Part 4 / Meet the Parents, cont.
Nick woke the following morning with Jeff wrapped around him like a warm winter scarf. Good Lord, it was still as hot as it had been last night! Thank God for the air conditioning or he'd have been on fire. That feeling, though, of being held, part of something….part of someone….was the best thing he'd ever felt. He'd dated Dean for the better part of 6 months and he had never, in all that time, felt the connection he felt with Jeff. In just a few short days he'd become so attached to Jeff that it almost frightened him. What would happen when school started and Jeff was back at his own school? Would they see each other? Hopefully at least on weekends, right? What if Jeff wasn't feeling the same way, and he didn't want to be bothered with driving all that way every weekend?
His doubts took over and he laid there watching Jeff sleep. The leggy blonde was so cute, the sheet pulled up over his legs and that adorably squeezable butt. Nick felt the rise and fall of Jeff's chest as he breathed in and out and watched the way his eyes fluttered under their lids. His breathing was soft and rhythmic, and Nick found himself almost entranced with the beautiful boy who was, now, nearly in his lap as he sat against the headboard of his bed. My God, he's just amazing…and for right now, he's all mine. How much longer do we have together? Until school starts? Before then?
Nick began to panic a little when he thought about it all. In the end, he slid out from under Jeff swiftly and quietly and tip toed into the bathroom to shower. After coming in so late last night they'd slept later than normal. His hungry belly had woken him up screaming for breakfast. As he flipped the bathroom light on he saw Jeff yank the sheet up over his head to block the light, then snuffle a few times and settle back into sleep.
He closed the bathroom door softly and started the water to warm it up, taking his time to shave in the sink before stepping into the shower.
Mrs. Duval and her daughter, Sofi, had picked up Nick's favorite coffee cake from the bakery he'd worked in before he'd transferred to Dalton at the beginning of the school year. They planned to drop it off to him for breakfast as a surprise, knowing he hadn't had one in a long while. They made their way into Nick's dorm building and up the stairs, only to find teenaged boys running here and there, goofing off and laughing. Some doors along the corridor were open, others were closed. Janet Duval was glad to see that the boys with their doors open were at least decent and not running around in their boxers or something. Little five year old Sofi was WAY too interested in what was going on in the hallway.
Approaching Nick's door, they knocked softly, but when there was no answer, and they heard the water running, they pushed the door open and peeked in. The shower was running and Nick was in his bed, all covered up with the sheet and sleeping soundly. He was even snoring a bit…or was it snorting? Snuffling? Either way, it was cute and Janet missed her son being at home on the weekends at least.
Sofi looked at her mom, raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders. She pointed to Thad's empty bed and then pointed to the bathroom, indicating that it was clearly Thad showering, and prepared to awaken her brother the way she did at home. She launched herself on him, tickling him mercilessly and smacking him on the butt repeatedly until he called 'uncle'. Then she'd have mercy.
Jeff awoke to someone or something on top of him, tickling him to within an inch of his life and giggling like a little girl. Nick, you can't win this game…. He thought. Instantly he popped up and shoved the sheet over Nick's head and took him off the side of the bed to the ground, tickling back and not letting up no matter how much Nick screamed….like a girl…a very young girl. What the hell? And why did Nick feel so small all of a sudden?
Janet stared, her mouth hanging open, at the blonde boy in hot pink boxer briefs attacking her daughter. Sofi was laughing and had no idea yet that it wasn't Nick who was tickling her….laying on her…touching her baby!
"OH MY GOD!" Janet yelled, scaring the living hell out of Jeff, who jerked back from the lump on the floor, wide eyed, and swung around to see the source of the screaming. The bathroom door flew open and Nick stood there with toothpaste dripping out of his face and a small hand towel hanging precariously in front of his….oh my. Jeff's brain was instantly on "scramble" and he was fairly sure his eyes were going to pop right out of their sockets.
"MOM!" Nick yelled, watching Janet Duval beat the hell out of Jeff with a pillow in one hand and Nick's hockey stick in the other. "STOP IT! Jesus, mom! You're gonna hurt him!" Nick screamed, yanking the stick out of her hands.
Jeff was covering his head with his hands and arms and ducking for cover. He finally managed to free his legs from the tangled confines of the sheet and scurried over behind Nick in the bathroom doorway. The sheet finally moved to reveal a small, dark haired girl with beautiful curls grinning like a loon. She still had no idea it wasn't Nick who had tackled her to the floor.
"Hey Nicky!" Sofi yelled, smiling widely. "We brought you the cake! It's your favorite!" she squealed.
"Hi baby…how's my girl?" Nick said, bending over to grab her up in his arms.
"I'm good. How come you're not wearing some clothes?" she asked innocently.
Jeff's eyes moved from the gorgeous girl in Nick's arms down to …oh wow. Nice ass, Nick…..
He immediately grabbed the towel Nick had dropped and handed it up to him with his arm covering his own eyes. Janet still stood near the door with wide eyes and an even wider gaping mouth.
