Blindsided_(0)

We had just moved into this fancy-ass neighborhood about a month and half ago – my mother and I. It was just the two of us by ourselves. My dad had abandon us when I was 7. Unfortunately, my mother was torn up about him running out on us. She was upset for years after that, mild depression, she developed a bad drinking habit, and she tried dating different men, but they were usually no good deadbeats, and she always ended up broken-hearted over and over. Before all the complications, my mother was a strong black woman, full of confidence and grace – kinda air-headed at times but not stupid. People would always compliment her on her nice hair and petite shapely body even after having a child. She was lively and loved to laugh. She would enjoy throwing get-togethers with her friends, and she loved cooking.

After my dad walked out on us, all of those things she used to do, she just didn’t do very often anymore, and her outgoing personality seemed like it vanished completely. She had been raising me by herself this whole time, making due with whatever we had, staying in shitty apartments while she worked late nights at minimum wage jobs. I always tried my best to comfort my mom through her depression bouts. She deserved better. Better than my shitty father or those other asshole dudes, better than this awful life!

But finally she acquired a higher paying job that involved us relocating to Corpus Christi, Texas where she could afford to buy a nice two-story brick house in a swanky neighborhood. She was now just focused on loving herself, rebuilding her confidence, and taking care of me. I hadn’t seen my mother so happy in such a long time. She smiled and laughed more often now. She set up the house so comfortably; the downstairs was laced with black and red plush furniture, the kitchen always smelled lively of her delicious, homemade, New Orleans cooking, and even our rooms upstairs were decorated nice. So warm and inviting. “Ooh, baby! We movin’ on up like the Jeffersons!” She would laugh and sway her long relaxed hair side to side. She was so proud to be living the good life now, and now that I was 17 and almost done with high school it was my turn to take care of her and keep her happy. I wasn’t going to let anything else get in the way of her happiness.

All the years of seeing her go through bad relationships with terrible men, made me almost hate all men. I don’t see why she keeps going back to those types of men. I’d honestly be happy if she never dated anyone again, but I know that won’t happen. I’ll just have to monitor the dudes who come into her life for now on. My personality was nothing like my mom’s. I didn’t warm up to people as easily as she did. I wasn’t very outgoing either. Whenever I got home from school, I would just hold myself up in my room and play video games or just hang out with her. For an older teenage boy, I stood on the shorter side of average male height. My dad was a pale, brunette haired, white dude with round green eyes which were passed down to me, and unfortunately so was his scrawny muscle-less figure. My short thick curly dark hair spilled over onto the front of my brown freckled face. I was always considered cute by my mom’s old girlfriends. They always said that I would be a lady-killer when I got older, but I didn’t have a girlfriend and I wasn’t looking for one. I just wanted to make sure my mom was set up before I started dating.

While we were moving into our new home, I was helping unpack the things in the living room and we got a knock on our door. One of our neighbors’ came over and introduced themselves. Well, the husband came over and introduced himself. “Howdy neighbor!” the man waved at my mother, “My name is Ronald Rogers and my wife, Nancy, and my daughter, Rachael live next door here on the right.” He pointed to the brick house on the right. “Nice to meet you!” He brought over some type of pastry that his wife had baked for us, and gave us a small rundown of the neighborhood. “I’m sorry, I didn’t ask for your name.” He said, while offering his hand to my mom.

“Marie Jackson,” my mother shook hands with the man, “Nice to meet you as well, Ronald.”

“Please, you can call me, Ron.” He leaned down and kissed my mom’s hand. My mom gave him a small smile. Who the hell was this man? I thought to myself as I walked up behind my mom and gave him a looking over. He looked to be in his 40s maybe. He was tall with brown hair and very tan skin. He had furtive looking gray eyes and a deep bassy Texan accent. A thin layer of hair lined his jaw and he was bulky – like a worker man’s built. I assumed he would be considered a very good looking man by a woman’s measure because I saw my mom eyeing him. “Who is this handsome young man? Your husband?” Ron looked over my mom’s shoulder to find me glaring at him.

