Taco Surprise

Do you remember me? Probably not, but I'm getting a little too old for this ;) This is the first thing I've posted in over a year. My writing is a little bland, since I've been writing three essays a week (I'm not even kidding) with very little to no novel writing. You can tear this apart if you like.

Taco Surprise

“He’s going to love these,” Anne said with pride as she stirred batter in a large, blue bowl. “I’m going to prove to him that I can cook.” Flour was everywhere, even on her clothes and hair. She had a bunch of ingredients lining the counters as well as a large box full of different cooking supplies. She had a big grin on her face, super excited for tonight. She wasn’t even wearing an apron or had bothered to tie up her hair.

Justin sat upright and leaned against the kitchen counter. He studied his mother, a middle-aged woman of thirty-seven with sandy hair and hazel eyes. She had creases on her face that showed she wasn’t the young maiden she used to be. He had seen pictures of her from before, and she was really something. Age had certainly gotten to her. Justin thought she would have done well with an apron, because she was covered from head to toe in flour. She didn’t seem to mind, though. She always seemed to be laughing about something. Well, only when Ryan was around...

Justin had his arms folded, giving her a glare. He didn’t look much like her, as he had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He had really dark and tan skin, making him look as though he and Anne might not even be related at all. He was a young man of fifteen, tall for his age but not quite too tall. He always wore a simple hoodie and jeans. Today the hoodie was dark blue, which completely contrasted his brown eyes.

“Mom, you can’t cook,” he said coldly.

“Of course I can,” she stated. “As far as Ryan is concerned, I can cook better than Betty Crocker. He’ll love my blueberry muffins.”

Justin watched as she dug through a box filled with cooking supplies, most of them many years old. He had only been trying to warn her. For as long as he could remember, they had gone out to eat and crunched through burnt and messed-up food. His mother just couldn’t cook. Most of the stuff in that box was probably not even useable anymore. He could have offered to help her, since he knew a thing or two about cooking from his dad, but he actually wanted to see where this would go. Most of the stuff in that box smelled like tacos, and the opened taco seasoning packet might have explained why. She was trying too hard to impress Ryan. She knew that she couldn’t cook, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try.

“You need to be on your best behavior when Ryan gets here,” Anne said, giving him a look of warning as she dug out some powdered sugar. “He’s going to come over, have dinner, have a muffin, and then we’re going to sit and talk. You’re more than welcome to join us. In fact, you should join us. You need to warm up to him.”

“I’m never going to warm up to him,” he said.

She sighed. She stopped her baking momentarily and walked over to him. “You’re not even trying, Justin. Ryan has been trying, but you’ve just shut him out. I’m not asking for you to accept him as a replacement for your father. I understand this has all been very hard on you, but Ryan will be a new beginning. I’m sure your father will get remarried as well, and then things will be much better. Now stop acting like this and try to get along with Ryan. Answer his questions with a smile when he asks you.”

Justin shook his head. “You left dad with nothing. He really loved you. How can you just leave him and then find a replacement within three months?”

Anne looked annoyed. She had heard this speech many times before. “Justin, I loved your father, but he needed to get a reality check. I told him that, but he didn’t want to listen to me. He would rather stay at home and loaf around than he would go out and get a job. While he’s been taking it easy, I’ve been working like crazy to afford everything we have. That’s backwards. I should be the one who stayed at home. I really wanted to, but your father wouldn’t let me.”

“Mom, you can’t cook, clean, or sew,” he said as he unfolded his arms in frustration. “You always seemed to enjoy dad staying home over you. At least he could cook.”

“I couldn’t cook because he never gave me the chance to learn. But it doesn’t matter, because I can cook now. I’m with this new guy, and I would appreciate it if you would act mature about this.”

“You know, most mothers would ask their child what they thought of the guy that she was dating. You frankly just don’t seem to care.”

“You’ve made your opinion about Ryan very clear by this point. It would be nice if you had something to back your opinion up, though. When you find something, then we’ll talk.”

Justin mumbled something under his breath and then headed out of the kitchen. That was the problem. Ryan seemed perfect. He was an accountant that made plenty of money. He had promised his mother that she didn’t have to work another day in her life. He was always super respectful of her, he was nice to anybody and everybody, and he even had a young son of his own, though he was at his ex-wife’s house most of the time. He was keeping his fingers crossed this night would blow everything up. He knew his mother couldn’t cook, and she had invited him to dinner. Something was bound to go wrong. Of course they had been dating for a while now--six months to be exact--but it was never too late for something to go wrong.

