Read Online Forever and Almost Always by Amanda Bennett - Free Book Online Page A

will break this door down.”
    I climbed over Taylor’s sleeping body and answered my door. “Good morning to you too, Mom. And I guess if you consider Taylor a guy, then yes, yes I have a guy in my room.” I giggled.
    “You’re not funny. What are your plans for today?”
    “Oh you know, go to work, make some dinner, then maybe hang out with you for a bit.” I let a sly smile creep across my smart ass face.
    “You think your funny, don’t you?”
    “Sometimes.” I replied.
    “Well, you’re not. You’re such a smart ass. Whatever! I have to work again tonight. I won’t be home until the morning and I’ll need to sleep today and tomorrow, so please be quiet.”
    “Will do, Mom. I have a date tonight.” I gloated.
    “That’s fantastic, Charlee. Remember, be quiet.”
    Before I could respond, my mom was walking into her bedroom and closing the door behind her. My mom was a nurse, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never get her attention. I did the typical bad teenager bit when I was younger to try. I did drugs, ran away, snuck out of my house, and not once did she ever go the extra mile to try and understand why. Instead, she worked. She worked, and dated every now and then. I knew she had her priorities and that I was very low on that list, but honestly I didn’t think it was asking too much for a simple conversation about what was going on in my life. Apparently, she had other ideas.
    I closed my bedroom door and slipped back into bed. I rolled over towards the window and as much as I wanted to go back to sleep, it wasn’t possible. So I just lay there, staring at my maple wood blinds that desperately needed to be dusted. I tried to remember a better time with my mom, but those memories were since long gone. I had come to terms with it quite some time ago, that I would never give my mom anything to be proud of like my brother did. He was the accomplished, smart older sibling, and I was just, well, I was me.
    “Hey, you okay?” Taylor’s voice cut through my revelry, but it was a welcome distraction from my own self-destructive behavior.
    “Yeah, I’m fine.”
    “I heard your mom. You’d think one day she’d get sick of being such a bitch.”
    “You’d think, but then you’d be thinking wrong. Oh well. So, I have a date tonight.” I sat up against the wall and stared at my somewhat non-existent wardrobe in my open closet.
    “That’s awesome, Char. Where’s he taking you?”
    “Honestly? I have no idea.” I laughed. “But anytime I get to spend with him, will be worth it.”
    “He is pretty damn hot, that’s for sure. Well, I gotta get home before my mom freaks. Katie wakes up early and I know my mom is gonna give me hell when I get home.”
    “Okay, well call me later.”
    “K. Love ya.”
    “Love ya too.”
    Taylor and I kissed the air towards one another and then she was gone. I slunk back down in my bed for a little while longer, contemplating going back to sleep, but I knew my mom would freak if I didn’t clean up the house and pull some weeds out back before I left for the night.
    I begrudgingly threw the covers off of my body and slipped on one of my tiniest bikinis. If I was going to have to go outside in this shitty heat, I might as well look good doing it. As I was lathering up with sunscreen, the house phone started ringing and I bolted into the kitchen to answer it. My mom usually put her phone in her room on silent when she slept, but she was a beast if the other one woke her up. I slid across the wood flooring into the kitchen and caught the phone just before falling on my ass.
    “Hello?” I half shouted.
    “Hey, what are you doing?”
    I knew the voice the second I heard it, and literally threw up a little in my mouth. “What do you want, Michael?”
    “You haven’t been answering your cell phone.”
    “No shit, Sherlock. Did you ever consider that there was a reason for that?”
    “Seriously, we’re doing this again?”
    “Seriously, you’re still