“This is my son, Donnie.” She laughed.
You know damn well I’m not her fuckin’ husband, you bastard. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Donnie say hello.” She said while pulling me forward to the doorway.
“S’up.” I said bluntly.
“What?? This is your son??” Ron asked pretending to be shocked, “I thought maybe he was your husband! Ms. Jackson, you don’t even look like you’d have children. You look like you could be in your 20s!” He smiled at her. What? What the hell was going on here? I couldn’t believe it, this married asshole was over here flirting with my mom.
My mom giggled with girlish delight, and rubbed my shoulders. “Oh no! There is no husband, just me and Donnie, happy here on our own.”
“Well that sure is a pity! A beautiful woman like you could get any man she wanted, and you,” the man pointed at me, “I bet you’re a little heartbreaker too.” He winked at me. That wink sent a weird sensation through me, but I rolled my eyes in response. My mom squeezed my shoulder and laughed.
“Well thank you for the compliments, Ron. I hope to see you around some more.” She waved at him.
“Yeah, we sure do.” I said dryly, as I pulled my mom in so I could shut the door to end their awkward conversation.
“Me too, Ms. Jackson. ” He smiled at her again, “I’ll see you around, Donnie.”
“Yeah, sure.” I closed the door on him.
“Donnie, that wasn’t nice.” My mom said to me, and popped me on the forehead.
“Ow!” I whined, and rubbed my forehead. “Well that D-bag, who we just met, was clearly flirting with you! Plus he said he was married! That’s disgusting.”
My mom blew off my disdain and glided past me to the kitchen. “Oh Donnie, it was just some adult-friendly humor and if he was trying something funny, I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.”
“Yeah but still….” I said while picking up a box of kitchen utensils.
“Besides, I’m not interested in him.” She replied.
I decided to take her word for it, but I could already tell that, he was going to be a problem for her, but I wasn’t going to let him try anything. “I guess.” I said unsure, and followed her into the kitchen.


Over the next couple weeks, while we were finishing unpacking, Ron would come over and do some light maintenance to our front and back yard and offer to set our appliances, and fixtures in our house – all while still blatantly flirting with my mom.
“You don’t have to do that, Ron!” My mom insisted that he not, as he pushed his lawnmower into our backyard.
“Please, Ms. Jackson this is no problem for me!” He started up his lawnmower and proceed to mow our lawn. “Besides, what kind of neighbor would I be if I didn’t help out a single mother, and her son.” He waved to me as I stood at the door. Not returning his gesture, I turned around and went back in.
I went to go sit in the living room when my mom came in and handed me a cold bottle of water. “Oh thank you.” I accepted the water.
“This isn’t for you Donnie,” She stopped me from opening the bottle. “go give Ron a drink, and thank him for his hard work that you should be doing.”
“Why?” I turned up my nose at her request, “He wanted to do it, so he’ll be alright.”
She thumped me on the forehead, and made me get up and go. I sighed and dragged myself out to the backyard to where he was. He was halfway through our lawn, as the hot sun beamed down on him. His muscles bulged as he pushed the heavy looking mower across the yard. His face was flustered underneath his baseball cap, and his white T shirt was stuck to his chest with a ton of sweat, and the outline of his hard abdomen and nipples were peeking through. I’m happy mom didn’t come out here to see him like this because he seemed weirdly surprised when he saw that it was me walking towards him.

“Hey Donnie!” He stopped the mower and walked towards me.
“Hey, my mom told me to bring this out to you, and she told me to tell you thanks.” I handed him the cool bottle of water.
“Wooo!” He let out an excited breath and accepted the bottle. “Such a sweet woman! I’ll have to give her my gratitude later.” He said and threw me a puckish smile. What the hell did he mean by that? I thought and cut my eyes at him.
“No need.” I said. “She was just being nice.” He opened the bottle of water and drank it down.
“So you wanna come out here and help me finish up the yard?” He raised up his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, revealing his firm abdomen and a thin trail of dark brown hair which led down into his shorts. “I can show you how to work it?” He impishly asked me.
“W-work what?” I stammered as I averted my eyes away from his treasure trail to his face.
“Haha, the lawnmower.” He chuckled and pulled his shirt back down.
“Oh.” I said kinda embarrassed by the brief weird thoughts I just had. “Naw, you seem like you got it.”
“Well, how about you sit out here and chat with me for a second while I take a small break?”
I sighed and accepted his request. I sat down in a lawn chair and Ron took a seat next to me. “So where are you and your mother from?”
“Louisiana.”
“Oh really? What brings ya’ll to Texas?”
“My mom’s new job.”
“Alright,” He said and nodded his head. We conversed for about 10 awkward minutes, talking about regular stuff, like school, the neighborhood, and that kinda crap.