Chapter 3: Saturday

"Rise and shine, sleepy heads!" Josh's mom was waking us up and I really wanted to sleep more, but apparently she didn't want two teenagers camping out in her living room any longer than we had to. It was like 6:30 in the morning and waking up that early on a Saturday was unheard of for us, usually his mom just let us sleep until whenever.

"What are you gonna do today?" Josh asked me fifteen minutes later while we ate some scrambled eggs.

"I gotta rake the neighbors' yard," I shrugged. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Josh shrugged.

"You wanna help me?" I asked him. "They're going to pay me twenty bucks. I'll split it with you."

"Oh yeah?" he smiled at that. "Sure."

"No you don't," Mrs. Evans shook her head. "There's a big yard right outside, young man. You can rake that one."

"Mom!" Josh whined and I smiled at him.

"And save the leaves," she said. "Your father might be sleeping outside tonight if he doesn't come home soon."

"Dad's not home yet?" Josh grinned and that seemed like a bad idea, so I just ate my eggs.

"Not yet," the woman frowned and that explained her kind of bad mood. "And he'd better have a good reason for it."

Usually Mrs. Evans was pretty easy going, talkative too, but between waking us up and complaining about her husband, she'd hardly said a word. We'd thought it was because we'd woken her up when Josh was tickling me, but plainly she hadn't expected Josh's dad to stay out all night with his friends.

She looked a little rough too, as if Mrs. Evans hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. Josh's mom usually looked okay, like anybody else's mom, except mine I suppose. She was like almost forty or something and she'd been married before, the same as Josh's dad had been. Her brown hair had a little gray in it and she had a bit of a tummy going, but she looked alright mostly. Mrs. Evans wasn't unattractive, but she sure as heck wasn't a stripper either, put it that way.

On that particular morning though, Mrs. Evans looked kinda frazzled and her eyes were dark with bags, her usual smile non-existent and I figured I'd finish my breakfast and go home. She probably didn't need a guest right then and when Josh's dad came home, I thought she was going to have something to say to him.

I really hoped he'd run out of gas or something, you know?

"Oh!" I stopped short, barely three steps out the front door because Mr. Evans was standing right there in front of me.

"Sam! Hey. You're up early," he cleared his throat and looked a little nervous, as well he might, and I noticed he was avoiding my eyes. Like he didn't even want to look at me for some reason.

"Hi," I smiled at him. "I was just, um ... going home."

"Right. Yeah," he nodded and then looked at his house. "Is Linda awake?" he wondered, and that was Mrs. Evans' first name, of course.

"Yeah," I giggled, even though I shouldn't have. "I think she's waiting for you."

"With a frying pan, huh?" he chuckled and made a face.

"Hmmm..." I shrugged and I really didn't know what to say.

"Well, I better go inside and face the music," he said. "I'll see you later, Sam."

"Okay," I agreed. "Bye."

I guessed it must have been some party if it kept Mr. Evans out until seven the next morning, but he looked pretty fresh anyway. I mean, his sandy hair was dark and still wet from a shower it looked like, and he smelled like soap, not beer. His clothes were kinda wrinkled, but wherever that party had been, he'd been able to wash up afterwards. Maybe Josh's mom wouldn't get too mad at him, since Mr. Evans wasn't like falling down drunk or anything. He hadn't looked drunk at all, actually, just nervous.

It was none of my business anyway and I walked the three blocks to my house and let myself inside quietly.

My mom was asleep when I peeked into her bedroom. The door hadn't been completely closed, otherwise I wouldn't have looked at all, and it was obvious she'd had company. Not only because the bed was pretty messed up with the sheets pulled half-way off the mattress, but my mom was naked and on her tummy. She looked pretty warm too, kind of damp and sweaty, and the air was heavy and sort of humid with that weird sex smell. I'd smelled that before, believe me.

Whoever the guy had been, I figured I'd just missed him and that was okay with me. I covered Mom up with a sheet, frowning at some wet stains on it, and I knew she'd be passed out for most of the day. That was the problem with working all night and it kinda sucked only seeing her for maybe an hour or two every day after school. Weekends were a little better, but not much.

