Evelyn was not surprised to see her mother waiting for her when she walked into her house. After all, it was close to midnight and Evelyn had never ever been allowed out that late. She knew she was in trouble as soon as she walked in but it wasn't until she saw her mother's face that she realized how deep in trouble she was.

"Well, you've certainly been popular this evening,"

Evelyn gulped. Had her mother seen her walking home with a boy? Evelyn wasn't sure what to say.

"First, you stay out until," her mother looked at the clock on the wall. "five minutes until midnight. Then, I got an interesting phone call from your riding instructor."

Evelyn was quite certain that her stomach had fallen straight to her feet.

"And do you know what she said? She said you haven't been staying at equestrian lessons for the full hour and you've been skipping out on them altogether. After that fascinating phone call, I got another. From Jessica. Jessica, who you were supposedly out with. So, where have you been young lady?"

Evelyn was not surprised that she had been caught in her lies. She had never had to lie in her life before this week. But she certainly was practicing tonight and she wasn't so sure how much more she could do.

"Hmm?" Her mother asked. "Where have you been instead of equestrian lessons? Evelyn, answer me."

Evelyn decided to tell the truth: "I was at work."

"Work? You don't have a job."

"I skipped out on equestrian practice so that I could find a job. And I did. Which is why I haven't been staying the full hour and that's where I was tonight."

"Why on earth would you get a job?" Her mother asked startled. She seemed more horrified at the truth then any lie Evelyn might have dreamt up.

"To earn money," Evelyn stated in an isn't-it-obvious sort of way.

"What do you need money for?"

"To buy stuff," Evelyn was confused about her mother's confusion.

"Stuff?" her mother asked horrified before sinking down into her chair as if she were about to faint. "Oh my god," She breathed. "you're on drugs."

Evelyn couldn't help herself from laughing. Of course, her mother would think that.

'I'm not on drugs," She said in between the giggles.

"Come here. Let me smell your breath."

"My breath?" Evelyn knew that if anything, hers would smell like cigarette smoke. Not exactly drugs but certainly frowned upon. "Tell me mum, what drugs can you smell on someone's breath?"

"All of them!"

"Really? Because last time I checked, you snort cocaine through your nose, not mouth. And you shoot heroin right into your veins,so..." But Evelyn stopped because she knew that this was the absolute wrong time for her to be a smartass.

Evelyn's mother looked so pale that Evelyn was almost sure she was about to faint.

"Not that I would know any of that," Evelyn said quickly.

"Go to your room...grounded...forever." Her mother managed to breathe out while still looking as if she were about to keel over.

Evelyn knew that she had put the final nail into her own coffin and obeyed her mother without another word.

By next morning, Evelyn knew what she had to do. She would talk to her mom about her job, she would bring her in to meet her boss, and everything would work out. Sure, it was far-fetched but it might happen. Evelyn's mom seemed to have calmed down a bit through the night and agreed to the plan.

Surprisingly, Evelyn's mother actually liked Evelyn's boss. Surely, she was expecting some creepy young man who was planning to prey on Evelyn's innocence and was quite surprised to find the kind-hearted old man. They chatted for a few minutes and Evelyn kept a polite distance, not wanting to interrupt. As was her custom, she looked across the street and with a jolt she saw Sirius. She felt panicky and prayed that he wouldn't notice her and if he did, she hoped he had enough sense to keep his distance if her mother was around.

All too soon, Evelyn was following her mother outside of the restaurant and to her dismay, her mother stopped to chat in front.

"Well, I suppose that wasn't so bad."

Evelyn nodded and waited for the inevitable complaints.

"I don't understand why a young woman like yourself should be working at all..."

Evelyn turned away from her mother, closed her eyes, and counted to three. She needed her patience because she was very close to saying something snotty. When Evelyn opened her eyes, she saw that she was facing Sirius, who gave her a slight smile from across the street. Evelyn immediately turned back towards her mother.

"...But I suppose a waitress is just as appropriate job as anything. I still don't know why you lied to me."

"Because you have the habit of overreacting and you wouldn't have approved."

Sirius couldn't hear what Evelyn and her mother were saying but he saw the unmistakeable signs of an argument. He saw Evelyn grab clumps of her hair and pull and noticed that her hair stayed stuck-up even when her hands were back down at her side, now curled into fists. He saw Evelyn's look of frustration and was quite sure that he had been making the same face whenever he was at home. Watching their argument reminded him of his own and he grew angry all over again.

Evelyn and her mother had come to something like a truce and were walking back to the car so that Evelyn could be driven to the horse stables. Her mother looked across the street and suddenly said:

"Is that an auto-shop? The car has been acting a little funny lately. Think I'll go ask..."