"Holy Mary Mother of God…." She whispered.
Nick set the young girl down on the floor and turned so that his bare ass wasn't in Jeff's face anymore. Janet grabbed Sofi and gave Jeff a look as if to say he was a pervert and he should be ashamed. Nick was once again clutching the towel in front of himself, and the enormity of what was happening was setting in quickly.
"Mom….out. Sofi, with mom. Just….can you just wait in the hallway for ONE second, please?"
"Jeff, clothes would probably be good right about now, no matter how hot you are." Nick said.
Jeff turned his eyes up to Nick with a look that said "Holy shit, you did NOT just say that in front of your mother…." And it finally dawned on Nick that his choice of phrasing probably wasn't the best.
"Oh...I...no, that's not what I meant! I meant that it's very warm outside and it was super warm in here last night even with the a/c on and…oh shit, just damnit….please…mom, just wait outside for a minute! Please?" he whined. Without another word, Janet grabbed Sofi and stepped out the door, pulling it tightly behind her.
"What just happened?" Jeff asked, totally confused.
"I'm not sure. Let me get dressed and we'll find out." Nick said, resigned. "Here…um…you can go through my drawers or Thad's and find something to throw on. I'm sure you don't want to put last night's clothes back on now. I'm gonna…" he said, gesturing with his head to the bathroom.
"Uh huh…ok." Jeff said, a little breathless. Four minutes ago he'd been peacefully sleeping in Nick's bed, dreaming of Nick, when all of a sudden his world was turned upside down. Holy hell, and that was Nick's mom. What a great first impression he'd made. He grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt out of Nick's drawer, and yanked them on quickly just as Nick stepped out of the bathroom with shorts on as well, and pulling a bright yellow t-shirt over his wet hair. Jeff was still sitting in a curled up ball on the floor.
"Jeff?" Nick said quietly.
"God, don't make me sit through this. Can't I just hide in the bathroom and you can tell her I jumped out the window or something?" he whined.
"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. Just go along with me, ok? Babe, please…look at me?"
He called me babe…..pretty sure I'm a puddle on the floor right now….
Jeff raised his eyes to see Nick looking at him with so much concern in his eyes that it almost made him tear up.
"Ok…..ok, I can do this. I'm just going to grovel a lot. Will she kill me quickly or draw it out?" Jeff asked, completely serious. Nick reached for the hockey stick and shoved it in his closet just to be safe.
Nick shook his head and walked over to the door, pulling it open and sticking his head out.
"Mom? You guys can come in." he said, holding the door open for them.
"Are you certain there aren't any practically naked boys in there now?" she deadpanned.
"Hi, I'm Sofi! You have pretty hair." She said to Jeff, making him grin.
"That's funny, I think you have beautiful hair as well. I'm jealous of all those curls. My name's Jeff." He said, giving her a genuine smile now. "How old are you, Sofi?"
"I'm 5 now!" she said, her beautiful smile lighting up the room just like Jeff's did.
"Mom….this is Jeff Sterling. He drove me home from the lake late last night so I asked him not to drive all the way back home. He was tired and I didn't want him to have an accident. So he slept in my bed and I slept in Thad's bed."
Jeff rose from the bed and was barely able to look Mrs. Duval in the eye, but he held out his hand to shake hers, and she timidly took it, shaking hands with Jeff as well.
"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Duval. I'm so sorry about this morning. Clearly I had no idea it was Sofi who….who was…..um…." Jeff stuttered.
"Clearly." was all Janet managed to get out. She took a deep breath and turned back to Nick. "So you went to the lake yesterday?"
"Yeah, uh…Jeff's family was having a big picnic and he asked me to go. We were there all day, had a great time…played a little bit of every game known to man and kicked ass in a cornhole tournament, but we got home pretty late. Like I said, I…" Nick began.
"I heard you…I know, you didn't want him to drive home that late while he was tired. I understand. I'm sorry, I was just a little shocked, that's all." She said, finally losing some of the ice in her words.
"Can I go to the lake with Jeff and have a sleepover, too?" Sofi asked innocently.
"Uh…no, baby." Nick said. " We can all go hang out at the lake if you want sometime, but I'm going to say that the sleepover probably wouldn't be a good idea….yet. Jeff's not real good at sleepovers and he'd probably keep you awake watching Disney princess movies all night." Nick explained. His mom snickered. Jeff looked affronted.
"Hey! There's absolutely nothing wrong with Disney princess movies! Right Sofi?" he said, grinning at the young girl.
"Who's your favorite one?" she asked.
"Hmmmmm, probably Belle…but maybe Ariel? Who's yours?" Jeff asked.
"Duh, Rapunzel!" she said, indignantly, as if Jeff was obviously clueless.
"Yeah, I should have known. Someone with long, beautiful curls like yours would obviously love Rapunzel. What was I thinking?!" Jeff said, looking exasperated with himself.
"Ok, Sof….Nicky has company, so you and I are going to be on our way. We have lots to do at the mall today, anyway, so let's get going!" Janet said. "It was very nice to meet you, Jeff….and rather unorthodox, but there you have it. Will you be coming home with Nick to visit sometime when school starts?" she asked.
