His right hand kept returning to his erection in spite of a halfhearted attempt to keep it away. His left kept bringing a glass of Old Crow and ice to his lips even though he was a lotta years too young to be drinking it. His attention wouldn’t stay on the Netflix sci-fi on the screen in front of him. Mom was out on a date and probably wouldn’t be home before morning.

It was his imagination at work that was the cause of all of this. His longtime friend Susan was out on her first date since turning sixteen and being old enough. They’d lived next door all their lives, being born a few months apart. Bathing together as babies, playing in their yard together and all sorts of other shared activities had led to playing doctor and exploring sex when it made its appearance.