Careful, long authors note incoming ^^
Life sucks right now. Six weeks ago, I bought myself a new mattress online to replace my old, worn out, one. The new one was a 7-zone feather core mattress but compared to my old one, it was hard as a wooden board. One night later, I woke up with back pain. People told me that it's normal since your body needs to get used to the new mattress. Three weeks later (granted, one week of those I was on vacation) and the back pain was still present.
Then, I had a day of work where I had to unpack a pallet of goods. None of those were heavy but I had to bend over several times. When I was done, I was in agony. My back was killing me. I could barely move. The next day, I did my shift and then I went to the doctor. Despite pain medication and muscle relaxants, I could barely stand, walking was agonizing and sitting was very uncomfortable. At least I bought myself a mattress topper to alleviate the wooden board feeling of my mattress.
A week of sick leave followed during which I decided to visit the gym courses that help with back issues and go into the infrared sauna. Then, the coronavirus hit my gym. The majority of the staff got sick and the gym had to close. Now it's open again but only for people who can train without trainers. No courses, sauna is closed. At least I still can do home courses for my back to strengthen my back.
The moral of the story: Never ever buy a mattress that you haven't lain down on to test it.
So, despite my long rant, enjoy :)
Bashinitoo: They're in junior high, already ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and I write for my own pleasure and that of the readers.
"How are you feeling, Michael?" Karen asked her son while walking by the lifeguard chair with her friends.
"Great." Mike replied.
"No... uh, separation anxiety?" she deflected in a quite voice so her friends wouldn't overhear, a precaution that was proven to be not needed given that they had already moved on.
"Hey Karen." El grinned from the water, waving at her boyfriend's mother.
"Of course she's here." Karen chuckled. "Nice to see you, Jane. How do you feel?"
"Just perfect." El giggled.
For the past weeks, she and Mike had spent almost every minute together. During the days, they did things with their friends and except for one night of the week, they also spent those together, dividing their time between Mike's home and El's. Over time, Karen had become used to seeing her and accepted the fact that they were sexually active, so much so that she wasn't surprised when one time, her son's girlfriend stumbled into the kitchen in the morning, wearing nothing but one of Mike's shirts, one that wasn't long enough to cover her behind when El had stretched up to grab a glass from the cupboard.
In some motherly sense, she was proud of her boy. His girlfriend was a very beautiful girl and during the time she had stayed at their house, she had proven herself to be exactly what Nancy and Joyce had told her. She was polite, she was respectful, she got along great with Holly and she was completely devoted to her son. Of course, walking in on them while they were satisfying their carnal urges in the basement had been something she could have done without.
"When are your friends coming over?" Karen asked Mike.
"At six, is that okay?" Mike returned.
"Of course." Karen nodded. "I just want to know when to start setting the table and when Ted can put the coals on the barbecue."
"I can do that." Mike said. "I did it on New Years Eve."
"Still, it will save you some time." Karen smiled and rejoined her friends.
"Your son gets more yummy every day." one of them giggled.
"Girls, he's my son, don't talk about him like that."
"But his girlfriend is stunning." another one remarked. "He's a lucky man."
"I agree." Karen nodded.
"Why is she calling me Jane now?" El wondered, after Karen had gone.
"For the same reason she calls me Michael despite the fact that everyone else calls me Mike." Mike shrugged. "She's very formal in that regard."
"Mike, dude, when are you joining us?" Dustin called from a few feet away, Jennifer clinging to his back and her head on his shoulder.
"As soon as Lucy shows up." Mike called back. "Where are Lucas and Max?"
"Probably doing the nasty." Jennifer giggled, having learned way too much about what her new group of friends are doing already.
"Jennifer, are you alright?" El asked.
"Of course." Jennifer giggled again and bit into Dustin's shoulder.
"Ouch." Dustin gasped. "Jennifer, what's going on?"
"Wanna go into the shed?" Jennifer whispered into Dustin's ear. "Make out?"
"What?" Dustin looked at her wide eyed.
"Jennifer, are you drunk?" Mike wanted to know.
"Nooooo." Jennifer shook her head. "I don't drink alcohol."
"You must have taken something." El pointed out.
"All I drank before we came here was water." Jennifer told her. "And some of that sweet elderberry juice from Dustin's fridge. That tasted amazing, even though it smelled bad."
"Uh, how much of that did you drink?" Dustin became apprehensive.
"One entire bottle and some of the second." she grinned.