"Oh, um….Jeff doesn't go to school at Dalton, mom. He works here in Westerville, but he lives about an hour away…hence the reason why…" he began.
"I know, I know…you didn't want him driving all the way home. I get it." She laughed.
Jeff was grinning mentally, knowing that he would, actually, be coming to Dalton in the fall. Should he blurt that out now and tell Nick, or wait until later? Hmmm, later, he thought.
"It was very nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Duval, and you too, Sofi. Maybe we can have that movie showing sometime? Whadda you say to that?" Jeff asked.
"Yes!" the little girl shrieked, jumping happily in place. "Soon! Promise soon?" she said.
"Sure thing…soon! I'll see you, then, ok?"
"K, Jeff. By Nicky!" Sofi said, standing on her tip toes to give Nick a kiss. Even on her toes she was nowhere near tall enough to reach. Nick bent down to grab her up into a hug and gave her a good, long squeeze.
"Love you, baby!" he said as she walked out with her mom. "Love you too, mom. Be careful!" he said as she shut the door.
"So this is what suicidal tendencies feels like?" Jeff said, not laughing.
"It's not bad. If she didn't like you, Jeff, you would absolutely know it. My mom does NOT hide her feelings well, and she sure doesn't sugar coat anything for anyone. Ever. She's ok with you, I know it. Don't worry." He smiled at Jeff.
"You're sure?" Jeff asked uncertainly.
"Positive!" Nick assured him.
"Uncle Matt, we're here!" Jeff yelled, walking in the front door. "Nick is with me, right next to me, within hearing distance, so please don't say anything to embarrass the hell out of me this time!"
"Don't come sauntering into my kitchen with a silly, love-sick puppy grin on your face and I won't have anything to comment on!" Matt yelled back. Jeff just stopped in the hallway, put his hands on his hips, stared at the ceiling and grinned.
"Not ONE word, Duval…not ONE. Hear me?" he grinned, shaking his head.
Nick did the obligatory "zipping of the lips" motions, bit his bottom lip until it hurt and followed Jeff through the entry, snickering the whole way.
"And two can play at this game…." Jeff muttered, heading for the kitchen. "Hey, Ben! HI! Good to see you, man!" Jeff said, grabbing Ben in a big hug, before returning his gaze to Matt. "And how, exactly, would YOU know what a silly, love sick puppy grin looks like, Uncle Matt? Seen one recently?" he asked, brushing by Matt's back between him and the sink, murmuring lowly "in the mirror, perhaps?" Matt shot him a warning look that showed equal parts of "not here, not now", "I will skin you alive, young man!" and "Oh please, please don't do this!"
"And who's your very quiet friend, here, Jeff?" Ben asked, obliviously.
"You may speak, servant…." Jeff joked, grabbing a strawberry from the plate on the kitchen island and popping it into his mouth.
"You sure, because you were very adamant in the hallway that I wasn't to say ONE word if I recall correctly?" Nick retorted, smiling.
"Ben, this is Nick, my half-witted friend from Dalton Academy."
"Half-wi….what? I'M half-witted? YOU attacked and groped my 5 year old little sister this morning and traumatized my mother and I'M half-witted?" Nick blurted out.
"What?!" Matt almost yelled. "Someone needs to explain that one….Jeffrey?" he said, nearly in a panic.
"Oh for God's sake! That's not what happened!" Jeff said, defending himself, trying not to laugh. "Jeeez, Nick, you make me sound like some kind of pervert!"
"By all means, explain to the gentlemen why you're NOT a pervert, then!" Nick laughed.
"Ok, so last night, on Nick's bed, we were….um…." Jeff stuttered out.
"Do I want to hear this?" Matt asked.
"What? NO! Uncle Matt! Holy shit…." Jeff said, embarrassed. "We were goofing around, and apparently Nick thinks he's going to win the tickle war, but he's so clearly mistaken, so this morning, when he jumped on me in a surprise attack, I threw the sheet off of me and over his head and tackled him to the ground. I proceeded to defend my title of tickle king until his mom screamed from the door and he decided to let me know it wasn't him on the floor, but his uber adorable little sister, Sofi. At which point, his mother beat me with a hockey stick and Nick mooned me. Did I miss anything, Nick?" Jeff teased. Nick had turned bright red, not realizing that he had, indeed, probably 'dropped trau' in front of Jeff, and he slumped into a barstool, defeated.
"No….no it seems you hit all the important points…as well as one that could have been LEFT OUT completely, thank you very much!" Nick smirked.
"So," Ben began seriously, "the real question here is, does he have a nice ass?"
"I said it before and I'll say it again. Dude is SMOKIN'." Jeff grinned. Nick whimpered, thunked his head on the kitchen counter and then unceremoniously slid out of his seat and headed for the back deck and a patio chair in embarrassment.
"Oh my God, Jeff!" was all they heard before the kitchen was full of laughter.