Ariana

           There was a knock on my bedroom door a little while later. I remained silent and didn't answer, hoping whoever it was would leave me be. When my door opened anyway, my head spun quickly toward my doorway to see my mother entering the room with a sympathetic smile already on her face. She walked over to where I was sitting on the chest and took a seat across from me on my bed. I tried to wipe the tears off my face, but my mother gently took my face in her hands and began to do so herself like she would back when I was a child and upset over much simpler things. And I let her do so.

            "Sweetheart," my mother whispered in the loving, comforting way a mother only could. "You have to eat, honey."

            "I'm not very hungry." I sniffed, shaking my head. "And it's a bit too crowded out there."

             It was my mother's turn to shake her head now. "I sent them both on their way, dear."

           "What?" I looked at her in shock. "Where are they even staying?"

            "Both were wise enough to book hotel rooms for their stay in New York." My mother smiled, stocking my hair. "Now come on! You can have a nice talk with your mom over some yummy Chinese food."

            My mother was the only parent I had ever known, and she was my best friend at times. It had always made me sad that she had decided to stay single after my father died. It made me feel guilty in a way, but she had assured me that she just had not met anyone who called to her heart the way my father did. A part of me wanted my mother to move on, and the other part stayed relieved that I didn't have to do the whole stepfather thing, but then, another part of me wished that I could have. I would like to see my mother getting a chance to love and be loved again. She was always full of it.

            My mother and I entered the kitchen. My lip began to tremble. My mother had set up the food buffet-style on the counter. And in front of them there was a fork, chopsticks, and two sodas. I was so grateful to my mother. She had helped me so much over the last month. I turned to my mother and pulled her into a warm embrace. She was surprised at first but gladly pulled me closer to her.

            "What's this for?" my mother chuckled. "This isn't usually your thing."

             The realization that my mother was right made me feel guilty. I didn't like to hug or be hugged too often, but I guess with everything that had happened to me, but it was causing me look at these things in a new light.

             "Thank you for everything, Mom," I whispered tearfully. "Thank you for being here and for me and helping me so much."

             My mother pulled back and kissed my forehead. She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and led us toward the food. We both took a seat on a couple of stools that were placed under the counter. I grabbed my favorite eggfoo young. And my mother grabbed her dumplings. A little bit in mother was showing off with her chopsticks, and I was keeping to my unexciting fork.

              "They really care for you, you know," my mother said, stuffing a fifth dumpling inside her mouth, chewing before swallowing. "Why don't you take the time to "get to know" them."

            I sighed and pushed away a now empty carton. I gazed out into space, knowing that my mother had a point. These were guys who really seemed to care for me, and to come out here to check on me was a very kind act. A part of me was just scared of getting close to anyone right now. There were still missing pieces as to why I was even outside that night and seemed to have gotten left on my own. All my mother said was I had gone out to get some air. But from what the doctors had said about my memory loss being a subconscious block, instinctively, I knew that there were things not being told to me.

             "I know you are right, mom," I muttered. "I just don't really want to be close to anyone else right now, honestly."

            "It will probably be good for you!" My mother nudged her shoulder against my own. "All you do is study. And I had to stop you from trying to go back to work just yet!"

            My mother usually helped me out with living and college expenses, but fair enough, I paid for all my other responsibilities. My job in a bookstore was kind enough to give me some long-term time off after hearing what had happened to me. I, of course, was very thankful for their understanding. After all these years, I was paid very decently by them, and I actually loved working the job I had. You didn't get to do that very often.

            "You should go out and have fun with them!" My mother continued, an unreadable sparkle in her eyes. "They are your friends after all! And you guys deserve it after everything!"

             I sighed and didn't say anything else in reply. I knew that I couldn't avoid these things forever and choices did need to be made overall.

            After dinner, I left my mother in the living room after helping her to clean up. My belly was now full, and I was feeling somewhat better overall. I got ready to hop in the shower and do my nighttime routine. When I walked back out of the bathroom I had in my room, drying my hair with a towel, I heard my phone beeping, letting me know I had a missed message.

            Taking a deep breath, I threw the towel to the side on top of my chair for the time being and decided to face my phone. I was startled to see an unknown number had sent me a message. As I read it, I realized it was from that guy Sam I had met in the park. The text message said he hoped I was having a great evening and that he understood if I didn't end up messaging him back. I was hesitant, but before I could stop myself, I found myself making my situation even more complicated and sending out a thank you reply, wishing him the same. I collapsed laying down my bed with a heavy thud and grabbed one of my pillows and placed it over my face.

            A conclusion had to be come up with when it came to Jasen and Chase. I would give them both a chance and just spend time getting to know them again like my mother suggested. That was all. They both came out all this way, it was the least I could do. It didn't mean anything to me other than they were my friends and it wouldn't hurt to learn more about what was missing from them directly.

           I would have to use my head on this one, because my heart very much so had other ideas. I was going to have to be very strong. My phone sounded again and I looked to see that Sam had replied to my message with a cheeky smile emoji. This for some reason just made me crack a smile. I was going to put my phone down for the night, but then I had incoming messages from Jasen and Chase both.

           The summary of what each guy was saying to me was basically them apologizing to me for just showing up unannounced. And that if I wanted them to leave, they would. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to reply to each of them separately that I would take time to hang out with each of them while they were visiting. After giving each guy details about what times, I bid each of them goodnight and threw my phone away from me. I was finished for the night. I unfortunately had more studying to do. Graduation was in two more months, and I still had a bunch to wrap up. But all was going very well. I was very proud that despite what happened, I was still on my way to accomplishing my goals. I thanked Spirit that I could remember all that I needed to.

            As I forced myself to get up from my bed and made my way over to my laptop, I couldn't stop the sudden small smile that was starting to spread across my lips. . .

Here you all are my beautiful readers. Peace love and light to you all<3