New Friends: College

CHAPTER 1: A NEW BEGINNING

September, 2005

I rubbed my eyes and stared out at the open road ahead of me, Kings of Leon was on the stereo and my window was open just a crack to let in fresh air. My girlfriend was sound asleep in the seat next to me, my right hand clutched to her chest like a comforter. I looked over and smiled, at 18 she had perfect smooth skin and long dark hair that at this moment was tucked behind her ears. Her closed eyes were framed by thick, luscious eyelashes that twitched as the light passed over her. Those lips, that I had once thought of as pouting now seemed perpetually switching between an often sultry and always content smile.

‘Mmm, concentrate on the road, you.’ She came awake slowly, her brilliant emerald eyes fluttering open.

‘Couldn’t help it.’ I grinned.

She stretched and sheepishly let my hand go, ‘What time is it?’

I looked at the dash, ‘Almost midnight, we should be there in an hour.’

‘You drove all the way?’ she seemed somewhat surprised, ‘Weren’t you going to wake me half way?’

I shrugged, ‘Five and a half hours is nothing, it took us four just to get to my Grandpa’s farm.’

‘You still listening to this crap, sounds like someone is strangling a cat!’ she pointed to the stereo.

I was offended, ‘These guys will be the biggest band in the world one day, you just wait.’

‘Really then, I guess I owe you for letting me get such a peaceful sleep, however shall I repay you?’ she seemed genuinely considerate.

I felt a warm hand in my lap that slid up my waist to tug at the waistband of my loose shorts I had worn for the drive. A moment later I felt warm lips on the crown of my cock. ‘I knew I like you.’ I groaned as my rod touched the back of her throat.

Stella and I had been together for the better part of a year now, and she was getting goddamn good at this. Road head is definitely high up on my list of favourite things, but it’s only good on the open road, if you’ve ever tried actually navigating a backstreet with someone as hot as Stella Farris giving you a gobbie you’ll realise that you just don’t get anywhere.

I felt her nose touch my groin and my cock bottom out just under eight inches down her throat and stay there for about three seconds before she gagged and had to pull off. I saw the saliva covered mushroom head appear back from the depths as Stella gasped for breath. ‘Did you see that?’ she asked proudly.

‘Yep.’ I managed to grunt, ‘Very good for my concentration.’

Stella’s lips parted around my slickened knob and her head bobbed easily while she massaged me with her tongue.
‘Cum for me, baby.’ She husked.

I let loose an explosion of cum into her hot mouth. Her cheeks hollowed as she expertly swallowed every drop and licked me clean. She tucked me back into my shorts and sat back, sighing happily. ‘Jeez, who would have thought I’d learn to love doing that so much.’

I handed her the half drunk red bull I had been using to keep myself awake and she took a sip. ‘Don’t know why you like this stuff.’ She handed it back and kissed me on the cheek.

‘You’ve made up for lost time, if you’re this good after not even a year, imagine if you had been practicing for as many years as Pepper.’

Stella laughed musically, ‘You two promised you wouldn’t be at each other when we move in.’

‘Yes, Mom.’ I said sarcastically.

Stella, Pepper and I had taken out the lease on a three bedroom place right near campus and incidentally, right next door to where Ryan, Leila Pete and Jess had gotten a place as well.
Everyone else had gone their separate ways and off to different Unis, sorry, colleges, but we were all pleasantly surprised to have our close group end up at the same place. Yeah there were quite a few people I would miss, but then again, college was a new beginning for me.

‘What time will Keira be up?’ she asked.

‘Her and Brian are bringing up my car with the rest of the stuff tomorrow then she’ll stay the night and go home with Mom and Dad.’ I sighed.

Stella gave my hand a squeeze, Keira had been a mess all week and I wasn’t far behind her, living apart for a year was going to be shithouse. At least Brian was going to Pepperdine close by, but for her it was a small consolation.

The plan was for her to stay over tonight and Brian go home then my parents visit the next day and take her back with them. Keira hadn’t quite told Brian about her “special” relationship with Stella and I, I guess there isn’t an easy way to say you’re doing it with your brother and his girlfriend.

‘Really though, are you sure it was a good idea to let Pepper live with us?’ I asked sceptically.

She patted my leg reassuringly, ‘You two pretend like you hate each other but I know you two secretly enjoy it.’

‘Well I have a great idea, how about we make her live somewhere else for a while and I’ll find out if I miss her?’ I suggested helpfully.

