The look on his mother’s face was one of commiseration and wishing she could do something to help him as she reached over to pat his hand gently.
“I’m sorry.” She said genuinely, “I spoke with your father and he thought this was all a fine joke. But he honestly thought you’d be able to get another ride up to meet them. I’m sorry you can’t. Are you sure there’s no one else?”
Casey looked even more glum at that and felt it too, knowing that his father did probably think this was all one big joke. Casey would have found it funny too if he wasn’t the butt of it. But for all of his intent Casey’s father had left him without any way of getting to the lake for the weekend and now he was going to miss out on everything. Including a drunk Cristina Hodges! This had been his big chance, and now he was going to be the only one not there.
“I tried everyone. Even Terri and he’s the last person to ever get up and go anywhere. But there’s no way for me to get there now. I’m stuck.” He replied glumly, flipping his phone between his hands as he stared at it as if some miraculous answer were going to ‘beep’ into his hands any moment. He hoped, but he knew it wouldn’t. “Guess I’ll just be stuck here all weekend rather than having fun with everyone else”
Casey’s mother’s hand gripped tighter onto his and her face took on an even more apologetic and commisatory expression.
“I’m sorry honey, I wish I could help” She said, meaning it clearly but knowing that there was no way that she could.
For a moment all Casey could do was sit there moping and feeling sorry for himself before he finally felt the despair almost consume him and stood, turning to go.
“Well, I guess I’ll see what I can do with no one around…” He glumly announced, intending to head for his computer where he knew none of his friends would be online and there really wouldn’t be much for him to do. But still, it was the best he could think of.
This sucked. The biggest party of the summer and he was going to miss it. And Cristina. And all he could do was spend time in his room because no one was around. This sucked big time.
Looking a mix of not knowing what to do and desperately wanting to help him Casey watched his mother almost reach out for him before she let her hand fall, not knowing what to say, before saying, “I’m sorry, honey. You going to be ok?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll just miss out on the best weekend of my life, but I’ll be fine” He forlornly answered before traipsing away, dragging his feet, towards his room, glancing down at his phone every now and then in a vain hope that someone would message him back and say they could take him.
He knew how vain that hope was. But faced with a weekend alone, well, with his mother, but still away from all of his friends and the blast that they were bound to have, he had to have some hope lest he become totally depressed.
The bedroom door shutting behind him sounded like the door to his dreams closing on him. When he would next get a chance with Cristina he didn’t know. Not like this anyway. Little did the eighteen-year-old know just how much better his weekend would be now. And what was to come as he sat down at his computer, too depressed to even let the image of his mother perk him up.
– – –
Holly Clarke watched her son glumly leave the kitchen, his feet scraping on the floor as he reluctantly dragged himself out of the room, and once more muttered to herself about her husband. Maybe Casey would learn from this, as Chris hoped, but it was still a sucky way of teaching him, the beautiful brunette thought. This was supposed to be Casey’s big weekend with his family and friends and now he was stuck in the house with his mother. Not to mention that she now didn’t have her weekend to herself. Not that she didn’t feel a little bad for thinking that latter when Casey was so unhappy. But both were the result of her husband’s ‘joke’ and both meant that Holly and Casey were left with a poorer weekend than they had planned. And all because of Chris and his competitive sense of humour.
Muttering to herself Holly turned around and looked towards the large glass doors that led to the back garden. She had planned on sunbathing for a lot of the weekend but now she just didn’t feel relaxed. Moreover, she couldn’t settle knowing that Casey was as glum as he was. That was just her mother instinct.
For a moment all Holly could do was stand there and stare out at the beautiful day. The day she should be enjoying. When something Chris had said suddenly hit her. ‘Just do something to make it up to Casey’. That sudden thought was like a firework going off in her head that abruptly lightened her mood. Do something to make it up to him, something that would make up him missing out on the big party weekend. That was easier said than done, but it still was something she could do. All she had to think of was a way to balance out the scales. A way to make Casey not miss what he really was missing out on.
But how? For a long moment the beautiful 38-year-old mother stood and worked her mind trying to figure something out. She could buy him a car? Then he could drive up himself and have the whole thing totally made up for! Only problem was, that meant Reilly and Kayden not having a car while their younger brother had one, and that would just spiral out of control. So, maybe something else. What could she do for Casey that would make him have a great weekend rather than missing what was happening at the lake?
Holly wracked her brain for a while until finally it hit her. She had to do things with him that he had always wanted to do, or that he enjoyed! He may be home alone with his mother for a long weekend but maybe she could do something that would cheer him up! And Chris had said that she should do something to make up for it. Of course, there was the problem that what eighteen-year-old would want to spend a four-day weekend in the blazing summer sun with his own mother, but Holly couldn’t do anything about that. He had planned on spending some of that time with his father and brothers anyway so maybe she could be a good substitute, even if she wasn’t a guy doing guy things.
Feeling a little lighter, Holly poured over the things she could do to cheer Casey up, thinking of the things he enjoyed doing most and what she could do for him. It didn’t take long for her to get a couple of ideas and so soon she clapped her hands together and, smiling, made her way to Casey’s room.