Tapestry Book 4: Straight, No Chaser
Copyright© 2025 by A funny bowl of custard
Chapter 4: Popping the question
Coming of Age Sex Story: Chapter 4: Popping the question - Our survivor recalls his senior year in high school as a time when he got almost everything he thought he wanted, but can he keep it in spite of his own flaws? Regardless of his decisions, the status quo he has become comfortable with is going to end.
Caution: This Coming of Age Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa mt/ft mt/Fa Fa/Fa ft/ft Reluctant Romantic Incest Mother Son Brother Sister Daughter Niece Aunt Nephew Grand Parent BDSM MaleDom Humiliation Light Bond Spanking Group Sex Polygamy/Polyamory Anal Sex Pregnancy Slow Violence
The next morning, I awoke and decided to get some work done. After my normal routine I stepped upstairs and gathered the laundry that had been my penance for the padlock on the basement door. Along with my own, that was a few loads. When I carried the clean clothes back up the stairs I heard Moira and Robert arguing.
I wasn’t Mindy, so I wasn’t intending to eavesdrop, but there were bits that were louder than others. I set their clean clothes in the dining room as Moira’s voice boomed, “I need you to be okay with this, I need you to help. I can’t lose my baby.”
Guess they’re trying again. Hopefully, it doesn’t end up like last time.
Robert answered back in a cowed tone, “I’m more than okay with it. You know what I like. I wish the boy were more accepting of it though.”
I moved towards the kitchen and intentionally kicked the trashcan enough to wobble it. The conversation moved further into the house, so I assumed my ploy was effective. While I had a few cooking appliances (I was collecting them slowly for my impending dorm life) and a minifridge in the basement room, it didn’t really compare to a real oven and stove and that minifridge didn’t have a lot of room for food, so I’d taken to keeping some of my groceries upstairs with clear labels. I’d even used a yellow plastic shelf as a makeshift pantry.
I set about breakfast. I had a particular craving for French toast and that required me to borrow some of Moira’s stock, but I’d replace it next time I could get someone to run me to the market.
4 more months and I won’t need the ride.
That thought thrilled me in ways no person had managed at that point in my life. French toast wasn’t complicated, most of the difficulty is getting the mixture right and I liked a bit more egg than seemed standard. I threw in some sausage links and made enough for my eventual dinner as well. After I’d cleaned up, I headed back downstairs. I’d stowed my second plate in the minifridge and made it to the couch before remembering I’d forgotten to relock the door.
It’ll have to wait.
Then I smelled strawberries, I waited till I was done chewing before saying, “Hello, Alex.”
I looked up expecting a demand of how I new it was her before she’d passed through the beads, but instead I got a sullen, “Hey.” She waltzed over and dove onto my bed.
“I take it you had a bad night?”
“Yeah. Didn’t even get to see the movie.”
“How bad?”
“Scott ran out of gas. He wanted to wait, but I walked back to a gas station, then had to borrow quarters for the phone.”
Knew that part.
She continued, “Then about the time, Mom got there Scott pulled up honking. I think he faked the whole thing. He could’ve at least waited till after the movie to pull that shit.”
Wouldn’t shock me.
She rolled to her side and threw one of my pillows at me. I caught it and tossed it back, She retorted with, “Not going to ride me about how you ‘warned me?”
“Not my business.”
Not that you’d listen.
“If he’d just done it after the movie we could’ve at least made out, but no he wanted to get out of paying for the tickets. Mom was acting weird too.”
Oh? Is that my fault?
I had to quick chew another bite to ask, “How was she acting weird?”
“She apologized to me. Like out of the blue. I had to practically interrogate her to get her to tell me why on the ride back and I think she lied to me.”
“I thought you two always told each other the truth?”
“Yeah, but after asking her what she was apologizing for she said she almost didn’t answer the phone, but that wasn’t it. I don’t know what she was sorry for, but it wasn’t that. She was even crying when I left.”
I should check on her, but I can’t do that with Alex here.
“Maybe, she was sorry your date ruined your date.”
