Chapter 9

Gabe woke up the next morning feeling different. He hummed a tune and sang along with his iPod as he did half an hour on the Bowflex and another half hour on the elliptical. At about nine o'clock, he dialed Bailey's cell phone. It rolled into her voice mail. He left a short message, then went outside to do some work out in the yard.

At about noon, he was pulling weeds out in the flower garden. He was sweating under the August sun and didn't hear the girls until they had walked around the house.

"Hey, there!" Bailey called.

He blushed, realising that he was wearing only a ratty pair of shorts and some sunglasses. Bailey and April stood there along with Morgan. The girls giggled and stared admiringly at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, wiping his brow.

"We came in to town to do some shopping. Our prom date sent us some money for graduation and we thought we'd look for some back to school clothes," Bailey said, for once taking the lead from April. "We were wondering if we could buy you lunch."

"That won't be necessary," Gabe said, knowing that taking him out for a meal, however inexpensive, would be a burden on the girls. Still, it was a nice gesture. "Why don't I get cleaned up and we'll go to the mall together."

He went in and showered leaving the three girls parked on his living room sofa watching television. He scrubbed himself clean and resisted the urge to masturbate in the shower.

All three girls were dressed for summer. It was August, after all. However, it was Bailey who caught his eye. She was wearing a pair of tight—but not too tight—jean shorts and a fitted top that hugged her curves in all the right places. It covered the parts that needed to be covered and drew his eyes to the places he knew his vision shouldn't linger.

April and Morgan were similarly dressed, but his attention was fixed solely on Bailey and her dimpled smile. And her big, round breasts. And her slender waist. And her soft, wide rear end.

Having changed his odor, he threw on a pair of cargo shorts, some sandals and a casual polo shirt. He went back to the living room and the girls gathered up their things. At his insistence, they piled into his car and drove the short distance to the mall.

The place was crawling with people. Despite the faltering economy, the combination of back to school sales and necessity for new clothes had the crowds out in force. The three girls hit many of the vast array of stores that stocked trendy fashions, although a couple of times one of them—usually Bailey—would follow him into a store he wanted to visit just to make conversation.

They stopped for lunch a short time later in the food court. The girls insisted on buying his meal and he eventually relented, making sure to get nothing more than a basic combo meal so not to tax their budget.

Having filled up with carbs, the foursome hit the mall's second level for more shopping. The girls did a number on the bargain and clearance racks. He admired their proficiency in finding the best deals on high quality stuff at low prices. It seemed that despite their youth, all three had good sense when it came to money, and that impressed him.

By late afternoon, the girls's gift cards were all but tapped out. Their arms were full of bags and they were a little worn out from fighting the crowds at the mall.

The four of them drove back to Gabriel's house. The girls were debating what to do next. They weren't going to make it home in time for supper. One of their friends was apparently having a bonfire later that evening.

Gabe invited the girls in as they were trying to plan for the evening.

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" he asked. "I'm not much of a cook, but we could order pizza or Chinese or something."

April and Bailey exchanged a worried glance. They had mentioned stopping somewhere for a quick drive-thru combo meal.

"My treat," Gabe sensed the source of their apprehension.

They reluctantly shrugged. He had a local pizzeria on speed dial and they knew him as a generous tipper, so a short time later, two extra large pizzas showed up laden with toppings. The manager had even thrown in a couple of bags of chips and a two-litre of Pepsi for one of their special customers.

The delivery driver, who was one of the three or four who always fought for Gabe's ticket, got a little extra for his trouble when April answered the door. At first the thought he had the wrong house since he had expected a middle-aged guy to greet him. She tried to flirt with him, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her chest.

Gabe got to know April and Morgan a little better. Like the twins, Morgan was attending community college in the fall. She had aspirations of being a network administrator and had completed the A+, Network+ and a couple of the CCNA certifications at the Washington County Vo-Tech Center. April had no idea what she wanted to do, so she was going to get her AA and then transfer to a four-year university to finish her bachelor's degree.

He and Bailey tried to maintain their distance in front of her sister and her friend, but several times throughout the night, he found himself wanting to reach out and take her hand or pull her close to him. The three girls kept making excuses to stay "just a little bit longer". After finishing off the pizza, they went downstairs to the basement and played billiards for a while.

The four of them decided to watch a movie on HBO. He fixed some popcorn in the microwave and settled down on the couch next to Bailey, but not obviously close.

"I don't mean to sound like I'm kicking you out," Gabe said as the movie's opening credits started. "But don't you think your parents might be worried about where you are?"

"Are you kicking us out?" Bailey asked, once again batting her eyes at him.

"Yeah," April chimed in. "Couldn't we stay here for the night?"

"What would your parents say?" Gabe asked. "And wouldn't you rather be hanging out with your friends? A bonfire sounds a lot more exciting than me."

"You don't know our friends," Bailey said, and there was something odd in her tone. "On a Saturday night most of them are probably drinking too much and having sex they're going to regret on Monday."

"That's all there is to do out in the boonies," Morgan said with a resigned sigh.

"And that kind of leaves us out since we don't really drink and we're all virgins," April said.

"Sis!" Bailey shot her the I'm-about-to-smack-you look.

"What?" her sister said sounding mildly annoyed. "What's wrong with saving yourself for the right guy? It's not like you think the world of Tiffany Sias or any of those other girls who will jump in the sack with any guy who gives her a beer."

"There's nothing wrong with saving yourself for the right person," Gabe said, not daring to look Bailey in the eyes.