Chapter Two
It was about ten thirty when Eric pulled his mustang in front of mine and Mom's townhouse. All of the lights were off and the place looked a little creepy to me. It had always looked so haunting when it was empty, and that was one of the main reasons I hade spent most of my childhood at Grandpere and Grandmere's home. Their home was always warm and welcoming no matter what time of day it was. I leaned in to kiss Eric goodnight and he pulled me closer. As we shared a long passionate kiss, he let his hands wander to my breasts. It sent a shiver through my entire body and a shock of pleasure to my brain. Still yet, I pulled back and pushed his hands away playfully. He gave me an agitated look and then groaned before gripping the steering wheel.
"Good night," I said before giving him a peck on the cheek, "I love you."
With that, I stepped out of the car and headed towards my front door. I had stuck my key in the lock and was about to turn it, when someone grabbed me from behind. I gasped loudly and was about to elbow the person in the stomach when I heard Eric's laugh. He had scared me to death, but his hands slid around my sides and he pulled my backside closer to him. I gasped as I felt the hardness in his pants press against my backside, and a flickering urge ignited in my veins. I turned around and gave him a sloppy kiss and held onto his neck as he lifted me in his hands and pushed the door open with his foot. All the while, he was kissing me and I knew that I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. We were at the bottom of the stairs when I heard a lamp from the living room click on and seen my mother stand up from our colonial style love seat. My senses must have been sharpened from all of the longing I had succumbed to, for I could hear her sharp intake of breath as she narrowed her eyes at me and Eric. I had finally been caught.
"Mother," I said with guilt and shame dripping from my voice, "I didn't think you were home."
She walked towards us just as Eric was putting me back down on the ground, and I could tell she was mad by looking into her clear blue eyes, the eyes that I had inherited from her, which were like windows to her true feelings. I couldn't look at her face without feeling ashamed, so I let my eyes fall to the floor. I knew she was going to explode on me, but I had no idea what she was going to say or do to Eric and that worried me. My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour, and I was short on breath. Still, mom stood there waiting for an explanation from me. What could I say? This guy I had never introduced her to was going to take me up to my room and make love to me. Yeah, I could see that going over real well.
"Hello, Mrs. Andreas, I'm Eric Preston," Eric introduced himself and I gasped and jerked my head up to look at him. His cheeks were a light pinkish color and I knew that he had been caught off guard and was embarrassed. Still yet, he wouldn't just tell my mother everything would he.
So, I cut him off with, "Mother, this is my friend Eric. We were just headed upstairs to…"
"I know what you two were headed up there to do," she cut me off before I could make up some sort of excuse, "Well, Mr. Preston, I think you should be leaving now."
Eric agreed and kissed me on the cheek before turning around and leaving shutting the door behind him. I heard the roar of his engine and his exhaust as he drove down the street. Now, I would have to face my mother alone. Instead of yelling at me, Mother simply shook her head and went back into the living room; but she didn't sit down. Instead she turned to me and pointed at the chair. I knew what that meant, for I had spent many a time sitting in that same spot while she lectured me about something wrong I had done. So, I sauntered over to the chair and sat down hard on it, which was also something I had been lectured on before, and awaited for Mother to explode. At first, she was quite and had her back turned to me. That confused me a little, but I had no time to think about it, because she turned around and bombarded me with question after question.
"What were you thinking, Amber? Did you think I wouldn't find out what was going on right under MY roof? Who is he? How long have you known him? Oh goodness! Is he the only one? Are there more?" her questions stung my heart like honeybees coming at me and hot tears flooded my eyes.
She made me feel so dirty, so bad. I couldn't answer her. I couldn't even begin to form the explanations in my own mind, so I sat there, my whole body numb, with my arms crossed over my chest and tears streaming down my face. I hated it when she did this. How could she be so insensitive? Hadn't she once been a young woman, herself, with raging hormones? She continued to throw question after question at me, and then lecture me about safe sex and abstinence for a little while longer. Then, she got into diseases.
"Amber, how long have you known this young man?" she asked me as worry washed all of the anger out of her face, "He could have a disease! Did you ever stop to think about that? What if you have caught that disease from sleeping with him? Oh, god, my only daughter could have AIDS!"
"All right!" I screamed as I stood up finally enraged by her antics, "You want to know? Well, then, here it is, Mother! Yes, Eric and I have sex, sometimes! I love him, and he loves me! We're getting married, too!"
