Nick

"Nick?" my mom asked, seeming surprised to see me. I had used an old house key that I still had to open the front door. She was sitting on the couch, drinking green tea I assume, and watching a talk show. That was typical of her. When I did nothing but stare for a moment, she eventually turned back around and continued to watch tv. I breathed out.

"Mom."

My mom turned towards me, "what's wrong dear?" she asked, "why are you just standing at the doorway like that?" I licked my lips and swallowed the excess spit that I could feel building up in my mouth, "because I don't wanna beat around the bush anymore," I said, "so I wanna know."

My mom looked around as if she had been genuinely confused, "know what?" I locked the door so that I could lean against it. "What's going on with you and dad? And don't lie." My mom put her drink down.

"Nick, it's nothing you have to worry about," my mom insisted. "We will still be your parents, and we will still love you, regardless of us." I shook my head, "that's not what I'm asking!" I retorted, "I wanna know what's going on. Maddie told me about the whole seating arrangement thing for Matt's funeral."

Before my mom could continue, I went on. "I mean between that and what I witnessed with my own two eyes the other day, it's pretty hard for me to not wanna know what's going on. Just because it's not my marriage doesn't mean it won't affect me mom."

My mom had been looking down and fidgeting with her fingers the whole time, as if she was desperately avoiding making eye contact with me. "If I tell you what started this, and what's going on, you'll probably see me differently."

"I'll see you differently if you continue to dodge and lie," I voiced, "that's the only case in which I'll think something of you. Just tell me mom. Please."

"Very well," my mom said, finally looking up. She patted the couch that she'd been sitting on. "Come."

I made my way to the couch, though I didn't sit right next to my mother. I opted for the edge instead.

"Spill."

"I cheated on your dad," my mom said bluntly, to which my mouth dropped. "Excuse me?"

"How could you do that?" I asked, "what happened?"

"Nick" my mom groaned, "this was years ago. Like, you weren't even born." I shook my head, "that makes no sense," I said. "I'm nineteen, so this happened over two decades ago? Why is it just now being brought up then?"

"Because your dad really wanted to do this ancestry thing with me, to expand our horizons I guess" my mom said, puzzling me. "Okay?" I replied, "a little lost here." My mom nodded, "getting there."

"We wanted to see if we had any local family members that we didn't know about, so we could reach out to them," my mom informed me. "I had totally forgot, and if I had remembered, I wouldn't have gone through with it." I cocked an eyebrow, I understood what my mom was saying, but was very confused at what she was saying.

"Results came in, and a 20 year old boy from Tallahassee, 50% of my DNA, was revealed." Though I now saw that I clearly should've seen where this conversation was going about a minute or two ago, I was still shocked. A gasp quickly escaped my mouth.

"So correct me if I'm wrong," I said, "but you had a baby with somebody else? Is that what you're saying?" my mom nodded. "I guess the boy had previously put his DNA into the ancestry site, and that's why it linked us. I don't think he went through with the whole process however."

"Who's the boy?" I asked, and my mom shook her head. "I don't think it's a good idea that you know," she advised. "He lives in your city, probably attends the same school. I wouldn't want you doing something that you shouldn't Nicholas."

"You already got this far mom," I said, "just tell me. I won't do anything, but if I have a half brother then I think I deserve to know that." My mom went back to her ashamed, looking at the floor, demeanor.

"His name is Rico. Rico Semedo."

I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience at that moment. I couldn't talk, and my eyes were seemingly glued to my mother's face. "Nick?" she asked, "do you know him?"

"Is this a joke?" my mother sighed.

"Look, everybody is as surprised as you are," my mom began, to which I chuckled. "Yeah, no shit" I replied, rather rudely. "How could you keep that kind of secret for two decades? How did you even keep that kind of secret? Did dad not see you pregnant or something?"

"He did, but he was a truck driver at the time," my mom confided. "For weeks on end he would be on the road, and I'd be my myself. Come time to give birth, this was the case yet again. I had known it was a 50/50 chance that this baby wasn't his, but I wouldn't have been sure until I saw the baby after birth. When I did, I was certain." I felt like breaking down, but I didn't even know what emotion to break down with. Should I be angry, or should I be upset?