Wonder if I could work the fruit into that? Your date ruined your date by eating too many dates? Not worth it.
“Not going to offer to take me? I want to see it before it closes. We could do that witch one too. Double feature?”
There is only one film on locally I’d any interest in.
“Yeah, that one looks dumb and I’d be the one running out of the other. How about the shark flick?”
“But the witch one is a true story? They found all that footage.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s just a scam. They probably rented Cannibal Holocaust and got the idea. The actors are even doing interviews.”
“Really? That sucks. C’mon, I really wanna see Runaway Bride.”
“That is a ‘boyfriend’ thing, not a ‘best friend’ thing. I will sit through the witch movie if we see Deep Blue Sea.”
She huffed, “You’ll watch Romantic Comedies with Beth.”
“Beth likes old movies, not the modern-day copies of them. Well, she watches the new ones too, but not with me.”
“It’s not a copy!”
“It is.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I actually did watch that one with Beth. In it the girl gets blamed for a robbery she didn’t commit.”
“That isn’t in the trailer for the new one.”
“Why the sudden obsession? You usually go for movies more up my alley? You’re into horror or sci-fi. The romantic comedy thing is new.”
“I can like girly movies too. Besides that is a ‘boyfriend’ thing and I have one now.”
“So, you just want to go, because you think you’re supposed to?”
She shook her head, “Beth turned me onto them after I made her watch Deliverance.”
“Okay. So, Shark and witch are my only offer and it would be next weekend.”
“Fine, I’ll see if I can convince Scott to really take me this time. Or maybe a girl’s night? That would be cool. Could I pull that off?”
“Why are you asking me? I’m not a girl.”
“You think Beth and Lis would go for it?”
“Beth would. Lis is fifty-fifty. You should ask Stacy and Jill, they could probably use a real date night out too. Maybe Deirdre. I don’t think she gets out enough. Maybe Mon and Tracy? Not sure if their parents would let them.”
She gave me a concerned look, “You want me to let Deirdre tag along?”
“She needs to get out more. She needs friends. Some girl time would do her good.”
She looked pensive for a moment, then in a self-satisfied tone, “That would be a real girls’ night. We could even have a sleepover after. OOH! Or just rent a bunch of movies and have one! I can ask mom if we can do it at home!”
I’d shoved the last of my food in my mouth as she hopped up and grabbed my phone and she crashed into the other end of the couch. She’d wrapped the cord around her as she dialed and I sighed as I set to deal with my plate and the lock.
I washed the plate and made sure to lock the padlock this time before returning. Alex was on the phone. I ignored the girl squeal and picked out a book. I’d been reading for a while, when I tuned back in as she squealed, “Mom, I’m having a sleepover! ... Yes, all the girls ... you don’t have to do anything ... C’mon? We’ll just need the living room and my room. We can order a pizza ... Yes, thank you.”
When she went to hang up I grabbed the receiver before it made contact with the handset. Alex gave a quick, ‘Bye’ before heading out my private exit with an exuberance she rarely showed.
Fuck. I didn’t ask about her dad.
I raised the receiver to my ear, “Hey.”
What had quickly become my favorite voice answered, “Hey, I take it she’s gone.”
“Sorry about that. I refused to see Runaway Bride and it somehow became that.”
She laughed and the twin beating stone rippled in my chest, “Yeah, she was bitching about missing the movie the whole way home.”
“Speaking, Are you okay? She said you were upset. Is there anything I can do?”
She sort of hissed, “It isn’t about you. Not everything is about you.”
I tried to answer honestly, “I didn’t think it was, till that, but regardless of the cause I want to be there for you. I want this to be real and that means I want to be there for you regardless of what upsets you.”
She was quiet for a while, “I’m okay. I need to girlproof the house. Just ... don’t show up until Thursday. It isn’t about you, but I need to think.”
“If you have a couple of cheap bottles of wine or some wine coolers set them out and they’ll probably go for that instead of the good stuff.”
I could feel the annoyance, “I didn’t have to worry about her drinking before you.”
“Yeah, that one wasn’t me.”
“Has she done anything harder?”