‘You wish.’ She changed the CD, pretending to ignore my unimpressed look.

—

The place came semi outfitted and Stella whistled when we unlocked the door. ‘Not bad.’ It was two storey with an open living room and kitchen with an island bench. This would be my domain as I had agreed to do most of the cooking if Stella did the dishes. I doubted she had ever done dishes in her life but she seemed eager to be independent.

We looked around, and of course christened the bedroom.

Afterwards we went shopping together and brought most of the day to day stuff we would need, she pushed me around in the trolley while I pretended I was captaining a ship until we filled it up with too much loot. Yeah we got weird looks but we were having too much fun to care.

A couple of hundred bucks later and we had about half of what we would need. We were too tired to care though and we left most of the bags on the floor. I made us an instant coffee and sat on the bench, legs swinging aimlessly.
‘Seems a bit surreal, doesn’t it?’

‘I guess that’s the one downer with having such a great family.’ Stella hoisted herself up on the bench next to me, ‘It sucks when you have to leave them. Me I never see mine anyway so I guess it’s not that different.’

‘That reminds me,’ when are we having dinner with your parents?

Stella made a face, ‘They said they were going to come up and surprise me, great huh?’

I actually thought it was great, I was sure Stella’s Mom was going to be a fox and it was going to be one of those awkward nights that are freaking terrible at the time but at least you can laugh about later on.

‘Geez, bringing a guy to meet my parents, who would have thought, huh?’ she said wistfully.

I didn’t say anything, I knew that there was no comment appropriate when she thought like this. I just lifted my arm and she slid in beside me. ‘I love you.’ I kissed her hair.

She turned her face up to me, ‘I know, and I love you. Now let’s get to bed, I’m wasted.’

The next morning we were woken by the sound of a big diesel engine and reverse beepers. Stella groaned against my chest and rubbed her eyes. I eased out from under her and looked out the window. The sun was barely up and there was a truck parked in the driveway.

Several burley looking removalists were hauling a whole bunch of crap out of the truck. I looked at the clock, it was still flashing, I guess we hadn’t set it yet.

Stella picked up her phone, ‘I hate her so much right now.’

It was six in the morning, we had gotten to sleep about an hour and a half ago. I pulled on a pair of pyjama pants and walked bleary eyed down the stairs. Pepper was standing on a box ordering the troops as they unloaded her loot. She wasn’t actually helping, but she was wearing a bandana which she seemed to think gave her a ‘moving in’ look.

‘Hey, Hunter!’ she said brightly, ‘I didn’t wake you did I?’

‘You know bloody well you woke me up, you mole. What are you doing here so early?’

She shrugged, ‘I couldn’t let you two ruin the place with your tacky furniture could I?’

‘It came outfitted!’ I stamped my foot. ‘What are you doing with all this shit?’

‘I bought all the other furniture off the landlord and told her she can have someone pick it up out the front and put it somewhere else as long as they don’t get in our way. She was very nice about it.’

I looked up to the sky, well it was more like the window, cursing Stella for letting her friend live with us, it would have been so nice just the two of us. I had a fantasy of Pepper living in a cardboard box in our garage and I smiled. The reality, of course, was not so nice but a guy could dream right?

‘Whatever, just do what you want, I can’t be bothered arguing with you, I’m going back to bed.’

‘I’m going to like living here.’ She said evilly.

Stella and I pulled the pillows over our heads and turned on music but we could still hear them banging around down there. ‘I don’t even want to know what she’s doing down there.’ Stella sighed. ‘She better not have gold table legs like her parents.’

I could only imagine. ‘I guess that’s part of the surprise.’

Stella rolled onto her back. ‘You’re not going to let me forget this, are you?’

‘Not a chance.’ I slid the covers off her.

‘Everyone’s downstairs you kinky bastard.’ Stella whispered.

As she was saying it, she was already crawling on top of me though.

It was great sex, I guess the thrill of having people right down below was a bit of a turn on, we didn’t know how long we had before someone came in, so every moment was precious.
When we had finished the removalists were gone. We were enjoying our post coital bliss when Pepper burst through the door and sat on the bed with us.

We were both very naked and I was actually still inside Stella. Pepper, didn’t seem to mind in the least and she slapped Stella’s bare and very firm butt as she plonked down. ‘Hey good looking! Nice of you to come down and see me.’

She gave Stella a rather lingering kiss on the lips and me a rude sort of lip turn.

‘Don’t make that face, you’re just angry cause you’re not getting any.’ I poked her in the ribs.

