As if on cue, Lorelei rounded the far corner of the kitchen to walk toward him. She wore one of his dress shirts, unbuttoned, and not much of anything else. The whole “girl in man’s shirt the morning after” thing had always seemed like a contrivance for photo spreads and movies to him before, but now he was a believer. Lorelei sauntered in as he watched her, then planted an affectionate kiss at the back of his neck. Her hands slipped around his chest.
“I like the way you look at me.”
“I like looking at you.”
“Alex, are you talking to someone down there?” his mother called down. Her footsteps down the stairs made plenty of noise.
Alex looked up to Lorelei in concern. A naughty smile overcame her. Before Alex could say anything, Lorelei gracefully ducked under and backward to move under the cloth-covered table.
Just as Lorelei disappeared, Michelle came into the kitchen.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” his mother smiled. He wasn’t used to seeing her in anything that flattering. She looked professional, but still striking. She was, for all her business casual fashion, uncomfortably sexy.
“…Mom?” Alex stammered. This, he figured, had to be the most awkward moment of his life.
Enticing hands slid up his legs. His eyes went wide with shock. Alex fought to keep his thighs together. His jeans tightened around his waist as his body reacted to Lorelei’s touch. Now it was the most horribly awkward moment of his life.
“Yes? Hm?”
“Ah. Is that, um, a new outfit?” He had to stop Lorelei. He couldn’t possibly move away from the table now, though, and using his hands would draw attention.
“Yeah, actually,” she winked at him.
His mother never winked at him. It seemed innocent enough. Not exactly flirty so much as maybe confident or conspiratorial. But winking just wasn’t in her non-verbal vocabu-
— thwarted in the effort to spread his thighs, those hands slipped further up to run over the now painful bulge that strained against his pants.
“Do I look good?” Michelle asked innocently, turning this way and that. She was completely oblivious to her son’s distress.
“You do. I mean, yeah, Mom, you look…look, uh, nice? Great. You look great. Uh, but…your skirt’s not…” he swallowed. “Not zipped.”
“Oh. Could you help with that?” she asked absently, staying turned away from him.
Oh God, that ass, his mind screamed in panic. He reached over to take hold of her skirt and zip it for her with trembling, embarrassed hands.
So wrong.
The task finished, Michelle turned back to him and said, “Thank you,” with a pleasant smile. Alex turned away, staring wide-eyed at his cereal bowl. Michelle hardly noticed.
So very wrong.
“You were out late on Monday night. What were you up to?”
“Yeah. Just. Um. Photography homework. I didn’t want to leave it until the last minute.” Lorelei’s hands, mercifully, returned to merely caressing and groping his thighs.
“Is that why you were dead asleep when I came home?” Michelle asked. “I felt kind of bad. I made a bit of a racket when I got in. Hell, I even had the stereo on in the living room before I realized you were probably asleep.”
“Didn’t, um, hear a s-sound,” Alex shrugged.
“Well, I guess it’s good that you aren’t procrastinating on schoolwork. You don’t even have your next photography class again until Friday, don’t you?” Alex shook his head. “Anything new at work?”
“Not…really?”
“Well, we’ve got clients coming in today. They’ll probably want to go out to some bar or something afterwards. Salespeople,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Tuh-tricksy,” he gulped, “tricksy people.”
“Yeah.”
“Just terrible, going out to a bar. Some nice, handsome guy might make a pass at you. Try to get your phone number or ask you out. Dangerous stuff.”
“Oh. Pfff. Sure,” Michelle blushed. “Anyway, I might be home late.”
“Well,” Alex said, trying to blink away the sensations overwhelming him for just a moment of seriousness, “if you have a couple drinks and you’re not sure about driving, don’t feel bad about calling me for a ride home. I’ll come get you. It’s okay.”
Michelle shrugged. “Sure, honey. I’ve got to go.”
“Um, Mom? Your shirt’s not buttoned all the way.”
She looked down at herself. “Oh, you’re right. Yikes,” she mumbled. In the process of fixing it, Michelle inadvertently flashed more black lace at Alex rather than less. His eyes snapped away to stare pointedly at his cereal bowl.
With her shirt finally fixed, she didn’t look so overtly sexy. Just pretty and vibrant and well put-together…but Alex knew more than that, and was utterly mortified by it.
Michelle paused to bend over a bit and give Alex a kiss on the forehead. His eyes snapped shut and stayed that way. “Have a good day!” she waved on her way out.
As soon as she was gone, Alex relaxed in his seat. Anything they had to say could wait ‘til Lorelei had whatever she wanted.
Chapter 6:
“Ah, yeah, can you please put the cell phone away?”
“What? It’s not bothering anybody!”
“It’s bothering me, so please step outside. I shouldn’t have to ask twice. This isn’t high school.” Professor Lyons was an older, soft-spoken man. His comb-over, high pants and buttoned-to-the-collar short sleeve shirt gave him the look of a NASA engineer from the early sixties.
The muscular youth grunted in disgust. He kept texting. “Man, people keep sayin’ that shit here.”
“What, they keep having to remind you that you’re not in high school anymore? There’s a shock,” Alex snorted. He sat in the next aisle of desks over, just one seat back.
Glaring at Alex, the other student loomed out of his desk to show off his size. “Oh, you want some of this?”
“I want better dialogue out of you first.”
“Please leave my class,” Professor Lyons said with a firmer tone. After three classes of obnoxious behavior from the guy, he couldn’t ignore the distractions anymore. “I’ll have you dropped from the roster. There’s no more reason for you to stay.”
“I need this class!” the student roared. Lyons instinctively stepped back.
“You could always transfer across town,” Alex offered.
The offending student turned on Alex. “Fuckin’ little shit, you want a piece of me?”
“No, I want you to leave. We all paid to be in this class.” As he spoke, he saw Professor Lyons pick up the classroom phone, doubtlessly to call security. Alex remained in his seat. Better keep T-Mobile Boy distracted, he thought. Probably took everything Lyons had in him to go this far with it, poor guy. That said, Lyons had stepped up to the problem now, and Alex felt a need to help deal with it.
“I don’t see nobody else complaining.” T-Mobile Boy waved his hand around. The class silently watched the train wreck unfold.
“Well, clearly I’m the only one dumb enough to try to use words with you,” Alex shrugged.
“You wanna go, asshole? I’ll tear your fuckin’ head off and shit down your neck!”
“No,” Alex said, doing his best to stay steady and calm. He kept his hands flat on the desk to prevent them from shaking. His helmet sat in easy reach. It would make a decent weapon if this got crazy. “I want you to leave so we can finish class. This isn’t high school.”
“Motherfucker!” T-Mobile Boy roared, throwing up both his hands and then hurling his cell phone to the floor. It smashed into a dozen pieces.
Alex looked down at it, then up at the other guy. He couldn’t resist: “You broke your little phone,” he deadpanned.