"Oh, please. I could slay any of these," Eomma mumbled from behind the curtain, her voice muffled as she swapped the highlighter monstrosity for the black leather jacket.
When she finally stepped out, the irritation died in my throat.
Oh, no.
The leather jacket fit her perfectly, falling over a simple white baby tee and high-waisted dark denim. With her hair thrown up into a messy claw-clip, she didn't look like a forty-five-year-old CEO trying too hard anymore. She looked effortlessly cool. She looked... exactly like the girl every influencer on my feed spent hours trying to copy.
"Well?" Eomma asked, crossing her arms and giving me a smug smirk that looked terrifyingly identical to my own reflection. "Am I allowed to walk in public now, or am I still a medical emergency?"
"It's... fine. You look normal," I muttered, quickly grabbing her old clothes so she wouldn't see the panic in my eyes. The only thing worse than Eomma looking like a disaster was Eomma looking like a total ten.
We walked out of the boutique and headed toward the escalator. I was hyper-focused on our reflection in the glass panels, trying to map out how we were going to sneak into the lab, when a voice interrupted my frantic brainstorming.
"Hey! Excuse me—sorry to bother you guys."
We both stopped. Standing in front of us was a guy holding a blended beverage with a bright pink straw. He had messy hair, wore an oversized vintage tee, and possessed the kind of easy, confident smile that belonged to someone who definitely didn't have a "glitch" threatening their entire existence. His nametag read Leo's Smoothies.
He wasn't looking at me. He was looking entirely at my mother.
"I saw you from across the food court," Leo said, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he directed a mega-watt smile straight at Eomma. "I just wanted to say your outfit is amazing. And, uh, I couldn't help but notice you have great energy. Are you from around here? I haven't seen you around campus."
My jaw hit the mall floor. He is flirting with my mother. A college boy is actively spitting game at the woman who used to pack my lunchboxes and sign my report cards.
Before I could intervene and drag her away by her collar, Eomma's eyes lit up. The corporate shark completely vanished, replaced by a giddy, flattered teenager. She leaned her hip against the escalator railing, completely forgetting she was supposed to be a regular 22-year-old, and let out a laugh that was entirely too loud.
"Oh! Well, aren't you a sweet boy!" Eomma beamed, patting her hair. "Campus? Oh, no, honey, I actually run a—"
I lunged forward, grabbing her arm with a grip of absolute steel. "—A very strict study group! She runs a very strict study group, and we are incredibly late for it!" I choked out, my voice cracking under the sheer weight of the secondhand embarrassment. "Like, so late. Galaxies away. Goodbye, Leo!"
"Wait, are you guys twins?" Leo asked, looking between our identical faces in pure confusion, still trying to hand Eomma a coupon from his smoothie place. "You look exactly—"
"We're a glitch in the matrix! Don't look too close!" I yelled, practically dragging Eomma backward down the moving escalator stairs against the flow of traffic.
"Yah! Layla! Stop pulling me, he was giving me a discount!" Eomma hissed, waving over my shoulder. "Bye, Leo! Keep up the good work!"
"Ew, ew, ew," I muttered, scrubbing my face with my free hand as we finally hit the lower level and sprinted toward the exit. "That is it. We are going straight to the lab right now before you find a husband your daughter's age."