Pepper turned her nose up. ‘I could have anyone I want.’

‘Well I always said you could join in whenever you want.’ I offered.

Pepper laughed loudly, ‘Ha! As if I would be the meat in your love sandwich, all you two would do is fuck each other and stare lovingly into each others eyes while I was competing for space. I think I’ll take my chances with the other hundred guys at my beck and call.’

I should probably mention that Pepper and Stella sort of had a thing going, well it wasn’t a thing. But in the last six months of school they had gotten together about five times. It was a long story.
This was dandy, but Pepper wouldn’t let me watch or get involved, it was another control thing, but Stella gave me all the details on every occasion.

The thought of it still made me sweat, and Stella was working on her friend as well to try and at least get me a front row seat. It wasn’t happening any time soon though if Pepper had her way.

Stella and I, of course, were still going to do our best.

I suppose a bit of explanation into the last six months wouldn’t go astray, well Stella and I still had a fairly badly conducted ‘open relationship’ aside from Keira, the afore mentioned Pepper, and one threesome with Abbey the goth, we hadn’t really done much but screw each other’s brains out.

Now this wasn’t a bad thing, in fact, it was so good it was the reason that we were so slack on the “open” bit. It was also why Stella was having a bit of a hard time coping with the whirlwind of emotions that had not subsided as we thought they would.

I had known Stella and I were different, but I think that both of us were unprepared with the intensity of our relationship

It’s hard to explain to someone because I think that true love has many different forms, but without getting too soppy the I guess the best way to describe it would be that we lost time.

From the moment Stella would arrive at my door or vice versa time just slipped away, and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. This had been a major problem for us, which is why the sleepovers got more and more common. Now we were two eighteen year olds living together. A bit crazy huh?

‘Hey! Where the hell do you go?’ Pepper knocked me on the head, ‘I was in the middle of a sentence and you just totally zoned out again, what are you doing, like commentating your life or something? I’ll give you a summary, I’m an idiot. The end?’

‘You finally admit you’re an idiot?’ I did my know you are but what am I one. Never gets old.

Pepper did not seem that impressed but Stella liked it. ‘Shall we survey the damage?’ Stella finally sighed.

‘How was the drive up here?’ Pepper asked her as she stood up to get dressed, all the while eyeballing my girlfriend’s lithe body.

Stella smiled wryly, thinking of at least part of it. ‘Well Hunter pretty much did all the driving, I fell asleep.’

‘He would have liked that so he can listen to his dumb music.’ She looked through my CD collection, which was rather eclectic these days, being stocked with everything from easy going chillout to rap.

‘If something sounds good, it sounds good, doesn’t matter what genre it’s from.’ I sulked. ‘I’m sorry we all can’t like adagio for strings every time we want to do some listening.’

I actually liked the piece, but it did sound a bit odd coming from Pepper’s trans-am. She, like all great brains (it seemed) was a big fan of classical music. But she also liked Brittney spears god help her.

‘Well I’m glad you got my girl here in one piece.’ She smiled.

I hated when she did that, it was so bloody infectious I always fell for it when I was winning.

‘Come on.’ She held out one hand for each of us.

I yanked on a pair of shorts but only Stella took her hand. Downstairs she had pretty much transformed the place in all of about 3 hours. There were three big armchairs big enough for two people to snuggle or one to spread out, and a deep couch in a soft sort of canvas that would be hardy enough to survive parties but soft enough to relax on.

She had a projector hooked up to the roof and a screen that rolled down. There were two paintings up, one of a seascape which caught my fancy straight away, and another of a snow covered mountain. There was also a one of those splash type ones that artists probably get drunk and make in a few minutes then sell for thousands.

The polished wood floor in the centre was covered with a thick Persian carpet and there was a dark teak coffee table that had draws on both sides and it was set with some candles and a few holders for the remote controls, which were for the surround sound, television, DVD and cable. The kitchen was stocked up with expensive pots and pans and she had a new fridge in with an ice maker and filtered water dispenser. There were several other odds and ends like lamps, and a statue of an African woman holding the horns of a buffalo to complete the look.

I was trying hard to find some way to make her feel bad but the truth was it looked great.

‘Just say it.’ She leant in close.

‘You’re still a skank, but the place looks nice.’ I said.

Pepper seemed pleased, ‘Well since we’re all roomies now I thought I better make the place nice.’

‘It’s beautiful, Pepper. Thankyou.’ Stella hugged her.

