It literally took my mom seconds to cross the street. When I say seconds I don't mean a minute or even half that. I mean she bolted across the street like a woman with the super power of super speed. She was so determined in getting to me that she didn't even bother checking for cars.

Not long after she made it across the street, my birth giver was scooping me up into a giant bear hug.

"I've missed you so much!!" She told me as she almost squeezed all the vital organs out of my body. "I don't know if I can let you go again."

"Hey, mom. I've missed you too." I told her honestly as I hugged her back with a smile.

She immediately pulls back and starts examining me to check if I had no visible wounds on me.

"How's college? Is it tough? Because if it's too hard then there's no shame in coming home and going to a more local college. Are the professors taking it too hard on you? Because I swear I will march all the way up there and-"

"Mom," I chuckled. She'd always been extremely protective of me for as long as I could remember. "Everything's fine. School's great, and so are the professors."

I watch as she lets out a sigh of relief and that's when she realizes Theo is standing next to us.

Her hands automatically go to her hips as if she's about to give a lecture. Uh oh.

"So you must be the one dating my Amaya." She squints at him trying her best to intimidate him.

To say it worked was an understatement. Theo automatically went rigid and stood as straight as he could as my mom stared him down. It was almost as if she was a lioness hunting her prey.

Out of nowhere she wipes the evil look of her face and starts laughing. Theo looks to me scared and more confused than ever. With my palms to the sky, I shrug to let him know I have no idea what's wrong with my mother.

"Ooh," My mom exclaims before swiping away a fake tear. "Did you see his face, Amaya? He looked so scared."

She laughed some more before finally clearing her throat and standing up to look at Theo again.

Theo shoots his hand out to introduce himself to her, but she practically pushes it aside and walks up to him and gathers him up in a hug. My mom practically hugs him so tight you can see his eyes about to pop out of their sockets...almost like one of those dog chew toys that squeak when they're squashed enough.

Great. My fake boyfriend is meeting my mother for the first time and he probably thinks she's as crazy as a bucket of worms and needs psychological help.

I promise she's not usually like this.

"Sorry if I'm coming off a little bit strange," My mom apologizes to Theo after finally realizing him from the death trap. "But Amaya's never had a boyfriend before, so it's new territory for me."

"Oh my gosh. Mom please stop talking." I cover my face with my hands while a blush arises to my cheeks.

"Also I don't want you thinking I'm one of those mean old bats that is constantly scaring off young lads like yourself." My mom continued.

"That's quite alright, Mrs. Dawson." Theo chuckles.

"But if you ever hurt Amaya just know I will find you." She turns serious for a single second before turning her clown-like happiness back on.

"I could never hurt Amaya, Mrs. Dawson. Not intentionally anyway." He told her truthfully.

"Alright. Just remember my promise, but for now let's head on in the house! We've got so much work that needs to be done before tomorrow." She tells us before turning back to the house and leaving us behind to get our luggage.

"Your mom scares me." Theo says in a bewildered tone.

"You and me both, Theodore. You and me both." I tell him as I watch her glide up the sidewalk and into the house.

--------

"No. You're supposed to stir it. Not beat it to a pulp and splatter it all over my kitchen." My mother says as she presses her hand to her forehead.

"Sorry. You know I'm not that good with cooking, mom." I tell her.

Truthfully, I'm a decent chef, but it's so very hard to concentrate when Gloria won't shut her trap.

For the last twenty minutes that we've been working on my mom's famous chocolate pudding pie she hasn't stopped going on about her latest shopping trip to the mall. I've had a lot of odd moments in my life, but Gloria talking about all the lingerie she bought at Victoria's Secret this past weekend with both my mom and my "boyfriend" in the room is just weird.

Not to mention the fact that when she talks about it she kept her eyes on Theo.

The. Whole. Fricking. Time.

Did I not make myself clear earlier??

"Hey, Theo? Would you mind going to grab some more flour out of the pantry for me?" My mom asks him sweetly.

She's finally stopped acting crazy and now her normal personality is back...hopefully for good. Theo, I think, has noticed too since he seems to have calmed down and become less petrified.

"Sure thing, Mrs. D!" He shouts enthusiastically before leaving the room to search for the pantry.

"I'll go give him a hand." Gloria says with a smirk sent my way.

Oh no she didn't! This is war!

"Yeah I think I'm gonna go help them too." I tell my mom, but just as I was about to leave the kitchen she reached out and grabbed my arm.

