Chapter 7

Barbara was startled to see Bobby sitting on the edge of the bed, directly facing her. The momentary backlighting from the bathroom light had given him a perfect silhouette of her curvy form. When the bathroom light went out, the soft glow from the reading light cast gentle shadows around the room as Bobby stared at her high firm breasts, just visible through her nightgown.

She froze like prey in front of a predator. This hadn't been what she had in mind! She watched transfixed as Bobby's eyes moved slowly up and down her body.

"Uh, let's get into bed dear," she stammered.

"Sure, Mom," said Bobby, somewhat emboldened by her reaction. "Which side do you want me on?"

"Well your dad was right handed so he said that's why he always liked the left side," reflexively quoting another of John's private jokes without thinking. 'Oh God, did I really just say that?' she thought.

Confused, Bobby asked "What difference would that make?" as he moved to the left side of the bed.

"Oh never mind," she said quickly. Trying to distract him she continued, "Are there too many covers for you? I use an extra blanket on my side, since I get colder easier than a lot of people." She scooted around to the right side of the bed and practically dived under the covers.

"Uh, well, if I get too warm I'll just stick a leg out. Don't worry about it."

Barbara watched her son pause as he reached for the covers, his expression changing from puzzlement, to a lopsided, goofy grin.

He raised the covers up to get in, then impulsively flipped them higher while ducking his head lower to get another glimpse of her body on his way in.

Barbara gave an "Eeek!" and slapped her hand down on the cover to block his view. "Now get in here and turn the light off young man," she said. She tried to have the stern voice she used with Bobby when she wanted him to know she meant business. To her own ears however it sounded like a giddy teenager on prom night.

Bobby's smile at her remained unrepentant. "Okay Mom."

He climbed into bed, and then rolled away from her to reach for the nightlight with his left hand while balancing on his right elbow. Barbara's eyes' involuntarily widened as she watched his broad back get even broader with his stretch, the muscles showing clear definition across his shoulders from his weight and martial arts training.

Bobby clicked off the light and rolled in the darkness to lie on his back next to his Mom. They were silent for a few minutes, each with their own thoughts.

Eventually Barbara said softly, "Thanks for doing this for me, Bobby. I know it might seem kind of weird, but I do want to talk some more. Besides, you really do make me feel safe when you're around me." She paused before going on. "Sometimes being the only 'grown up' in the house can make me feel kind of overwhelmed with all the responsibilities, you know? Your dad used to take care of so much stuff for us, and I had no idea about a lot of it."

"You're doing a great job, Mom. I've been trying to help out too, as much as I can — at least I hope I've been taking some of the load," said Bobby, instinctively looking for reassurance from her.

"Oh you have, honey. I don't know what I'd do without you — probably go nuts or something. Not to mention my car would fall apart or I'd have to spend a fortune on plumbers. You've been great." They lay silent again for a while.

She could start to make him out as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She rolled on her side to face him. "I just hope I'm doing enough for you honey. I worry that I don't have time for you when you need me, or that I can't do everything that Dad did with you. You've had to grow up awfully fast with just me to help you," she said, reaching out to tousle his hair.

Bobby started at her touch. "Don't worry Mom," he said as he reached up to grasp the hand that was still stroking his hair. "You're doing just fine."

He pulled her hand down and pressed it flat against his chest. "And you're helping my heart to heal a little bit every day."

Barbara's own heart swelled with warmth at that. "We'll get through this together baby. We've got each other."

The seconds ticked by in companionable silence for a time. Eventually, choosing her words carefully, Barbara began her "intervention."

"I wanted to talk to you about Patty, honey."

Bobby blinked at the seeming non sequitur. "What about her?"

"Would you say that she's still your best friend?" she asked.

"Well... yeah. She's great." He hadn't told Barbara that he and Patty had a little more than a purely platonic friendship.

"So why are you acting like a tongue tied goof ball with her lately? I think she's starting to wonder if you don't like her or something."

He paused in surprise before answering. "I don't know what you're talking about Mom. I'm not acting any differently with her than I ever have. We still hang out together all the time."

"I know you do honey. But you don't seem to talk to her when you're together like you used to. She talks, and you kind of grunt."

Bobby started to feel like he was being unfairly criticized. "Did she say that to you? She hasn't said anything to me about it at all. I mean, what am I supposed to be saying? I already tell her practically everything I'm thinking as it is."

Barbara gently rubbed his chest to reassure him. "I know you do honey. And I know she's been a big help to you, to talk things out after your dad died." She paused to let that sink in. "I think what I'm talking about doesn't have anything to do with that. It's more to do with the two of you growing up."

"What do you mean?"

"It's pretty normal for relationships between boys and girls to change as they become men and women honey," she said gently. "You are becoming a man, and you've had to do it faster than most people - faster than you might have wanted to. Patty's a little older than you, so she's getting her dose of new hormones at the same time that you're adjusting to life without your dad. I'd be stunned if you and Patty didn't have some things to work through with all that going on."

"But I didn't even know anything was changing. This is kind of frustrating Mom. Why didn't she talk to me about it?"

Barbara chuckled. See could make out that Bobby was glaring at her. "Honey, I'm not laughing at you," she said hurriedly. "It's just that men and women have been asking each other that question since the Garden of Eden. Welcome to the club."

