Parents Just Don’t Understand
by Pan
Chapter 4:
I think my boss was really weirded out when I turned in my resignation.
It was hard to tell though—he was already kinda surprised by my outfit when I walked in.
My job was at a theatre, not like a fancy office or whatever, so no one ever wore business-wear or anything like that. But I guess I’d never actually come into work wearing a short pleated skirt, knee-high socks and a cut-off T-shirt before.
His eyes kept darting between me and my resignation letter. I’d gotten Mom to help write it; she knows the kind of thing that grown-ups want to read in those kind of letters.
Honestly, she wrote most of it. I signed my name at the bottom tho, when she was done.
“Well, uh,” he stammered when he was done. “We’re going to miss you, Tiffany.”
I don’t think he even noticed that he licked his lips while saying that.
“Call me Tiff,” I said with a smile, and he nodded in response.
Before I left, I couldn’t help but give him a big hug. He was almost thirty, and so I guess he’d always been a bit like a father-figure to me.
I was so glad when I got home. No job, no school, no obligations. It was like an endless summer holiday—I could do whatever I wanted!
I spent most of my time on my phone, seeing what everyone was up to on Facebook. I got a bunch more followers on Instagram (mostly guys) when I started posting more selfies—some of them were pretty cute, so I started following them back.
Without any reason to leave the house, I basically stopped getting dressed. For some reason I had hardly any colorful underpants, and so I spent the money I’d been saving for a broker on getting new panties and bras, and basically just wore those around the house.
Mom disapproved, of course, but it felt like Mom disapproved of everything.
Ugh. She just had no idea.
No matter what I did, Mom would lecture me for it. She caught me sneaking into her liquor cabinet once and I got the longest, most boring lecture ever.
Me and Britt sort of fell out of contact. One day while I was at the mall, I found a group of girls who I really click with though. Kate, Ella, Lily…I was walking past when they stopped me to say that they loved my outfit (I was wearing fishnet stockings, a tight pink t-shirt and the cutest pair of denim shorts).
The four of us really got along, and we’ve been hanging out a bunch. Sometimes I’ll pick them up after they’re done at school (they think it’s soooo cool that I have a car—I haven’t told them it’s my Mom’s) and we’ll just go somewhere and hang out. Two of them have boyfriends; I’m super jealous. One of them is a high-school kid like them, but the other is a freshman in college! So cool.
Sometimes we’ll hang out at mine, and Mom will totally embarrass me by hovering around, like she wants to chat or try to hang out with us or whatever.
Ugh. She’s the worst.
The first time I had everyone around, Mom came up to me after they left. I was fully expecting her to tell me that I couldn’t have them around or that I had to clean up her makeup after we finished using it, but to my surprise she just wanted to tell me how much she’d liked them, how much she’d enjoyed seeing me spend time with people my own age.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, surprised by her reaction.
“That’s okay,” she said, and pulled me into a tight hug.
If there’d been anyone else around, I would have squirmed and tried to get away, but since it was just the two of us…it was sort of nice, y’know? I put my head on her shoulder, and it was like I was thirteen again.
“I love you,” she whispered, and I smiled despite myself.
“I love you too.”