Chapter 2: Friday (cont'd)

"Monica! I'm home," I called out, kicking off my boots by our front door which was at the top of some narrow stairs along the side of Mrs. Whiting's house.

"Hi Sam. Good, you can help me with..." Mom was coming out of the short hallway and she froze for a second, " ... whoops!"

"Uh!" Josh blinked at her. "Hi Monica."

We both blinked, but Josh especially because all she wore was a tiny silver thong. My mom is really, really pretty, I wasn't kidding about that, and she looked like one of those women in the Playboy magazines we'd discovered in Josh's garage. His dad had like ten of them in a cardboard box and Mom could have been one of the centerfolds easy. She sure was dressed for it right then!

"Sorry!" Mom giggled and she turned around after two or three heartbeats, showing us her perfect butt before disappearing back down the hallway.

"Get a Coke or something," I sorta elbowed my best friend in the ribs, reminding Josh to take a breath before he passed out or something. "I gotta talk to my mom."

"Okay," he nodded quickly and glanced at me, a little guiltily, I thought, and his face was red.

Josh had seen my mom sort of almost naked plenty of times before, since we did hang out together a lot. Like he'd seen her in a bikini every summer, and wrapped up in a towel or braless in a cut-off t-shirt walking around the house, stuff like that. But this time he'd gotten a serious look at her and it was almost kind of funny, except it was a little aggravating too. I mean, it was bad enough the way some of the guys talked about her at school; I really didn't need to hear it from my best friend too. Even if Josh didn't say anything, and he wouldn't, he'd be thinking about her, I knew that much.

"Monica!" I frowned as I caught up with her in the bathroom.

"Oh, Sam. He'll be okay," she smiled at me and she wasn't embarrassed at all. "Come here. I need you to help me color my hair real quick."

"You don't have much time," I said, being kind of petulant and that was wasted on her, believe me.

"I know, but there's a bachelor party tonight," Mom explained. "I want to look good for it. So just get the roots, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know how to do it."

"It's by the sink," she said, kneeling near the bathtub, and our shower had one of those detachable nozzles on a hose. "I already mixed it up."

I found the plastic applicator bottle as my mom leaned over the edge of the tub and started getting her hair wet. I helped dye her hair all the time, so this wasn't a big deal. I closed the door too, since that thong didn't hide much at all and with my mom bent over like she was, her bare brown butt was kinda right there if Josh happened to walk by. Not that he would or anything, but you know. I wasn't gonna take any chances and Mom just waved her hand impatiently.

"Hey, um ... Monica?" I said, leaning over her and squeezing out hair coloring into her roots.

"Hmmmm?"

"You remember that Parent-Teacher thing I told you about?"

"Last night? Yeah," she agreed from beneath her long wet hair as it hung around her face. "Of course. Why?"

"Oh," I swallowed hard. "Ummm ... They gave me a permission slip thing, um..."

"What, for another field trip? Where are you going this time?"

"No, not a field trip. It's for that PTA meeting," I said and I was trying to decide if I really wanted to tell her anything else.

"You need a permission slip for a PTA meeting that's already over?" She was giggling and I was even confusing myself.

"I'm ... not really sure what it's for," I lied, massaging her scalp with a pair of thin plastic gloves on my hands.

"Is everything okay at school?" she wondered, making it sound like they'd have a whole PTA meeting just for me or something.

"Yeah," I shrugged and I felt really stupid saying it, but... "Do you think, uh, kids should go to school ... naked?"

"What?" Mom giggled. "Go to school naked?"

"Yeah," I said slowly. "Like for a week?"

"Totally naked?"

"Uhhhh ... I guess so."

"That would be fun," she laughed and I made a face at her, even though she couldn't see it.

"Monica!"

"What? I'm kidding, Sam!" she told me. "Yeah, I heard something about that."

"You did? Where?" I blinked at her, kinda frozen for a second.

"The school called this afternoon," she kinda shrugged. "That principal of yours...

"They did?"

" ... kind of a heavy breather," my mom giggled. "I thought it was an obscene phone call at first."

