9

It was Saturday afternoon and I was bored out of my mind. I've been laying on the couch for about two hours, staying completely still and staring at the ceiling instead of the TV. My mother kept walking back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, disturbing my piece and bombarding me with questions.

"Who did you go out with last night?"

And here we go. I rolled my eyes. "Someone from school."

"A friend?" She questioned again.

"You could say, yeah." I knew I was annoying her with my vague answers but I couldn't possibly tell her the truth.

"You're making friends?"

I almost got offended in the wonder and surprise I saw in her eyes. "Yep. And very close, intimate, friends at that." Too bad mother would have a coronary if she knew exactly how close. I almost laughed out loud, thinking about last night.

"You're messing with me, aren't you?" She sighed and shook her head disapprovingly before she left the room.

"No, of course not." I said to her retreating back.

I was checking my phone every couple of minutes, hoping for a text from a person in particular.

Instead, I got a text from Rachel. I sighed. I had been avoiding thinking about her all day.

I opened it carefully.

Hey, I hope I didn't cross any lines last night. If so, I'm sorry. I just wanted to hear from you :)

How do I reply to that? What do I reply to that? I closed the text, I had to think about it.

Another text came, this time from Ann. I couldn't help smiling.

I'm back. Come over if you want.

I jumped up off the couch immediately and tried to straighten my clothes the best I could. "Mom, I'm going out!" I shouted before storming out the door.

***

Ann's door was open and I made my way inside. I looked for her in the living room and in the kitchen but I didn't find her. So I walked towards the bedroom, hearing music coming out of it. The door was open and I peeked inside.

I saw Ann, her back to me, drying her dark wet hair with a towel. I studied her from the feet up, she was wearing very short shorts that didn't cover much and accentuated her shapely behind. I took a sharp intake of breath as soon as I moved my eyes higher and saw her bare back, realizing she had only a bra on. Well, damn, I hadn't imagined I would see her semi-naked this way.

And as I stood there watching her, leaning my shoulder against the door frame, I was even more surprised when she started singing as Forever Young came on the radio or whatever she was listening to.

Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while,

Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst,

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

I tried to refrain from laughing at her singing. She was putting her whole self into it, now bent over with her head upside down using the towel to dry her hair thoroughly. And all the while giving me a completely new perspective of her behind.

Forever young,

I wanna be forever young

Do you really want to live forever?

Forever and ever

She was so out of tune it was almost cute. When the song ended she straightened up and threw the towel on the bed. I thought about retreating from the door but before I could order my legs to move, she turned around and jumped as if she'd just seen a ghost. The scream she emitted almost made me shit my pants as if I was the one scared.

"Shit, you scared me!" She yelled and brought her right hand over her mouth in shock, breathing heavily.

We stood like that for a few seconds, staring at each other without saying anything. And yeah, my gaze drifted lower after a while, but so what, it was stronger than me. I couldn't help staring at her chest covered by an orange bra. I was actually so taken aback by the color that I didn't have time to absorb her almost naked form. I had never ever in my life seen an orange bra and here I was thinking about the color of it instead of what was behind it.

When I heard a cough and my gaze jumped up to her face, I noticed her red cheeks. She must have realized her state of undress, probably thanks to my rude staring. I could see she was dying of embarrassment as she tried to quickly cover herself.

I looked away, giving her time to do just that. With the corner of my eye I could see her rummaging in her wardrobe and slipping on the first top she found. Once done she turned back to look at me and it seemed as if she had recovered from the earlier embarrassment.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," she replied and then coughed. "Let's go to the kitchen."

I followed her there, hoping we could ease this awkward atmosphere soon.

She got out two glasses and poured us some water after asking me what I wanted to drink. As we settled on two stools facing each other across the counter I could't look at her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry." I said.

She smiled. "You know, when I said that you could come over, I didn't expect you to be here within a minute." Her smile had now become a grin. She was teasing me.

