Fighting to Be Free (Fighting to Be Free 1)

I grinned. “Yeah? Awesome, thanks,” I chirped. I had no idea what had changed in her to make her so laidback lately, maybe it was the fact that I wouldn’t see her for a year. Whatever it was, I was grateful for the change.

She rolled her eyes and headed into the kitchen. I peeked into the lounge to see my dad sitting on the sofa watching TV. “Hey,” I mumbled, walking over and plopping down next to him, smiling sheepishly, waiting to be scolded.

“You’re in trouble,” he whispered, leaning in and flicking his eyes to the hallway. “Mom’s maaaaad,” he added, drawing out the word for dramatic effect, chuckling quietly.

I cringed and nodded. “Yeah I know. Sorry.”

He smiled and shifted in his seat so I could settle myself against him while my mom banged around in the kitchen. “Have a good night, Pumpkin?” he asked.

I didn’t really know what to say to that to be honest. Parts of my night were great, but some of it was a nightmare that I would probably relive once I was in bed alone. “Yeah I guess.”

My mom came in then, carrying a plate that had steam swirling up from it. The smell made my mouth water; I was so hungry that I could easily eat a horse. “Not sure what it’ll taste like heated up, you should have come home on time if you wanted it to taste good,” she stated, shrugging.

I smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks, Mom,” I muttered, already loading my fork with egg fried rice and kung pao chicken. She smiled back tentatively and I started shovelling in my food like it was my last meal. I moaned at the taste of it - Jamie would love this, this was his favourite and what he always ordered.

I hung out with my parents for a little over half an hour, making small talk about the party and stuff.

No one mentioned tomorrow because every time I talked about going away, my mom would go quiet and look in the other direction. I had the distinct impression that she was going to miss me a lot more than I first thought she would.

“I guess I’d better go finish packing,” I muttered when I couldn’t leave it any later. I had everything sorted into piles but I hadn’t even started putting it into a case yet. Jamie and I were taking a case each, and also a bag that would hold a few days’ worth of stuff too. The plan was to store the larger cases at the airport as we arrived there, and just use the lighter bags because we would be moving around a lot. We could then just swap the clothes and stuff every couple of weeks so that we weren’t wearing the same things all the time. It was genius really, and was a total brainwave of Jamie’s - though I tried to take the credit for it of course.

My mom frowned and nodded at the same time. “Want me to help? You know you’re not too good at packing,” she offered.

I smiled gratefully. I actually sucked at packing and could never manage to fit everything in that I wanted. I was praying that Jamie was better than me because he’d have to sort mine for me in each new place we went to. “Thanks, that’d be great.”

My dad grinned at me, looking grateful for some reason as he kissed my forehead. I smiled and stood up, noticing how my dad winked at my mom and squeezed her hand supportively. She followed me up the stairs and into my room, looking distastefully at the mess that was all over the place. Well, it wasn’t really a mess but my drawers were emptied, everything I wanted to take was in piles covering the carpet. I smiled sheepishly and pulled out the empty case, setting it on my bed.

“You haven’t even started? Ellison, you shouldn’t have left this until now!” she scolded, immediately picking up my clothes and stacking them on the bed.

“I guess I was waiting for you to offer your awesome packing skills,” I teased, trying to connect with her again. I’d been making a real effort lately, and so had she. It was nice in a way that we’d started to bond - it was just such a shame that it took me leaving to get us to be more than just ‘housemates’.

A smile twitched at the corner of her lips as she picked up more stuff. “I guess you’re lucky I offered then,” she replied.

I grinned and sat down on the bed, deciding to let her do it all because she was a bit of a control freak anyway and I’d only end up doing it wrong if I tried to help. She smiled sadly to herself as she refolded all of my clothes, setting them in the case carefully, along with all of my hair stuff and make-up that I was taking.

I watched her in silence; she took so much care over it all, lovingly placing everything in there, seeming to coo over each item of clothing. When I passed her my photo of us all from a family vacation a last year, she smiled at me strangely. “You’re taking this with you?”

I nodded in confirmation. “Of course, can’t go forgetting what you look like, can I?” I joked.

She looked a little taken aback for some reason. She chewed on her lip as she looked at the photo.

“You know, I loved this vacation. You taught Kelsey to dive that year, I was so proud of her for learning to do it, and I was so proud of you for being able to teach her so well,” she said quietly, tracing her thumb over the picture carefully.

My breath caught in my throat at her words. She’d just said that she was proud of me. I’d never heard anything like that come out of her mouth before, she was always so prim and proper, she wasn’t one for affection or declarations of love, it sounded so strange to come out of her mouth now, and I wasn’t sure if I heard her right.

“Kels is a quick learner,” I choked out around the lump that was rapidly forming in my throat.