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A Call from Out of the Blue

Although on silent, the sound of Oliver’s phone vibrating on his nightstand pulled him from his slumber. Rolling to his side, he looked at it and frowned. The call was from Stan, his stepdad.

Swiping the green arrow, he held it to his ear, “Hello?”

“Oliver, how you holding up son?” Stan asked.

“Pretty good,” he replied, yawning.

”Hey, sorry. Did I wake you?”

“It’s okay,” Oliver answered, looking at the clock.

“So the reason I’m calling, and before you say it, I know it’s going to sound a little out of character and odd, but your mother was acting out of sorts last night,” he said

“Out of sorts? Is she alright?” Oliver inquired pulling himself into a seated position.

Stan chuckled, “She’s fine, still sleeping. She’ll probably be a little hung over this morning,” he said.

“She was drinking?” Oliver asked, surprised.

“She got into the wine last night, like hard and started getting kind of weepy, saying she lost you, more like my baby boy is gone. It was really weird and unsettling,” Stan explained.

“You think maybe just residual apron strings?” Oliver offered.

“Mmm, I thought maybe just delayed postpartum but she was borderline hysterical, so no, it was more than that. She’s not much a drinker, never has been, but she sure tied one on last night. The more she drank, the less coherent she got, started rambling about a debt, an obligation she owed her sister and how she had to do it. I tried to get her to explain it to me but she just said I wouldn’t understand then she got all maudlin and broke down crying saying you were lost to her,” he countered.

“That is weird. First off, she doesn’t have a sister and other than coming to school, I haven’t gone anywhere,” he chuckled. It was very strange. Stan was right about her drinking habits. As far back as he could remember, he had never seen his mother inebriated. She enjoyed an occasional glass of wine, but she had never been flat out hammered.

“I know, right? Which is why I’m calling, just so I can tell her when she gets up that I spoke to you and everything is okay, that is if she even remembers last night,” he chuckled.

“What was that about debt? Did she elaborate?” Oliver queried.

“She didn’t say precisely, just that it was a lot harder than she thought it was going to be. I asked her what, and she just shook her head and said your name. I told her we could call you last night just to put her mind to rest and she said what’s done is done,” Stan replied. “I gave her the ‘Oliver is man now and it was time for you to go out into the world speech’ to try and reassure her, but she was practically inconsolable.”

“I don’t know what to say. That is so strange,” Oliver opined, frowning. What did it mean? Why was his coming to school having such a profound effect on her?

“So none of that makes any kind of sense to you?” Stan questioned.

“Not a clue, I’m completely baffled,” Oliver shared.

“And everything there is hunky dory? You settling in alright?”

“Pretty much, yeah I’m just getting prepped for classes next week,” he answered.

“How about your roommate, you two getting along?”

“Cam? Actually he unfortunately had to leave school to attend some personal matters back home, so it looks like I’ll probably be getting a new roommate sometime this week,” he answered. “It’s too bad because I really liked him and we were getting on great. Oh, but I did get a job,” he shared.

“Hey that’s great, doing what?” Stan inquired, genuinely interested.

“Just basically grunt work at a candle shop, slash store, but the boss is good and the pay is okay,” he replied.

“That is good news,” Stan congratulated. “Sorry to hear about your roommate though. Is your dorm coed, no, I don’t think it is, is it?”

“No it’s not coed,” Oliver replied.

“No? Too bad, because from what I saw, there was a lot of nice sweater meat on the talent there,” he chuckled.

Oliver shook his head and grinned. “There are a crazy number of beautiful girls here, like so many,” he said, but visualizing only one, Sersei and her lovely face, her playful smile. He frowned, because at the moment, he couldn’t think of her well-endowed chest without the term sweater meat popping into his brain.

Stan let out a long slow breath, “No disrespect to your mother, but man do I wish I was twenty one again, knowing the stuff I know now, the damage I could do,” he joshed.

Envisioning Stan surrounded by a host of the Omega Pi sisters and wondering how they would respond to having their breasts described by his slang term, Oliver laughed, “No doubt,” he stated.

“Anyway, I got to be going. I think I hear your mother stirring. She’s alive! Though, once she rises from the crypt I’m pretty sure she is going to feel like death, so give me a chance to get her stabilized and then I’ll get her to give you a ring,” he advised.

“Sure, that sounds like a plan Stan. Maybe she can provide some answers,” Oliver added.

“Love you son,” Stan shared affectionately.

“You too Stan, thanks for the call.”

“Bye,” Stan said, disconnecting.

Setting the phone back on the night stand, Oliver shook his head. What an unusual conversation. His mother did seem a little clingy when her and Stan brought him to the school, but a full on meltdown? And obligation? What was that about? In the back of his mind, he could hear Sersei’s voice using the same words to describe Cam’s reason for leaving, ‘to attend to an obligation.’ Odd coincidence. Hopefully when his mother called, she would be more lucid.

Getting up, he quickly put on his bathrobe and grabbed a towel before venturing down the hall to have a leak and a shower.

 

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