Teenagers

All week Charlie has been at school late because of the play. All week it has been late nights and discussions on how to fairly share the really crappy late night drives. (Between Maddie and I, Peter goes to bed and believes that this exonerates him from the task.)

So tonight not only did he have the play, but then he wanted to go to the dance afterwards. So Peter and I figure out what we can do to keep us out late and yet somewhere in the vicinity of his school? Let's put it this way, I was THRILLED to discover that Applebee's stays open until midnight.

So first we drive really far away to go see a movie. Which was Men Who Stare at Goats, and well, with a title like that, what could we really expect? It was moderately amusing if not just downright bizarre! I can spend hours looking at George Clooney, but he seems a tad anorexic.

Anyway ... then we drive from Manchester to Tilton and land at Applebee's -- with plenty of time to spare. We watch a bunch of seemingly teenagers at the bar acting, well, I guess acting young, no biggie. Not really that amusing to watch though, and one girl sat on her cell phone the entire time talking. Why go out? Then they left (you know it's bad when you are outsitting the young 'uns) and in comes another crowd ... but I was most captivated by the young couple sitting directly across from us. She was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her, though I tried, because one doesn't want to just stare at someone. She had curly red hair and beautiful creamy skin (no seriously, I wasn't totally staring at her the ENTIRE time!) and the guy was pretty cute too, but no real match for her, in my opinion. They both ordered these huge beers -- but they weren't there for the beer. They were there to bide their time before they ended up in bed together. Ahhhh, Saturday night.

So how did I end up sitting in a bar on a Saturday night just wanting to be in bed ... ASLEEP? Ahhhh, the passage of time. Oh, don't get me wrong. I can always rally. But at Applebee's? No. I don't think so. So, at last it is five of 11 and we can go!!! Yahoooo.

And we pick up Charlie, he climbs into the car, and won't really speak to us. Okay. I know the kid is totally wiped out. But seriously?

We fricking plan our entire evening around him -- and it's just assumed that we will pick him up, no matter what. We asked him a few questions and he gave us a few short answers. But the kicker was when we got home and he sort of stomped up stairs with the most pained expression on his face. I felt like saying, if you're so damned miserable being at school, then do us all a favor and call us a little earlier, okay, so we don't have to sit around for hours watching people foreplay at a bar.

Geesh.

Even though I know he is tired and that he will be far more forthcoming in the morning, and so on and so forth, it still disgusts me that he doesn't take two seconds and just thank us for picking him up at 11:00 on a rainy Saturday night when I'd rather just be at home, sitting around a fire sipping a cocktail.

I am just saying. A little appreciation perhaps. Just a smidge. Just a dollop.

Or even a smile.