Mina peeked over her son's shoulder as he scrolled through his phone. At the rate he was growing, he'd be taller than her by the end of the year. 

"Mom, stop!" Brian hastily locked his home screen blocking his mother from seeing his text thread. His mother caught only the home screen picture of his girlfriend Mandy.

"Oh, you're back together with Mandy," exclaimed Mina. Only last night she'd heard them arguing on FaceTime. Following the fight, Brian had sulked at dinner and had switched his home screen photograph to that of his favorite baseball player. 

Brian's cheeks flushed. "Yeah," he replied quietly as he picked up his backpack and opened the front door. His face was already buried in his phone again by the time he was halfway down the front walk.

"Have a good day at school!" yelled his mother, smiling.

At 4pm Mina heard the front door open and slam shut again.

"Hi, Brian," Mina called out from the laundry room but Brian didn't reply. She put down the shirt she was folding and looked for him in the living room and kitchen but he wasn't there. 

"Brian," called Mina knocking at his closed bedroom door. "Is everything alright?"

"Go away."

Mina returned to the kitchen and put four chocolate chip cookies on a plate and filled Brian's favorite mug that he'd made out of clay in elementary school with milk. She returned to his room and this time opened the door without asking. 

Her lanky son lay on his bed with his head buried under the covers. 

"I brought you some milk and cookies," she said sweetly. Brian groaned but the temptation was too great. He reluctantly emerged from under the blanket and stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

"Thankf youf," he mumbled with his mouth full. His phone lay beside him with the home screen set to another player from the New York Mets. 

Mina let a full minute elapse, a second cookie be eaten and a gulp of milk go down before she began gently prodding. 

"What happened today?" 

Brian fell back onto his bed groaned and again pulled his blanket over his face. He remained silent for a few moments before he finally cracked. 

"She read the text messages I'd sent her to her friends at lunch!" he wailed. Mina bit her lip and remained silent. "I hate her, it's over!" Brian yelled into his pillow. 

Just then his phone buzzed and a familiar picture of Mandy appeared on the screen. Brian started to give his mother the strained leave look, but Mina was already halfway out the door. However, she left the remaining cookies and milk on the desk. She resumed folding the laundry and a half hour later began to cook dinner. Eventually Brian appeared in the kitchen.

"I'm hungry," he said opening the refrigerator. 

"Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes," said Mina, "but you can have some cheese and crackers," she nodded to a plate she had already set out on the table. 

Brian plopped himself down at the table, set his phone down beside him, and began inhaling the snack. 

Mina stirred the stew she was cooking and glanced over at her pubescent son. He looked happy once again and she noted that Mandy's picture had been once again restored to the home screen.