Coda 01 - Promises

lips were at the top of my patch of hair. The attempt to distract me was proven successful when I said, “He’s on, hang here.” He started laughing against my stomach as I handed him the phone.
    But the happy look left his face pretty fast once he started talking. I figured out right away that it was his mother and was surprised that he had given them my number. Then I realized he didn’t really live at the apartment anymore, so maybe it made sense.
    He was sitting up now. “No, Mom, I wish you wouldn’t. We’re really busy right now. It’s just not a good time.” Oh shit. I knew by the look he was giving me that his feelings were the same. “Are you renting a car, or do you need me to pick you up?” He put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. The remainder of the conversation was nothing but one word answers on his end. “Yes. Yes. Right. Okay. Bye.” He dropped the phone, and his head fell almost to the level of his knees.
    “Fuck, Jared. This is bad.”
    Despite his obvious distress, I found that I wasn’t too worried about any of it. It would only be for a few days, and then we would be back to normal. And lately, “normal” for us was unbelievably good. Now that we weren’t fighting anymore, everything felt perfect. Nothing could darken my mood much. So my voice was light as I asked, “They’re coming to visit?”
    “Yes.”
“For Christmas?”
“Yes.”
“When do they get here?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“How long will they be here?”
“A week.”
    Neither of us spoke for a minute, but finally I said, as gently as I could, “You don’t want them to know, do you?”

    “I’m sorry.” It came out a whisper.
    “After all that shit you gave me about being willing to face people?” But I said it teasingly. I knew what his father was like. I knew how hard it would be for him. I couldn’t be mad at him for wanting to avoid it.
    “I know,” he said quietly.

    “Your Dad’s gonna totally ruin Christmas.” I was still teasing, trying to cheer him up.
    “I know .” I was happy to hear that it seemed to be working. “And Lizzy is going to blow a fucking gasket.”
    “I KNOW!” There was at least a hint of laughter in his voice now.
    But he still hadn’t looked at me. I got down on my knees in front of him and put my hands on his shoulders. I waited for him to look up at me and smiled at him.
    “It’s okay,” I told him.

    He shook his head. “It’s not okay. I’m being a hypocrite. Why aren’t you pissed at me?”

    “Because your Dad’s an angry, belligerent, antagonistic asshole.”

    He laughed just a little. “First time I’ve ever had reason to be happy about that.”
    I rubbed the top of his head playfully. “Cheer up. It’s not so bad. It sucks that we can’t spend Christmas together. And I’ll hate not seeing you for a week. But we’ll get through this. It’ll be fine.”
    Finally, he relaxed and even smiled a little. “You’re really okay with this?”

    “I promise.”

    He pulled me against him tight enough to take my breath away.

    “Thank you.”

    I turned and kissed his cheek and then pulled back so I could look at him.
    “I assume you’re going to stay at the apartment while they’re here?” His lease wasn’t up yet, and although it sucked that he still had to pay the rent, it was definitely going to make things easier.
    “I’ll have to. The motel they use is right across the street. I don’t know what to do about the phone, though. I gave them this number. But if they try to call me from the motel….”
    “I’ll forward the phone to your old number.” It wasn’t like anybody ever called for me anyway.
    I was thinking about the fact that we only had two nights together before we would be sleeping alone again for a week. “You wait here,” I told him. I went back to the bedroom and got the lube and then came back and knelt again in front of him, between his knees. He was looking at me with one eyebrow up and half a grin on his face.
    “What are you up to?”

    I pushed him back on the couch and started to undo his pants. “I thought I’d give you a reason to hurry home.”

    “You think I don’t already have a reason?” he asked with some amusement. But he lifted his hips and let me slide his pants off.
    I just smiled at him. “Now you’ll have two.” I pulled him toward me, so that his ass was almost starting to hang off of the couch. Always, I had to start at the amazing, alluring trail of hair