House of the Bakers
I was relieved when Mom and Dad left. After helping my grandmother to unpack, I went to my room and sent Lydia a text message...
'My mom knows about us.' It wasn't long before an answer came back from her:
'Yes, mine too.'
I groaned and texted back: 'How does she know?'
I waited anxiously for her answer, which came promptly:
'She's a teacher at our school. She knows everything.'
My stomach clenched, I wondered what exactly she knew. 'Does she know that we had sex?'
For a while there was only silence and I was getting nervous. 'Lydia? Are you still there?'
It took forever for her to reply:
'I don't know. Maybe she suspects it. But we need to stop texting. My mom just came into my room. See you later...'
Frustrated, I closed my phone and wondered what I could do. Lydia still hadn't managed to talk with Jude about us. Maybe I should do it before he finds out from another source. I took my phone again and wrote another text to her: 'I'm telling Jude about us. It's about time. We talk about this later. D'
I quickly closed the phone and put it in my pocket. I already knew that Lydia wouldn't be happy about it, because it was her job to tell him. But I couldn't wait any longer and I knew that Mom expected from me to be honest with my brother. Jude's room was next to mine, after a quick knock I opened the door and entered. He sat at the desk, absorbed in his homework. As I approached him, he looked at me questioningly. Nervously, I ran my fingers through my hair. "We need to talk." I said quickly, before I could change my mind.
"Okay. What is it about?" He asked, frowning.
I took a deep breath. "I know I should have told you a lot sooner, but I didn't know how," I began hesitantly. "And I can understand, if you're angry and maybe want to punch me in the face." From his confused look, I could tell he had no idea what I was talking about. So I had to be more precise. "It's about Lydia," I confessed. "We fell in love with each other and are together now." With a beating heart I waited for his reaction. I had expected that he would jump up, grab me and then beat me up. What I hadn't expected was that he suddenly began to laugh. Now I was the one who was confused about his strange behavior.
"That's a good joke!" He laughed.
"This isn't a joke," I said and looked at him frowning. Was he having a nervous breakdown? "You can punch me if it makes you feel better," I said slowly. "But that won't change the fact that we're together." Relieved, I realized that he stopped laughing.
"How long has this been going on between the two of you?"
I shrugged. "Not that long. Maybe two weeks, not more. We wanted to tell you, but we couldn't find the right time." When he got up, went to his bedside table and then pulled out a small box, I held my breath. It was the gift he had bought for Lydia's birthday, I noticed.
"Here, take this!" He said. "You should give it to her. Actually, you were the one who picked it. Now I understand how you knew that she likes unicorns."
I lowered my head in shame, wondering the whole time why he was so calm. After all, I just told him that I had stolen his girlfriend from him. Hesitating, I took the box and slipped it into my pocket. "Aren't you angry at all?" I asked in a low voice.
"Things with Lydia had changed," he confessed. "I was just reluctant to break up with her because I didn't want to hurt her. I thought she still had feelings for me." He shrugged. "Apparently I was wrong."
I nodded uneasily. What he just told me relieved and shocked me at the same time. For years, there had only ever been Lydia for Jude. She had entered and had left our house constantly and I was sure that Dad and Mom had hoped that they would get married someday. That was all over now. "Does that mean... you don't mind that we're together?" I asked again.
"No, why should I? I don't love her anymore and she seems to have found someone else too," he said smiling. "And honestly, I'm glad it's you and not some random guy."
"I think I have to sit down to grasp that," I said, dropping onto his bed.
Jude laughed. "Were you worried that I would punch you if you told me that you have feelings for Lydia?" He asked with a grin.
I nodded and ran a hand through my hair, sighing. "Honestly, yes. But now that our and Lydia's parents already know about us, I thought it was time to tell you too. I thought that would be just fair."
"You have my blessing," he said with a grin, then returned to his homework. "May I continue now? I have to finish this. And if you want, we can go to the fitness studio later. What do you think?"
I nodded, smiling, and then got up from his bed. "We'll meet later. I have to do something first." He probably guessed what I had to do when I left his room and quickly ran downstairs and grabbed my car keys. I think I've never driven to the house of the Scotts that fast. I was relieved when it was Lydia who opened the door and not her mom.
"Davis...?"
I didn't let her finish her sentence, but pulled her into my arms and silenced her with a kiss.
