It was nearly eleven AM the next day before Emily heard Rosie stomp down the stairs. Neither of them had ever been early birds, so it wasn't altogether uncommon for Rosie to wake up in a bad mood, but that kind of stomping was reserved solely for the mornings when she was angry with her mother.
Emily frowned to herself, wondering what she possibly could have done to earn the teenager's ire. In fact, she'd kind of expected Rosie would be more chipper than usual, seeing as the previous evening had gone so well... On the other hand, she knew much better than to pry, especially before Rosie had had some caffeine.
She watched Rosie pour herself a cup of coffee, then stir a sickening amount of sugar into it, before finally taking a greedy sip. Then, feeling sufficiently safe from her daughter's attitude, she dared to ask, "Did you sleep well?"
Rosie grunted, shrugged. She didn't bother to look at her mom, proceeding to pour herself a bowl of Lucky Charms (ever a six year old in her dietary habits).
Emily frowned, but didn't comment on the lack of verbal reply. For several moments, she simply watched Rosie eat, waiting for the caffeine to kick in and (hopefully) counteract some of the teenage moodiness.
"What?" Rosie growled. She looked up from her cereal with a glower firmly in place. When Emily seemed genuinely confused by the scolding, Rosie snapped, "Stop staring at me."
Unable to resist poking the bear, just a little, Emily replied, "I made you, I'm allowed to look at you."
"Mom, you're so lame," Rosie said, unamused. "Don't you have somewhere else be?"
"Did I do something specific that you're mad about or do you just object to me as a whole?" Emily asked. She'd woken up that day in such a good mood, having been able to spend the night in Alex's arms and cum twice that morning...and Rosie had barely been awake twenty minutes and had already managed to ruin it.
Rosie glowered at her across the table. "You should know..."
Struggling to resist rolling her eyes, Emily mentally apologized to her mother for all her teenaged histrionics, while simultaneously cursing karma for exactly that. "Not a mind reader, Ro," she needlessly reminded. "I can't help you if I don't know what I'm being punished for."
"Do you think I didn't notice?" Rosie demanded, anger flaring. At Emily's confused expression, she added, "I'm not a stupid kid anymore!"
"No one said..."
Rosie cut her off, "Well, either that or you think I'm blind because those are the only two reasons I can come up with that would explain the way you were throwing yourself at Alex in front of me!"
Emily's expression of annoyance instantly became a carefully crafted facade of confusion in an attempt to hide her alarm. "W-what?" she stammered. "I wasn't...throwing myself at her." In fact, she'd thought they'd done a rather good job of pretending to be casual acquaintances when Rosie was anywhere within earshot...
"You were so obvious, Mom," she scoffed. "It was sickening. Like, I get that you haven't gotten laid in awhile, but have some dignity."
Her expression went back to annoyance. "Rosie, watch your mouth," she chided. (She wasn't sure whether she was more annoyed over the attitude or the implication that was some sort of sexual leper...) "And I'll have you know that if I wanted your teacher, I could have her."
"You're not her type," Rosie said firmly and rather snidely. She didn't really care whether it was true or not, all she cared was that it pissed off her mother. And, if Emily's expression was anything to go by, it had.
Emily was tempted to reply with a smug You'd be surprised... But she caught herself before she inadvertently gave away too much too soon. "Even if I was flirting with her – which I was not – I'm a single woman and I'm allowed to flirt with other single people. And, for the record, I'm quite attractive...I very well could be her type."
For several moments, Rosie silently stewed, looking more and more like a volcano on the verge of exploding. Finally, she slammed her palms down on the table and shouted, "I don't want you to date Alex!"
Emily blinked in stunned silence for what felt like ages before she was able to form any kind of reply. "Is this because you're hoping I'll get back together with your father?" she asked, desperately trying to buy herself some time to come up with some kind of reasonable and non-romantic explanation for whatever it was that Rosie had seen or heard the previous evening that gave away their relationship.
"Ew, Mom, no," Rosie said, crinkling her nose in distaste.
"Is it because she's your teacher?"
Rosie rolled her eyes.
"Is it because she's a woman?" Emily guessed.
"Ew, Mom, no!" she repeated herself, sounding mortified. "God, you're so embarrassing..."
Heaving a sigh, Emily said, "Look, I don't know what it is you think you saw last night, but I'm allowed to date whomever I want. And if I want to date Alex, then..."
She was once again cut off. "I don't care who you date, just don't date her! Don't ask her out, don't make friends with her, don't even talk to her unless it's about my academic performance. God, the simplest things..."
"Do you want me to revoke your WiFi privileges?" Emily asked, vaguely wondering if it was acceptable to start drinking at eleven AM.
Rosie stood from the table and stomped to the sink, dropping her bowl and spoon into it with a clatter of metal and porcelain. "I have to go to Meg's to work on a project," she grumbled, stomping up the stairs. She was halfway to her room when Emily's phone rang. "If that's Alex, don't answer it!" Rosie hollered down the stairs.
Waiting until the door slammed shut behind Rosie, Emily ducked into her office to answer it. "We may have a problem..."