"Oh, shit." Dustin sighed.
"What?" Jennifer looked at him.
"That wasn't elderberry juice." Dustin explained. "That was homemade elderberry wine."
"Oh, shit." Mike couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"Mike, that's not funny, my girlfriend is drunk." Dustin moped. "If her parents find out, they may tell her to break up with me."
"Then she should just go home with you and then from there directly to my house. Mike suggested. "There, she'll eat meat and salad and drink water or juice and any alcohol use should be masked."
"I certainly hope you're right." Dustin nodded, squirming a bit when Jennifer continued to drop kisses and nips on his skin.
"Hey guys!" a disheveled Max greeted them, quickly jumping into the pool, followed by Lucas.
"What happened to you?" Dustin wanted to know.
"They did the nasty." Jennifer giggled.
"What's with her?" Max asked.
"She's drunk." El told her.
"No way!" Max laughed. "How did that happen?"
"My mom makes elderberry wine at home and had three bottles in the fridge." Dustin explained. "Jennifer drank one."
"A whole bottle?" Lucas chuckled. "Wow. And here I thought I was someone because I drank a glass of my dad's scotch."
"Mike, is six o'clock still the time?" Max asked.
"Yep." Mike nodded.
"Where's Will, by the way?" Lucas wanted to know.
"He's over there." Mike pointed to where Will was talking to another boy.
"Who's he with?" Max asked.
"No idea."
"Hey Mike." a voice greeted him.
"Oh, hey Lance." Mike greeted the captain of the football team, several other players behind him. "By the way, I wanted to ask, how did your date with Lucy go?"
"When you told me that I couldn't handle her, I didn't want to believe you." Lance chuckled. "Jesus, that woman is wild."
"Did my advice regarding what to do work?"
"It more than worked." Lance grinned. "I never knew bungee jumping could be so exhilarating."
"Glad it worked out for you." Mike chuckled. "Is Lucy here already?"
"Yeah, she's changing." Lance nodded and noticed the group of teenagers at the pool's edge staring at him silently. "Something on my face?"
"Lance, these are my friends." Mike told him, and pointed to El. "And my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lance." he nodded down to them. "My dad owns this pool, so be nice to me."
"I doubt anyone of us would dare not be nice to you for fear of getting our heads pushed into a toilet." Dustin remarked.
"Nah, nothing of that to you on my watch." Lance waved him off and turned around to his friends. "Got that, guys?"
"Sure, whatever you say, boss." the large guy Mike knew was Larry nodded.
"Jeez, since when do you have a soft spot for freshmen." another player asked him.
"Ah, there she is." Mike pointed to the employee door where Lucy was exiting, waving at him as he climbed down.
"You see that, guys?" Lance pointed to Lucy. "Thanks to him, I got her."
"Nice!" yet another player commented.
"Yeah, so as far as I'm concerned, he's alright and so are his friends." Lance continued.
"Got it, boss." Larry smiled and picked Mike up in hug. "A friend of Lance's is a friend of mine."
"Great." Mike winced, feeling his shoulder blades and ribs crack before being put down again.
"Hey Lancelot." Lucy grinned and pulled the taller Lance down to him to press a kiss on his mouth, slapping and squeezing his ass in the process.
"Lancelot?" Mike looked at the man as Lucy climbed up the high chair ladder.
"Don't ask." Lance squinted at him.
"He was very chivalrous when an ex of mine accosted us during one of our dates." Lucy grinned. "Stepped in front of me and all."
"I didn't ask!" Mike lifted his arms in surrender when Lance gave him a stare.
"Not that she needed the help." Lance couldn't help but chuckle. "She took him down before he was done talking."
"Sky diving this weekend?" Lucy asked him.
"No, we're having the opening game, remember?" Lance shook his head.
"Oh, was that this weekend?" Lucy nodded. "Alright, I'll come by and cheer."
"Fantastic." Lance chuckled.
"Alright Lancelot, go away now, I'm on the job." Lucy waved him away.
"My girlfriend is telling me to scram, that's always so nice." Lance gave a theatrical sigh.
"Get lost now and let me work and I'll make it up to you tonight." Lucy winked.
"Bye guys." he waved almost indecently fast and started moving. "Thanks again, Mike."
"No problem." Mike laughed as Lance and his teammates moved off, jumping into the deep pool a few moments later.
"Thanks Mike." Lucy smiled down at him. "Never thought he'd be that fun to be around."