"So what?" I asked, "you gave the baby up for adoption?" my mom nodded, "I had to Nick."

She wiped a tear from her face, "I told your dad that Rico had died. I played the part of a grieving mother for months, really well. It worked. The adoption was undercover, and practically illegal, but that was the only way."

"So Rico never tried to reach out to you?" I asked, and my mom shook her head. "I don't think he knows. I mean, he's grown now so he might've done his own research, but I had requested that his adoptive parents didn't tell him about me. I didn't wanna run the risk of him popping up out of nowhere and your father seeing him." I nodded.

"Dad...knows all this now right?" I questioned, and my mom nodded. "He does."

"So what?" I continued, "is this like, just a rough patch? Or are you two closing this chapter for good?"

"I'd like to hope we move past this," my mom admitted. "Like I said, it was twenty years ago. We were literally 21, babies still. Life was different and I wasn't half the woman I am now."

"I can't even judge you," I said, shaking my head and looking down. "I recently did something real bad."

"What'd you do?"

"You know Nova?" I asked my mother, and a smile instantly formed on her face. "The girl who we all thought would marry you but somehow turned up to be a lesbian? Of course I know her! How could I ever forget her?" I smiled sheepishly.

"Well yeah, her. Her wife, the white girl that you met last summer, had gotten into a little argument with her because of me." My mom nodded, "how?"

"Well" I murmured, "given the information you just told me, it would kind of be weird to explain how."

"Nothing is too weird anymore," my mom joked, "lay it on me. What did you do?"

"Nova became friends with Rico," I said, causing a wave of shock to go across my mother's face. "Yeah," I dragged, "I know. He goes to FSU with us."

"Anyways," I continued, "I guess Rico wanted Nova, like real bad. Aubrey, Nova's wife, sensed that before Nova did, and therefore wanted Nova to keep her distance from Rico. Nova decided to see Rico behind her wife's back, and found herself in a scary position. She called me and Jason for help, but I called Aubrey too because I imagined that she'd want her wife there. At the time, I didn't know the pair had a talk about how Nova should stay away from Rico."

"Ah I see" my mom caught on, "Aubrey then got mad at Nova for being there in the first place, and Nova blamed you I assume?" I nodded, "yeah, but it only gets crazier after that."

"So Aubrey's so mad at Nova that she doesn't wanna see her, right," I carried on, "so she tells Jason to have Nova dog-sit for him." My mother nodded to show that she was listening. "When Nova came over, I was there, so we talked. Somehow the conversation got intimate." My mom groaned.

"Nicholas!"

"I didn't mean to cause all the havoc that came after. Aubrey overdid it and shit, filing to divorce Nova over one tiny incident." My mom folded her arms.

"You know," she said, "even though I'm upset about it, I'm not in denial about your dad debating leaving me. I did him wrong, I broke a martial promise, he has every right." I shrugged, "okay."

"So Aubrey, has every right too. Especially in a situation like this? Nick you are all best friends! That girl probably looked at you as an brother, somebody who could help she and Nova when they had relationship issues. And instead, you're ruining them." I sighed, "I didn't mean to."

"So who initiated it?"

"I did."

"Who took control after it started?"

"I did."

"Then you meant to, Nick. You don't "accidentally" sleep with someone, unless you're drunk. And even then, if you're just drunkenly screwing people that you don't mean to, then maybe you shouldn't be drinking."

"Mom," I said, "I'm not passing judgement on you for what you did to Dad. Granted it was two decades ago, it still happened. I can't change the past with Aubrey, similar to how you can't take that baby back. All either of us can do right now, is redeem ourselves." My mom smiled sheepishly.

"You're right. I'm sorry baby," she said in a low tone, "that was a bit hypocritical of me. I understand you and your friends have been through a bit of hell this year as well, so judgement was really the last thing you needed." I smiled, "it's cool mom. No worries."