by Ally Nelson
“Yeah, but she’s going to ask where I suddenly got this scarf from and why I’m wearing it.”
“Just…make something up.”
It wasn’t very helpful advice, but it was the best she got from Brett, who didn’t seem as worried about the situation as he perhaps should have been. Lindsey didn’t think he fully appreciated just how much of an amateur detective her mother really was, and the fact that she wasn’t just going to let something like this drop. She wasn’t born yesterday either. She knew what hickies were and how people hid them, and she was already suspicious of Lindsey going over to Brett’s every night anyway, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise when she got the third degree upon arriving back home five minutes later.
“Where d’you get that scarf?” Her mother scrunched up her nose in confusion as she walked in, closing the door behind her.
“Oh uh…Brett gave it to me,” Lindsey answered.
“He gave you a scarf?” She raised her eyebrow.
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Sort of a present, I guess.” Oh gosh, that sounded even worse. Brett giving her presents for no reason.
“Why would he give you a present?”
“I don’t know, mom, he just said he was sorting through some old clothes to take to the thrift store and he was wondering whether I wanted this scarf. He was going to throw it out so…I said I’d take it.”
“It’s not your usual style.”
“Yeah, I know, but I like it.”
“Did you get any other clothes, or just the scarf?”
“Just the scarf. The other clothes were all like…too manly, y’know, and totally not my size. I did try a couple of things on though.” She tried to make the lie seem as elaborate and detailed as possible so that her mother was more likely to believe it. “Anyway, uh…night night.” She hurried up to her room, escaping before more questions could get thrown at her.
In the safety of her bedroom, she unraveled the scarf and studied her neck in more detail, sighing and shaking her head.
There wasn’t much point putting any make up on now though, she thought to herself – she was literally about to go to bed.
She set her alarm so she could wake up for college the next morning, got undressed and spent an hour or so reading before her eyes became too tired to stay open any longer, falling asleep with a little smile on her face as she thought about Brett and everything that had happened between them that night.
She was awoken the next morning by the sound of her mother’s voice.
“I knew it!”
Lindsey snapped her eyes open and sat bolt upright, terrified. She glanced at her alarm. She’d slept through it again, and her mom was standing towering over her, glaring down at her neck.
“I knew there was something weird going on,” she continued with a triumphant but angry expression, her arms folded across her chest.
“Wh-what are you talking about?” Lindsey asked, blushing bright red and throwing back the covers, getting up out of bed so she could head to the bathroom. Of course, she knew exactly what her mother was talking about, but she was just going to pretend she didn’t. She opened up the bathroom door but her mom was right behind her and placed her hand on it, firmly closing it again.
“You’re going to tell me everything, Lindsey. Right now. You’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on.”
“What are you talking about?” She turned to look at her.
“I’m not an idiot. Where d’you get those marks on your neck?”
“Oh what? These?” She raised her fingers to graze across them gingerly. “Just fooling around with Sara.”
“With Sara? You didn’t have them yesterday evening before you left to go Brett’s. Don’t lie to me, Lindsey.”
“I’m not. Look, we were just messing about. Playing at being vampires and stuff. We watched some old horror movie on the TV.” It was the worst excuse ever, but the best she could come up with given the circumstances.
“You and Brett?”
She nodded.
“I thought you were supposed to be working, not giving each other hickies.”
“They aren’t hickies, mom, oh my God!” Lindsey protested, pretending to be utterly appalled and shocked at the suggestion.
“No, of course not, you were just ‘playing vampires’. You must think I’ve been living under a rock my whole life. I know hickies when I see them. I think I need to have a word with this Brett.”
“Mom no!”
But her mother was already rushing off down the stairs, determined to go next door and give Brett a piece of her mind.
Lindsey chased after her, grabbing her by the arm to try and stop her. “Please, don’t!”
“Then tell me what is going on, Lindsey!” She snapped, turning to face her.
It was at that point that Lindsey burst into tears. She hadn’t been intending to, but the emotions of the whole situation just build up inside her and she couldn’t hold back anymore. There was another, small part of her, that thought that maybe if she cried her mother would take pity on her, but it wasn’t entirely put on just for effect, she really was getting pretty worked up and panicky; worried about her and Brett getting into trouble.
Her mother sighed and took her by the hand, leading her through to the living room and getting her to sit down on the couch, where the dog immediately crawled onto her lap, obviously worried about her and not liking her crying.
Lindsey hugged the dog to her chest and told her mom everything; just blurted it all out. It actually felt good to get it off her chest, to not be having to hide and live a lie anymore, sneaking out over to Brett’s to see him. They were out in the open now and there was nothing anyone could do about it, although that clearly wasn’t her mother’s view.
“Well, obviously you can’t see him again,” she said flatly, as soon as Lindsey had finished speaking. “And I really do think I should be ringing up that University he works at and having a word. It really is very inappropriate.”