"Did he really take you bungee jumping on your first date?" Mike wondered.
"Yep." Lucy nodded. "I could see that he was petrified but he pulled through and jumped. To me, a guy who would do this for me on a first date despite his fear of it just because I like it shows me that he's interested in more than just my body."
"So, you think this will be long term?"
"Well, he's still on probation, so to speak." she shrugged. "I don't let him have sex with me every day, just once in a while. Helps to see if he's truly serious about me or if he was just doing what I liked to get me into bed."
"And that works?" El wondered.
"Girl, you have no idea how much power you have over men, especially if you're pretty with a nice body." Lucy looked at her. "You can make him do anything you want just with the promise of sex, and there are guys out there who you don't even have to sleep with for them to do stuff for you."
"Don't give her ideas!" Mike gasped and turned to El with a grin. "Love you."
"Love you too." she smiled back at him and turned back to Lucy. "Isn't that a bit mean?"
"Sure, it is." Lucy nodded. "But it's not our fault that some guys are so horny that they would service you even if you didn't service them, if you get my drift. These guys are usually offering you their help in whatever you need and why wouldn't we accept it?"
"Still, I'd feel bad for him." El mused.
"I'm going to do change, alright?" Mike knelt down to press a kiss on her mouth.
"Hurry." she grinned and watched him go into the employee room.
"That's almost sickening." Max scoffed.
"I think it's cute." Jennifer giggled, still clinging to Dustin's back, her weight easily supported by the water.
"That was quick." Lucas commented when Mike reappeared, this time wearing his regular bathing shorts.
"CANNON BALL!" Mike shouted and jumped into the water, bending himself into a ball and creating a huge splash.
"Hey Mike, don't make me ban you from the pool!" Lucy shouted from her high seat.
"You can't ban me, I work here." Mike poked out his tongue.
"Watch me." Lucy squinted her eyes.
"Jesus, you're scary." Mike shuddered.
"And don't you forget it." Lucy laughed and went back to her job, watching over the other pool guests.
For the next few hours, they enjoyed the warm weather and cold water. In less than a week, the school year would begin again, only this time, Mike would be able to walk to ride to school with his girlfriend by his side. El had already, through Jim, put out feelers to apply for the school's track and field team, her success in the year before a good basis for being accepted.
Dustin bought Jennifer a bottle of water, making her drink it so his girlfriend would at least act less drunk. While he had no problem with her affectionate side, her direct approach to it made him a bit self-conscious, especially when she had started nibbling on his earlobe. He managed to stop her from doing that by suggesting that the boys took their girls on their shoulders and had them wrestle, unfortunately, the reality of his head between her legs and definitely feeling heat emanating from that area had quite the effect on him. Luckily he had been underwater.
"Mike, we should leave." Will told them after he came over.
"Why?" Mike wondered, turning around to look at his best friend, with El suddenly giving out a shout of surprise before she fell into the water. "Ups, sorry."
"Yeah, right." El laughed as she resurfaced.
"WE WON!" Jennifer whooped, the last one sitting on her boyfriend's shoulder, Max having had fallen in first, much to her chagrin.
"It's after five, so if we want to start the barbecue at six, we should get going soon." Will explained.
"Right." Mike agreed. "All right everyone, move your butts."
"Yes, General Wheeler." Lucas gave a mocking salute but jumped out of the pool regardless.
They separated into two groups, based on gender and each group went into their respective shower areas. None of them bothered to take off their bathing shorts or bikinis, simply pulling the fabric away to clean those that had been covered in the pool. Ten minutes later, they met outside the pool, everyone unlocking their bike locks and jumping on them, riding down the streets and separating again so everyone could go home.
"Finally, I thought you had forgotten." Karen commented when Mike and El entered the house.
"No. We just had fun." Mike told her.
"Right." Karen smiled, not believing a word he said and turning to El. "Who told him?"
"Will did." El grinned.
"Traitor." Mike muttered.
"Yet you love me." she giggled, dropping a kiss on his cheek.
"Can't argue with that." Mike shrugged. "What can I do?"
"Take those..." Karen began but was interrupted by the door bell. "Get that."
"Hey guys." Mike greeted Dustin and Jennifer again. "You're here early."
"Yeah, we had to get out early, my mom brought all the stuff she made for us by car."
"Hello, Misses Henderson." Mike called as Dustin's mom exited the car and opened the left back door of the car.
"Dustin, come here and carry some of the boxes." Claudia shouted.