Well I guess living with a multi million dollar heiress was going to have some advantages..

Keira and Brian arrived at about 3 in the afternoon. My sister ran out of the car and jumped on me, Brian was still slightly bemused by how close we were, if only he knew the truth of it.

Pepper just shook her head, ‘It’s been like one day. You two are going to die living apart.’

‘Shut up.’ Keira pouted.

Her and Pepper actually got along pretty well, I would even go so far as to say they were friends, Keira like me, took absolutely no shit from her, and Pepper respected her for it. Only difference was Pepper hardly ever gave it back like she did for me.

When Stella came out to greet her Keira gave her a big wet kiss on the cheek while I shook hands with Brian. The two absolutely adored each other and I could hardly get a word in half the time when they were together. Having said that, they more than made up for it when it counted.

So anyway, Brian, like most normal guys was completely in awe of her and turned into a stuttering mess when she came close. You would think having a girlfriend as good looking as Keira would have given him a bit of a chance, apparently not so.

Pepper just gave him the breezy detachment she was so good at. We unpacked the rest of my loot, including my diving gear which I stroked lovingly as I shoved it into the cupboard.

Stella chuckled, ‘You and your diving stuff, you’re so weird.’

I knew it, ‘When I finally get you in the water with me you’ll understand.’

‘Well you’ve gotten me wet enough times!’ she said, holding up her hand, ‘come on, that was a good one right?’

I gave her an obligatory high five, ‘Yep, ten points, but you’re still coming diving with me whether you like it or not.’

‘I’m still scared a shark is going to eat me.’ she sighed, ‘But just for you I might consider it.’

I showed Keira and Brian around, well since there was only three bedrooms and the living room I more pointed because we didn’t need to walk that far.

I was cooking dinner tonight for everyone. Stella had vowed to help although she was a bit of a train wreck in the kitchen. So was Pepper, who claimed it was beneath but just couldn’t do it. Being smart and making a good pasta don’t seem to go hand in glove.

Stella I think there was a bit of hope for her though, she wanted to learn and she was so cute when she got all flustered if the toast popped and the oven beeped at the same time I never got tired of having her around. Over the last six months I had been picking Mom’s brain to try and get all the knowledge I could before I was out on my own.

As a result I had been doing most of the family’s culinary duties for a while. Tonight I was being pretty ambitious and was making a duck linguini with garlic butter, baby capers, mushroom and tomato. I had to go down and get some duck but Stella and I had got the rest of the ingredients last night.

Everyone but Pepper came down to the shops with me and we had a bit of a drive around town to see what it was like while we did. I didn’t bother to check out the campus, I was going to be spending the next few years at Stanford so there was no point in rushing.

When we were done we opened up the slab of beer that Keira had brought down, courtesy of my parents. I had put them in the freezer before we left and a nice chilled Heineken was just what the doctor ordered.

‘Here’s to your new place.’ Keira held up her drink.

We all did the cheers thing and I looked at the clock, I really needed to get started.

Stella helpfully boiled the water while I char grilled up the cut pieces of duck, she then managed to cut up the tomatoes without doing any damage to anyone, yep, she was definitely getting better.

—

Dinner was a great success. Even Pepper sat back and burped with contentment after she was done, Stella managed to get through two gigantic bowls and Brian got a fair bit into his mouth in between staring at the three beauties he was surrounded by.

Poor fella.

We played drinking games and chatted around the table, (well Brian didn’t drink, he had to drive home) and just generally enjoyed life. A lot of people are stoked to be out of home, to be able to do this stuff without parents around. I, on the other hand, missed mine already.

Having skipped the hating adults stage of my life I had gotten closer to the two of them every year and suddenly being away from the family didn’t seem like a great idea at all. I don’t know what I would have done if Stella hadn’t decided to come to Stanford with me.

She did though, so there was no point dwelling on it.

I could tell Keira was getting a bit distressed as the night wore on, our time was slipping away. When she went home tomorrow night with mom and Dad we probably wouldn’t see each other for at least another two months.

It was about midnight when Keira ushered Brian out the door. He was quite evidently crushed to have to leave them, and I swear he got a boner when Stella gave him a hug goodbye.

I shook his hand and when everyone else was out of earshot I squeezed it hard and told him if anything happened to my sister while I was away I was going to hold him personally responsible.

He gulped, I think he was remembering when I choked Tyr out in front of him, because he sort of stammered out something along the lines of keeping her safe. When Keira came over I put on a big smile, I didn’t like playing the tough brother in front of her or the girls, it was a bit toolish, but I had to do it anyway.