This is just my luck. I'm just hoping Gloria isn't able to work her hoe-bag hoodoo on the one guy that is actually decent and I care about. The one guy who has actually been there for me through my tough times. The one who actually showed me something other than pity. He's mine, and if Gloria tried to get in between us again it would end up a whole lot messier than our first quarrel. I promise that.

"So far I like him." My mom tells me with a small smile.

"Really? That's awesome." I tell her looking off in the direction Theo and Gloria headed. I know. I know I'm not completely focused, but they should be back by now right?

"Yeah." By the tone of her voice I can tell she noticed I'm not exactly paying attention. "Amaya! I'm over here, okay? I'm sure Theo's fine. Gloria's helping him out."

I turn my head towards her again. I'd rather her not be angry at me. Even if Gloria threw herself at Theo, he'd be quick to push her off, right?

"The problem is I had no idea about him. You didn't even tell me about him, Amaya. You're my daughter. You know you can tell me about anything, but you didn't even tell me about your first boyfriend?" She looks sad and I instantly feel like a total jerk.

"Listen, mom. I know I should've told you, and I should call more, but I know you have so much going on with the extra work and dad, so I didn't think I needed to waste your time talking about a new boyfriend of all things." I tell her.

It's mostly true. I had been wanting to talk to her about Theo, but had put it off since I knew she'd be busy. So the only lie is about him being my boyfriend.

"Oh, sweetheart. Anything you tell me is never a waste of time. I love you more than anything in the world and I love talking about what's going on with you. No matter what it is, it makes me feel like I'm closer to you. You're my little munchkin and I had to send you off to college and now I'm all by myself. I miss you, Amaya, so little talks about your new boyfriend or a test or even what you had for lunch mean more than you'll ever know." She tells me with a teary smile.

"Aw mom," I hug her tight. I had no idea my leaving had affected her so much. "Don't cry."

She sniffles then laughs a little bit. "Okay. Okay. This isn't a time for crying. We got pies to bake! Run off and get those hoodlums of yours while I'll go fix my makeup!" She runs off towards the bathroom and I walk as quickly as I can to go find Theo and Gloria.

I walk towards the pantry and instantly hear tiny whispers.

Oh no. No no no. Not again. I can't deal with this all over again. I just can't.

Even though I know finding them together will break my heart into a million pieces I still step closer to the room.

I am finally to the room and I peek in to see Gloria has Theo cornered.

"Listen, Gloria. I would yell at you and tell you to back off, but I don't want to embarrass you in front of your family, so please just stop doing this." He yells quietly.

"Mayo can't give you the things I can. Trust me." She says in a flirty whisper.

Ew. I think I'm going to throw up. Why am I even listening to this?

"Her name is Amaya. And I don't care what she can or can't do. At least she has a personality and cares about people other than herself." He stops to sigh for a second. "Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sure there's a guy out there for you, but I'm taken by a girl who means more to me than you'll ever be able to even understand....and I love her."

He...loves me? Theo loves me?

No. No. I had to have heard that wrong.

I hear someone walking closer. Whether it was Gloria or Theo, I had no idea, but I did know that I needed to get the heck out of there. If either one of them caught me I'd be embarrassed and officially labeled as an eavesdropper. As if Gloria needed another bad Amaya characteristic to add to the long list she keeps locked up in her brain.

My senses immediately go into fleeting mode and within seconds I'm back in the kitchen. I whistle while pretending to do hard work. I watch as Theo walks in followed by an angry Gloria and she gives me a deathly glare before running off to God knows where.

"What's her problem?" I wonder in fake innocence.

I already knew what was wrong with her. I bet this is the first time she's ever been rejected. Sucks to suck, Gloria.

"Oh I have no idea, but hey! I got the flour!" He says as he triumphantly hold the bag above his head.

"Thanks." I say with a quick and fake smile before grabbing it out of his hands quickly.

I focus on sprinkling more flour onto the counter top before rolling out some more dough. I'm doing literally anything to avoid Theo's gaze because I knew that as soon as I look up to him I will spill and start begging for forgiveness about my nosiness.

"Is something wrong, Mya?" He asks sounding concerned.

"Nope. Nothing at all!" I shout before turning around and start rummaging through the fridge for the apples.

I feel Theo's hands wrap around my waist before quickly turning me around. I looked from side to side and saw no possible escape. He had an arm on either side of me, and he was as close as he could get. I was completely boxed in. There was no hope of getting away now.

"You know I can tell when you're lying, ya know?"

"Yeah right." I rolled my eyes while looking around the room to avoid eye contact with him.