"Hey! I was home and had nothing to do anyway so..." I knew I was being defensive but I didn't want to seem as if I was too eager to see her, even if it was exactly like that.

Her grin didn't leave her face. "Right. Next time I'll remember to text you when I'm already dressed." And she laughed.

I pouted. She was being mean, it's not like I had been eagerly waiting for her to come back so I could see her... Nope, not at all. I decided to tell her just that. "I'm sorry if I missed you and just wanted to see you." I said in a serious tone staring her straight in the eyes. I saw confusion fill those very same eyes, taken aback by my confession and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head, trying to find something to say.

I was the one grinning now. She furrowed her brows. "We saw each other two days ago, how could you possibly miss me?"

"I did," I said nodding, "granted, I didn't intend to see you naked yet, but it was a nice surprise."

I loved making her blush and seeing her trying to hide it. Just as soon as her blush arised she got angry. "It's rude to stare at naked people without them even being aware of it." She admonished me.

I chuckled. "It's not like I saw much, sadly." I sighed my disappointment.

"And thank God for that. You-"

"You're a pretty good singer by the way." I interrupted her.

She glared at me. "Tell me you didn't hear me sing."

"I did."

"No, tell me you didn't." She seemed completely horrified at the idea.

I was confused. "Uh... I didn't?"

"Oh my God, why?" She buried her face in her hands. I was afraid she was about to start sobbing and I snorted at the absurdity of the situation.

"I can't believe you're more embarrassed by your singing than your orange bra." I said trying not to laugh.

She looked up then. "What's wrong with my orange bra?" She questioned.

"Uh... Nothing really. I've just never seen an orange bra."

She paused for a moment, as if thinking about something and then she suddenly jumped up, I could picture the light bulb going off in her mind. "Don't young kids wear all sorts of colorful bras? Don't tell me you only wear black ones."

I gulped loudly as she got up and came on my side of the counter turning my stool towards her so we could face each other. I was looking up at her as she was hovering over me, taking advantage of her standing position.

She smirked and I suddenly got very anxious.

"Since you've seen my orange bra it's only fair if I see yours, don't you think?" She trailed her hand on my shoulder, finding my bra strap over my t-shirt and stopping there. And I knew she was only teasing me, turning the tables over, but that didn't stop me from getting embarrassingly excited, feeling goosebumps forming on my arms.

"Well..." I gulped loudly again. "Don't you think that is just a little too intimate?"

"Is it?" She said using a sexy voice I've never heard her using before. She came closer as if to make her point, I was almost tempted to open up my legs so then she could definitely make her point. God, I didn't care if it wasn't for real, I would capitalize fully on the situation.

"Yeah, we'd have to go through first base first." I said, smiling hopefully. For a brief second I saw her act crumbling and panic settling on her face, but she recovered quickly. I tentatively reached up my hand to the back of her neck, expecting her to flee as soon as I touched her. She didn't. Instead she made eye contact and started leaning lower and lower until our mouths were just a breath away. I felt my heart pounding hard, my breath stop. Was she really going to do this?

She leaned even closer if possible, my eyes were glued to her lips anticipating their movement. But before I could realize what was happening, I felt her breath on my ear. She'd moved her head to the right. "I like to skip some." She said and I felt her smiling against my cheek. She leaned back then, my hand falling from her neck disappointed.

"Wh-why not skip to third then?" God, I actually fucking stuttered. I started slapping myself in my mind. Ann raised an eyebrow, if she wasn't in this act I was sure she would have made some comment about me being still a kid and 'what would a kid know about third base'. But she didn't. Instead she took the hem of my t-shirt with both hands and lifted it a little. I almost gasped in surprise.

"Uh, I didn't peg you as the direct type."

She ignored me and lifted my shirt a little bit more. She shot me a glance as if to assure herself that she wasn't taking it too far. Because after all it was a game, a joke, there was nothing serious about it. For her, at least. She must have figured out that I wouldn't freak out because she kept on lifting my shirt very slowly. When she was almost there, she stopped. I thought she was about to retreat so I covered her hands with mine and stared at her. She seemed surprised to say the least.

