At breakfast the next morning Ciara took an opportunity with Mom out of the room to kiss me on the cheek again and whisper another thank you. I whispered back, “Someone has to look out for you because you aren’t.” She scowled at me and sat down next to me.
She left for classes at college. She was finding her freshman year classes to be more difficult than high school. I kissed Mom and jumped in my car and drove myself to my high school. I always did better in school than Ciara but I studied and she didn’t.
The next Wednesday came around and everything went just the same as every other Wednesday. Mom and Dad left and Ciara went to the door to the deck and brought the guy waiting there into the kitchen. I was in the family room expecting Ciara to drag the guy up the stairs but she towed him into the family room and they sat down. I looked confused at Ciara and she started laughing. It was a private joke and the guy let it go. Ciara introduced him as Jake. He was in some of her college freshman classes although he was a senior. I offered him a beer and we all sat around drinking and talking. He seemed to be a nice guy and not someone who just wanted into Ciara’s pants although I could certainly understand that line of thinking.
I kept waiting for Ciara to drag him up the stairs but she didn’t make a move. We talked and visited together for three hours and by then it was too late before Mom and Dad would be home. It was late when he stood up and said he needed to go. He had an important exam tomorrow. He expressed his pleasure to meet me and Ciara led him to the back door. They kissed for a long time and when he left she came in and threw herself down on the couch beside me and said, “Well. Since you are my self-appointed savior, what do you think of Jake?”
I said, “It seems that the fact that he isn’t all about fucking means he is interested in you and not your body and that’s no small deal considering your body.” Ciara punched my gently in the arm and got up to leave.
She got half-way across the room and she stopped and turned around and posed sexily for me and said, “Do you think I have a nice body Connor?”
I looked at her pose and said, “Duh. I’m not retarded. You and Mom have always been the most beautiful women in the world to me and don’t you dare tell Mom I said that.” Ciara giggled again and ran up the stairs to her room. I turned off the TV, which had been muted all evening and sat there studying until Mom and Dad came home. They didn’t realize I was in the family room and they were grab-assing and kissing like teenagers. I acted like I hadn’t seen them and they stopped when then saw me. Dad went straight to their room. Mom came in and kissed me good night and then went upstairs to say goodnight to Ciara just like every night. I noticed that Mom’s clothes were all askew. Her blouse was miss-buttoned and she wasn’t wearing the pantyhose that she had on when they left. I had a fleeting thought about what that was all about. I turned out the lights downstairs and went up to my room.