It'd been well over a month since the last time Lance spent the night in Cara's bed. Within this period, they'd grown closer in more ways than one, but not close enough for Cara to be careless. That was why she always came up with excuses whenever he asked to spend the night at her place. On those days when she couldn't get out of it without promising something, she would agree to sex in his car or hers, parked in a quiet, deserted area.
On one such days, they were almost caught by a policeman whom she knew, if not for Lance's agility in jumping to the driver seat and driving out of the area before the cop could find out exactly what had caused the car to vibrate so much. After that narrow escape, Cara swore there and then never again to be fully naked while having sex in a car.
But that was far from being the only thing they engaged in. Dinner and going to the movies were other things they did too, always at night of course, to reduce the risk of being seen by someone who knew his mother. Left to Lance, he wouldn't mind grabbing her and kissing her on the street in broad daylight, but Cara tried hard to always keep her head. She didn't want to constitute the gossip of the town and even more importantly, she didn't want to end up on the bad side of Carol and other friends of hers.
But to say that she had never considered where this affair of theirs was headed was very far from the truth. She'd thought about it over and over again, and she wondered if Lance was also thinking about it. Or had he once thought about it and then later abandoned it? Either way, one thing she knew for sure was that she wouldn't be the first to bring it up in their conversation.
*****
Lance woke up with most of the dream on his mind. His memory had not been able to hold on to the last part, but the part he could remember was enough. He never was one to believe in dreams, but this one seemed to be trying to tell him something. What exactly? He had no idea. But today, he was going to have a full-scale rest and that meant no work, no Anna (since she'd be going to school) and a lot of games outside of screens.
He had an appointment, a coaching appointment with Rex and Chase at their house. The budding soccer star was insistent on improving his dribbling skills and learning to keep possession of the ball against all odds. His school coach was not having much success with him, or so he felt, that was why he had decided to skip practice today and fall back to his idol in the sport: Rex. He was seeking to do much better than his elder brother and really become a pro player. Rex had dropped out of the local academy, choosing to train as a chef instead - a decision everyone in his family was still trying to wrap their heads around.
"Lance?", Carol called and gave a sharp knock on her son's door.
"I'm fine, Mom," Lance called back from the other side of the locked door.
He knew his mom was worried that he still was not down so late in the morning.
"Okay, dear. I'll soon be off," she said before walking away.
"Wait! Where's Anna?"
"On her way to school. W..."
Lance promptly unlocked the door and opened it. Carol's eyebrows shot up and she gave him a lopsided smile.
"Scared of a 12-year old, are we?"
"This is no ordinary 12-year old, Mom," Lance mumbled as he made his way to the bathroom.
"Then you should take my advice and start thinking of getting a girlfriend to counter her. Anyway, she might not return early. Gymnastics stuff, I think."
"Very glad to hear!", he called from inside the bathroom, causing her to chuckle.
*****
"You're late!", Chase accused as Lance stepped out of his car.
"The coach's never late. Are we using the lawn today?"
"Mom's home."
"So we'll be using the park. Where's Rex?"
Chase jerked his thumb toward where the park was located.
"So what are we doing heading this way, hmm?"
The boy shrugged carelessly and Lance grabbed his head, wheeling him 180degrees in the direction of the park.
They found Rex on a bench singing to a song on his phone and oblivious to their approach. Chase signed for Lance to remain quiet, stole behind his brother and covered his eyes with both hands.
"G..."
"Chase! Get your hands off me!", Rex shouted before his little brother could ask him to guess his identity.
"How do you always know it's me?"
"You should wash your hands more often."
"But they're clean!", Chase shouted, staring at his palms.
He looked up to find his brother juggling the ball he had brought and he quickly rushed over to try to win it from him. Lance sat on the bench to watch the drama. He knew very well that if Rex had the ball and his right foot was free, there was no one alive who could dispossess him. But somehow, he had a strong feeling that with Chase's level of enthusiasm, he would outdo his brother in no time.
He chuckled as the youngster fell after miscalculating a Cruijff turn from Rex. But Chase was on his feet almost immediately, chasing after his opponent with even greater enthusiasm. It was his brother's policy that Chase had to learn to dispossess before learning to keep possession. So the boy faced an uphill task of dispossessing his brother and then Lance, if he failed.
"Pull me again and I'll tie your hands," Rex threatened as Chase jerked his shirt in desperation. "Rule number 4, no unnecessary contact."