“Mom!” Lindsey cried in protest. “Do not do that! That’s so unfair! Brett was married for years; he’s not interested in his students.”
“No, only you. I suppose he’s declared his love for you and everything, has he?”
“Don’t be stupid! And he’s not some kind of pervert, Mom. I’m the first person he’s done anything with for years, and I’m an adult and I can decide for myself who I want to see. He’s not even that much older!”
“He’s old enough to be your father! That’s old enough for me!” her mother snapped back, raising her voice and getting angry with her for the first time. “And while you’re living under my roof, you’ll do as I say, and follow my rules! You won’t be seeing him again! Are we clear?”
“No! No, we’re not ‘clear’!” Lindsey scoffed, standing up and running back upstairs to her room in tears.
“You need to get ready to go to college, Lindsey!” Her mom yelled up.
“I’m not going to college!” She yelled back down.
All the screaming prompted her Dad to come out of her room to try and find out what it was all about. As soon as he heard, he of course had something to say about it too, and burst into Lindsey’s room to give her a piece of his mind.
“Your mother is absolutely right. There is no way you can see this man again. And I really do think she should tell the college. It’s completely inappropriate. A grown man sleeping with his students.”
Lindsey sat up from her bed and glared at him. “OK, one, I’m not his student, and two, I’m actually a grown woman in case you hadn’t noticed. I’m nineteen years old, you can’t tell me who I can and can’t see.”
“As long as you’re in my house, living – “
“Under your rules, yeah yeah, mom said the exact same thing,” Lindsey interrupted, rolling her eyes and flopping back down onto the bed dramatically.
“And those hickies are disgusting,” he added. “Cover them up.”
“I don’t
have to cover them up in my own room, Dad. And you don’t need to be here standing looking at them either. Get out if you don’t like them.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m going…”
He slammed the door behind him.
Lindsey sighed and sat up, wiping her eyes. Well, she wasn’t just going to sit in her room all day crying and feeling sorry for herself, and she certainly wasn’t going to let her parents dictate to her like this.
First of all though, she rang Sara and told her everything that had happened, wanting to get her opinion on what she should do next, although mostly she had already made up her mind.
“Wow, sounds like everything’s going down over there.”
“Yeah, it really is,” sighed Lindsey. “Don’t think I’ll be coming in today. Just not feeling up to it.”
“Fair enough, to be honest. I did wonder how long it would take before your parents caught on though, I mean…you must have known it was going to happen at some point, right?”
“I guess so. I think I’d just been trying to ignore it, bury my head in the sand and pretend it wasn’t going to.”
“But now it has.”
“Yep.”
“What are you gonna do?” Sara asked, with a hint of excitement in her voice. She loved all this gossip and drama, Lindsey could just tell.
“That was kind of why I was ringing you, to be honest, I mean, what would you do?”
“Honey, I wouldn’t be in that position in the first place, because I like guys my own age instead of old men,” she teased.
Lindsey sighed and rolled her eyes. “Not the advice I was looking for.”
“OK so uh…they’ve told you that you can’t see him?”
“Yeah.”
“But you obviously want to.”
“Duh, obviously.”
“And I guess you’re kind of angry about them telling you what to do.”
“Totally.”
“It basically comes down to two choices here, Lindsey. Obey your parents. Disobey your parents. If you choose the first one, it’s bye bye Brett and I’ll see you in college tomorrow to plan your next conquest, preferably someone nearer your age who isn’t actually a university lecturer. If you choose the second one, well…” She trailed off.
“I’ve already decided I’m going to choose the second one, Sara. I just don’t know how to go about it, what to actually do or what will happen if I do it.”
“Well, you’re travelling into the realms of the unknown with that one. Who knows how your parents are gonna react if you like…I dunno…move in with Brett or run away with him or something.”
“Is that what you’re suggesting I do?”
“What? No. That wasn’t a suggestion, I was just saying…those are all options.”
“And what are the other options?” Lindsey asked quietly, hoping for something a little less final and dramatic.
“Maybe your parents will get used to the idea of you and Brett eventually,” Sara suggested hopefully. “Maybe they just need to spend more time with him, see the two of you together, how he treats you…realize that his intentions are sincere etc blah blah.”
“Yeah, maybe…maybe that could work.”
“Do you have Brett’s number?”
“No.”
“So he doesn’t know any of this has happened?”
“Nope.”
“You need to tell him.”
“Yeah, I know. But how am I supposed to get to him?”
“Really, Lindsey? That one’s easy. Get showered, get dressed, get your books together, come to college.”
“How will that help?”
“Obviously you don’t actually come to college, you just make it look like you are for your parents and then you go over to Brett’s.”
“Ohhh.”
“You’re really not very experienced in deception, are you?”
“Well, this is the first time I’ve done anything like this,” Lindsey muttered, standing up to get her things ready to go to the bathroom and put the plan into motion. “Unlike you.”
