the small wooden walkway and wait patiently by the front booth for someone to notice me. The hostess is the same one from last night and she smiles brightly when she sees me.

“Just one?” she asks cheerfully.

“One is more than enough right now,” I reply with a chuckle. She gives me a nod and tells me to follow her, sitting me at a table in the middle of the restaurant. Once she’s sat the menu down in front of me, she walks away after telling me that my server will be with me soon.

I decide on a Coke and maybe a small salad since I’m not too hungry right now. I sigh heavily as I lean back in my chair and glance around the place. There are only two other families in here and just me.