Chapter 7

"Haven't seen him since he dropped me off last night... Perhaps... Yeah, try that... Okay... Don't worry, he'll turn up soon enough... Denada." 

Then she dropped the phone and turned to look at Lance who was just then walking into the kitchen and throwing on his shirt. 

"Your mom's looking everywhere for you," she said, eyeing his naked torso. 

"Yeah. Umm.. how's Lisa?" 

"She's fine. At my sister's. She'll be back this afternoon." 

He simply nodded and with no idea of what else to say, he padded toward the door. 

"Won't you eat something?", Cara asked from behind. 

"Umm.. no. I'm fine. Thanks." 

Then he pulled open the door. Cara thought he was gone, but when she didn't hear the door close, she looked up, only to find him staring back at her. That look, it was the look that made her feel all the wrong, sweet things in all the wrong, sweet places. She swallowed or rather, tried to as she held his gaze. 

"Do you regret last night?", he suddenly asked. 

"No," she replied without hesitation. "Do you?" 

"Never."

*****

"Where the hell have you been, mister?", was Carol's greeting as her son shuffled into the kitchen. 

"A friend's. Sorry I didn't call." 

"What's the reason this time?" 

"I got tired and fell asleep." 

She looked at his face for a while and he managed to look comfortable and unperturbed. He knew that she knew he had just told a lie, but she'd either do something about it or she won't. 

"Anna's back," she said at last and breezed past him. Lance breathed a sigh of relief, shrugged and walked out of the kitchen, but he had hardly moved five paces when he ran into a very healthy-looking Anna. 

"You've grown," he said, eyeing her critically while struggling to hide his pleasure at seeing her. 

"Yes, I have," she replied, rolling her eyes. "But you, on the other hand, are still the same." 

"That's because I'm older and more mature, but you.. you are just a child." 

"So does that mean you'll be dying soon.. since you're so old?", she shot back, glaring at him with her arms folded across her chest. 

"Heaven forbid. I said 'older', not 'old'. There's a lot of difference." 

"Whatever. Let's go check out the gifts." 

"What gifts?", he asked, puzzled. 

"Birthday gifts. Your birthday was yesterday and you got a lot of gifts. Remember now, old man?" 

"Don't call me that or..." 

"Or what?" 

"Forget it." 

He went past her and proceeded up the stairs to his room. He needed to take a few minutes break from her and then find a way to slip back down to have breakfast without running into her first. He knew from experience that his 12-year old cousin would hold him to ransom over those gifts if he did not escape her clutches. But when he opened his door and walked in, he heard it get shut right behind him. He whirled around to see a barefooted Anna smiling back at him. The vixen had followed him all the way up! 

"Ohh," he groaned and slumped down on his bed. 

"So where are they?", she asked, looking around the room. 

"Find them yourself," he murmured. 

"Mom said she asked them to bring it to your room, but she didn't... oh, here they are. What a bounty!" 

Lance turned his head to see her drag a large box to the centre of the room. She sat down on the floor and proceeded to search for a way to open it. 

"Come on Lance, I could use some help here." 

"Just look at the side." 

"What side?" 

"Oh Christ! Can't you just leave me in peace?" 

She said nothing but jumped to her feet and strode over to the bed. Grabbing his ankles, she pulled with all her might, taking him and the sheets with her to the floor.

"Okay! Okay! I'll help you! Just stop.. dragging me like a corpse." 

She let go of his ankles and he disentangled himself from the sheets. Then he went over to the box and opened it easily. 

"Wow," Anna gasped as she saw the contents. "So many goodies." 

"Breakfast's ready!", Carol shouted from the foot of the stairs. 

"Be right down, Mom!", Anna shouted back. 

She had taken to calling her aunt 'Mom' having spent most of her life with her. 

"Look after yourselves. I'm off to work." 

"Okay!" 

"I'm hungry, you know," Lance hinted, hoping she'd let him go down for breakfast. 

"Then let's check these out very quickly," Anna replied, already rifling through the items. 

"Why can't we just postpone this till after breakfast?" 

"That's procrastination. It's bad habit." 

With a resigned sigh, he sat down opposite her on the other side of the box and joined in the inspection. They went through the gifts, one after the other, Anna giving her critique and Lance simply offering comments when he felt necessary. 