“Oh yeah, I’m an expert at this kind of thing.”
“Which is exactly why I rang you.”
“You did the right thing. Now go get him.”
“Will do,” Lindsey laughed, hanging up the phone.
Chapter Ten
She did exactly as Sara instructed and fifteen minutes later she was over at Brett’s house telling him everything. He sat her down on the couch and listened intently, giving her the time and attention he always did, taking in her every word and nodding, holding both her hands in his.
Once he had heard everything that had transpired, he looked down at his lap and frowned, then sighed heavily. “I worried this would happen.”
“Yeah, me too,” Lindsey admitted. “I was just trying not to think about it.”
“Me neither.”
“So…what…what are we going to do? My friend Sara thinks that maybe if they get to know you and realize what a nice guy you are, they might change their mind about us being together.”
“It’s possible, but right now they’re angry and they need time to cool off. They’re not going to respond well to me just turning up and saying ‘hey, I’m a nice guy really.’”
“That is what we are, right?” Lindsey asked hesitantly, letting go of one of Brett’s hands and using her finger to tilt up his chin so she could look into his beautiful blue eyes. “Together? Me and you?”
“If that’s what you want us to be, Lindsey,” Brett whispered. “If that’s what you’d like.”
“It’s definitely what I’d like. Is it what you’d like?”
He nodded. “I wasn’t expecting you to just walk into my life like this. I wasn’t expecting any of this at all but…now it’s happened…I don’t want it to go away again.”
“Good,” she smiled and relaxed a little. “Neither do I.”
“That still doesn’t solve our problem.”
“No, but we do have the entire day to ourselves before my parents expect me back from college.” She bit her lip and looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes.
“And how exactly is that going to help?” He asked, playing innocent, although he could tell what she was angling at.
“Well, it gives us plenty of time to think things through.” She wriggled her way onto his lap, throwing one leg over him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, before leaning in and pressing their lips together in a kiss.
She had grown in confidence so much in the short space of time she had known Brett, she felt as though she was truly becoming a woman. He was everything she had dreamed about and more, everything she had wanted and craved, and she wasn’t about to let him go in a hurry.
“I could just hide out here with you forever,” she murmured against his lips.
He chuckled and ran his hands softly up and down her back. “I’m sure your mother would get suspicious and come looking for you.”
“Or we could just…leave the neighborhood. Together.”
Brett sighed and stopped the soft, up and down running of his hands, looking into her eyes seriously for a moment. “Honestly, baby? The best thing you could do right now would be to pretend to your parents that you’re not seeing me anymore.”
“And then just skip college every day to come see you.”
“No, because I have a job too and I intend to keep it. You’re just lucky I don’t have any lectures today. And I don’t want your work to suffer either. You have a bright future ahead of you, Lindsey, you’re a really clever young woman.”
“What then?”
“Just see me when you can. And I’ll try my hardest not to leave any more of those damn marks on you.” He kissed her neck gently, brushing his lips over the bruises.
“But then what? We can’t just go on like that forever,” she protested with a whimper, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder, just wanting to be close and hold him.
“After a week or so, or a few days or a few weeks or
however long it takes, I’ll come around and see your mother and talk to her, if she hasn’t already come over to talk to me before that. I’ve got a feeling she might want an angry word or two.”
“Yeah, she might, to be honest. What will you say?”
“I’ll tell her the truth. I’ll try and be reasonable and up front and honest. I mean, I can totally understand where she’s coming from. I’d probably feel the same way if a daughter of mine was dating someone older.”
“Do you think it will work?” She pulled back to look into his eyes.
He thought about it for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, I think it will work,” he whispered. “I think we can make it work. Listen to me, Lindsey…no matter what happens between me and your parents, it won’t matter to me because…I’m going to find a way to be with you, OK? I want to be with you.”
Lindsey blinked back a couple of tears and nodded. “I want to be with you too.”
“Good.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close for a soft and tender kiss, one that soon developed into something with a little more passion as Lindsey refused to pull away from it, tilting her head and parting her lips to slip her tongue into his mouth. She had been thinking about their sex almost non-stop, and she wanted more. Now that she’d gotten a taste of it, she wanted to explore everything she could about her body, and try out new and exciting things with Brett; only with Brett.
After a few minutes of kissing, she broke from it and pulled back to look into his eyes. “Hey Brett…”
“Mm?”
“Can we try anal?”
His eyebrows shot halfway up their head and his eyes widened, his mouth falling open slightly in surprise. “Are you kidding?”
“No,” she laughed, amused by his reaction. “I mean…if you feel uncomfortable about it, that’s totally cool but…I’ve kind of always wanted to try it.”
“You only just had sex like…yesterday…and now you want to try anal?”
“Yep,” she answered with a smirk, popping her ‘p’. “I want to try everything with you. I want to experiment, I want to have fun. I want to be kinky and crazy and wild. I mean…if you want to, obviously.”