He headed to his room. He came inside and looked around. The floor was covered in so much he couldn’t even see the carpet, the walls were covered with so many posters he couldn’t see the paint underneath, there were clothes thrown carelessly all over, and his bed was unmade. Even his ceiling was covered in posters. Most of them were of bands, mostly rock, but there were also some of some celebrities that he liked. His mother would never allow him to have pictures of girls in his room, no matter how appropriately dressed they were.

He walked in and nearly tripped over something on the floor. He looked down and saw his basketball. He sighed, remembering all those afternoons he used to play basketball with his dad. His mother didn’t usually come home until late, so most of his time after school was spent with his father. Now he only saw him every other weekend. He lived in a small apartment in another town. Nothing would be the same again. All those nights of them laughing while his mother was away at work, all those times they played basketball together, and all the inside jokes they used to share that would make his mother angry when they wouldn’t let her in on it; those were all gone now. His dad was almost like a best friend to him. Or at least he used to be.

Everyone always found it weird that he had a stay-at-home dad rather than a mom like everyone else had, but he never minded. He would have rather spent his afternoons with his dad than he would with his mom. He would have loved to stay with his dad after the divorce, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave this big house and all his friends to go and live in a small apartment and go to a new school. Besides, his father didn’t really sound like he wanted Justin to live with him, as he was having a hard enough time making ends meet without a child added to the picture.

“Once I get a job, this will all change,” he said to himself as he chucked the basketball across the room. “I can live where I want. Maybe I can help my dad get out of an apartment and into a normal house. I only have another year.”

The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Ryan. Justin was tempted just to stay up here for the night, but he knew his mother would insist that he come down. Things were getting pretty serious between the two of them, and his mother had been pushing harder than ever for them to have a relationship.

He came into the living room and saw his mother talking to Ryan. Ryan was a tall and charismatic man with blond hair and blue eyes. His mother always seemed to be laughing whenever he was around, causing him to want to gag.

“Hello, Justin,” Ryan said with a smile when he saw Justin come around the corner. They were all standing in the living room. His mother looked like today might have been her birthday with the way she was focused on Ryan. Justin could see that Ryan’s son wasn’t with him today. He was rather thankful for that. His son was annoying. Then again, what little kid wasn’t?

“Hello,” Justin said back, giving him a cold look.

“Let’s get started with dinner,” Anne said as she led Ryan into the kitchen. Something smelled a bit burnt. That was no surprise. He smirked to himself, wondering what she could have possibly ruined this time.

He stepped in the kitchen, letting the cool tile floor touch his bare feet. The kitchen was in the same state it was before, except now instead of flour everywhere there were pots, pans, and silverware. There was also white gravy all over the counter, and his mother had carelessly left the milk out. If this bothered Ryan at all, he didn’t show it.

“I’m excited to eat whatever you’ve prepared, Anne,” he said with a smile, taking a seat on one of the chairs.

Justin just stood there, not sure if he actually wanted to sit down. It was a small table, which meant he would probably have to be sitting next to Ryan.

“Justin, go wash your hands before you eat,” his mother said with a look.

Justin headed over the sink, annoyed she was making him wash his hands. She didn’t usually make him wash his hands before they ate, but everything was changing now that her boyfriend was here.

As he was washing his hands with the blue liquid hand soap, he spotted the blue bowl his mother had been using earlier. He snuck a peek inside of it and realized that his mother hadn’t put her muffins in the oven yet. He stared at the blue batter, kind of disappointed it wasn’t some off color. He was hoping that she would mess these up, but from the looks of it nothing was wrong with them. He noticed a box sitting behind the bowl, and it looked like his mother had attempted to hide it. He smirked. Of course she didn’t make these from scratch. From the looks of it, she hadn’t even used the things in the box she had earlier.

He turned around and saw that his mother and Ryan were preoccupied. His mother was laughing at something she said, and Ryan looked like he was too busy talking to even eat his food. There was a saltshaker nearby, and Justin didn’t have to guess to know that Ryan had been using it to make his mother’s food taste better.

He sought his chance while they were distracted and searched through the box his mother had sitting out. After going through a bunch of flour and spices that looked years old, he finally found something that could be of use: a taco seasoning packet. He smirked and worked up a plan in his mind. Ryan wouldn’t be coming back here again.

He quietly and quickly tore open the packet and dumped it in the muffins. He then mixed what was in the bowl, making sure that there was no trace of the taco seasoning. He was thankful that the batter was blue. There was a little bit of a difference, but he was keeping his fingers crossed his mother wouldn’t notice. He smirked at a job well done and then finally headed to the table.

