Ch3 Boys

I am warm, the sun is hitting my legs which are wrapped in a blanket. The sun isn't too bright, it lets me wake gradually, the best way. I open my eyes to the white ceiling, follow a trail down the wall to a few posters and the scratched door. There is a sizzling sound and I turn to see Drew is already awake, messing around in the kitchen. I sit up and stretch.

“Morning.” Drew calls over his shoulder. “No, don't get up. I'm making you breakfast.”

He comes over with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast and sets it in front of me on his shabby coffee table.

“Breakfast in bed.” I smile and wave my hands over the couch.

“Oh!” Drew rushes back with a glass of orange juice.

“Thank you.” I say seriously, looking at the nice breakfast he made for me.

The eggs are good, I just drained the juice when Drew's cell phone goes off, vibrating instead of ringing.

“Beth.” Drew says, handing it to me.

I press the 'ignore' button and set the phone on the coffee table. “I'll call her later.”

Drew smiles and tackles me on the couch, squeezing me tightly. “So what will we do with our day, then?”

“I'm okay to just stay here.”

Drew's apartment isn't anything fancy, too small for one person, really. His bed is a single bed, squished in the corner, he just has a small TV with basic channels- no cable. He's good about always having food in the place and isn't too messy, for a guy. But he never really cleans, like mopping or using cleaner on anything.

It's two in the afternoon before I call Beth back.

“Where the hell are you!” Beth screams in the phone.

“With Drew, obviously.” I'm calling from his phone, after all.

“And I don't have stuff to do? Dang it, Jemma, get back here! I need you to watch Ben!”

“F.... Fine!” I scream into the phone, but Beth knows what I really meant. “Twenty minutes, okay? Or are you gonna leave him alone at home?”

“Just get home!”

I hang up the phone.“Gotta go.” I tell Drew, but Beth had been yelling the the phone, so I'm sure he already heard everything.

“Anyways, I have to work in an hour, so I should get ready.”

“See you tomorrow?”
“Oh, actually, I am going to my parent's for lunch. Once a month, remember?”

Drew always eats lunch with his family once a month, sometimes more frequently. When Drew and I were first dating and he was in high school I came over for a dinner with his family. He never really had a girlfriend before me, so his mom wanted to meet me. I remember I was so nervous, I probably changed my outfit four times, wanting to look nice, but not too dressed up, wondering if I looked too sexy in my nice shirt, hoping I didn't look like a tramp. Finally, I just wore jeans and a regular T-shirt.

The first dinner was fine, quiet, lots of boring questions. Mr and Mrs. Simmons were nice, Mr. Simmons told me lame jokes and Mrs. Simmons asked like twenty times if I had enough food. It was the second dinner that did it.

I remember the conversation, the second dinner, very clearly. When Drew and I had been dating a while, a month or two before his graduation:

Drew's Mom, Mrs. Simmons: 'So, Jemma, what are you and Drew going to do when he goes off to college? Are you going to break up?'

I should have known from her 'break up' comment alone, she didn't approve of me.

Me: 'Uhh...'

I never got to answer. I have no idea what I would have said. What do you say to that?

Drew: 'I was meaning to tell you guys...'

Mrs. Simmons: 'Yes, my sweet and perfect son?' (okay, she didn't really say that).

Drew: 'I decided that I'm not going to college. I got promoted to be a manager and I'm looking into getting my own apartment. I should be moving out in July.'

Way to ease them into it, buddy.

Mr. and Mrs. Simmons looked beyond pissed.

I wanted to just evaporate into the floor.

Mrs. Simmons looked straight at me and shot bullets at me through her eyes, like I planned this whole thing and her son would have gone off to college if he hadn't been dating me.

The dinner didn't end well; after an awkward silence, they all started screaming. Except me, I just wanted to run out the door. Drew explained what he wanted to do and his mother insisted that he go to college. His dad was a little nicer, he suggested that after a year, Drew could starting college. Drew said he would think about it, but he wanted to make his own decision.

His mom kept demanding that he do whatever she wanted, like that was going to keep him home with her, or something.

Now, his mom insists on him eating with them at least one Sunday a month and she babies him like crazy. Their argument is over and done with, although she still believes that Drew is going to college for sure next fall. All of the anger from their argument didn't die, she just put it on to me. I've never been invited back for a dinner and I know Drew's mom thinks that somehow I'm to blame for Drew making his own choices and not her's.

I'm back home. Rae and Beth are out for the afternoon, running errands and getting Rae a hair cut. Ben and I go to the park for an hour. I play with him a little bit, pushing him on the swing. I make pictures in the sand until Ben gets thirsty and we head home.
Dad calls. “Hey, Jemma.”

“What's up?”

“Life. Pretty busy.”Dad always has news- a new job, a new apartment. Sometimes a new girlfriend. Thankfully, he never expects me to meet them. That would just be awkward.

He tells me about his weekend trip camping, fishing. He's working at a garage, helping to fix up cars. He knows a little, but this is teaching him plenty more and he likes it. Says he's making good money. He was really into barbecuing over the summer, and now he is all about making ribs and steaks at home. He tells me about the sauce he makes and how he cooks them. Really, I don't care, but I humor him.

“When are we gonna hang out again? You should come over here and I'll make you dinner!” He sounds so excited to cook for me.

“Tomorrow?”

“Sorry, Jem, that won't work. Next week Sunday?”

“Sure. Two o'clock?”
“See you here. Remember, buzzer number 235.”

“Got it.”

“You stick straight. You're on a good track.”

“Bye, Dad.”

Rae and Beth return, with Rae's hair in a short little bob that she keeps stroking. Beth bought groceries and I help her put them away. Rae and Ben are watching TV, Beth and I are in the kitchen.

Beth says to me in a loud whisper. “You and Drew aren't being stupid, are you?”

Way to come right out and say it.

“What?!”

Beth points to the living room. “I had Rae when I was 19. Don't be stupid.”

“Ugh, Beth!” I really don't want to talk about this with her.

I go into my room and slam the door. There's no lock on my bedroom door, so I just slam it. But I would lock it if I could.

Okay, I'll just say it. It's really stupid and embarrassing; but I've never had a 'sex talk'.

When I got my period I just looked in the cabinet and read the directions on the box.

I know, I know- I was supposed to learn in school. In school we had a class- the talked about diseases and how awful pregnancy was.

There was one class where this lady came in and gave this really long speech to just the girls about self-esteem and finding 'positive ways' to feel appreciated. She even had a bit for all of the girls without a father-figure, and how they are more likely to get knocked up or become sluts. Wow- that sure raised my self-esteem right there.

I know how you get pregnant, but, I don't know... the other stuff.

Steph explained oral sex to me when we were fourteen. I felt so embarrassed because I didn't get the joke that everyone else laughed at.

All Beth ever says is stuff about being safe and using condoms. I know about condoms, okay?

I just...I'm sixteen, I'm too old to ask any questions now.