Intimidating mom{15}

"Hey aunt Ria, what you making?"

"Hey Mike, I'm making Thai beef noodle soup for Ashley, stir-fry chicken and mushroom noodles for Jessica pancakes with chicken strips for myself. Want any?"

"Yeah I'll have some of Ashley's noodle soup, thanks"

"What about your friends?"

"Guys you want anything?" Mike yelled out from the kitchen

"Nah, I'm good" Damian yelled back

"I'll have whatever you're having" came Sandra's reply

"Anything is fine" Damon yelled back

"I'll have a bottle of water and some chips, if it's available" Ethan said hesitatingly

"Are you sure chips would be enough?" Ashley's mom asked back

"Yes ma'am"

"Alright then, Mike be a darling and serve these dishes to your friends while I get the ice cream"

"You're feeding Ash ice cream? Does the doctor know about that?" Mike asked with an accusing tone

"He didn't say Ash isn't allowed to have ice cream. Besides, even if he did it doesn't mean I won't do it if Ash asked for some"

"You really need to stop babying him aunt Ria, he's not a kid anymore"

"Well he's still going to be my baby no matter how old he gets" Ashley's mom said sticking her tongue out

"Did you just stick your tongue out at me?" Mike asked

"What if I did?"

"Who would think you are over 1000 years old, you're no different from Jade" mike teased with a whisper

"Hush! I'm still a baby at this age, you however, may be getting close to your grave. Now shut it before your friends hear us and start asking questions. Go serve the food"

"Fine granny Ria"

"I'll smack you I swear"

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"Is that noodle soup?" Damian asked in disbelief

"Yeah, why?" Mike replied

"You didn't tell me she could make noodle soup man" Damian said with a whine

"You never asked, having a change of heart now?"

"Of course! If there's one thing I love more than the cookies his mom makes then it's noodle soup" Damian said gesturing at Ethan

"Wow Damian, I see where your loyalty lies now. Wait till I tell my mom what you said" Ethan said playfully

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Guys don't start please, you'll ruin the mood for such delicious food" sand said disapprovingly

"Nothing can ever ruin food for you" Damian deadpanned

"Just shut it!"

"Fine"

"Mike are you done serving the food?" Ashley's mom asked walking into the room with four huge bowls of ice cream

"almost, Damian wants food now, said he didn't know you made noodle soup"

"It's fine, go serve him a bowl and give Ethan a bowl too, I couldn't find the chips. Be a darling and bring the other ice cream bowls"

"Why are the bowls this huge?"

" it's not every day I get to each ice cream so why not make the most of it?"

"But aunt Ria I don't think Ashley would approve of you eating this much ice cream" Mike complained

"He doesn't have to know"

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"Thanks for the food ma'am, it was delicious "Ethan said with a small smile

"You're welcome, have some ice cream" she replied with a satisfied smile playing on her pretty lips

"And please call me Ria, ma'am makes me seem like an old lady"

"You ARE an old lady aunt Ria"

"Shut it mike" and that reply came with a thick scoop of ice cream straight at his face.

"Sometimes I wonder if you birthed Ashley or he birthed you"he teased wiping his face

"You're just jealous of my beauty and elegance"

"Yes, the huge ice cream stain on your hoodie screams of elegance and class" mike sassed back

"Ugh Ria, I'd like an extra bowl of ice cream, if that's okay with you" sand interrupted, cutting off their childish bickering

"I like her" Ria beamed with a broad smile

"Because you've found someone you can stuff like a pig and act like you're the same age and best friends, what's there not to like?"

"I'll tell Ashley that you kept taking jabs at his lovely mom"

"You wouldn't"

"Try me"

"Soo, where's Ashley?" Damian asked reminding everyone why they were there in the first place

"It's been quite a while since he was sedated, he should be waking up soon and don't worry Ethan, he won't know it's you cause he was given a pretty heavy dose so he should be drowsy enough to not recognize you"

"Thanks Ria"

"I'll just check on him in the other room"

"Ethan, how does my aunt know you?"

"Well, we kinda met when I brought Ashley to the hospital. I was still wearing my wet clothes when she got here, she scolded me for it and told me to go get changed else she wouldn't let me see him, she didn't even ask how he got injured or why our clothes were wet"

"That reminds me, what did you tell them when you brought him"

"That he got into a pretty bad fight"

"And the doctor didn't ask how his or your clothes got wet?"

"Told him the fight happened at a private pool"

"Ahh, the classic excuse"

"Do you think she suspects anything?" Ethan asked

"If I know my aunt Ria then I know for a fact that she definitely knows what's been going on but doesn't want to say anything because Ashley told her not to or she's waiting to see how you both tackle the issues you guys have" mike explained with a sigh

"He's awake now, you guys can go see him, just try and tone your voices down so you don't startle him"

"Will do" mike assured

"Ethan, take a walk with me"

"Right now?"

"I wasn't asking"

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"I'm only going to ask you this once Ethan and I hope you can give me a satisfying answer. Why?" Ria asked, all hints of playfulness gone from her face

"I'm sorry, I just.."

"I didn't ask you to apologize, I don't need it. I can see you've realized your mistakes so I'll leave your apologies to Ashley, I only want to know why" she said with a cold expressionless face

"I honestly don't know, we used to be good friends, whenever he came over to see Jessica we'd play together for a while, he'd give me cookies or his candy and just want to spend time with me, we grew up and things changed. He started playing a lot more with Jessica and a lot less with me, he gave cookies to Eliot and not me, he'd share his candy with him, he smiled at others and payed way less attention to me and I think that was what caused everything. I was jealous and angry. Why wouldn't he come to me anymore? Why did he stop hiding behind me whenever he played hide and seek with Jessica? Why did he stop forcing me to listen to sappy love songs, why did he stop stealing my hoodies? why did he change? I craved his attention without realizing I did, I was desperate for any kind of attention from him and when I waited for a while and didn't get anything I started hating him for changing, the guys on the swimming and basketball teams would make bets on who could get him to accept more gifts within an hour or a day, even a week sometimes, he only ever accepted one gift from me but he kept accepting gifs from the other guys and when malakai told us that he asked Ashley out on a date last year it destroyed me. That's when I had started with the verbal and physical jabs.

I went about it the wrong way and I realize that now. I was stupid"

"Look, kid. We all make mistakes and I just hope you won't repeat it again because if you do, I swear to everything holy that I'll ruin you, and not just you, I'll make sure I ruin everything you've ever cared about. And no, this isn't a threat, it's a promise. Understand?" she dished out with a deranged look in her eyes and a mocking smile on her lips

"Yes ma'am" he answered with a gulp

"Good, I got you five minutes like I promised but you'll have to wait till he's out of the hospital"

"That's fine, thank you"

"DO NOT MESS UP AGAIN!"

"I won't"

"Good, now let's go see Ashley" she said skipping towards his private room