"I can. You refuse to look at me, and your cheeks and nose gets all rosy. I honestly think it's adorable." I can hear the smirk in his voice.

I snap my head back to look at him. "I'm not lying. Just let it go, Theo." I say while attempting to slip underneath his arm.

But he was too quick for me. He blocked me from getting away once again. Damn him and his very muscular arms.

I'm really hoping that my mom doesn't walk in because she'll immediately think we're up to no good.

"I can't let it go. Can you please just tell me? What's up?" He questioned.

I kept quiet and crossed my arms in front of my chest before pretending to zip my mouth up.

"Wow. Very mature, princess." He rolled his eyes.

I grinned knowing I was starting to annoy him.

"Oh. Now I'm getting the silent treatment?" He asked. "No. That's for old married couples who can't talk through their problems, and although I would make the sexiest husband alive, I haven't done anything douschey to deserve the silent treatment."

When I still don't respond he sighs and finally lets me go. Truthfully, I already miss him being so close to me. I watch him go sit down at the kitchen table and before turning to look at me.

Thank goodness! I was about to break my façade and just tell him.

"I thought we told each other everything now, Mya. We can be truthful to each other can't we?"

Oh that's rich coming from him! Didn't he just lie about him "not knowing what's up with Gloria"?? Yeah fricking right. He knew for sure.

"Says you...of all people!" I scoff.

"Are you serious right now? I've told you more things about my life than I've ever told anyone! You have to know that it wasn't easy, so I have been truthful."

"So you've been truthful. All the way up to the last hour? Or even the last ten minutes?" I question him.

Why was I even arguing this much about him telling Gloria he actually liked me? Truth be told, I wasn't even that upset about Theo telling me a small lie.

So why was I even angry at all? I don't know. Maybe the fact that I have a true bitch of a cousin?

"What are you talking about?" He asked in a more quieter tone while looking a little worried.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." I said as I went back to preparing the apple pie for the oven.

He looked confused at first then bewildered. "Did you hear me talking to Gloria earlier?"

I opened my mouth to finally tell him the truth, but just as I was about to my mom walked back in looking refreshed.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I was gone for so long, but would you mind running to the store for me? We're a bit low on butter and I'm gonna need you to pick up some other things for tomorrow."

"Yeah sure thing, Mrs. D. I'll go with Amaya." Theo said as he went to grab his coat.

"I'll be going by myself. Thank you though, sweetie." I say with fake admiration.

Theo is sure to give me a angry look and mouths that I need to stop. Even though my anger should just be directed at Gloria, we were in fight mode now and there was no way I was going to lose.

I walk out of the house and head for my mom's car, and just as I'm pulling out of the driveway Theo jumps in the passenger seat.

I slam on the brakes surprised at the sudden intruder.

"Uh-uh. Out. Now." I say pointing at the door.

"Wow. You didn't even use five words." He says in a rather sassy-like tone.

"Not in the mood, Theo. This is my mom's car which means I'm in charge, so get out!"

"Uh," He pretends like he's in deep thought for a second. "No thanks."

"I'm serious. Now get out!" I shout at him.

I expected him to just climb out of the car like a sad little puppy at the pound who had just got rejected, but he does the exact opposite. He automatically grins and chuckles to himself.

"What's so funny, you comedian?" I ask getting annoyed that he's laughing at me.

"I'm not leaving. You owe me this."

"I don't owe you anything." I scoff.

"Oh really?" I question sarcastically. "I owe you something?"

"Um, yes. Don't you remember our little bet from Walmart all that time ago? You said if I won you'd owe me something and this is what I choose. I get to ride with you to the store and you have to hear me out about everything."

He makes it seem like there's no other option which he was right. I wasn't the type of person to go back on my word, and I wasn't going to start today.

"Fine." I mutter in self defeat.

There was no chance of me getting out of this conversation now. This is just awesome!

-----------------------------------------------------

Aye new chapter!!! I think you guys deserve it since WE HIT 200K READS!!!

It's so awesome! You guys are the freaking best!!

But about the chapter:

What'd you guys think?

And any predictions about what'll happen next?

Also, opinions on good ole Gloria?

Random, but anyone else watching one too many tv shows at the same time? Bc me too! I've got so many to watch all at once. (Just finished The People V. OJ Simpson last night & it was sooo good, intense, but good!! Also been watching tons of Grey's Anatomy & Supernatural ;) Any other fans out there?)

Okay gonna wrap this up, so you guys can get on with your day! Have a great one!

Lots of Love,

~K