Chapter 21: The Play's the Thing

I got another text from Christy when I was brushing my teeth, indicating she had arrived home safely and couldn't wait until we could see each other again. I responded in kind and suggested that Sunday would probably be a good time, if she couldn't get out of dress rehearsal early. She told me she would text me, tomorrow, and sent along several X's and O's.

I finished brushing my teeth and took a deep breath. Ten minutes ago, in the living room, my mom had said she wanted me to sleep with her. After seeing the shocked look on my face, she elaborated a little further.

"Phil, part of the reason I've gone out on the dates I have, has as much to do with intimacy as it does sex. Unfortunately, those dates haven't filled the need I have to be close to someone I care about. There are times when I need that intimacy more than others. With the night we've had, I'm feeling a strong need to be with someone."

I nodded my head, wondering where this was headed.

"When you were younger, I couldn't turn to you to fill that need, because you wouldn't have been able to understand. It wouldn't have been fair of me to expect that of you and, honestly, you weren't mature enough to handle it."

"So, now I am?"

"I think you need to understand the difference between intimacy and sex, first; but to answer your question, yes, I do think you are mature enough now. Why don't you go get ready for bed and meet me in my room?

I went to my bedroom to change into my typical nightwear, which is to say I stripped down to my boxers before tossing my clothes in the hamper. I thought about putting on a t-shirt, but decided against it. I wanted to be comfortable, and I hadn't worn a t-shirt to bed in years.

I walked into Mom's bedroom and took in the scene. I had been in here thousands of times, but not in this context, and her bedroom seemed a little different now. Through all of the years, I had never slept in this room for any reason. When thunderstorms passed through the area, she always came to my room for comfort. Now, she was inviting me to hers. I had to wonder if this would be the only time.

Only the lamp on the nightstand nearest me was lit, casting soft shadows on the walls. I could immediately pick up the wonderful scent of her perfume; the scent that I knew would be ingrained in my mind forever. The queen-sized bed had the top sheet and blanket turned down on either side, inviting us in.

As I approached what I believed was 'my' side of the bed, Mom emerged from the closet in her nightwear. The translucent lavender nightgown she was wearing seemed to flow like water around the curves of her body before stopping mid-thigh. Her legs were athletic-looking, smooth and silky.

Mom was standing on one side of the bed and I was on the other, as she set the ground rules. I was frozen in place until I was either given the 'go' sign or told to stand down.

My cock was another story. He was already in overdrive and was trying desperately to get me to join him there. I strategically placed my hands together in front of my groin to help mask my excitement, but I could tell by the hint of a smile on my mom's face, that she knew exactly what I was hiding.

"One of the things I miss most about your father, Phil, was going to sleep wrapped up in him and waking up in the morning the same way. It made me feel so ... loved and secure. He was such a big teddy bear."

I nodded, understanding how that felt when she had comforted me in the past.

"I can be that for you, too, Mom."

Her smile sent a wave of warmth through my body.

"So, here are the ground rules: no touching below the waist and no blatant sexual contact. If you can just be there for me..."

"I'm there."

I lifted the cover and quickly climbed into her bed, hoping to mask my erection.

Mom eased into her side of the bed and moved towards the middle of the bed. I moved closer as we lay there on our sides, looking into each other's eyes. For several moments, neither one of us said anything as we tried to get used to being in her bed, together. I was trying to calm myself down as Mom looked into my eyes and around my face, searching for ... something.

She placed her left hand against my cheek and caressed it lightly before moving in for a kiss. Our lips were together longer than just a friendly greeting, but not long enough to express longing or desire.

"I love you, Phil."

"I love you, too, Mom."

With that, she smiled at me and rolled over on to her left side, facing away from me. I turned off the lamp on the nightstand, plunging her bedroom into darkness and scooted forward until I encountered her body. I snuggled in behind her as our bodies made contact from our shoulders to our toes.

"Mmmm. I don't think we would have fit together so well, last year, Phil."

My growth spurt had added six inches to my height, bypassing Mom now by more than two inches.

"You're right," I whispered, "we do fit together well."

Mom took my hand from her hip, and wrapped it around her waist, pulling me in tighter.

"This is really nice. Thank you, Phil."

I moved forward and lightly kissed the area where her neck met her shoulder. "Love you, Mom."

"Goodnight, Phil. I love you, too."

It wasn't two minutes later before I heard Mom lightly snoring. For the next thirty minutes, I stayed awake, too excited to sleep. Just the feeling of being wrapped around a woman was overpowering my senses. The fact that it was my mom just added to that excitement.

Sure, this was physically stimulating - my fifteen year-old hormones made sure I knew exactly which parts of my body were snuggled up against my mother's form. But my mind was on mental overload. We had been so close over the years that our relationship had transcended that of a simple mother and son. We were embedded in each other.

