Dynamite's Diary - 7th November 2021

Today was SO EMBARRASSING. I cannot believe Mom would have humiliated me in front of Steve like that. Honestly, I don't think I can trust either of my parents around him now.

Earlier this week, we'd arranged to go bowling together and perhaps have a milkshake somewhere. Originally it was going to be on Saturday, but then he had family stuff to attend to so we moved it to today.

Anyway, we finally met up and were able to properly spend time together. We had the milkshakes first, just to give ourselves enough energy. There wasn't really too much to catch up on, since we already talk to each other quite a bit at school. Though there was a bit of bad news, as Steve's team hadn't done so well in their basketball match recently.

Then after we'd finished our milkshakes, we got on with the bowling. I thought I was going to curb-stomp Steve. I've always been the best at bowling in my friend group after all. But he was surprisingly good at it as well! We actually ended up tying as a result.

I decided that we should have another go. And another one. But each time, it was always a draw.

It seemed as if we'd gotten a little too into our friendly little competition though. I looked at the time on the clock. 5:20pm. I'd told Mom I'd be home at 5 on the dot.

"Oh shit, we gotta go!" I headed for the door instantly, with Steve following. The whole time, I was worried that Mom would react the same way as Dad would - threaten to break Steve's knees in order to assert dominance.

We got back half an hour later than we originally planned. As soon as we were outside the flat, I quickly knocked on the door, hoping that Mom wasn't going to go into overprotective parent mode like Dad always does.

The good news was that Mom was completely fine with the whole business. No threatening to kneecap Steve with a hammer.

"Oh, Steve huh? Well, nice to meet you. I'm Dynah's mom, in case you were wondering."

The bad news is that she essentially made herself the focus of everything.

"So I just got these tacos as takeout," she said whilst holding the box with them inside. "Really fresh-smelling y'know? They're always good when freshly made."

Then she took one of them and shoved it in her mouth. And THEN proceeded to carry on talking whilst eating it. It was disgusting. You could see it getting mushed inside.

"Of course, I ALWAYS have to have the meat-only ones. I just can't stand them with the veg inside. It just tastes kinda gross, you get what I mean? In all honesty though, EVERYONE should be having tacos. If you don't like them, you're a heathen."

She then turned her attention to Steve. "So, you attend the same school as her?"

Steve responded, as easier as it would have been to not say anything. "Yeah! We're in the same science class together."

Mom had to be super nosy then. "Oh, nice! And which middle school did you attend?"

I knew EXACTLY why Mom asked that question. And I HATE it when she asks it. But it was too late to stop Steve from answering.

"Um, Pinewood Springs Middle School. The one in-"

"PINEWOOD SPRINGS!" Mom was all ecstatic. "I went to that school when I was younger. And it was BRILLIANT! They were always setting fireworks off in the corridors and we always ended up playing table tennis in Math class!"

"R-really?" Steve stuttered nervously.

"Yeah! It was the best few years of my life! Especially the time when some of us blew up the girls' toilets with butane gas!"

She then continued rambling on about how much of a hellhole Pinewood Springs was and how much she loved it for that. It felt like she would be at it FOREVER. The whole time, I was just waiting for her to shut up, not even trying to look Steve in the eye.

"But then they had to be killjoys and make the school 'better'," Mom grumbled. "So now it's nowhere near as enjoyable."

At that point, I felt it was best just to move the subject on.

"Um, yeah, thanks for that interesting anecdote there, Mom," I said, faking a grin. "Steve, it's been awesome hanging out. Can't wait to see you back at school tomorrow!"

"The same to you too," he replied, also trying not to cringe like I was.

As soon as he was five meters away from the door, Mom turned to me. "He's pretty hot, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he sure is." By that point, my face was aching from all the cringing I had done.

So now it turns out that I can't have Steve and Mom meet with each other again. I can just imagine what might happen next time. She'll probably go on about her parents and how super-obsessed with looks and money they are and how they cut her out of their will because of her obsession with hammers and getting kicked out of private school.

At this point onward, whenever Steve and I have a date, we're going to simply say goodbye to each other thirty meters away from the house, and THEN I'm going to head inside. I'm not willing to deal with either my dad's overprotectiveness or my mom's obsession with telling everyone her life story. Though now that I think about it, having an overprotective parent is just slightly better than one who rambles on.

There's some good news though. Steve's passed the school auditions for our school's Christmas musical, which I'm super happy for him about. I would have auditioned myself, but I wasn't so keen on the roles offered. That said, I have got a role on the setting design. That's fine for me. And maybe after the play's over, we'll arrange another date. Y'know, just to make up for how this one ended.