“It’s my mum, I gotta take it.”

I get up to go, but Laurence nods, then gestures at the table. “You’re welcome to stay here, we promise to be quiet.” I nod and smile my thanks.

“Hey mum, everything ok?” I ask her, tugging on my hair.

“Hi my baby, how are you?” I smile to myself. I love being called pet names; it’s childish, but endearing.

“I’m good mum, thanks for asking. Everyone at home ok?”

“Of course honey, just worrying about you” Jackie smiles and whispers “aww” but is shut up by a look from Jamie and Laurence. Jackie and Jamie begin playfully arguing over something.

“Mum, I’m fine, really.” I should tell her about the panic attack, but that’d just worry her more.

“You haven’t had a panic attack, have you?”

I swear to God this woman is psychic sometimes.

“Um I had one earlier yeah.” I curse inwardly, knowing now she’ll worry unnecessarily. I hastily add “but it wasn’t bad, just felt anxious.” Laurence scoffs quietly, mumbling “wasn’t bad, my ass. You said yourself you were a ‘snivelling mess’.”

I give him a death glare, then return my focus to the call.

“I thought that would probably happen, the doctor said the chances of you getting one were much higher since the accident” I take a sharp breath. I don’t want my new friends to know what happened.

I don’t want more people to worry about me. To treat me like I might break at any second. I’m stronger than that. Well, not by much I admit to myself, thinking back to my panic attack from this morning.

I clear my throat “yeah I’ll let you know if they become frequent or get worse.” I tap my fingers on my knee, trying to calm my rising nerves.

“Ok my sweetie. Alicia is coming to visit you in a week by the way. Make sure the place isn’t too messy.” I sit up straight in my seat.

“What?? It’ll have only been two weeks, she doesn’t need to visit. I’m fine, really.” If Alicia meets Laurence, she’ll never stop teasing me about how he’s ‘exactly my type’. I can’t be bothered to deal with that right now.

“Asher it isn’t up for debate - the visit is for her to check on you. Make sure you tell her how everything is going. I understand that you might now want to talk to us about it, but it’s important.”

I sigh and nod in defeat. “I get it, mum. I’ll see her next weekend then.”

“Alright sweetie. I love you. And call me if you remember anything new.”

Shit. I really hope my friends didn’t hear that part.

“I will. And I love you too. Tell dad and Annia I love them.” I rub my eyes as my mum says her goodbyes and ends the call.

Jamie and Jackie are still in their heated whisper argument, so they probably heard nothing. Laurence is staring intently at his phone. He is probably too far away to hear anything over the twins’ argument anyway.

I take a gulp of water. Jackie glances over at me “you were in an accident?”. I almost choke on my water. So she did hear, huh.