"What did he say?

"Oh, I don't remember, Sam," she tilted her head a a little. "I was half-asleep. He just wanted to know if I was okay with the idea."

"Oh." I sorta frowned. "But would you make me do it?"

"Make you do what? Be sure to get the sides too, okay?"

"Go to school naked!" I reminded her, feeling a vague sense of panic. "You wouldn't make me do that, would you?"

"I don't think they'd let me make you," my mom giggled again and sometimes it was really hard to talk to her.

"I'm serious!"

"Okay. Sorry. Ummmm ... No. I wouldn't make you do anything that wasn't good for you."

"Okay," I nodded at that and felt a little better inside.

"But it probably would do you some good," Mom said with another laugh and then I didn't feel better.

What could I expect though? I mean, my mom was an exotic dancer. She was naked at work every night, so it wasn't a big deal for her. Mom didn't think there was anything wrong with people staring at her body. The only reason she'd turned around when she'd seen Josh standing there was to save him some embarrassment. Me too. It hadn't bothered my mom at all and she'd probably tease him about it later, because she was like that. Not in a bad way or anything, but like how a sister might tease her little brother, sorta. Mom couldn't help it sometimes.

I mean, Josh called her Monica too, you know? I called Josh's parents Mr. and Mrs. Evans, but ever since we were little my mom had told Josh to call her by her first name. It hadn't ever bothered me, but Josh had never been fifteen before either and now he was. He was growing up and I knew my mom didn't look the same to him as she did when he was like ten or whatever. Josh was a teenage boy and my mom ... Well, she was like ten thousand percent grown woman! It was kinda weird thinking about that stuff and I didn't like it.

"All done? Did you get it all?" Mom was asking me.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I think so. You gotta let it sit for half an hour though and..."

"And I have to go to work," Mom said, gathering her hair and wringing it out in the tub. "Get me a towel, please."

"Here." There was one already waiting for her.

"I'll just rinse it out at the club," Mom told me. "I have to get ready real quick if I'm going to catch my bus."

"Okay," I stood back, leaning against the sink to give my mom some room as she stood up.

"You're going to be okay at Josh's house, right?" She looked at me. "Don't get in any trouble."

"What trouble?" I scrunched up my nose. "We're just going to watch some movies and stuff."

"I know," Mom smiled as she wrapped the towel around her head.

I tried to ignore her big, round, too-perfectly firm boobs, since they were sorta right in my face. My mom wasn't really tall, not short at all either, but with her small waist and thin shoulders, those tits made the rest of her look smaller than she actually was. They weren't huge, just ... big, and that made me kinda self-conscious of my own budding breasts and I didn't really want any. I especially didn't want big ones like Mom had and she caught my quick glance down at my own chest, hidden beneath the shirts I wore.

"You're growing up, Sam," Mom told me with a soft smile and a sigh. "Pretty soon..."

"What?" I narrowed my eyes, so dark they were almost black, like hers, and we really did look a lot alike. I was much lighter than she was, since my dad had been a white guy, but I was going to be as pretty as my mom when I grew up. Everybody said so. Maybe. I wasn't too sure about that myself.

"I just mean that one of these days you might have to think twice about spending the night with Josh," Mom said slowly, speaking very cautiously as I stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I have to get dressed," she told me, opening the bathroom door and I followed her.

"What's wrong with me sleeping at his house?"

"There's nothing wrong with it..."

"Then why'd you say it?" I asked, feeling my heart going faster and I had some blood pumping, but I didn't want to get upset. I was trying not to.

"Sam," Mom smiled at me as we reached her bedroom. "I didn't say that. You aren't little kids anymore."

"He's my best friend!"

"I know. I know," she nodded. "I like Josh a lot too. He's really great and I'm happy you've got a friend like him, but..."

"But what?" I stood there frowning and my hands were clenched into little fists at my sides.

"But he's a boy," Mom smiled like it was funny or something. "Don't you think it's about time you guys ... you know..."

"About time we ... What?" I stared at her and then my eyes got real big. "You mean sex? Monica! No!"

