Chapter 17

Barbara dropped Sammy off at her and Raul's house after the volleyball game, waiting until she saw her successfully unlock the door and wave before heading home with Bobby. He hadn't said a word to that point during the drive until he said goodnight to Sammy.

She pulled into the garage and opened her door to climb out. She then noticed her son was still sitting motionless in his seat, lost in thought.

"Earth to Bobby," she called gently.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mom."

He followed her into the house. Barbara noticed that he seemed to be watching her, waiting for her to land somewhere. He followed her like a puppy from the kitchen, to the family room, and back to the kitchen again as she went about straightening up the house for the night.

"Bobby, would like to go to bed and talk honey?"

He smiled at her sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I would, Mom."

"Okay. I'll meet you there."

Bobby dressed for bed in his room, brushed his teeth, and then went to Barbara's room to find her already in bed under the covers waiting for him. He slid in next to her and lay on his back looking at the ceiling. She heard him draw in a deep breath and sigh heavily.

"Lights on or off?" she asked.

"Off I guess."

She turned off the reading light and the room went dark until their eyes adjusted to use the moonlight through the window.

"So what's up kiddo?" asked Barb.

"I don't know if anything's up, Mom. But for once when I'm confused about what happened with Patty, you were there with us. So I thought maybe you saw something I didn't. Usually she's happy to see me, and then when it's time to leave, she always finds as many excuses as she can for us to stay together longer. Tonight, it was like she wasn't that excited to see me, and then couldn't wait to get away from me. I was wondering — did I do or say something stupid to piss her off?"

Barbara didn't know how to begin. To stall for time, she asked "Do you think you did something wrong?"

"Well I did kind of stare at the cheerleaders, but I don't think she saw that. But maybe she did. I didn't mean anything by it! And I tried to be friendly to Collette, but just because she's Patty's friend. Maybe Patty thought I was being too friendly or something? Or maybe she was upset that we brought Sammy along? Is she jealous of Sammy because we're spending more time together since we've moved? Or was she trying to make me jealous by getting a ride from Dave, and was upset that I was fine with that and maybe taking her for granted?"

In spite of herself Barbara giggled. She could hear the angst in his voice as he turned over all these possibilities for how he'd upset his girlfriend. He was such a sweet boy.

"I'm sorry honey," she said. "I'm not laughing at you. You're just so sweet the way you care about your relationship. Don't obsess too much though. Girls can be moody sometimes, just like boys can. It doesn't always mean anything."

"Do you think that's all it was, Mom? I mean, I asked her to call me tomorrow, and she just kind of said 'yeah, whatever.' She's never done that before," he said worriedly.

She sighed. "Bobby, I did see some things tonight that I probably should talk to you about. But they weren't things that you did wrong."

"What was it?"

"Well, let me start by telling you a story. Once upon a time..."

"Oh god, Mom!"

"Shut up dear. Now where was I? Oh yes. Once upon a time there was a young girl that graduated from high school and went off to the University of South Carolina. She left home for the first time, and moved into a dorm with lots of other girls from far away places."

"Didn't you go to SC?"

"Nothing gets past you, does it son? Now be quiet. Anyway, this young girl thought that she was very, uh, experienced, with the, uh, matters of the heart. While she was there, she made many new friends, both girls and boys."

"Mom, what does this have to do with why Patty is mad at me?"

"She's not mad at you, honey."

"How do you know that?"

"Because of some things that I saw tonight."

"What did you see?"

"Some of the same things that the young girl saw, while she was at SC."

"What did 'the young girl' see?"

"So you want me to continue the story?"

"God, Mom!"

"Does that mean yes?"

"Fine!"

"Okay. Where was I?"

"I don't know!"

"Okay. Now, while she was at college, she met lots of new people, and made lots of new friends. Both boys and girls. One girl in particular became a close friend. We'll call her, oh, Debbie."

"You mean your friend, Debbie Nichols?"

"This is just a story, honey."

"Right."

"The young girl and Debbie found they had a lot in common. They joined intramural sports teams together, they studied together. They went out on double dates together. They became very close.