As I worked to calm myself down, I started thinking of everything else that was going on: Jessica's abortion and, apparently, depression; my budding relationship with Christy; Sammie distancing herself. Last year, Mike, Sparks and I were only worried about when our next gaming session would be. I had more free time, but was constantly bored. Looking back over the last couple of weeks, I certainly couldn't say that I was ever bored. As much as things had changed, recently, Mom and Ken had both told me that more changes were coming. I felt so unprepared.

As my eyes opened the next morning, I felt completely disoriented. Something was different. I went through a mental checklist to try and understand why I was so out of kilter. Immediately in front of me was the back of my mom's head, her light brown hair cascading softly over her pillow. My senses were coming back online when I started to notice the amount of physical contact our bodies were making, and where. My chest and stomach were pressed against her back, my hip and legs were also in close contact with mine.

The alarm bells started going off when I discovered that, not only was my right arm draped over my mom's chest, my right hand was cupping her wonderfully full, left breast. In addition, her right hand was on top of mine, keeping my hand in place! I was paralyzed, fearful that she would wake up and notice that her son was fondling her when all she wanted and needed was closeness and comfort.

Before I could begin to address the problem with my right hand and her left breast, I became acutely aware that I had bigger issues further south (no pun intended!). My penis was screaming for attention, trying desperately to tell me he was awake, alert and ready for action. This was not an uncommon morning condition, but where he was located was entirely uncommon, as he was nestled nicely between the cheeks of my mom's shapely ass. I was, at once, thankful and regretful that her nightgown covered her backside sufficiently enough to keep my cock from direct contact.

I refocused my attention on my right hand and couldn't help myself as I gently squeezed her left breast. Her nipple was hard and distended, but I was still fairly sure that she was still asleep. Hoping to avoid further embarrassment or an angry rebuke, I slowly began extracting my hand from her breast. My hand had not moved more than a few millimeters before I felt my mom tighten her grip on my hand and direct it back to her breast. She emitted a very contented sounding sigh.

After a few more seconds, Mom removed my hand and rolled over. She placed my arm behind her as she snuggled up to me, burying her head in my left shoulder.

"You weren't doing anything wrong, Phil."

I was immediately relieved, but still confused.

"I put your hand there."

Still confused.

"That's the difference in intimacy and sex, Phil. It was comforting for me to feel you so close to me and touching me. I know you were excited – I could feel that," she giggled, "but it wasn't something that was going to lead to sex. Do you understand?"

I was starting to understand. Having her breast in my hand was very exciting, but being snuggled against her did feel very comforting as well.

"Yeah, I think I'm starting to understand."

She lifted her head and gave me a good morning kiss.

"Good. I was hoping you would."

She rested her head back on my chest and again sighed contentedly. We stayed in that position for several more minutes before either of us said anything.

"Are we going for a run this morning?" I asked.

"Give me five more minutes of this, and we'll go."

After the run, and breakfast, I pulled out the yard equipment and went about the job of lawn maintenance. I had been rather negligent, recently, so it took me a good three hours to cut the grass, trim the bushes, edge the driveway and sidewalk and finish various other small jobs around the outside of the house.

Mom had sandwiches and a cool glass of water ready for me after I finished getting cleaned up. She told me that she, Misty and Tom were meeting a group of people for drinks at seven that night. This was not all that uncommon, as that group or parts of it regularly got together to go see movies, grab a couple of drinks or just hang out. It was Mom's first chance to hang out with just grownups since we had returned from Kansas. As much time as we spent together, I could hardly complain about feeling neglected.

I sent a text to Sparks to find out what he had planned for the evening. He and I hadn't spent a lot of time together recently, so I wanted to contact him first. Within a few minutes, he responded, indicating he and Heather were on their way to Indianapolis to go to a gun show and then to attend a Supercross race. They wouldn't be back until late that evening.

Mike said that he and Alice had planned to go to a movie and grab something to eat, but I was welcome to tag along. Since the Baker parents were going out for the evening and Jessica and Christine had nothing planned, they were already tagging along with Mike and Alice. I wouldn't be a third wheel. I texted Mike that I would ride over with Mom, and we'd take off from there.

On the way over to the Baker's, I checked to see what Mom was wearing for her night out. She had on a simple blouse and tan skirt, which looked great on her, but was not nearly as nice as what she had worn for our 'date' the night before. I had to smile a little, thinking that she had presented the better part of herself to me when we were out. Wherever she was going tonight, her grownup friends wouldn't be getting that same treatment.

Mom and I pulled into the Baker's driveway around six-thirty as Mike, Jessica and Christine emerged from the side door. Jessica's outfit was fairly understated as she wore skinny jeans and an open floral blouse with a white tank top underneath. Her medium-length, dirty blonde hair was pinned back with barrettes. She complimented her outfit with a pair of seemingly unnecessary sunglasses. Christine had on a pink tank top and a print skirt with pink and blue tones. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a simple pony tail. Even though both girls were simply dressed, there was no hiding their natural beauty.