Chapter 16: The Aftermath - Jeff

I walked home slowly and went upstairs into my bedroom. I was mentally exhausted and confused. I felt like I had just taken a really important test; I had passed, but it drained me completely. My mind was swirling around the events that had just occurred, and I started revising some plans for the future. I quickly fell asleep and took a nice long nap.

I woke up in the afternoon and went downstairs. Michelle was sitting in the family room, but she jumped up when I walked in. "Welcome to the land of the living," she said. "I can't believe you went to bed without telling me what happened next door!"

"You're right," I said contritely, "It was thoughtless of me. I had my mind going so many different ways that I didn't think. I'm sorry."

"That's OK," she said, "Just tell me what happened."

"I'm not completely sure," I said. "The bottom line is that Mrs. Miller - Jess - said that she understood and accepted what we did. She has no problem with it. In fact, she has turned over all discipline of Rachel to me. She even said that if I told Mom and Dad that Rachel is my girlfriend, she would convince them that it would not be bad if I spent some nights over there."

"Wow, you've got it good!" she said.

"Yeah, I think I do," I replied. "I'm just trying to figure out how good I have it."

"Well, don't hurt your pretty little head thinking," she said with a smirk. "By the way, while you were asleep, Rachel called. She invited you over to her house for dinner at 6."

"Thanks," I said. I was still distracted. I knew that I wasn't treating Michelle exactly right, but I couldn't help it.