I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing but i didn't get to it in time. I rolled over picking up my phone to see i had a new voicemail. I hit play. "Hi, Sydney honey...it's your mom uh dear....i uh just realized today that i hadn't seen you in a while and i just wanted to make sure you were okay. So call me back sweetie and if i don't hear back from you i'll call you again." That...woman ugh. I rolled out of bed and stomped into the kitchen. Not even the smell of bacon could calm me down.

           There was pancakes, bacon, eggs and toast on the bar. Ryder dropped his spatula. "You wanted waffles didn't you? An omelet? Look i'll cook sausage and maybe some..." I put my hand up. "No it's not you. This is amazing. Thank you so much." I said taking a seat at the bar and fixing a plate. He handed me a cup of coffee. "Then what's wrong?" Ryder asked. "My mom called." I said. "What did she say?" He asked.

          "That she hadn't seen me in a while and was 'checking on me'." I said. "Oh, that's nic..." "No, it's not. She wants to know why the lights got cut off. And before you start telling me maybe i should call her back or give her a chance. She doesn't deserve it. My mom has wanted nothing to do with me her whole life unless i could give her something. If i call her back she'll just say why not come over and when i do she'll say why not pay the bills..." I said. "You don't think one of her guys wouldn't just pay her bills?" He asked.

          "They don't have any money, high guys aren't exactly model employees. They have just enough to buy drugs for the two of them and then she has to get a new guy because that one is now broke. I won't feed into that and i'm certainly not going to enable her. " I said. "Why is it enabling? Why can't it be helping? Why can't you do for her now that you are in a position to?" He asked. "I'm sorry i guess i'm still angry over going to bed hungry all the time as a kid, can you blame me?" I asked. "Okay, if you feel you shouldn't call her back that's fine." He said putting his hands up. "No you know what. I'm gonna call her back thank you." I said jumping up from the bar. I grabbed a piece of bacon and walked out of the room. "Don't touch that i'll be right back." I said leaving the kitchen.

          I called my moms number and she answered quickly. "Hey, baby! I'm so glad you called me back." "I'm sure you are, as you noticed i moved out." "Yea that's why i was calling i was going to see if you knew why the lights got cut off." She said. "Well i figured since i was no longer living there and no longer using the lights i'd stop paying for them. Since i have a new place and paying two sets of light bills is just crazy!" I said dripping with sweetness.  "Oh yes i guess it would be well honey it's getting hot...and you know...i just thought..." "I know what you thought. That i would keep on taking care of you for the rest of your life, newsflash mom i'm the kid and you're the adult feel free to start acting like it anytime now." I said.

           "That's fine, no you know i deserve that it's i ah well..." "You want me to pay your bills? Fine. I'll pay your bills even stock the fridge and i'll have somebody come and clean the house up while you're gone to rehab." I said. "Re-Rehab...w-well are you sure?" She asked. "Oh i'm sure. I'm not going to keep paying for your bills unless you get your act together." I said. "Well...i..." "Do we have a deal?" I asked. "Sure, but i don't even know where to get started." She said. 

          "Look i'll make all the arrangements. Somebody will come by tomorrow to pick you up. If you're not home were through here." I said.  "I'll go." She said sobbing into the phone. "I'll bring my boyfriend by and we'll fix up the place for you do some repairs that roof has got to go." I said. "How do you have money to pay for all of this?" She asked.

          "I've been saving up a while and i don't need a lot. Look somebody will come to pick you up in the morning." I said. "Okay thanks honey." She said. "I'm serious, you have to go to rehab and when you get back look for work. Like a real job. I'm not going to just keep paying your bills while you get high." I said. "Oh...well i suppose we could talk about it." She said. "NO, you WILL get a job or the deal is off." I said. "Fine." She said relenting. "Bye mom." "Love you dear." She said. "Love you." I said hanging up. I spent the next thirty minutes making phone calls. I got a facility to house mom for as long as she needed the help. She'd get therapy as well. Then i called a few cleaning companies. Took a bit to find one that would throw away all the drugs. I was actually looking forward to fixing up the house.

