Mom came into the living room with her head down after Shawn had finished up his acting lesson. Head down usually meant she had some kind of reprimand, or perhaps had something to pressure him about.

"Honey, can we talk?" Mom asked, assuming that Shawn would say yes.

Shawn was a little leery at the way Mom was acting; he'd learned her cues by now. Still, he didn't show that worry and instead smiled before he answered. "Sure Mom!"

Mom seemed to relax a little at Shawn's reaction. Still the atmosphere was tense as she assumed a 'talking' position, as if what they were about to discuss might be important.

"Listen honey. You know how much I care about you and about your health and how I only want the best for you. The thing is. I thought I heard you yesterday talking. It seemed like you were talking to someone when you were making lunch. But, when I walked by the kitchen, nobody was there. You were just stirring the macaroni."

"Are you alright?"

Shawn kept outwardly calm while he immediately tried to think of a lie; the idea of telling the truth never even occurred to him, even if it didn't sound even crazier than what Mom had seemingly come up with. Fortunately, one clicked pretty quickly. "Oh yeah, it's a thing I'm practicing for acting class. Mrs Worthington says sometimes you have to deliver lines to a double or do coverage by yourself. So I'm trying a thing where I do just my half of a conversation without breaking the flow or losing character. It's tricky, but I think I'm getting better at it..."

"Oh." Mom said, dropping the subject almost immediately. Anything about acting and working hard at that craft, even if it meant doing it alone was the trick. Especially in a situation like this.

It was a good lie. And like many lies for Shawn it came naturally. He could read what Mom wanted, more than anything: her son to be a star. A great actor with great fame and with great, famous friends. Fitting that narrative into the strange event she saw was certainly a way to get off the topic.

The last question was "What do you want for dinner tonight?"

Shawn was relieved it worked, though he'd been lying to his Mom long enough that he was fairly sure it would. "Can we have chicken casserole?" He really really liked chicken casserole, and it wasn't really hard to make, so Shawn didn't mind asking for it.

It was easy for Mom to agree. Especially since she learned that Shawn was ever diligent, practicing his craft and making her dreams---his dreams---come true.


OOC: Shawn Joins

Shawn: Summer Day at The Jungle Gym Park