"Then one day they went to a party in the dorm. They both got a little drunk, and the young girl helped Debbie back to her room. She helped Debbie get undressed and even tucked her into bed." Barbara hesitated a moment, then went on. "Debbie gave the girl a hug to thank her for helping her. Then she gave her a kiss on the cheek."

Barbara spoke slowly, reverently. "Then the young girl and Debbie kissed each other on the lips. And they kissed some more. And eventually, they made love." Barbara sat silently with a dreamy expression on her face. Eventually Bobby cleared his throat to bring her back to earth, and she went on.

"Both girls had boyfriends while they were in college. They had other girlfriends too," she added with a blush. "They both eventually got married and had kids. But they always remained special friends to each other."

Bobby sat trying to understand what his mom was trying to tell him with this "story." Well, other than she'd been with women lovers in college, which in spite of himself, he found quite arousing.

Eventually Barbara said, "The young girl hadn't known that Debbie had been attracted to her for some time before they made love that night. Debbie had tried to let the girl know with various subtle signals. But the young girl didn't see the signals, because she didn't know what to look for."

She paused and looked pointedly at Bobby. "But she knows what to look for now."

A light began to glow in Bobby's brain. Was his mom saying that...

She went on. "Do you remember what Sammy said about Collette before the game, honey?"

"She said that she..." And then Bobby stopped in mid sentence, his mouth hanging open. Barbara waited patiently.

"You're saying that Patty, and Collette, are, are,"

"Honey, I don't know for sure what they are to each other. All I'm trying to tell you is that I didn't see Patty being upset or angry with you. I saw her being preoccupied with her friend Collette, and because of that paying less attention to you than she usually does." She paused and then added, "Some of the attention they paid to each other was similar to what the young girl saw in college."

Bobby asked bluntly, "So you think they're lovers?"

"Bobby, I don't know that. Sammy thinks so, but she isn't exactly an impartial observer." She reached out to gently touch his shoulder, as if to soften the blow. "It is possible. You will have to figure that out for yourself. The best way to do that would be to talk to Patty about it."

"I'm supposed to ask my girlfriend if she's sleeping with her girlfriend?" he asked incredulously.

Barbara smiled gently. "I'm sure you could be a little more tactful than that. You might start with just sharing the concern that you told me about — that you were afraid she was mad at you when she left with Collette. I'm sure she'll reassure you that she was just concerned about Collette and not mad at you. You'll have to decide then based on her reactions if you want to ask her any more about her relationship with Collette. It really could just be a close friendship, but the signs are there - either there's more to it than that, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or there could be in the future."

Bobby frowned at that. "I'm supposed to compete with Collette for Patty?"

Barbara smiled. "You'll have to talk to Patty honey. Collette may be just a close friend. She may be a friend with benefits. She may be someone to 'compete' with if Patty is discovering she is bi-sexual. If she's discovering she is gay, you can't really compete with that. In any case though, she will still be the friend you've known all your life. Don't forget that."

"I'm glad everything is straightforward."

Barbara laughed loudly. "In love? It rarely is, honey."

They lay in companionable silence for a bit. Then Bobby asked, "Mom? What did you mean about Sammy 'not being impartial' about Collette?"

Barbara sighed. That had been an unintended slip. "Bobby, I really can't get into that."

"Why not?"

"I'd be talking about things where it's not my place to talk about it."

"Is Sammy gay?" he blurted out.

"Heavens no! Why would you think that?"

"You said she saw the same things you did with Collette and Patty. You said you have to know what to look for. You said you learned what to look for after you were with Debbie."

Barbara couldn't fault the logic of the thread he'd followed to reach the wrong conclusion. She couldn't see how she could correct the conclusion without at least partially compromising Sammy's confidences about her feelings for her son.

"Bobby, Sammy isn't impartial about Collette and Patty, because Sammy has feelings for you too. You're her friend, and she doesn't want to see you hurt. And that's all I'm going to say about that."

Barbara then wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"Honey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How are things progressing between you and Patty, uhmm, well I'll just say it. How's your sex life?"

"God, Mom!"

