Chapter 2: First Date

The bright orange Honda Fit pulled into the circular paving stone driveway with barely a sound and a petite girl with dark hair wearing a loose-fitting crop-top showing off defined abs leapt out and slammed the door behind her. She dashed up to the large, two-story home with a wide archway leading to a door with a bronze knocker. She opened it and went inside.

The marble paved foyer led to a central staircase leading up to the second floor but the girl instead turned left into a dining room with half-a-dozen chairs around a rectangular table and then into a large, modern kitchen with a stainless-steel refrigerator and marble countertops.

A woman stood in front of a cutting board filled with fruit which she chopped up and placed into a blender. A young man with long, floppy hair sat at a circular table near a set of bay windows overlooking a yard with crystalline pool sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. The woman wore a tight pair of leggings and a sports bra showing off a figure, trim but certainly wider than that of the girl and with larger hips and breasts.

Two books were open on the table along with a few pieces of papers with scratch marks all over them. The boy stared intently at them and tapped a pencil eraser on one of the pieces of paper.

“Jeez, mom. Put on some clothes. You’re going to give Tommy a complex.”

The woman turned her head and smiled broadly, “Welcome home, Queen Nan. How is Brad ... I mean Sarah?”

“Seriously, mom,” said the girl coming over, picking up a slice of peach, and popping it in her mouth. “Your butt is hanging out.”

The woman turned around to face the boy at the table, put a hand behind her head, and stuck out a hip, “What do you think, Tommy? Is your mother holding it together in her old age?”

The boy looked up from his work, ran his eyes up and down her for a second and said, “I’d hit that.”

“There you go,” said the woman with a smile. “Perfectly healthy.”

“Oh my God,” said Nancy shaking her head and taking another piece of fruit. “I live in a family of perverts.”

“Not perverts,” said a man wearing a polo-shirt and a pair of slacks as he came into the room. His hair was dark with just a bit of gray along the sides. He had a lean look to him but with a muscular chest and very broad shoulders, “We have a healthy and normal outlook on sex. It’s better than raising you two to be repressed basket cases.” With that he put one hand on the woman’s ass and the other on her back as he kissed her lightly. “Now, Tommy. You leave my woman alone. I hear your Aunt Lucy might be on the market again though.”

“Steven!” said the woman and slapped his shoulder.

“It’s true, Shell. You told me she’s filing for a divorce.”

Tommy looked up from the table, taking an interest in the conversation, “Another one?”

“How many is that?” asked Nancy.

“Technically,” said Shelly putting a hand to her chin. “That will be four ex-husbands but the first one hardly counts.”

“I thought Uncle Lou was the first one,” said Nancy counting on her fingers and starting to pick up another piece of fruit before her mother slapped her hand away.

“Get your own. I’m making a smoothie here.”

“Can I have one?” asked Tommy.

“You’re all trying to change the subject,” said Sarah. “Did Aunt Lucy have a husband before Uncle Lou?”

Steven looked at Shelly and after a moment she shrugged her shoulders, “You might as well tell her. She’ll weasel it out of you in the end, you’ve always been an easy mark for your daughter.”

“Well,” said Nancy looking at her father.

“Your mother’s sister got in the family way when she was about your age and ran off with one of her teachers.”

“The family way?” said Tommy.

“She got knocked up,” said Nancy grinning broadly. “By a teacher. Gross.”

“Really?” asked Tommy.

Steven nodded his head and looked at his wife, “Your mother sent Elmo to go get her as I recall.”

Shelly nodded, “I’m not sure anyone ever saw that teacher again and luckily your aunt had a miscarriage not long after.” This last she said with a slight glance at her husband that escaped Tommy but Sarah saw it.

“Paw Paw E chased her down?”

“Your grandfather Elmo was a scary man,” said Steven pulling his wife next to him. “As long as your chopping fruit, I wouldn’t mind a smoothie either.”

“Get fruit out of the fridge,” said Shelly and smacked him on the butt when he turned to obey the command. “Cute butts run in this family.”

“Paw Paw E?” said Nancy. “With that old pipe and those ridiculous pants? Scary?”