"Yes, mom." Dustin quickly ran to the car, Mike following him.
They each grabbed several of the tupperware boxes, Claudia carrying the last of them. After entering the house, Jennifer holding the door open for them, Mike led them into the kitchen where they placed the boxes on the table.
"Is your whole class coming?" Karen looked at the boxes. "Hey, Claudia."
"Karen." Claudia nodded. "I might have gone a bit overboard."
"A bit?" Karen smirked, seeing the twelve boxes filled with various salads.
"Fine, a lot." Claudia chuckled. "Dustin told me that there would be at least seven people there."
"No worries, I'm sure Mike will clean up everything." Karen smiled and began emptying the boxes onto plates or into bowls.
"I'm not eating that much." Mike protested.
"Right." El said sarcastically and took two of the bowls.
"If you want, I can clean those right away, so you can save a trip tomorrow." Karen suggested.
"Good idea." Claudia nodded. "I'll help."
While El and Mike brought everything into the backyard where Ted was busy preparing the barbecue grill, Karen and Claudia washed and dried all the boxes, Dustin taking them back into the car. In the next few minutes, the others arrived, first Will and lastly Max and Lucas. They gathered in the backyard, where Mike was standing at the grill, flipping the burgers, sausages and steaks.
"Looking good." Lucas nodded at the meat on the grill before seeing what was already on the table. "Jesus, how much does your mom think we'll eat?"
"Not my mom." Mike shook his head.
"Misses Henderson?" Max looked at him.
"The very same." Mike laughed.
"Hey, what can I say." Dustin interjected. "My mom's a provider."
"Jennifer, how are you feeling?" Lucas asked.
"Not drunk anymore if that's what you mean." the blond replied. "That was such a weird feeling."
"How so?" El asked.
"Like I was able to do everything and I didn't care about others looking at me while I was doing it." Jennifer shrugged. "And for some reason, everything was funny."
"The wonders of alcohol." Lucas laughed.
"Though I heard that the morning after could be very bad if you drink a lot." Jennifer said.
"It's called hangover." Mike said from his position at the barbecue. "Didn't you listen in biology class?"
"Not really." Jennifer shrugged. "I probably should start to do that, now that we're in high school."
"Might be a good idea." Dustin nodded.
"Easy for you to say, you guys are smart." Jennifer pointed out.
"You're smart too." Dustin retorted. "You just have to use your brains."
"Pff, look at what dating a nerd is doing to me." Jennifer huffed. "I'm actually contemplating to learn instead of having fun."
"Yeah, we kinda have that effect on the ladies." Mike shrugged and laughed. "So, first batch is done, who wants what?"
"I'll take one of the fish." Jennifer said.
"There's fish?" Lucas wondered. "Where?"
"Inside the foil packages." Mike told him, stepping aside to allow him to see them while he put all the finished meat into a bowl. "Jennifer, can you come here with your plate?"
"Of course." she nodded and walked up to him, holding out her plate so Mike could lift the foil package on it with two barbecue tongs before adding the remaining meat onto the barbecue and then bringing the bowl with the finished to the table. "Dig in."
"Holy crap, that looks good." Lucas commented, taking a steak while Max grabbed two sausages and a burger patty to make herself a cheeseburger.
"Mike?" a tiny voice interrupted them.
"Oh, hey Holls." Mike smiled at his little sister, who was also holding a plate.
"Can I have some?" Holly smiled shyly at the group.
"Of course." El nodded and beckoned her over. "Come here, sit down."
"Okay." Holly smiled and hopped on the chair.
"What do you want?" El asked her.
"Can I have a sausage with ketchup?" Holly looked around. "And some potato salad."
"Certainly." Dustin nodded, grabbing the potato salad bowl and bringing it over, spoon in hand and beginning to ladle it onto her plate. "Say stop."
"Stop!" Holly giggled after Dustin had put two spoonfuls down.
"Can you eat it like that or want me to cut if for you?" El wanted to know.
"I can eat it like that." Holly nodded and put her fork into the sausage, lifting it up and keeping it over the plate in case it cropped or ripped in half.
During the next fifteen minutes, the group ate, with Mike standing up occasionally to flip the meat remaining on the barbecue. Once that was done too, he brought it to the table as well, with the remaining two fishes, of which El took one, sharing it with Holly and the other was taken by Max, sharing it with Lucas. Unfortunately, their eating was disturbed by a gathering of particular pesky insects.