“I thought you two told each other everything.”
“Considering I’m keeping secrets from her; it wouldn’t surprise me if she was keeping them from me. If this ... does happen, it can’t hurt her. That is one of the rules. She comes first.”
“She is your daughter. She is supposed to. I’m not going to rat her out, but I’ve not seen her do anything that made me worry. Well, worry more than I normally would.”
“Okay. I’ll see you Thursday.”
“Good luck with the tribe.”
I set the phone down and hummed a few bars of a song I couldn’t quite place.
Monday:
Daniel had been suspended for roughing up an underclassman and I didn’t get an answer from any of the girls, so I assumed they were still passed out in Sarah’s living room. That led to me getting a ride into school with Robert. He tried to talk to me, but I was more focused on the conversation I was going to have with GG that evening. From what I gathered it was the same spiel about giving Him and Moira a chance.
The day turned sour quite quickly. On my way to my third class I was distracted, plotting out the coming confrontation, and some kid grabbed my shoulder from behind and I acted on pure instinct and ended up putting him through the glass on the trophy cabinet in the basement. It wasn’t a fight per say, I don’t count it as one those I had on campus, but the kid ended up with a few stitches. That landed me in McVickers’ office in the uncomfortable wooden chairs.
He sat in his office chair hunched over the ancient computer, a window air conditioner blowing cool air over us both which didn’t halt his sweating. The snickers bar in his breast pocket looked dangerously close to falling out. He sniveled out, “What brought this on?”
“Does it matter?”
“Did you have a reason for assaulting Jonah?”
“If that is the kid that grabbed me, he, ya know grabbed me.”
“That doesn’t make it okay. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”
“You need to reseat your snickers bar before it hits the keyboard.”
He glared, “I’ll have to call your parents.”
“It’s fine. Just tell me how many days and I’ll walk home.”
“Five for now.”
“For now?”
“This is your second five-day suspension. We may have to escalate.” He’d said it in a manner that indicated he thought he had the upper hand, it was the equivalent of thinking someone had hung their queen.
“Y’know, I still have time to sue.”
He rolled his eyes, “What bullshit is that?”
“When the dragons were expelled, you called me and my crew in here and questioned us despite having no evidence or indication that we were involved in anyway. That led to me getting kidnapped. I’ve fairly certain a decent attorney could argue your incompetence led to that result.”
I was bluffing, I’m sure I could find someone to take the case, but that line of reasoning was thin. He still pondered for a moment and I watched him grab at the snickers bar and rub it, before thinking better and pulling back, “What do you want?”
“This was my first offense. So, 1 day. 3 days for my next etc.”
“Two days.”
“Including today.”
He stared at me for a minute, then nodded. Then he called Robert. It took him an hour to make the 10 minute drive. I hopped into his passenger seat and rolled down the window. I placed my head on the window to let the airflow around me as he drove away.
He’d barely made it to the main road when he started, “You can’t do shit like this!” I’d never seen him angry before. I’d come to the conclusion that he was a good person, but his anger reminded me of a chihuahua. He was loud and barking, but there was no real threat there. “I’m working nights right now, I need to sleep! And this kind of shit will ruin your future! I’ll have to ground you.”
I looked at him and felt kind of sorry for him, “Just drop me at the grandmothers. I told you day one, you’re not my parent. You’re not going to punish me, because you don’t know how. You’re not going to be able to beat me and I have enough places to go that locking me out won’t do much. You can’t scare me and you and I don’t have the kind of relationship where you can teach me a lesson. Some idiot grabbed me from behind while I was distracted, I reacted on instinct. It wasn’t malicious.”
“And what if it happens when you’re in college since your mother thinks your going? Or when you have a job?”
“I was distracted ... that doesn’t happen that often. It isn’t easy to catch me by surprise and I doubt they’ll be a trophy cabinet if it does happen again.”
“You need to get therapy. You can’t do this.”
“What are you going to do to force me into it?”
“I’ll take your electronics.”
“Cool, I’ll be at the grandmother’s.”
“No, you’re grounded. No running away! You have to learn to listen to me.”