He was expecting a ‘What took you so long?’ from his mother when he sat down, but she seemed to be distracted too much by Ryan.

“I went to Florida when I was a little girl,” she told him. “I always wanted to go as an adult, but my life didn’t exactly go the way I expected.”

“That’s too bad,” Ryan said. “It’s never too late. Have you ever thought of going on a honeymoon there?”

Justin had to stop himself from saying something, so he attempted to distract himself with food. Was that supposed to be some kind of hint? His mother seemed a little flushed by what Ryan said, while Justin shoved a bite of rice in his mouth. That had been a bad idea, because he had almost forgotten how bad his mom’s cooking was. She made pork, rice, and corn with some white gravy. The pork and corn were okay, but the rice was a little undercooked, and the white gravy tasted absolutely awful. It was kind of lumpy, and he could taste the milk a little too well. He could see why Ryan had the salt shaker nearby.

Justin made faces as he ate, and his mom didn’t seem to appreciate it. She kept giving him looks, warning him to cut it out.

“Justin, your mother tells me that you like basketball,” Ryan said with a smile. “Perhaps you and I can go and shoot some hoops after dinner.”

“No,” Justin said quickly. He didn’t want his favorite pastime with his dad to be plagued by some guy trying to woo his mother.

“Well, if you don’t want to I understand, but it would be fun.”

“I said no.” Justin shifted in his seat, wondering when this terrible dinner was going to be over.

“Justin, be nice,” Anne barked. “Ryan is just trying to do something with you. How about you guys find something to do while I finish up these muffins.”

Justin was hoping that she was kidding, but apparently she wasn’t. While she headed into the kitchen, Justin gave Ryan a glare, making sure he understood his feelings.

Justin followed Ryan into the living room, kind of hoping he was just putting on a show and he would suddenly turn around and tell him he didn’t like him. That would certainly make him seem less perfect and finally give him a reason to tell his mother so she would stop dating him.

“How about we just talk, Justin?” Ryan said with a smile as he sat down on the couch.

Seeing as he didn’t have a choice, Justin sat down with him. He studied the brown shag of the old couch. This was the couch they used to watch movies together as a family. But that was just a thing of the past now.

“Justin, I really like your mother, and I also like you. If you give me a chance, I’m sure that you would like me, too.”

Justin shook his head. Why was he being treated like he was five? He was fourteen, not some little kid like Ryan seemed to be acting like. “You’re not my father and you never will be,” he mumbled.

“I understand that. Divorce is hard. You remember my son, Derek, right? He was younger than you when I split up with his mother. Divorce is hard no matter what age you are, and I’m sure you’re still trying to put everything together. Justin, I want to marry your mother. Would that be alright with you?”

Justin stared at him in shock. “No,” he stated, suddenly standing up from the couch. “She divorced my dad only nine months ago. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Ryan looked like he wasn’t sure how to answer him. He started to talk, and then seemed to change his mind. “I don’t want to say anything that will make you hate me. Just remember that sometimes the second time around is better than the first. Both your mother and I have learned from our failed first marriages.”

“She was the one that left him, though. What makes you think she won’t just leave you ten years from now?”

“Justin, your parents were very different people. Your mother and I are very similar. Things will be much better, you’ll see.”

Justin was annoyed. How could he act so perfect? He had to have some kind of flaw.

“Perhaps we could go to a pro basketball game sometime,” Ryan said, seeming to get off subject. “Would you like that? If you don’t want to play a game with me, that’s fine, but there are other options.”

Justin didn’t want to do anything with him, so he chose to just keep his mouth shut. He focused his gaze on their old TV. He was sure if his mom married this guy they would move to a bigger house. They would have everything they could ever want with the money from an accountant, but what did it matter if their family was torn apart? What did it matter if he could only see his dad every other weekend, or if he had to have an annoying new stepbrother? What did it matter if his mother said ‘I love you’ to a man that wasn’t his father? He would give anything to keep this small and old house if it meant he had both of his parents, not a replacement. He spent the past two years wishing his parents would stay together, but it was all in vain when they finally split up. He had seen the signs for a long time, but he held onto the hope it wouldn’t actually happen. He was wrong.

Ryan left him alone after that, and once his mother got the muffins in the oven she proceeded to talk to him again. Justin just sat in the living room, smirking when he thought about the muffins. His mother was too preoccupied with Ryan she didn’t even notice the off color. That was just perfect. If Ryan was an accountant, surely he was looking for a girl who could cook. His mom would finally get what she claimed she had always wanted but never seemed to be good at because now she would have the choice. Ryan wouldn’t be too thrilled when she destroyed both the dinner and the muffins. Of course this was no guarantee they would break up, especially over something so stupid, but it would all be worth it if he could just see Ryan say something mean about her cooking. If he would lose his temper, that would be even better.