"I'm not just being nosy dear. It kind of relates to what we've been talking about tonight."

"How?"

"Well, you asked if you were going to be competing with Collette for Patty. I don't know if you are or not. But I thought I'd ask if you were, shall we say, on equal footing to do battle?"

"Mom, if the next thing you say is 'Once upon a time, ' I'm going to lose it."

"I promise honey, I'm not teasing you. You and I have talked about this kind of stuff before. I was wondering if we needed to have another talk about some other aspects of love — but more about physical love this time."

Bobby's cock progressed further down the leg of his shorts at that. The last time she'd given him a lesson about a physical aspect of love, his instincts had been to complete his education with an advanced degree by climbing on top of her. The episode was still one of his favorite sexual fantasies to this day.

"When you and I talked about this stuff before..." he paused and blushed. "You said we should wait for you to show me more until I needed it for my relationship with Patty. I don't know if Patty and I are ready for more than what we do now, Mom."

"Do you actually talk with Patty about it?" Barbara asked gently.

"Sort of. She kind of wants to do more, but when I say that I'd like to wait until I'm in high school with her, she's fine with that."

"Oh god," thought Barbara. "He's been putting off a horny teenage girl that he's separated from most of the time? What a recipe for disaster!"

Aloud, she said, "And you're still sure that you want to wait that long honey?"

"Well, we say we love each other, and we're still best friends. I just don't know if we mean the same thing when we say 'love.' I mean, I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of commitment yet."

Barbara sighed at the idealism of her son. "Honey, I can't believe I'm going to be telling my son this. You shouldn't look as sex as the final, ultimate validation for a committed relationship. That does happen, but more often, sex is something that happens between people as they get to know each other, and are figuring out what kind of relationship they ultimately want to have. There aren't many people that are virgins on their wedding night any more."

"I wasn't saying I wanted to wait until marriage, Mom!"

"So when you say you're not sure you're ready, what do you mean by that?"

Bobby sat and tried to come up with the right words. "I guess I'm afraid that I'm not as in love with Patty as she is with me. We've been together since we were kids, and I'm afraid if we have sex she'll think that means that we've decided to get married or something. I may want to marry her someday. But I'm still in middle school! It's too early to get engaged!" His voice raised in pitch and volume as he finished.

"Do you really think Patty feels that's what it would mean, honey?"

"Well, I guess I did until you told me she's sleeping with her girlfriend!"

Barbara burst out laughing. "We don't know that she's sleeping with her girlfriend. Besides, maybe if she is, that shows that she's not looking at sex the way you're afraid she is. It might mean that she has things in better perspective than you thought."

"So I should be happy about this!?"

"This is all stuff you need to talk about with her, honey. Talking is good."

Bobby sat and thought. Finally he said, "If we talk about this stuff, and we, uh, agree about what it would or wouldn't mean, should I have sex with her?"

"Bobby, the fact that you are thinking about its meaning and how it fits in your relationship shows me that you are probably ready to have sex. If what we saw with Patty and Collette was any indication, Patty is probably ready to have sex too. But it's something that the two of you ultimately have to decide."

She paused and went on. "If you're nervous about it, I can teach you some things to give you some more confidence about what to do with her. Don't get too worked up," see said with a grin, "you and I don't need to have intercourse to do that honey. What I was thinking was I could show you what, uh, girls do together, if you know what I mean, and how to make that good for your partner," she said blushing slightly.

"You mean, uh, like when they go down on each other?"

"Well, yes. I was thinking, that if you are going to do that with Patty, that I should, uh, make sure you know enough about it, so that you can do it as well as someone with more experience."

"Like Collette."

"Right. If you do decide to make love, I wouldn't want you to be worrying the whole time about whether you could make love to Patty as well as Collette. You'll both be nervous enough as it is without having performance anxiety too."

Bobby's dick was by now standing up enough for Barbara to see it actually raise the covers over his midsection. "So Bobby, let's talk about the limits of what we're going to do. Okay?"

"Okay, Mom."