My mom was pulling up a pair of old, faded Levi's and kinda bouncing on her heels as they were really tight around her hips and butt.

"Why not?" she grinned at me. "He's cute! He obviously likes girls. He adores you ... I bet he thinks about you every night when he's..."

"Stop!" I covered my ears.

"I just don't know what you're waiting for, Sam," she sighed. "A boy like Josh doesn't stay on the market long."

"He's not my boyfriend, Monica!" I said, keeping my voice down because if Josh heard us I'd be totally humiliated. Him too, probably.

"Well, you know what?" she looked at me, like right into my eyes and she was serious.

"What?" I frowned at her, making sure she knew I wasn't happy at all with what she was saying.

"He should be, Sam." Mom snapped her jeans and zipped them up and I didn't say anything. I just left the bedroom.

"Everything okay?" Josh asked me and he was sitting on the couch watching television while he waited.

"Yeah! I just had to help Mom with her hair," I smiled at him, burying my feelings way down deep. "I'll get some stuff and we'll take off."

He wasn't my boyfriend. Josh was my best friend and that was better. Way better! I'd seen what boyfriends were like. My mom had gone through a lot of them, like a dozen, I bet, and all they ever wanted to do was have sex with her. Oh, yeah, sometimes they liked to hang out and go to a movie, go dancing or whatever, but I knew Mom never trusted those guys. Not really. She didn't talk to them, not like me and Josh talked. We could talk about anything because we were friends. I loved him. I could admit that, at least to myself, but like he was my brother, you know? I never thought about kissing him or anything. Why would I even want to? God!

He was a boy and so was I, sorta. I took care of my mom. I fixed the car and everything. If some work had to be done, I did it. Mom didn't have anybody else to look after her, so I did it. It was like I was the man of the house, you know? Somebody had to be and I looked at my dad's picture on my dresser. It was his fault and I pushed the framed photograph face down so he wouldn't look at me. I got the stuff I'd need for sleeping at Josh's house, a plain t-shirt and a fresh pair of boxers, some clean socks for in the morning. I grabbed my toothbrush and I was ready. Mom saw me, but she didn't say anything and neither did I.

"I was thinking about tuning up my mom's car on Sunday," I said to Josh's dad as we drove to the Blockbuster movie place. We were riding in the front of his old pickup truck, on the bench seat with me in the middle between him and Josh.

"Oh yeah?" Mr. Evans nodded. "You think you can do it by yourself, Sam?"

"I'm gonna help," Josh said, even though I hadn't mentioned it to him before then, it was just sorta assumed.

"Big job, doing a tune-up," Mr. Evans shrugged. "Maybe I could give you guys a hand."

"I can do it," I said, but I really wouldn't mind if he was there. I'd only helped do it a couple times before, me and Josh learning how from his dad.

"I know," Mr. Evans grinned at me. "Seahawks are playing the Monday night game anyway. I'll just watch you, okay?"

"Okay," I smiled back at him. "Thanks."

"Hey, I love cars," he sighed. "Can't help it."

"Me too," I decided, even though I wasn't really sure if I loved them or not. I wanted to though.

"You're gonna watch the football game with us, right?" Josh asked me and I nodded.

"Course I am," I nodded. "Packers suck!"

"No doubt!" Josh laughed. "Hey! Dad said he was gonna give me the truck when I got my license."

"I said maybe," Mr. Evans chuckled.

"Really? This one?" I grinned at my best friend. "Oh man! I hope I get a car."

"We'll have to wait and see how good his grades are," Mr. Evans told me and I giggled at that as Josh waved his dad away.

"I'm gonna get good grades, Dad," he promised. "You'll see."

"Yeah, we'll see," Josh's dad nodded and I figured he was just about the coolest father in the world. "What movies are you guys going to get?"

"Zombies!" Josh and me said at the same time and we'd already decided on that.

"Again?" Mr. Evans sighed and he didn't think much of horror movies; he liked westerns mostly. "I guess it's a good thing I'm going out."