Steven turned from the refrigerator and nodded his head, “Your grandfather was a paratrooper in the Korean War. He had that boat of his, he’d take out boys interested in your mother for a fishing trip.” When he said the word ‘fishing’ he put up his first two fingers in the little quote shapes and wiggled them. “My buddy Aaron went out with her first, that’s how I met your mother. He came back to the Fraternity House shaking like a leaf and pale as a ghost. I believe the phrase he used was ‘not worth it.’”

Nancy and Tommy both looked to their mother who nodded her head, “I knew your father was a keeper when they came back with a string of fish, your father helped dad fillet them, and stayed for dinner.”

“Smartest move I ever made. Well worth it.” said Steven coming back with several pieces of fruit in his large hands and leaned over to give his wife another kiss.

“Aww,” said Shelly with a grin. “You were pretty smart, for a college boy, as dad would say.”

“Get a room,” said Nancy shaking her head and moving to sit down next to her brother at the kitchen table. She waited until the blender started up before leaning over and speaking to him. “So, Tommy. What do you think of Sarah?”

Tommy looked up his sister with her dark brown eyes and smooth complexion. He narrowed his eyes, “Sarah who?”

“My Sarah.”

He shrugged, “She’s all right I guess.”

“She said she thought you were cute.”

Tommy’s eyes narrowed further and he leaned forward with a glance to where their parents were talking at the kitchen counter, “What are you up to?”

“Nothing,” said Nancy with a shake of her head and wide smile. “She saw you at the varsity game last night and said you were starting to look like dad.”

Tommy continued to stare at his sister, “Seriously, what are you scheming? Does this end with me covered in yellow paint?”

“Oh, come on, that was like five years ago. I’m more mature now.”

“It was last year,” said Tommy tilting his head sideways. “And you were as mature then as you’re ever likely to get.”

Nancy laughed and smiled, “Okay, okay, you’re right. That was wrong but this time I’m serious. Sarah said you were cute. She likes athletes and even I admit you are getting a bit buff with all that weight-lifting for baseball.”

Tommy pursed his lips, “I don’t trust you. Besides, she’s dating Conner Bannis. He’s a fucking monster.”

“Language,” came the voice of Shelly even over the sound of the blender.

“Do you hear everything?” asked Nancy looking at her mother who still had her back to the two.

“Just what I want to hear.”

“Bannis is an idiot,” continued Nancy turning back to her brother.

Tommy nodded his head, “I didn’t say he wasn’t an idiot. I just said he’s a monster. Football, lacross, first-baseman. He’s like six-foot three and two-hundred twenty pounds. He’d rip my arms off if I looked at Sarah. Besides, she’s like a foot taller than me and her boobs are as big as my head.”

“So, you do like her?”

Tommy blushed and twisted his head back and forth, “I mean, I’m not gay, every guy at school likes her. I mean, except for the gay guys. I think I understand your plan now, you’re trying to get me killed so you can inherit all the money.”

Nancy laughed and shook her head, “No, I’m not trying to get you killed. I’m rather fond of you. As brothers go, you’re not the worst. Sarah’s going to break up with Connor anyway. She’s likes them big and dumb but not that dumb.”

Tommy continued looking at her with narrowed eyes, “I shouldn’t trust you.”

“But...”

“Sarah is pretty hot.”

“And a cheerleader.”

“And a cheerleader,” said Tommy.

“It’s set then,” said Nancy with a grin and patted him on top of the head. “I’ll set up a double-date with Brad and Sarah.”

Tommy’s eyes immediately opened and he grinned, “I understand now.”

“Hey,” said Nancy with a grin. “Just because something is good for me doesn’t mean it can’t be good for you as well. Do you have a game tonight?”

He shook his head, “Nope. Season is almost over actually. We’ve got regional semi-finals next week on Thursday and if we win then the finals on Friday. If we win both then we play in the middle-school state championship final-four the weekend after that. You’ll come, won’t you? It’ll be fun. You can bring Sarah?”

“Incentive for you to win then,” said Nancy with a grin. “Of course, I’ll come. Mom and dad will drag me along. Mom never misses a game. She spoils you.” With that she stood up, picked her phone out of her pocket, went back into the main foyer and up the stairs as she punched at it. She arrived in her room a few seconds later and plopped down the bed looking at her backpack on the floor where she left it before heading over to see Brad for their reunion. There was a little math homework to finish and some A.P. History but not more than an hour or so. A moment later the phone played a little cheer song and she looked at it for a second before typing a reply.