I flung my engagement ring in her face and then ran stomping out of the room, up the stairs and into my bedroom making sure to slam and lock the door behind me. Once, in my room, I fell face first onto my bed and sobbed into my pillow. My heart was aching at all of the horrible things and names Mother had called me. I yearned to be somewhere else, anywhere else, at the moment. I should have sent him back to his car and let it be that, but I didn't. I had wanted him as much as he had wanted me, and I hadn't paid attention to whether Mom's car had been in the driveway or not. It wasn't but a few seconds afterwards that I heard my mother's soft steps on the carpet and an even softer knock on my bedroom door.
"Amber, please unlock this door this instant," Mom pleaded with me, but I wasn't ready to talk to her about anything just yet, not after the fit she had thrown earlier.
So, I lay their sobbing into my pillow letting it muffle my cries, and waited until I heard her feet on the floor again and her bedroom door shut. I stayed like this for some time and drifted off into a deep sleep for a couple of hours. When I awoke, it was about 1:30 in the morning, and, without thinking, I got up and quietly tiptoed downstairs. I grabbed my keys from the rack beside the door and headed out to my car. Mother had obviously taken my keys out of the door because I had left them there when Eric and I had come in. I started the engine and carefully backed out into the street. Mother was a heavily sleeper and not easily stirred, yet I still kept my headlights off until I turned in the other direction of our home.
It took me about thirty minutes to reach Grandpere & Grandmere's house, but I managed despite the state I was in. I parked in the rear so that no one would be able to see my car and headed for the back door to the kitchen. It took me a moment to find the right key, and I unlocked the door and entered as quietly as I could. I slid my shoes off at the side of the door and walked barefoot across the cold linoleum, hoping that I wouldn't wake up Ms. Landau, Grandpere & Grandmere's only servant and a superstitious woman at that. Grandmere had always had this thing about superstitions, and I'm not saying I don't believe in the things she does, but Mother Grandpere always thought her crazy when it came to that kind of thing.
I tiptoed up the stairs and into my bedroom, which had been Grandmere's & Mommy's bedroom before. The room had never changed much and everything was antique and beautiful. There were a pair of French doors that had connected to the room across from this one, but I had never been in there, and it had always been locked. I sat my keys down on the nightstand and pulled out one of my nightshirts I kept here before pulling down the covers and sliding under them. Of course, I couldn't sleep, so I just lay there for a couple of hours before deciding to go downstairs. I went to Grandpere's study for a while and read in the chaise lounge before heading downstairs to the sitting room. At first, I had been surprised to see Grandmere sitting in there all by herself, but she didn't seem to be all that surprised to see me.
"Hello, darling," she said and I went to give her a kiss on the cheek before sitting down beside her.
"Hi Grandmere Ruby," I answered her and smiled weakly as she ran her fingers over my tousled dark hair.
We sat in silence for a long time just staring ahead of us, watching the night turn to dawn, before long though, Mom would know where I was and would be coming for me. She would cause a scene and probably yell and Grandmere for taking my side. So, I figured, I might as well tell Grandmere so she would know what was going on.
Tears began to fill my eyes and slide down my cheeks as I looked at Grandmere and began to tell her, "Oh, Grandmere, I've made such a mess of things!"
She took me in her arms and held me tightly kissing the top of my head. She urged me to begin with her loving and understanding green eyes, and so I told her about Eric proposing and Mother catching us and the fight we had had. She listened without saying anything as if she were simply lending an ear, and when I was finished she hugged me once more before telling me what she thought.
"Oh, darling," she said in such a soft caring voice it made my heart stop aching a bit, "I know you must feel embarrassed and ashamed, but you have to speak with your mother. She loves you, you know that, but she just has problems expressing it sometimes. She has always had her head stuck in those medical books of hers, and you know that she seems to think the same way about everything. Still yet, she is your mother, and it's hard raising a child on her own, I suppose, in today's world."
I nodded and lowered my head letting my dark locks fall down so that they would cover my face. Leave it to Grandmere to say the same things Mom had said only in a more caring and understanding tone, a tone that would make me realize what a silly mistake it had been to just run off and not talk to Mom. She was so wise and always knew exactly what to say to get me back on the right track.
"Now, Amber, honey," she said after a moments silence, "why don't you go back upstairs and go back to bed? I'll call your mother and tell her that you're here, and will talk about your talk of marriage proposals some more in the morning."
"I love you," I said and gave her a kiss on the cheek before heading back upstairs to get a couple of hours of sleep.
I knew I would need them, for tomorrow was going to be a very trying day, and I needed all the rest I could get, even if it was a couple of hours, to face my mother once again. I just hoped that Grandmere would be able to calm her down a bit before she got to me.