"Stupid wasps." Dustin waved his arm around.
"If you keep trying to hit them, they will sting you." Mike told him, keeping calm as a wasp was crawling over the back of his hand.
"They seem particularly fond of the fish." Max realized, seeing the most wasps congregate around what was left of her food.
"I got an idea." Mike said and got up, taking the fish that Jennifer had eaten and placing it fifteen feet away, Max handing him her fish as well, having eaten most of it.
"I don't believe it." Dustin chuckled when he saw the wasps flying to the fish, landing inside the foil and lifting off with pieces of fish between their legs.
"I thought wasps were more drawn in by sweet stuff." El mused.
"Apparently, they like fish even more." Mike shrugged, not having expected that as well.
"Well, lets dissuade them from coming back here." El said and gingerly put her remaining fish next to the other two, quickly getting away again, enjoying the now wasp free surroundings.
As the wasps kept landing and leaving with fish like reverse of the Berlin airlift they had learned about in history class, they enjoyed their food. Holly in particular could not be separated from the tomato salad that Dustin's mom had made, finishing the whole bowl alone, even the onions and everything else.
"I think she'll have a not so quiet night tonight." Mike remarked, seeing Holly's head lolling in the tiredness that came with eating too much.
"Why?" El asked.
"When she eats that amount of onions, she tends to fart a lot." he chuckled.
"Alright, if she comes into our room tonight to sleep with us, we'll send her back to hers." El laughed, running her hand through Holly's hair, who just mumbled, her eyes closed.
"So, tomorrow's the big day." Dustin grinned. "Are you all as excited as me?"
"Yep." Will, Lucas and Mike agreed.
"For what?" Jennifer asked confused.
"We'll go to the movies tomorrow to watch the new Star Trek movie." Dustin explained. "While it has been out for a while now, the events we had with... you know... stopped us from going there."
"I've been actively stopping myself to read any magazine that has a review of it." Lucas said. "Don't want to spoil my expectations."
"Do we have to go to?" El asked.
"Wait, you don't want to?" Mike gasped.
"Well..." Max shrugged, Jennifer doing that as well.
"Alright, there's no way around it." Mike sighed theatrically. "We're going to have to break up."
"Yeah." Dustin nodded, shaking his head at Jennifer.
"Well, maybe if Max makes it up to me really good, I might keep her." Lucas grinned.
"Keep talking like that and there won't be any making up for anything for a month or more." Max smirked.
"And you can't break up with me." El pointed out. "I won't allow it."
"Fair enough." Mike shrugged. "You're on your own Dustin."
"I think I will forgive her." he smiled, turning to Jennifer and putting his head on her shoulder.
"Is that what I can look forward to?" Jennifer asked the girls.
"Pretty much." Max nodded. "Bouts of nerdiness sometimes hard to stomach, only equalized by their sweetness and their loyalty."
Mike started cleaning the table, bringing the plates and cutlery into the kitchen where El began to wash them. Mike returned out side with a small trash bag, holding it out while Lucas and Dustin put every scrap of food in it that couldn't be eaten anymore. The wasps had finished with the fish, the time of day too late for them to continue, so Mike threw the carcasses also into the trash, finally tying up the bag and bringing it to the trash cans outside while Jennifer and Max brought the bowls into the kitchen where El washed them too.
Jennifer joined her, taking a cloth and drying the dishes that El washed, stacking them on the kitchen table. As Dustin and Lucas placed the lawn chairs around the fire pan, Mike put the dishes into their respective cupboards before all of them joined their friends outside again. Mike put a few pieces of wood into the pan, lighting it up and opening the bag of marshmellows, handing everyone sticks to put them on so they could fry them.
When Mike was settled in, El swung her leg over his, sitting down on his lap and leaning back int his body, his left arm wrapping around her stomach. This is where she was meant to be, where she felt safest and most loved. She knew that when school began again, they'd have to spend their week nights in their own beds, only getting together on the weekends and El also knew that it was necessary so they could essentially wean themselves away from each other in order to avoid the pain that came with being too far away.
But El didn't really want to.
I hope everyone reading this and your families are safe from the coronavirus that is spreading throughout the world. Here in Germany, we have over 20k cases now but for now, at least where I live, we don't have total curfews.
By the way, that wasp and fish thing happened to me. Did a barbecue last summer with my parents and my mom made fish in foil and wasps where truly going into it and lifting off with fish between their legs.
Review please :)