"A pen," she hissed as she threw the item over her shoulder, a sign that it held no appeal. 

"An air freshener," she sighed as she eyed the item in consideration. "What a perfect gift. Your room could use some sweet air. Smells like a thousand-year old tomb." 

"And you're the corpse in it," Lance shot back. 

She ignored him and went for another item. 

"An Ipod. Don't you have one already? I'll take this one." 

"Whatever." 

Her eyes and one hand still on the device, she reached absently into the box to pick up the next item. That was when Lance noticed it - the next item, that is. He quickly swung into action, grabbing it before her hand could touch it and throwing it under his bottom. 

"What was that?" 

"Nothing you should see." 

"Porn?" 

Lance stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her. 

"How.. Wh..." 

"Oh please," she cut him off. "Next item. What a beautiful watch!" 

But Lance would not leave it at that. 

"What do you know about porn?", he pushed. 

"Why do you wanna know?" 

"Tell me or I'll tell Mom that you..." 

"Tell anyone you like and we'll see who gets in more trouble." 

That effectively put a lid on Lance's mouth. If Carol were to find out about the porn DVD gift and how Anna had known about it, he and the sender would be in the biggest trouble of their lives. But nevertheless, he was determined to stop at nothing in finding out who on earth had introduced his once innocent cousin to porn. Perhaps she had picked it up during her vacation or even at school? 

"Why're you skipping school today?", he suddenly asked. 

"Not skipping. Holidays."

"Holidays that Mom's office don't know about?" 

"Ask her yourself. What's in this?" 

"Don't know. One of Mom's friends gave it to me." 

Anna unceremoniously tore through the gift's wrapper and came face to face with a small leather box. 

"This looks weird," she said as she fought to open it. 

"Give it to me." 

She handed it to him and within a few seconds, he was staring at the contents of the small box. 

"What is it?", Anna asked, all impatience. 

"A ring," Lance mumbled, still staring at it.

Immediately, Anna darted to his side and seized it from him. 

"Wow. So cool. Looks like a wedding ring." 

"Yeah. 'For the future', that was what she said." 

"Maybe she wants you to propose to her daughter?" 

"She has no daughter." 

"Or maybe herself?" 

"Gimme that," he said, shooting her an angry glance as he clamped down on the box. 

Anna simply shrugged and let him take it again. 

"So what do you need it for... if you don't wanna propose to her?" 

"For the future," he gave her a mock smile as he jumped to his feet. 

"We're not done here!"

"Yes, we are. Unless you want me to call Mom and tell her that you won't allow me have my breakfast." 

"And I'll tell her about how you showed me your porn DVD." 

Like a goalkeeper seeing an approaching shot, Lance dove at where he had been sitting just a while ago, covering the DVD with his body. But Anna had already seen enough of it. She laughed at his tall groaning frame lying on the ground as she sashayed over to the door and skittered down the stairs to the kitchen.

*****

"Didn't see you when I got home last night. Tough day?" 

"You have no idea," Lance sighed as he opened the pack of juice he had just gotten from the fridge. "Had to hit the hay pretty early. Anna blackmailed me. Had me at her beck and call all day." 

"Ohh, poor baby," Carol cooed. "You look so tired. Perhaps you should start thinking about getting married. Since that tigress will be here to keep me company and reduce the pain of losing you, maybe I can allow some girl take you away." 

"What! I'm just 20, Mom! My birthday was two days ago, remember?" 

"Yeah, go on. You get to put me through so much labor and 20 years later, you make fun of me for going through it." 

"But..." 

"No buts," she cut him off with a pained look on her face. "It's a slap on my face when you even remotely suggest that I can't remember when you were born." 

"Sorry, Mom," Lance apologized, eyes down and looking so contrite. 

"I know exactly when you were born, but what I meant was that it's not too early to start a serious relationship. And later, you can go on and get married, if your bride trusts your job of course." 

"Hmmm... I'm sure she'll be young and trendy, not some old school lady like you," he teased. 

"Just make sure she's very beautiful," Carol sighed as she increased the heat of the stove. 

"More than you are?", Lance asked as he walked out. 

"Much more."