Hunt Me Down {boyxboy} ✓

Chapter 33

Nathaniel’s POV

“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas…” Mom sang with a huge smile as she taped a thick, dark blue garland to the top of the living room window.

“Isn’t it too early for Christmas songs and decorations?” I asked.

“Nonsense! There are only… Would you pass me the tape, sweetie, I’ll need more of it?” I gave her the desired item and she snipped a piece of it. “There are only two weeks left until Christmas Eve. I should’ve started when I got back from your grandma’s this Monday but I was so tired. I’ve always hated jet lag.”

I extended my hand to help her get off the chair she was standing on and she went on with her happy babble:

“I can’t believe she had me fly all the way to England for a cold! A cold; can you imagine that? She could’ve said something about it… And so soon after your birthday… And oh, presents! I got you some things from England but I’ll place them with the rest of your Christmas presents… We should go shopping this weekend; I need more blue decorations. Have I told you I picked this year’s Christmas decoration colors to be shades of blue and silver?” She went on before I could reply: “I can’t wait to decorate the tree and… What is the matter, sweetie? Don’t you like the idea?”

Five minutes into the conversation, she had finally noticed my lack of enthusiasm.

“It’s fine, mom,” I replied, taking a seat on the couch and reaching towards the coffee table to take the remote control. My mother sat down in the near-by sofa and took the item out of my grasp.

“Fine? Just fine? Blue is your favorite color, sweetie,” she said, placing the control back in its place. “We can do it in red and gold, if you’d like; that’s also a good combination.”

“It’s not the decoration scheme, mom.” I tried to get up but she placed a hand over my knee, a look of parental concern in her blue eyes.

“Oh, sweetie, I thought it might not be. You’ve been so moody the past few days.”

I shook my head; ‘moody’ didn’t quite cover it.

“Was it your sister? Did she do something over the weekend?” My parent kept probing and I wondered what were the chances that she won’t follow me if I replied with a simple ‘no’ and went to my room. Knowing my mom – zero. “You know can tell me everything, right?”

“Teenagers never tell their parents everything, mom,” I replied coolly and she gaped at me, surprised and a little bit scared. I’d never held such a tone with her before. She attempted to smooth her features and even managed a semblance of a smile before she protested:

“But you do.” She stroked my hair, her touch a bit hard. “You are my perfect boy,” she added, voice slightly high-pitched. “You are the perfect son, Nathaniel; you wouldn’t hide things from mommy.”

“I’m far from perfect,” I stated and her hand froze before falling limply at her side. She began to hyperventilate, her breaths coming out loud. “It wasn’t Vallery, mom,” I lied to calm her down and took her hand between my palms.

“Then what was it?” Her voice was a harsh whisper. “Something must’ve made you act like this; you are never like this!”

“I broke up with Irene,” I shout out and in an instant her face changed from panicked to surprised and then to a look of pity. Was this normal? Could women really have such sudden mood swings?

“Oh, sweetie, what happened? You two looked so much in love.”

“Dad mentioned something about moving again and I thought it would be better that Irene and I ended our relationship now before we got even more serious,” I lied again. Was I getting good at this or did she want to believe me so badly that she ignored me stammering when I talked about dad? He had said no such thing.