Free Flaw (The Flaw Series) by Ryan Ringbloom Page A

Becca excuses herself to go the bathroom, leaving me alone with my mom.
    “Well. I. Just. Love. Her.” My mom starts right off, hands flailing straight out in front of her. “I knew, I just knew, when you finally brought someone home she was going to be special. She’s so sweet and so friendly and oh, God, she’s just gorgeous. That pink hair, so cool and trendy. I love that little diamond in her nose. How long have you been together? Are you going to bring her around again soon so your father can meet her?”
    “Mom, calm down, we’re not together. She’s just a friend.” I lower my voice, hoping my mom will follow suit, searching over my shoulder to make sure Becca can’t hear us.
    “What?” My mom gasps and dramatically fans herself. Meeting the right girl is high on her list of priorities for me. Every time I’ve gotten in some type of trouble, Mom has always claimed once I meet the right girl everything would fall into place for me. “Why aren’t you together? She’s perfect for you.”
    “Because, Mom, we’re just friends and … .” Wow, this is actually hard to say . “She’s with Aidan.”
    “Oh, I see.” Her eyes go sad, looking into mine, and I quickly lower my head away from hers. She knows . She gets up quietly from the table and begins clearing the dishes. I hate that my mom knows me as well as she does. Right now she’s wondering why I brought home another guy’s girl to meet her. She knows once again I’m screwing things up in my life. And worst of all, she knows the way I’m feeling towards Becca.
    I pick up my plate and walk over to the sink. “Here, I can rinse them and put them in the dishwasher.”
    “Everything will work out, sweetheart.” My mom rubs my back and is up on her toes giving me a kiss on the cheek when Becca walks back into the room.
    I back away from my mom’s kiss. “Are you ready to head to the grocery store?” I close up the dishwasher, turning back around.
    “Yes. Josh and I are going grocery shopping. Do you need him to pick you up anything?” Becca asks my mom.
    “Ehh, uhh…” For the second time today my mom is at a loss for words. She might be in shock. She looks over at me and I hold back the laugh that’s building down deep in my gut. “I don’t need anything from the store,” she stammers out.
    Becca thanks my mom and hugs her, and my mom makes her promise she’ll be back again soon. We all walk out to the driveway and my mom continues waving her hand in our direction until we drive away.
    “That was so much fun. Your mom has so many pictures of you. The one with the double exposure where you’re happy in the first pose and serious wearing sunglasses in the other…I need a copy of that.” She laughs, trying to imitate my serious face.
    Becca didn’t even see half of the embarrassing pictures there are of me. My mother dragged me to the portrait studio twice a year for professional pictures when I was growing up. Christmas and my birthday. I’m thankful my mom didn’t show her the pictures from the brief time I was into magic. The pictures involve playing cards in one hand and a live rabbit in the other.
    “No, you can’t have a copy of that picture.” I keep my eyes on the road. I want to kiss Becca. I want to pull the car over, grab her in close, and kiss those shiny lips. Why does she have to be with somebody else?
    “Was I the first girl you ever introduced to your mom?” Becca asks, looking out the window. She doesn’t even wait for me to answer. “I guess girls like Mindy don’t get invited over to family dinners?”
    “Mindy?”
    “Blonde hair, tons of make-up, you did unspeakable things with her in your room and then asked me to ditch her for you. We all had pancakes together. Ring a bell?”
    Dammit, even if she wasn’t with Aidan, I’d have no chance with her. I’m that guy. The one girls are warned about. The one girls never take seriously. Especially a girl like Becca.
    “No, I’ve never brought anyone