He could hear them talking from the living room, and he didn’t like what they were talking about. His mother tended to say things she probably shouldn’t when she thought he wasn’t listening.

“I wanted to travel the world when I was young, but my plans were changed when I became pregnant.”

“Well, I guess we all make mistakes, but I’m sure that Justin was worth it.”

“Of course,” she said, “but his father was more the hassle than he was. Sometimes I just wish I would have left Adam a long time ago. Justin could have had so much more growing up, since he would have had a father that actually supported his family.”

“Sometimes I wish I would have left Hillary a long time ago. Maybe this custody battle with Derek wouldn’t be so bad. It’s just been going on for so long. We’ve been divorced for a while now, but I feel that we’ve made no progress.”

“You’ll get him back eventually. I have faith.”

Justin sat back on the couch. His dad might not have been the perfect provider, but he was a good father. He didn’t see the big deal. His mom went to work every day while his dad stayed home and took care of him. They both did their part. Just because it wasn’t the ideal way didn’t mean their family suffered that much. Most of their suffering was because his mother didn’t make a ton of money, but even if his father did work he wouldn’t have made a ton of money either. Neither one of them had college degrees.

Once the muffins were finally ready Justin rushed into the kitchen. His mother pulled them out, revealing a rather discolored muffin. His mother must not have noticed, because she eagerly put them on the cooling rack and showed them off to Ryan. Was she honestly that love struck she didn’t notice that they were brown? What about the smell? This was all just working too perfectly.

“They look great,” Ryan said, though he was looking at them funny, most likely noticing the discolor. “What kind are they?”

“They’re blueberry,” she said with pride. “I know you said that you loved blueberry.”

“Of course,” he said with a smile. He was still staring at them, and Justin could tell that he was sniffing them a bit. He smirked, wondering if he was going to be brave enough to actually eat it.

He picked one up. Justin was watching intently, excited for his reaction.He got exactly what he wanted. The second Ryan bit into it he put a hand over his mouth and rushed to the sink, splitting out the taco-infested muffin.

Justin was practically rolling on the floor in laughter by this point, while Anne looked very concerned. “What was wrong with it?” she asked. “Was it really that bad?”

“It tastes kind of like taco,” he said, setting the rest of the muffin on the counter, attempting to wash his mouth out.

She was surprised to hear this, and then she turned to Justin and saw him laughing. Of course he was the culprit. “Justin, what did you do to my muffins?” she asked, getting rather angry.

“I didn’t do anything to your muffins,” he said with a smirk. He wasn’t really attempting to lie; it kind of just came. He knew that he had been caught red-handed, but why give up now? “Maybe you should just finally accept the fact that you can’t cook.”

“But they were just boxed muffins,” she said, looking like she might start to cry.

Justin started to feel guilty by this point. She wasn’t supposed to cry. They were just muffins, after all. He could have done something much worse. Tears were always his breaking point.

“Don’t worry about it, Anne,” Ryan said with a smile. “I know that you would never put taco seasoning in your own muffins, but obviously a teenage boy would. I remember being one once. I’m sure he just meant it for a laugh. It was nothing serious. It’s not like I’m going to leave you over it.”

“Yeah,” Justin mumbled, frustrated Ryan was still acting perfect. Didn’t this guy have a human side? He just ate a taco muffin!

Justin had to look away when his mom and Ryan kiss. His mother then gave Ryan a hug, giving Justin a look as she did so. She mouthed, ‘You’re so dead,’ and then went back to the hug.

Justin walked out of the kitchen smirking to himself. “It was worth it, even if he does still love her,” he said.

He looked around the living room, taking a mental snapshot of everything he saw. It would soon all change. Soon they wouldn’t have an old couch anymore, and soon all these memories will be buried in this old house that wouldn’t even be theirs anymore. Soon the old basketball hoop outside would be gone, probably torn down to make way for a newer and better one. Soon all this would just be a distant memory, and it would be replaced by that of a father he never saw, a mother that didn’t seem to care about his feelings. Well, that wasn’t true, but sometimes she acted like it.

He was able to get a quick glance of the half eaten muffin that Ryan had spit out as he left the living room. It was just sitting on top of the counter, almost mocking him. The last thing he heard was the sound of his mother laughing, most likely at something Ryan said, as he headed upstairs for the night.