Chase shrugged his apology and play continued, but Lance knew that it would be no easy task getting Chase to learn not to use his hands on his opponents, especially when he desperately needed to gain or keep possession. Rex always said that that right hand of his would put him in trouble one day.
Another Cruijff turn by Rex, but this time Chase had not miscalculated. He swept the ball from his brother's leg before he could say Jack. Then he went around him to gain possession of it. Rex came to challenge him, but he made a feint to the right, fooling his brother and subsequently switched to the left. He tipped the ball, sending it over Rex's outstretched foot and swiftly jumped over that obstacle to retrieve the ball. Outrunning his brother and dodging a tricky tackle, he delivered a low shot that sent the ball to rest between Lance's legs.
"Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!", Lance applauded, feeling very proud of their student.
Rex on the other hand only ruffled his hair which on most days was worth more than a thousand Congressional Medals of Honor. He joined Lance on the bench to catch his breath and gulp down a few centilitres of water. Chase wouldn't rest. He had outsmarted his brother and that had given him a new high. Now, he was with the ball, trying to perform the Cruijff turn his brother loved so much.
"The kid'll get you on your back soon enough," Lance said as they watched him.
"Will take him a long time yet."
"We'll see."
"Ugh, look at them," Rex grimaced in disgust.
Lance looked in the direction his friend was looking and saw a couple seated on another bench, laughing and kissing. What Rex had found disgusting was the disparity in their ages. The man was young, perhaps in his early 20s and the woman was looking nowhere below middle age.
"Shocking, eh?", Rex asked as his friend stared open-mouthed at the couple. "Unfortunately, it's not uncommon."
But Lance wasn't listening. He wasn't thinking what his friend was thinking. No, he had something different on his mind. The sight of the couple had triggered certain things in his memory and shed a bright light on them. The electricity, the dreams, the constant thoughts... they all made sense now.
Two most vital organs of his body system had been trying to tell him something and only now could he fully understand the message. You either followed one or the other, but in his case, both were saying the same thing and there was nothing to do but listen and act before he would lose not only the opportunity, but the prize.
"Where're you going?", Rex asked as Lance jumped to his feet like someone who had just been released from a trance.
"Sorry. Got an appointment," he replied and hurried off.
Rex was surprised. He looked from his friend's retreating figure to the romancing couple, wondering what connection there could be between both occurrences. But with nothing helpful coming into his mind, he shrugged it all off and joined his brother for the second round of training: keeping possession.
***
Lance arrived home in record time and made a swift entry into the house. No one was home to witness it, so there were no questions asked as he took the stairs three at a time to his room. Getting there, he rummaged about in his drawers, under his pillow and even under his bed. Still, he could not find what he was seeking. He began to fear that Anna had taken it.
As he turned wildly around, trying to imagine where exactly it could be hiding, assuming it was still in his room, he caught sight of it near the nightstand. With a sigh of relief, he grabbed it and headed out, his feet flying down the stairs as if the house was on fire.
Cara had just finished inspecting the work the young man had done on the pool. It wasn't a good job, it was a superb job! By himself, he had done what she never believed two people could do, and in less time too.Getting someone to clean the pool was something she had been postponing day after day just as she had been postponing getting enough exercise to trim down the excess fat that was now building up in her body. She had always been chubby, but certainly not obese and she had no wish to make the progression.Waking up this morning, she had suddenly felt the need to do something physical. But when she looked out of her window at the pool, it was a mess! There was no way in hell she'd consider swimming in such a gutter. Long disuse had turned it into exactly that: an unkempt gutter. So she quickly picked up her phone and dialed the guy that mowed her lawn, fixed her faucet and other such odd jobs around the house. She was relieved when he told her that he
**FEW MONTHS LATER**Lance had been struck by surprise when his mother invited him to accompany her to her friend's birthday party, which would also double as a get-together of classmates of a girls community college that Carol and the celebrant had both attended. Lance was supposed to wear a tuxedo, certainly not something he did often. But the worst part was the bow tie. Carol had only given him a few hours notice, asking him to wear this and that, and look such and such. So the poor young man began prancing about in front of a computer screen an hour before the 8pm attendance time. Apparently, the DIY YouTube videos were not so easy to follow. His mother soon noticed his dilemma."Maybe you should stand exactly the way the guy's standing, instead of facing him," she suggested."Seriously? That would mean I'd have to turn my back to him, so how do I get to see him?""Get a mirror. And we're only minute
Cara exhaled as she stepped down from the treadmill at the local gym. It had been an