"I will show you how to go down on Patty, by showing you how on me. I'll talk you through it, and let you practice a little on me, and tell you when you're doing things right or how to do it better. And that's all I will let you do. Do you think you can do that, and have enough self control to then not go further?"

He was startled by her candor. "I think so, Mom," he said.

"You need to be sure honey. If I let you do this, I know myself well enough to realize that I'm going to get pretty excited too. It's probably going to take both of us working together to be sure it doesn't go too far. As much as I might be tempted, or even if I ask or beg you to do more when you work me up, you have to be able to stop. Can you stop, even if I ask you to make love to me?"

"You're going to ask me to make love to you?"

"It could happen honey. If you give me an orgasm with your mouth and your fingers like I'm hoping I can show you how to do, I may say things in the passion of the moment that normally I wouldn't."

She looked him earnestly in the eye. "What I really want is what I'm telling you now. I don't think we need to have intercourse to prepare you for Patty. Not now, and probably not ever. And preparing you for others is what this is about, not for me to get laid by a handsome young man. Okay?"

"Okay, Mom. I agree with you."

"Alright." She took a deep breath. "Do you want to get off before we start, like last time, to help you stay in control?"

"Uh, yeah, that probably would be a good idea."

"Okay. Since we're talking about preparing you for Patty again, it's probably something that we should make part of the lesson. I, uh, could help you with that more directly this time if you like. So you'll know what to expect and how to coach Patty."

Bobby's eyes widened and his cock throbbed. "That'd be great, Mom."

"Why don't we sit up first? When we practiced good night kisses, we stood up since that's what you were likely to be doing. Usually when young people start to touch each other, they start out sitting next to each other, like in a car or on a couch. They don't usually just jump into bed to start out."

The both scooted up in the bed so that their backs were leaning against the headboard. Barbara was again wearing one of John's old jerseys, with bikini panties underneath. She turned to her son and took him in her arms, Bobby doing the same, their faces now close together.

"Okay, I'm going to show you how girls typically get boys off for the first time. It usually happens in the boy's car on a date. Sometimes the girl will do it as part of foreplay before having intercourse, but more often it's something she will do instead of intercourse. She'll get the guy off to calm him down, or help him wait, when she's not ready for sex yet.

"And if that's all she's ready for, you have to accept that. Right?" she asked.

"Right," replied Bobby.

She gave him a gentle smile. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Barbara let her hand drift down to Bobby's crotch, stopping at the waistband of his shorts. "The first time the boy will usually ask the girl to touch him, or he'll pull her hand down and place it on his crotch. You should always ask first, don't just stick her hand on you.

"If you ask, and she says no but sounds like she really might be willing, then you can gently take her hand and pull it towards you while you... uh... well... beg. Then she will either say no again, or pull her hand away, or she'll let you direct her to your penis. But you have to be extremely gentle, or you'll frighten her."

She gave him a wink, and then said in a breathy voice, "Baby, I know you want to, and I do too, but I'm just not ready yet."

Bobby grinned back at her. "That's okay Patty. I want to wait until it's right too. But it's hard to wait sometimes. Do you think, maybe, you could, uh, help me?"

"What do you mean?" asked Barbara as Patty.

"Do you think maybe, you could touch me?"

"Touch you?" she said in mock alarm.

"Well, since we're not ready for sex, I thought maybe we could touch each other and maybe make each other feel good that way."

"And that's all we're going to do?"

"Yeah baby, please?" Bobby reached for Barbara's hand where it rested on his stomach, and gently rubbed it. The he grasped it in his, and began pulling it towards his throbbing erection.

Barbara stopped the downward movement, but didn't pull her hand loose from his. "I don't know, Bobby."

"It's okay Patty. I'll tell you what to do, okay?" He resumed pushing her hand lower.

Barbara was starting to breathe more deeply. She was about to get her hand on her handsome son's cock for the very first time. The trembling that Bobby could feel as he held her hand was not play acting — it was from Barbara's genuine excitement and rising lust.

When Bobby had her hand above his cock, Barbara said, "Now, tell her something about what you want her to do, before you put her hand on you." Bobby wasn't sure what he should say, so he just slowly pushed Barbara's hand down.