Keeping my hands on hers I moved them upward just a tiny bit all the way keeping my eyes on her face. She looked down at our hands, at my uncovered stomach and in that moment I was sure she regretted all of this. But it was too late. I moved our hands higher and higher until the bottom half of my bra showed. She saw it and as she did, she freed her hands from mine and took a step back. I was left there with my shirt lifted in my hands, feeling kinda stupid for a moment.

"You have a black bra on." She said and I didn't know if it was a question or a statement.

I let my shirt down, smoothing the wrinkles that had formed. "Yep. Sorry to disappoint."

Now that the act was not up anymore, Ann lost her confidence. "I knew it." She said shaking her head.

"Next time I'll wear a colorful one and I'll show it to you." I winked at her.

She slapped my arm pretty hard. "Ouch. That hurt." I yelped.

"Thanks, but no thanks."

***

We settled on the couch then, watching some B rate movie on Tv. Thankfully the awkwardness caused by the earlier incident had subsided and we were back to normal.

When the movie ended Ann got up and stretched her back.

"You really must be getting old." I said and totally expected the death stare that was shot back at me.

She settled back on the couch, this time sitting near me, our legs touching. She put her arm around my shoulders and looked at me curiously.

"So, how did your date go?"

I was completely taken aback by her question and was hating the heath that rose up to my face. Even more so when she laughed at me.

"It was not a date."

"Yeah? Your face says otherwise."

I sighed. "It didn't go well, it was pretty awkward."

"You are pretty awkward, so that's not news." She said and laughed again, strenghtening her grip on my shoulders.

"Gee, thanks." I pouted.

"Hey, I'm awkward too, if that helps." She said. "I just meant that you can't judge the date by the awkwardness. So how did it go?"

I actually had to think about it. We hadn't talk much (my fault), I hadn't watched the movie (my fault) and I probably hadn't made a great impression (still my fault). Yeah, it was pretty much a disaster. Aside from the kiss. The kiss was okay.

"Okay, I guess."

"Just okay?"

"Yeah, although we did cover first base." I said and stole a side glance at her in order to catch her reaction.

Her eyes got wide and then she blushed, remembering our act from earlier. I imagined that it would become something we would never talk about because it was just that, an act to get back at me.

"Oh, and who is the lucky gentleman?" She asked. I hated how she just assumed it was a guy, even though I'm not sure I would have told her I was gay either way.

"His name's R... R-ryan." I almost blurted out Rachel. "The fact is, I'm not sure I like him."

"Then why did you kiss him?"

I thought about it but I couldn't come up with an answer. It had taken me by surprise, that's for sure. Still, I could've pulled back if I wanted. But I hadn't, it had just felt right at that moment. "I don't know."

"You know, you shouldn't feel obliged to kiss someone just because you go out with him." She said and, after I didn't say anything, she continued. "He didn't force you, did he?" She seemed actually concerned and I felt my heart flutter.

"No, it wasn't like that. I was just as much in it as s-" I coughed, "as much as he was."

"Oh." I felt her arm stiffen on my shoulders. "You shouldn't overthink it then."

"Yeah, I know." I said, then thought about asking her about how were her dates going, even if it was the last thing I wanted to hear about. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How are your dates going?"

She sighed. "From bad to worse. Oh, I forgot to tell you I have a blind date tomorrow night, so we can't see each other."

I made a disgusted face. "A blind date, really?"

She chuckled. "Yep, I know. My sister insisted on it. I absolutely have to meet this lawyer friend of her boyfriend's."

I studied her face, until she turned to look at me. "What?" She asked.

"It must have been a while, huh?"

She looked confused. "Been a while what?"

"Been a while since..." Before I could finish the sentence her eyes widened and realisation swept through her. She covered my mouth with her free hand. I tried speaking but it came out as muffled incomprehensible noise.

"It's none of your fucking business."

Yeah, I sadly knew that.