Chapter 2

Charlie was helping his mother set the table when Tracy and Jenny walked in the front door. It had been a long time since either family had actually bothered to knock or ring the doorbell. "Hello," Tracy said, pausing just inside the doorway.

"In here," Linda lightheartedly said, as she greeted her friend.

"Hope we aren't too early," Tracy said, giving Linda a friendly kiss on the cheek.

"Nope, in fact the lasagna is ready to come out of the oven now. You hungry?" she asked Jenny.

"I love your lasagna!" Jenny told the woman. "Hi, Charlie!"

"Hiya!" he said, as he finished placing the silverware on the table.

Tracy, Jenny, and Charlie sat down as Linda put the meal in the middle of the table. Charlie was surprised when she went to the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine. It surprised him even more when she brought four glasses instead of just two for the adults.

"It's Friday evening and it won't hurt if you have just one glass," she told the teenagers.

The talk around the table was lively as they enjoyed their meal and the company of the others. Tracy and Linda were involved in their conversation while Charlie and Jenny enjoyed theirs.

When everyone was too full to eat another bite, Linda asked, "How about a game of Monopoly?"

"Sounds like fun," Tracy laughed, "I'm the Monopoly Queen!"

"Yeah, well the Queen is getting dethroned tonight," her daughter quipped.

The game lasted for a while, and Tracy once again proved to be a formidable foe. After what seemed like ages, she and Charlie were the only ones left in the game. Charlie might have had a chance to win the game, until he landed on Boardwalk, which Tracy owned.

"Pay up!" she told him with a laugh. "Let's see, Boardwalk with four hotels is..."

"Never mind, I don't have enough anyway," Charlie sighed, accepting the fact that he had lost.

"I told you, I am the Monopoly Queen!"

"Don't gloat, Mother," Jenny quietly said.

"You're right. Sorry, I got carried away," she told the others.

"Not a problem. If Charlie had won, we would be hearing about it for the next two weeks!" Linda laughed.

"We should be going. Do you need any help cleaning up?" Tracy asked, getting to her feet.

"No. The dishes can wait until the morning," Linda replied, also getting up.

Charlie watch the two women walk to the front door as Jenny stood by his side. "I had a really good time," she told him, smiling; "Too bad you didn't beat her though."

"It was fun," he told her, a grin was on his face as well.

"Coming, Jenny?" Tracy asked.

"Bye," she said to Charlie, as she followed her mother out the front door.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Linda told her son.

"Me too, it's been a long day."

Charlie watched his mother's ass as he followed her down the hallway toward the bedrooms. She disappeared in her room, and Charlie stepped into the bathroom to relieve himself before getting ready for bed. When he came out, he noticed that his mother's door was open and her light was on, so he stepped to it to say good night. The thought of maybe seeing his mother in any state of undress was never far from his mind.

"Good night, Mom," he said. She was facing away from him, and he noticed that she had just pulled her robe closed and was tying the belt around her waist.

"Oh!" she gasped, "You startled me."

"I didn't mean to," he said, with a giggle.

"Did you have a good time?" she asked, now facing him.

"I did. Did you?"

"It was fun. So tell me, what's going on between you and Jenny?"

"There's nothing going on, we're friends," he told her.

"Charlie, you might think you're just friends, but believe me, she doesn't."

Charlie just stood there not knowing what to say. "Jenny likes me like that? No way!" he thought.

"Come here, sit beside me," his mother said, patting the bed next to her as she sat on it.

Charlie did but remained quiet.

"Charlie, you may not have noticed the way she looks at you and the way she innocently touches you, but Tracy and I have. Do you like her?"

"We're friends, Mom," he said, as if it wasn't obvious.

"No, I mean do you LIKE her?"

Charlie felt his cheeks get hot and he knew he was blushing. He was looking at his hands in his lap, when his mother turned on the bed, revealing a good bit of her thighs. He could not help but take a deep breath as he felt his member twitch in his pants. "Yeah, I guess," he whispered.

"Charlie, look at me," she continued, when he brought his eyes up to meet his mother's. "A girl wants to know that she is liked. She likes to hear that she is pretty and that the boy she likes likes her back. If you don't want to lose her as a friend, you should let her know that."