"Hmph," I found a couple hundred dollars on the dresser, the bills neatly folded in half and underneath a corner of Mom's jewelry box. At least the guy had been generous, that was cool. Sometimes they weren't.

I also found a couple condoms, the used kind, sorta wadded up in a couple tissues on the floor after I'd stepped on one. That was pretty gross and I had to pick them up, three of them, and the foil wrappers they'd been in too. My mom had taught me all about condoms when I was like eleven years old, or maybe I was ten. Anyway, I'd asked her what those funny things were in her purse and she'd explained how they go on a man's penis, even demonstrating with a jumbo hotdog in the kitchen and then letting me try it a couple times. Mom called them a girl's best friend.

I closed the bedroom door and seriously thought about going back to bed myself, but I figured I'd just change my clothes and go see Angie. It probably would take most of the day to rake her yard and the sooner I started, the sooner I'd be done. I'd call Josh up after that and we could hang out or something if his mom wasn't still mad at his dad. I wished he could come over to my house after dinner sometimes, but Mom was pretty strict about that and nobody was supposed to come inside if she was at work. I'd had a babysitter until I'd turned twelve, which was too old for that probably, but I think it was mostly just so someone would be there to keep me company by that time.

When I went to take a shower I found two wet towels on the floor and I frowned at that. The shower was still wet and obviously Mom hadn't been using it. Whoever the guy was, he could have at least picked up his towels, you know? We weren't running a hotel or anything and that reminded me that I had to do the laundry soon. Sometimes Mom did it, but mostly I had to and washing clothes was easy, but the ironing and folding was the part I hated. It was just the two of us anyway and if Josh couldn't hang out later, well, I'd have something to do after dinner.

It could be kinda lonely sometimes.

I dressed in some old jeans and they had holes in the knees, but I'd only be raking anyway, and a red Huskies sweatshirt that had been my mom's once. It was faded and too big for me, but really soft and I liked it. Once in awhile, not often, she'd try and get me to try on her other clothes. Like a thong or whatever, since those are one size fits all, supposedly. I'd just laugh though and she was okay, making like it didn't matter what I wore and letting it go. I guess I was lucky that way.

I left a note, just in case Mom woke up, and slipped outside.

"Hey Sammy!" Angela opened her door wearing a short bathrobe, the thin satin kind, all pink with white flowers on it, and I wondered if eight o'clock was too early to ring her doorbell, but it was too late by then.

"Hi," I smiled apologetically and I felt kinda dumb standing there holding a rake. None of the girls at school interested me much, at least no more than some of the boys did, but I'd liked Angie since the first time I saw her. She was different than everybody else and I didn't know why.

"You brought your rake," she laughed lightly. "Cool. You want to come in?"

"Yeah, um ... I didn't know if you had one or not," I explained as I stepped into the house. "Do you have garbage bags or something?"

"Maybe," the blonde girl said. "I'm making some tea. You want some?"

"I guess. Okay," I shrugged, kicking off my boots, and I looked around the house as we walked through it.

The first thing I noticed was the smell, you know? Maybe it's just me, but everybody's house smells differently. Angie's house smelled like girls. I mean, it just smelled like flowers or something. Perfume, I guess. Or maybe they just had a thing for air freshener. Anyway, it wasn't bad and after awhile I got used to it. I wondered what my house smelled like.

The place was nice enough, but kind of cluttered with books and magazines. There were framed posters on the walls, mostly old movies like Casablanca and Dracula, and some actors and singers and stuff like that. The furniture was old and well-used, but clean anyway. They had a big blue beanbag chair, that was pretty cool, and an aquarium with angel fish in it, a small television on a metal stand, and the stereo was already on, playing some dance music, but not very loud or anything. Three college girls shared the house, so I guessed that was how it should look.

"I have some bagels too," Angie smiled over her shoulder. "Do you like cream cheese?"

"I don't know," I said, smiling back at her as we stood in the kitchen.