"I read your last text message," she said a little later. "What did Jude say?"
I gently brushed a strand of her dark blond hair out of her face. "He gives us his blessing," I repeated Jude's words. "Isn't that great? From now on we can officially be a couple."
"Seriously?" She asked in disbelief. "He wasn't mad?"
"No." I couldn't and didn't want to tell her more about Jude's reasons why it had been so easy for him to end things with her.
"My mom went shopping," she said softly. "Do you want to come in?"
I couldn't refuse this tempting offer. So I took her hand and walked with her up the stairs to her room.
Lydia's room
Even though we had decided to wait, we thrust aside all concerns and doubts and slept together. None of us had planned this. It just happened. The pressure was gone, the fear of being discovered vanished. And we even got Jude's blessing. A fact that really meant a lot to both of us. And though I was a little scared that it might hurt again, I succumbed to my feelings and let Davis seduce me. And this time it was different than last time, which was probably because I was relaxed. We kissed and petted until I was ready to enjoy the sex without any pain. Breathing heavily, we lay next to each other and tried to process what just happened.
"That was... Wow!" I blurted and snuggled closer to him.
"You don't have to say that if it's not true," he said, smiling.
"But it is true," I replied indignantly. "It was amazing!" As he leaned over and kissed me, I felt again a tingling sensation in my stomach. "And I wouldn't mind a second round," I muttered in his ear.
"What about your mom? Won't she be suspicious if you lock yourself in your room for so long?"
"Right now, I don't really care what my mom thinks," I whispered, running my hand down his chest to his crotch.
"You're killing me!" He whispered, fumbling for another condom.
I waited impatiently for him to tear open the foil, but something seemed to irritate him, because he sat up all of a sudden and stared shocked at the wrapping. "What's wrong?" I asked him and sat up too.
"Where did you get these?" He asked hoarsely.
"From Jamie," I replied. "He has a family box in his room." I grinned. "He won't notice that I took some of them."
"He shouldn't use these condoms anymore," he said dryly.
When he shoved the condom into my hand and pointed to the expiration date, I reflexively held my breath. Condoms had an expiration date? I didn't know that. "May 2022," I read in a trembling voice. Startled, I looked at him. "That was 5 years ago!"
Davis nodded. "Your brother was 17 then. It seems he didn't use much of them, if he still has a whole family package of it."
"What does that mean now?" I asked quietly, although I secretly knew the answer.
"That we shouldn't use any more of it." Davis sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't prepared to sleep with you, that's why I don't have any other condoms with me right now."
I nodded and got out of bed with trembling legs and picked up my clothes, which were spread around all over the room. We really had not wasted time and immediately had ripped off our clothes. "Do you think it matters that the condoms are expired?" I asked cautiously as I slipped into my T-shirt and my jeans. I could tell by his blank look that he didn't know the answer to that question. "I mean, surely there's a reason why these things have an expiration date, right? I wouldn't eat yogurt that has already expired 5 years ago either!" I knew that I sounded hysterical, but I couldn't completely stifle my rising panic. After all, it wasn't the first time we used those expired condoms. I hadn't noticed the tears that suddenly ran down my cheeks as Davis hugged me.
"It was only once," he mumbled. "What are the chances of getting pregnant the first time?"
"Twice," I corrected. "You forgot our first time." He didn't say anything, just held me a little tighter and I could tell from his fast breathing, that he suddenly had the same fears and doubts as me. My 17th birthday was in two weeks. I was too young to have a baby! "Maybe it's better for you to leave now," I said, freeing myself from his embrace. In fact, he instantly pulled away. Still with tears in my eyes, I watched him as he quickly got dressed and then walked to the door.
"Are you calling me?" He asked quietly.
I nodded and then opened the door. "Go now!" I told him and quickly closed the door when I saw that he reached the stairs. With trembling fingers, I opened the drawer on the bedside table, took my cycle calendar and stared at the last entries. There were still a few days left until my next menstruation. But I already knew that every day of waiting would be torture for me. When I heard voices coming from below, I put my calendar back in the drawer and closed it. I wished I could tell my mom what was on my mind, because I knew she would understand. But to confide in her would also mean that I had to tell her that I had sex. Maybe Davis was right, I tried to calm myself. The chances of getting pregnant were extremely slim. Some women needed years for it. I thrust my worried thoughts aside, left my room and went downstairs.