Keira saw him out.

When she got back in the house Pepper folded her arms, ‘I suppose the evening is over now?’

Keira looked at me pleadingly.

‘Yeah, I think it’s time for bed.’ I said.

‘And I guess we won’t be making up the spare bedroom for the other Michel?’ she continued.

I shook my head. This was actually the one thing that Pepper didn’t jibe us about, she and Stella were the only ones who knew our secret, but she seemed to respect it for some reason.

‘I’ll be up in half an hour.’ Stella said. ‘You two probably have a lot to talk about.’

We walked slowly upstairs and Keira shut the door behind her and slumped against it. ‘I’m not ready for this, I don’t want to be apart.’

I moved closer to her, enfolding her in my arms. ‘It’s not for so long, and we can talk on the phone if we have to.’ It was supposed to be a joke but she didn’t find it funny.

Keira just started sobbing, ‘I know I’m being dumb, but for my whole life it’s always been the two of us, now you’re off here and I just feel lost.’

I kissed her hair and breathed in the scent of her, trying to capture the moment, ‘I wish there was an easy fix, but you’ll be here next year and you can move in with us, and then things will be back the way they used to be.’

‘Just a year.’ She said softly, trying to reassure herself.

She leant up her face and we kissed softly, normally Keira and I were playful when we fooled around, we were both aware of how dangerous romance was for a forbidden love like ours, so we had been trying to keep our physical relationship somewhat detached from our emotional connection.

This was not one of those occasions though, and she touched my face tenderly as she guided me to the bed. When the back of my legs touched it and I sat, she lifted her top off and wriggled out of her jeans.

I stripped off and lifted the covers.

She shivered slightly as the cold material touched her bare skin but her body was hot against mine. Our mouths met again, lips brushing one another as I ran my hands down her sides, across her hips to her butt. I cupped her cheeks and moved my hand around in front of her.

Keira spread her legs slightly as I massaged her crotch with my fingers, opening her to her liquid core. Her hand encircled my rod and gripped it tightly, almost possessively as she stroked me.

I started to move my mouth away from the kiss to I could go down on her, but she held my head and rolled under me. with my Johnson still in her hand she guided me inside her. She was slick with desire and I slotted easily into her tight pussy. When I bottomed out she sighed with satisfaction and looked up at me, finally breaking the kiss.

‘Goddamit I’m going to miss this.’ She said.

I slid halfway out and eased back in, ‘Me too.’

She groaned and arched up, moving her hips to urge me on. I propped myself up and pushed in as deep as I could. We made love slowly and tenderly it was probably more than half an hour but Stella had apparently given us more time.

When I came it was deep inside her and she cried out loud enough that the girls probably heard her downstairs.

We were lying in bed when Stella knocked softly at the door.

She poked her head in and Keira smiled, ‘Come on in, I’m going to miss you almost as much.’

Stella crawled in with us so Keira was in the middle. Keira turned around so she could cuddle with my girlfriend, ‘So jealous of you right now.’ She sighed.

My sister was a tough kid though, I knew it was hurting her but she was strong and she had said what she needed to. Keira was a lot like me in that respect, she was about as open and honest as a person could get, but some things she just didn’t know how to approach so she chose to stay silent on it.

The truth was, no matter how much we didn’t like it, we were going to be apart and no amount of talking about it was going to change that fact. Better for us to enjoy the time we had left. And since it was probably the last chance the three of us were going to get for a while, my two favourite girls had every intention of doing so.

In fact, they had begun to do so as I was thinking about the whole living apart thing. Keira had Stella’s clothes off already and the two girls were caressing each other’s bodies. I felt Stella’s other hand creep behind her and wrap around my shaft. While the slipped her fingers into Keira’s cum drenched pussy she simultaneously stroked me.

Stella let me go for long enough to slide her hands down Keira’s hips and roll her tongue over her opening. Keira groaned and opened her legs, Stella grinned as she licked my cream from my sister. It was unbelievably hot, the two had developed a bit of a penchant for my jizz, and shared whenever they could.

Keira twisted around and sucked me into her mouth, her tongue wrapped around my mushroom head and her full lips enclosed me. As it slid in and out of her mouth, coated with her saliva I tried to reach over and finger Stella but the angle just wasn’t going to work so I just gave up and had to settle for cupping her breasts.