           I walked into the kitchen. "I need your help." I said to Ryder sitting down at the bar and digging into my breakfast.  "With what? How did it go with your mom?" He asked. "Well fine, as i expected. She wanted money. I'm gonna pay her bills." I said. "What? That's not exactly what i meant when i said to help her." Hes said. I rolled my eyes. "No duh, i'm sending her to rehab." I said taking another bite. "And you want me to take her? I'm confused." He said. I laughed. "No silly, the house as you noticed needs a lot of work. Somebody is going to go clean it up and when they do we are going to fix it up." I said.

          "Fix it, like what all does it need?" He asked. "Well i'll have to call somebody to fix the roof. It needs some new appliances. The floors are shot and the walls have holes from angry boyfriends. It's gonna take a lot but we can knock it out. Maybe if the guys help we can do it." I said. "Sure i think that's doable." He said nodding. I finished the breakfast. "I told her she'd have to get a job but goodness know's how she's gonna get there because she doesn't have a car." I said. "No car?" Ethan said coming into the room. "Who doesn't have a car?" He asked. "My mom i'm trying to get her help." I said. He shrugged. "I could give her one. I have this grand pre. It's an older model but I've fixed it up." He said.

          "Fine but i'm paying you for it in case she gets any crazy ideas about selling it for drugs." I said. "You think she'd do that?" Ethan asked. "Oh yea, my mom is crazy." I said. "Well i hate that. Why are you helping her then if she's so crazy?" He asked. "Guess it's runs in the family i can't stand to see her like this." I said sighing. "Okay if you give me the address i'll go drop it off later." Ethan said. "I really appreciate this." I said. "No problem." Ethan said leaving.

          "So I've been thinking..." Ryder said. "What's that?" I asked smiling. "Maybe you should go see your sister." Ryder said. "What is this? An episode of fix my family? You can't fix everything Ryder." I said. "Well i just thought..." "I know what you were thinking but you can just stop right there. I've gone to see my sister. She didn't even recognize me. She just kept saying don't look at my baby. They fixed her room up like a nursery and she's very happy there. It's good for her, they say she's a good mom to that stupid doll. And it's how she chose to cope it's working for her. Now, why don't you go call your mom?" I asked.

           "Touche' i guess i deserve that. I'll call her one day and invite her to lunch and you're gonna come with me. But not just yet." He said thoughtfully. "You think your mom will bring one of your step sisters?" I ask. "Only Bridget cause you know the crush thing." He said. "Wait is that why you invited me to come?" I asked crestfallen. "Not one bit, i don't care about her, i care about you. And i want you to meet my mom. That's why i said i wanted to wait. Look i guess like you maybe i have some hurt feelings there as well." He said. "Yep and it's a good reason to tell her. I mean if you don't tell her she doesn't know." I said.

          "You're right, i tried acting out and that got me nowhere. So i guess this is good." He said. "I think so." I agreed. "So what are we gonna do today?" He asked. "Well i have to call a guy about my mom's roof. But other than that i'm all yours." I said. I called a few guys and found one that could come after school tomorrow.  

           Then Ryder and i decided to go bowling. On the way i pulled into a  building. "Whatcha doing?" Ryder asked looking around. "Well i saw this sign the other day and this is a great part of town..." "Okay?" He asked still confused. "Well i thought if you wanted to open your self defense place this might be a good place to do it." I said shrugging as i opened my door. He walked around the parking lot and looked at the area. "Yea good part of town." He agreed. We looked through a window.

           "It looks big with a blank canvas." He said. "Only thing is, i can't do the decorating thing...i mean what do you even DO with it?" He asked. "Hm i think for you we should paint the walls grey and add lot's of red accents." I said knowing that i got him lot's of red mats for his graduation present. "We could do some black and white photos with some red accents showing people getting beaten up and saving themselves or something cool like that, i don't know." I said. "Hey that all sounds good, you're hired." He said kissing my forehead. He pulled out his cell and called the number on the sign.

          He sat up a meeting for an hour later. "That was fast." I gushed. "I know, but this is exciting. Guess we'll all be super busy." He said sighing. "Yea doing this and my moms house. But it'll be a good distraction until we can go to New Mexico." I said.