She was silent for a couple minutes to let him digest all that and settle down a bit, and then went on. "All I wanted to do was to suggest that you maybe pay a little more attention to Patty, conversation wise. I'm not suggesting you need to change the nature of your friendship at all. Just don't let the fact that she's getting to have a nice ass make you forget she's still your friend, okay?"

"Mom!"

"I'm just saying you can still talk to her like you always have. It's the same person in there; she's just in a little nicer package!"

"I don't think about Patty that way Mom."

"Well, maybe not consciously honey. But you are acting normal for your age. That means you are learning how to deal with raging hormones. Sometimes they get in the way of boys talking to girls like they've been used to.

"You may not be thinking about Patty sexually while you're with her, but somewhere in your head you know that she's part of that mysterious tribe of people called women. It can make you cautious without you even knowing about it.

"And girls can very easily mistake that caution for something else. They can think you're being a jerk, or that you don't like them anymore, because you aren't acting like you used to."

She reached out her other hand to touch the side of his face. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say honey?"

Bobby frowned and sighed. "No, I don't think so. I still don't think I've been acting any differently towards Patty. And I haven't been thinking about her, uh, that way all the time. I mean, I know she's cute and everything, but she's my friend."

"And that's perfectly fine," Barbara answered. "Only you know what's going on in your head. What I wanted you to think about was how others might see things from the outside. I don't know if Patty is wanting any change in your relationship either, though I suspect she might. But what I'm seeing is going to cause the relationship to change if you keep acting the way you have been.

"If you want to stay best friends, you need to keep talking to her about stuff like you always have. Whether you realize it or not, you have let things get a little one sided, and my guess is that Patty thinks you are pushing her away. She is going to have to make her own guesses as to why that's happening, which I don't think is what you want."

Bobby thought that one over. Was he really doing that to Patty? He hoped not.

"I'll think about it, Mom. I still don't think I'm doing anything different, but I'll try to pay more attention when I'm with her. She really is important to me, even if I don't always think about her that way."

"You mean sexually?" asked Barbara, unable to resist a little tease.

"Motheeer," said Bobby peevishly.

"Alright, alright. You'll get used to talking to girls again soon enough. And I'd like to help any way that I can. I'm a girl too you know," she said, teasing again.

He blushed, wondering if she knew he liked to look at her ass. "Yeah, I know," he said quietly.

"You know you can ask me anything about sex, don't you?" she asked softly. "Your Grandmother wanted to pretend I didn't need to know anything about it until I was twenty one. But I really needed to know about it when I was about your age."

The significance of that statement slowly sank in. "You mean, when you were my age, you were, uh..."

"Yes," she said simply.

"Oh."

"So I understand how you might have questions. I know I did. I wound up asking your Uncle Scott. Since you don't have an older brother or sister to help like I did, I want to be sure you know you can come to me."

They were both silent for several minutes.

Bobby started to think back on some of his uncle's visits to their house in the past. It dawned on him that most had been while his dad was out of town. Mom invited him over those times, because she said he made her feel safe while John was gone. He tried to remember more about his uncle's visits, but he remembered now that he'd always had to go to bed before his uncle had left for the evening...

"Uncle Scott is pretty cool," said Bobby tentatively.

"Yes he is. I don't know what I would have done without him."

Bobby fell silent again. Eventually Barbara repeated what her brother had told her years before. "There are no dumb questions, honey."

"So... what kind of stuff did you talk about when you were my age?"

"Well, I wanted to know what boys my age thought about girls. I wanted to know what to do if I wanted to get to know a boy better without being obvious about it. Stuff like that."

"Did you, uh, ask him about any, uh, physical stuff?"

"Yes."

"Like what?"

"Well, you know, the usual stuff. I asked him what it was like to kiss someone, that sort of thing. I remember one time I had a date coming up, and I was terrified that my date would want a kiss good night and I would do it wrong and he'd never want to see me again." She chuckled at the memory. "I didn't realize that it's pretty hard to do it wrong. But I didn't know that at the time. I was pretty clueless - even though my body was telling me I needed to figure it out in a big hurry!"

Bobby hesitated. He also wanted that knowledge. "Well, you said there are no dumb questions, right?"

"Absolutely honey. Ask me anything, anytime."

"Well, what did Uncle Scott tell you about kissing? I don't know how to do it 'right' either."

"The best advice he gave me was to keep your lips relaxed, and a little bit apart, so they feel soft to the other person. If you pull them back tight over your teeth, they feel hard and it's not as nice. If you think a peck on the cheek is the right thing to start with, then firm lips are okay for that. But for mouth on mouth kissing, it's better to have soft lips. And I'd suggest no tongues for first kisses either. You want to build the intimacy of your kisses over time, as your relationship matures along with it. So don't try to shove your tongue down a girl's throat right away," she said with a giggle.

Bobby listened with rapt attention. "Wow. Thanks Mom, that's good stuff to know." He hesitated. "So did that advice help you have a good first kiss?"

"Well, I didn't believe what he was telling me. I thought that you puckered your lips hard for kissing, and had to make sure you made a loud smacking sound when you separated. You know, like people do when they kiss their relatives on the cheek, which was all I'd ever really seen in person. I didn't see how you could do that with your lips flopping around loose, so I told Scott he was full of crap and to stop jerking me around."

Chapter 8 »