This was fine for me, but I felt bad for her, being the only one not getting any after being deprived of our last session so I moved behind her and gently spread her lips apart, thrusting my tongue into her. She moaned and pushed back, her cries were muffled against Keira’s snatch as I fisted the captain and guided him into her tunnel of love.

With my hands on Stella’s hips I thrust deep into her, she rocked back and forth, she wrapped her arms around Keira’s legs so as I pumped she didn’t need to move her face away. Keira was getting close and I could see the outline of the muscles on her stomach flex as she leant forward, watching, almost mesmerised as the dark haired beauty brought her to orgasm. Stella was having trouble keeping her focus, so caught up was she in the fucking I was giving her, so I slowed right down and let her concentrate on her task.

Holding her steady I eased right out so just my tip was buried inside her, I stayed there for a while, teasing both of us before I pushed back in at the exact same time Keira exploded. She grabbed Stella’s head and pulled her in, my girlfriend grinned as Keira ground her hips into her.

When she had finished she collapsed backwards and Stella rolled onto her back so she could look at me. She reached up and touched my face, ‘I’m close too.’ She said unnecessarily.

I already knew that, and I folded my legs under her, so her butt was sort of resting on my ankles, it was a new trick I had learned. The angle it gave meant that I rubbed just the right spot. Keira had recovered now, and she ran her tongue across the connection between Stella and I.

Stella spasmed and lurched forward, squeezing me tight before collapsing backwards.

I kissed Stella, then Keira and moved gently off the dark haired beauty and back to Keira.
I eased back inside her and resumed my rhythm while Stella and her made out. It was good sex, but it felt a bit disconnected, I guess it was the melancholy of knowing it couldn’t last.

I had been spoiled and I knew it, but all good things come to an end.

Afterwards the three of us laying panting for breath. Keira had her face buried into my chest and refused to look at me. Stella moved over so she was on Keira’s other side and hugged her around the waist.

We barely moved for the whole night, somewhere in between Stella and my hands found each other, but we both held my sister. I think both of us wanted her to know that we loved her and we weren’t leaving her behind.

—

In the morning Keira was back to her normal bright self, we had said out goodbyes in our own way, and she knew I would be back for the holidays, or she would be here. Pepper was still in bed when we got up so I cooked breakfast. Mom and Dad were due down soon, we were going to go out for lunch and they would take Keira back in the afternoon.

Brian hadn’t called, he was probably peeved Keira didn’t want him to stay the night with her, but she didn’t seem fazed, he would always be back when it came to her, whether he wanted to or not.

Of course he did, but that was a story for another day.

Mom and Dad arrived around midday, Mom embraced the three of us, and Dad went for the manly handshake, but I pulled him in for a hug instead. He grunted in approval and hugged me back. ‘I’m proud of you son.’ He said in one of his rare moments of praise.

I grinned, ‘Why, because I hooked in with two rich chicks who can pay the rent?’

He patted my back, ‘Well I certainly didn’t see you sister trying to work a job when she got here, but you know we’re always here if you need us, right?’

I felt a rush of sentiment for my old man. ‘Yeah, Dad, I know.’

We unloaded the rest of mine and Stella’s crap and Pepper finally emerged from bed. She was like Stella, the two of them could probably walk right out of bed onto a catwalk and it wouldn’t make a difference. I had actually said to Stella on several occasions I preferred her face without makeup. She had flawless skin and thick eyelashes that didn’t need any highlighting.

Err but I was talking about Pepper. Anyway she looked good in the mornings as well, and she padded downstairs in a pair of tracksuit pants and a singlet top to greet my folks.

They invited her out to lunch with us but luckily she refused, so they, Keira, Stella and I found a coffee shop down the way where we could sit and chat. Everyone sort of avoided the topic of us not living together any more, we talked about other things, apparently my older sister, Sally, had gotten a big promotion at work and was doing really well and Dad’s work was keeping him busy.

Mom was also working part time as well to keep herself interested, apparently soccer Moms just didn’t do it for her. She was a bit of a free spirit at heart and it didn’t surprise me that talking about the touchdown your son had scored or how much you spent of your husband’s dollars on a skirt didn’t interest her.

She said when she told them her son loved diving and sharks and fighting they looked at her strange and she got offended. That was my mom, she would defend me to the end.

Anyhow, as usual it was great to spend time with my family, and it was a sad affair when night fell and they were heading back home. Keira was dry eyed as she held me before Dad had to guide her off by the shoulder. I waited in the doorway until the car was out of sight, my sister’s face was pressed up against the window the whole time.

---