After (The After Series)

eighteen.”
He says it—and I know he’s right—but he doesn’t know my mother. I groan in
frustration and she pounds again. The defiance with which his arms are crossed
over his chest tells me I’m not moving him, so I check the mirror, wiping at the
bags under my eyes, and grab my toothpaste, smearing a little on my tongue to
conceal the smell of vodka even beyond my coffee breath. Maybe all three
scents will confuse her nose or something.
I’m all ready with a pleasant face and greeting on my lips when I open the
door, but it’s then that I see my mother hasn’t come alone. Noah is standing at
her side—of course he is. She looks furious. And he looks . . . concerned? Hurt?
“Hey. What are you guys doing here?” I say to them, but my mother pushes

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by me and goes straight for Hardin. Noah slips silently into the room, letting her
take the lead.
“So this is why you haven’t been answering your phone? Because you have
this . . . this . . .” She waves her arms around in his direction. “Tattooed
troublemaker in your room at six a.m.!”
My blood boils. I am usually timid and sort of afraid when it comes to her.
She has never hit me or anything but she isn’t shy when it comes to pointing out
my mistakes:
You aren’t wearing that, are you, Tessa?
You should have brushed your hair again, Tessa.
I think you could have done better than that on your tests, Tessa.
She always puts so much pressure on me to be perfect all the time, it’s
exhausting.
For his part, Noah just stands there glaring at Hardin, and I want to scream at
both of them—actually at all three of them. My mother for treating me like a
child. Noah for telling on me. And Hardin for just being Hardin.
“Is this what you do in college, young lady? You stay up all night and bring
boys back to your room? Poor Noah was worried sick about you, and we drive
all this way to find you running around with these strangers,” she says, and Noah
and I both gasp.
“Actually, I just got here. And she wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Hardin
says, and I am shocked. He has no idea what he is up against. Still: he’s an
immovable object, she’s an unstoppable force. Maybe this would be a good
fight. My subconscious temps me to grab a bag of popcorn and sit down in the
front row to watch.
My mother’s face gets mean. “Excuse me? I certainly was not speaking to
you. I don’t even know what someone like you is doing hanging around my
daughter anyway.”
Hardin absorbs the blow mutely and just remains standing and staring at her.
“Mother,” I say through my teeth.
I’m not sure why I’m defending Hardin, but I am. Maybe part of it is that she
sounds a bit too much like how I treated Hardin when I first met him myself.
Noah looks at me, then at Hardin and back to me again. Can he tell that I just
kissed Hardin? The memory is fresh in my mind and makes my skin tingle just
thinking about it.
“Tessa, you are out of control. I can smell the liquor on you from here, and I
can only assume that this is the influence of your lovely roommate and him,” she
says, punctuating it with an accusing finger.
“I am eighteen, Mother. I have never drank before and I didn’t do anything

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wrong. I am just doing what every other college student is doing. I’m sorry that
my cell phone battery died, and that you drove all the way here, but I’m fine.”
Suddenly exhausted from the last few hours, I sit down at my desk chair after my
speech and she sighs.
Seeing my resignation gives my mother a calmer demeanor somehow; she’s
not a monster, after all. Turning to Hardin, she says, “Young man, could you
leave us for a minute?”
Hardin looks at me as if asking if I will be okay. I nod and he nods back and
walks out of the room. Noah swiftly closes the door behind him, his eyes trailing
Hardin all the while. It’s a strange sensation, Hardin and I together against my
mother and my boyfriend. Somehow I know he’ll be waiting somewhere just
outside the door until they leave.
For the next twenty minutes, my mother sits on my bed and explains that she
is just worried about me ruining my chance at an amazing education and doesn’t
want me to drink again. She also tells me that she doesn’t approve of my
friendship with Steph, Hardin, or anyone else in their group. She makes me
promise that I will stop hanging around with them, and I agree. After tonight, I
don’t want to be around Hardin anyway, and I won’t be going to any more