"I love the stuff," she giggled. "But I think it makes me fat. Do I look fat to you?"

I blinked at the girl as she sorta pulled her robe open at the hips, leaving her breasts mostly covered, but exposing her flat tummy and thin waist. She wore tight pink panties with a little white bow in the front. I could see some light brown hair curling around the edges as Angie shifted her weight from one leg to the other and they were really long. Her legs, I mean. They were pale and smooth and she was a tall woman, like 18 or maybe even 19 years old, and definitely not fat at all. She was thin all over except for her boobs which were pretty obviously nice sized, even hidden under her bathrobe

"No. You look really, uh ... nice." I swallowed hard and looked away from her, feeling my face burning and I knew I must have been pretty red.

"Good!" Angie smiled at my reaction and I figured it was a girl thing. Like it wasn't a big deal and my mom was the same way, sorta, but it still seemed kinda weird to me. "You can take off your coat. Just put it on a chair."

"Okay," I agreed, happy to have something else to do besides stare at her, and she started fixing some cups for us while I shrugged out of my army coat.

"That's a pretty cool jacket," Angie said. "Where'd you get it?"

"What? My army coat? Oh, uh ... It was my dad's," I told her. "A long time ago."

"Oh," she nodded at that. "He was in the army, huh? Do you want sugar or anything?"

"I never had tea," I laughed nervously.

"Really?" Angie smiled at that. "Okay. I'll fix it for you then. I like it with honey. It's good."

"Yeah, my dad was in the army," I answered her previous question and kinda looked around.

The kitchen looked like anybody's kitchen, I guess, but it smelled sweet. Like apple cider kinda and that was a smell that went pretty good with the dark wood cabinets and all the countertops were like little reddish-orange tiles. If it wasn't for a big silver refrigerator and a green stove, the place would have looked really old fashioned. The table was old, one of those heavy country kitchen ones, all scarred and beat-up, but looking cool because of it. I liked stuff like that, just because it looked like people really used it.

"Where's he at now?" Angie asked as she placed a cup in front of me. "It's just you and your mom next door, right?"

"Yeah. Just us," I agreed. "My dad, he was killed, um, before I was born, so ... I never knew him or anything."

"Oh." Angie looked genuinely sad and she put a hand on my shoulder, kind of rubbing me gently as I sat there. "I'm sorry, Sam. I shouldn't have asked."

"Nah. It's okay," I said, looking up at her as she stood next to me. "It's just what happened. He didn't even know my mom was pregnant."

"He didn't?" she sighed and I felt her fingernails moving through my hair, lightly scratching at my neck. It felt sort of nice, not ticklish or anything, but I wasn't really comfortable. Most people didn't touch other people like that and it seemed strange.

"I guess it was kind of an accident she got pregnant or something," I shrugged and Angie moved her hand. "He came home for a couple weeks, after boot camp or whatever, and then he went to the Gulf someplace and ... Just didn't ever come back."

"Yeah," Angie nodded and she was finally sitting down at the table with me.

"They were gonna get married," I said and I didn't know why I was telling her all this.

I hadn't ever told anybody, except Josh and I hadn't told him everything all at once. It kind of felt good to do it, you know? Probably I couldn't have said all this to someone I really knew, if that makes sense. It was better somehow to tell Angie because she didn't really know anything else about me.

"Why didn't they get married before he left?"

"Cause my mom was still in high school," I smiled self-consciously, but there wasn't much of anything to be embarrassed about. "She was like barely sixteen. My dad was eighteen already and after Mom graduated they were gonna get married and all that."

"So they were sweethearts, huh?" Angie smiled at me, leaning on her left elbow and touching my thigh with her right hand, just stroking me lightly while we talked. That was kind of nice and I didn't mind it.

"Yeah," I smiled back at her. "But then she found out she was pregnant and then my dad died like right after that..."

"That's so sad," Angie sighed.

" ... and her parents didn't want her to keep me," I said. "They lived in a small town and all that. Orchard Falls? You know where that is?

"Nope," she gave me a tiny shrug and a smile.