eventful morning of exercise, the only event being that she had spent an hour on the treadmill - something that she had never been able to achieve before now. The events of the previous night had been what had inspired that burst of stamina.Now that she had slept on it and mulled it over again and again, she kept seeing reasons why she should not have backed down so easily. At first, she felt that Carol could not really be blamed, considering the fact that Lance was her son. She would have done even worse if it were her Lisa. But then it occurred to her that both cases were way different.Lisa was a child and Lance was an adult, a very manly one at that, if she were to consider the things he did to her in bed. He had the right and was old enough to make his own choices. Why did Carol feel the need to interfere? Not that Cara was a notorious person. She'd actually been one
Five days of the week were the only times that Cara visited the gym. She spent the weekends doing other little exercises around the house, like tending the garden at the back and swimming. She had just finished weeding the garden with her little shovel on a Saturday morning and was about to go in for a shower when she heard a car pull up somewhere behind her. At first, she thought it was Lance, but when she turned to look, she found that it was his mother instead."Good Morning, Carol," she greeted as the older woman walked up to her."Where is Lance?", Carol demanded, ignoring her greeting.Cara was by no means surprised. It was clear that that incident at the party had forever damaged their friendship."I have no idea. Haven't seen him in a long while," she shrugged in reply."Are you sure?", Carol asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "I sincerely hope he's not somewhere on a bed in your house, because that would be...""Look, Carol," Cara cut
Cara was awakened by a groan. She thought it sounded like someone was in pain and her eyelids fluttered open. The bed space beside her was empty, so she rolled onto her back, just in time to see a gloriously naked Lance coming into the bedroom from the bathroom. Before she could say anything, he jumped beside her on the bed. But she wouldn't fall for him so easily."Hey hey hey," she protested, clasping her thighs shut as he ran his hand softly up her leg. She could already feel his hardening cock touching her leg and she knew it would take some tact to avoid getting speared today."Did you use condoms with those girls at Rob's Cove?", she demanded."What! What girls?""Oh please, stop pretending. I found you with your face between a set of huge breasts and your hand between a set of tightly locked thighs.""Oh. But.. I..."She seized the opportunity and quickly wriggled out of his grasp before jumping off the bed."I swear, I didn't
When Lance walked into the house, his mother at first mistook him for a stranger because she had never seen him in such formal clothes before. But when she saw his face as he turned to her, she confronted him."And where the hell are you coming from, young man?""A friend's," he replied with a smile."Why didn't you call or pick my calls? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?""Sorry. It wasn't deliberate. I lost my phone."She breathed a big sigh of relief and then shook her head."Look, I know you're an adult and old enough to do what you want, but I'm still your mother. I care and worry about you all the time. Whenever you're leaving for long periods, try to let me know. And if plans change midway, call and keep me informed. If you lost your phone, you could've used a friend's phone. You got me so worried sick that I thought you were in the captivity of that nasty woman and I was just about to raid her house with a combined team of
Lance breezed into the restaurant and made straight for the kitchen, patting one of the waiters on the back as he went. He closed the kitchen's door behind him and moved further in. He saw the chefs hard at work - steam, aroma, and sounds of boiling, frying and roasting coming from every direction.He made his way over to a far end and sat down on a chair in front of a clear table near the window. He didn't have to wait long. The co-owner of the restaurant, his friend Rex, came over in his white chef attire and slammed down a tray of food on the table."Munch," he said as he took a seat beside Lance, who then drew the tray closer and inhaled the aroma. It was mushrooms prepared in an unfamiliar but delicious looking way, with stew and chunks of meat. He picked a fork and threw some pieces into his mouth."Hmmm. Real nice," he complimented as he chewed."Glad to hear. Thanks for coming.""My pleasure," Lance replied between mouthfuls."
A second clink of cutlery against plate brought Lance's face up from his food. If he dared to not respond, Anna would clink him into deafness."What is it?", he asked sourly."The eggs," she replied, nodding at his plate. "You don't like eggs, so let me have one.""Fine," he conceded and transferred one of the two hardboiled eggs in his plate over to hers."Thank You."But he did not respond. She shrugged and went to work on the egg. She loved eggs and would do anything to get them. Lance, on the other hand, was not a big fan of eggs. Whenever his mother would persuade him to have some in his food, Anna would be there to help him get rid of the unwanted burden.Seconds later, he dropped his knife and fork with a loud clatter and her eyes quickly shot up. One glance told her that his plate was empty save for the cutlery and the second egg. Even before he could push the plate to her, she reached forward and grabbed it."Thanks, La