"No!" Evelyn said quickly. "We...we're gonna be late for equestrian lessons." She said the first excuse that popped into her head.

"We have an hour. It will only take a moment. Come on."

Evelyn's mother was already crossing the street and Evelyn followed miserably. Halfway across the street, Evelyn realized she couldn't go inside. If the owner of the shop was there, he would recognize her and he might say something to her mother. Evelyn looked around frantically, hoping for a car to hit her in order to stop the debacle that was surely about to happen.

If Evelyn was frantic, it was nothing compared to what Sirius was feeling. He had been absentmindedly wiping the grease off his hands onto a cloth when he noticed Evelyn and her mother walking towards him. What were they doing? Had Evelyn told her mother what had happened last night? Was her mother about to yell at him? Sirius had no idea how to deal with mothers. His was so awful and he never had to deal with any girl's parents because at Hogwarts, families were far,far away.

"Excuse me, do you work here?" The woman had a stern face, and Sirius couldn't help but to notice that she looked a bit like Evelyn.

"Yes." He said quickly but then Evelyn threw him a look. "No. I mean I work at here but I don't work for here."

Evelyn's mother frowned at him and gave his motorcycle a disapproving look.

"Er, Right in there is the owner, Mr. Emerson." Sirius said pointing to the very same man who had found Evelyn and Sirius in the closet the night before.

"Thank you." Mrs. Morris began to walk in the shop and turned to stare at Evelyn, when she didn't follow.

"I think I'll stay out here." Evelyn said and glanced at Sirius before she could stop herself.

As soon as Evelyn's mom walked in the building, Sirius turned to Evelyn.

"What is your mother doing here?"

"Apparently, something is wrong with her car."

"So you decided to bring her to the place you broke into?"

But Evelyn wasn't listening. She was keeping an eye on the people inside and hoped they didn't notice her.

"What are we going to do? If they walk out and see me and you..." Evelyn looked up at Sirius while muttering and stopped when she saw his face.

"You look like hell," Evelyn said and then clamped a hand over her mouth because she hadn't meant to say it out loud. He did look awful though, pale with big circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept at all and his hair was a greasy mess.

"Thank you and you're looking quite terrible yourself. Insane person hair works quite well for you"

Evelyn reached up and flattened it back down, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, well everytime I'm around you, I'm getting into trouble. So crazy is all you've seen of me."

Sirius smiled at how Evelyn had no idea how true her statement was. Almost mugged, almost arrested, and now attack of the mother. Seems it was nothing but trouble since the two encountered one another.

Evelyn heard the door open and quickly ducked around behind Sirius's motorcycle.

"What are you...?" Sirius asked confused. Did muggles always act so erratically?

But once again, Evelyn wasn't listening. Maybe if Mr. Emerson walked out with her mom and she didn't show her face, he wouldn't realize...but surely her mom would recognize her. She was totally screwed no matter what.

"Evelyn what are you doing?"

Evelyn was crouched down beside the motorcycle and looked up to see her mother standing there with a shopping bag looking perplexed.

"Um, Just admiring the bike, that's all."

Mrs. Morris looked slightly horrified and threw a dirty look in Sirius's direction. Evelyn could practically hear her mother's brain working: "Why is she admiring the bike? Shouldn't she be admiring the boy? That daughter of mine...I wonder..." But instead her mother said:

"Right Well, come along then."

Evelyn followed her mother, grateful that nothing seemed to have gone wrong. The owner of the shop didn't recognize her. Sirius had done nothing to show that the two had ever met...Until, she heard him say:

"See you later, Eve."

Evelyn cringed at the nickname and hoped that her mother hadn't heard.

"So, What's the problem?" She asked to cover up Sirius's farewell.

"Some oil should fix it," Her mother said shaking the bag. "We'll have your father do it." She said distractedly and didn't say anything more until they were in the car.

"Evelyn, do you know that boy?" Her mother asked turning towards the passenger seat.

"No."

"I thought he said your name."

So, she had heard. "I mean I only just met him," Evelyn covered.

"I'm glad to see you meeting any boy but really Evelyn, you should stay away from that one."

"And why is that?" She asked almost defensively. Her mother had just caught Sirius on a bad day. Normally, he looked good. Really good.

"For one, he has a motorcycle, which means he's dangerous. And his hair is longer than yours. Of course, if you hadn't cut all of yours off this wouldn't be a problem but boys with long hair..."

Evelyn tuned out her mother's tirade. But hearing her rant almost made Evelyn want to confess that they had sort of kissed. Seeing how much her mother disapproved of Sirius made him much more appealing in her eyes.

Thanks for reading!