"Yeah, me neither," I nodded. "I've never been there or anything. I don't know. They pick apples mostly. I mean, my mom's family. Like migrant workers?"

"Oh, okay." Angie nodded and probably I was just boring her.

"Anyway, Mom left that place and came here, to Seattle, and that's kinda it. Here we are."

"Here you are," she said and we just kind of looked at each other for a half-minute. "Thank you, Sam."

"For what?"

"For telling me that," Angie gave my thigh a squeeze. "For telling me about you."

"Uh, okay," I blushed a little and didn't really know what to say after that.

"Oh! Bagels!" Angie grinned and started getting up. "Let me get those and try your tea. Tell me if you like it or not."

"Yeah, it's good," I told her after taking a sip and I found out why the kitchen smelled like apple cider. "It tastes like apples, kinda."

"That's what it is!" she said. "Apple cinnamon. It's good, huh? Supposed to be healthy too, but who knows, right?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "Um ... Where's your roommates?"

"Oh! They took off all weekend with their boyfriends," she made a face. "Don't ask me why."

"Why?" I giggled and Angie put her hands on her hips and gave me a playful pout.

"Because I wouldn't have a clue," she laughed and popped open the microwave without waiting for it to buzz.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" I wondered and she gave me a curious look. "I mean, I'm just wondering. You know."

"Nope. No boyfriend yet," she said with a grin. "I never really wanted one."

"Really?" I narrowed my eyes because I wasn't sure what that meant. She was very pretty, even standing there without any makeup or nice clothes or whatever. Angie could get a boyfriend in two seconds if she wanted, probably even faster than that.

"Really," she smiled back at me, placing a plate with two bagels on the table. "How about you?"

"Me? Uh, no. I don't have a boyfriend or anything," I replied, watching as Angie spread some of that cream cheese stuff on the bagels. They smelled good too, like bread sorta, but different. Yeasty kinda.

"Do you want one?" she asked me and I laughed at that, blushing and not sure if I even knew the answer.

"I don't know," I decided. "I guess I haven't thought about it very much."

"Here. Try one of these," she said, pushing the plate a little closer to me. "You're really cute, Sam. I like that look, you know?"

"My look?" I smiled at her.

"Yeah," she agreed, picking at one of the bagels with her fingers. "You're different. You have your own thing going."

"Oh. I don't know," I shrugged. "I just, um ... I like to look like, uh..."

"Like a boy?" Angie lifted her eyebrows and smiled. I thought she was teasing me and I bit my lip. "It's okay. I like it. You make a really cute boy."

"Right!" I rolled my eyes and I was sure she was teasing me now.

"I'm serious!" she said. "Here. You didn't try any of your bagel yet."

"Oh, um..." I didn't have much choice but to open my mouth as Angie tore off a piece and brought it to my lips.

She smiled at me as she put it gently into my mouth, like placing it on my tongue. I chewed the bagel slowly and nodded. The bread part was almost sweet, but the cheese was kinda sweet and sour, or something. Angie touched my lips with her fingertip, kind of rubbing around my mouth as I sat frozen, unsure of what was going on. She'd gathered a little cream cheese on her finger from my lips and I watched as she brought the finger to her own mouth and sucked it clean, sorta sliding it between her pinkish lips and then pulling it slowly out.

"I love that stuff," she said softly. "Don't you, Sam?"

"Uh, yeah," I swallowed hard.

"Here..." she scooped a little off her own bagel with her wet finger and smiled at me, " ... Try some more."

"I don't know," I crossed my eyes at her finger and Angie touched it to my lips and then she was sliding her finger between them.

"You have to lick it too," she breathed. "Get all the cream cheese off. Yeah. See?"

I didn't know what we were doing, but I did as she told me. What else could I do? I licked at it, kind of flicking my tongue under and around the girl's long finger to get the cheese off, and after ten seconds maybe, Angie pulled it back out. I could feel the cheese melting in my mouth, taste it kind of creamy and tangy sweet, and there was still a little bit of white on her finger, so Angie licked it clean, using her tongue like it was a lollipop while I stared at her.