I fucking didn’t want to come out tonight. Ron’s having a summer party, the guy’s loaded and has more money than sense. His dad’s always away on a business trip, and he constantly turns a blind eye to Ron’s constant house parties. Maybe in a way that constitutes as part of his parenting skills. He’s happy as long as his son is happy. The problem is that Ron’s never happy because he’s constantly bitching about how much money he has, which is never enough. And how much time he has, which again is never enough to do anything that he wants to do.

‘I wanted to spend two weeks in Aspen, and not one.’

Or last summer it was, ‘I wanted to spend three weeks in the Bahamas, not two.’

Always the same fucking boring conversation, which is why I would rather be at home or even at her house putting my arms around her. But there are two people that made me come out.

Number one, my mom.

Number two, her son.

“I still can’t believe that you never came to the lake with us. We’ve been planning that trip all year! What gives man?” Daniel asks as he raises an eyebrow.

Fuck, when did he turn into my mom?

“Daniel, I told you that I wasn’t coming. My grades are crap, and I need to study. I don’t get why you’re making it into such a big deal.”

“Because you told me after you were supposed to be there. We split the gas cost based on you being there. Ron bought the food. Kevin bought the drinks. Everything was split based on you being there, and you just act like it’s nothing. Money doesn’t grow on trees you know?”

Mom had told me that so many times when I was younger. I know that she did it because she was struggling financially and didn’t want me leaving the lights on or anything that would make our bills go a cent over the previous bill. That was the problem when she went back to school to study nursing. She went out of her way to make sure that she could do it. She said that it would mean a better life for us. She’d done that; she put me through college. Bought a house in a nice neighborhood and I’m always grateful because I know that it was tough for her.

“Are you even fucking listening?”

I open my mouth about to say something, but he’s not listening. We’re at Ron’s house. The guy’s fucking loaded that’s why it didn’t bother him about paying my share of the gas, food or drink. I don’t get why it’s rocking Daniel’s boat. It’s not as if it came out of his pocket. If he knew what I’d been doing to his mom then I’d understand him being pissed, but tonight I haven’t got a fucking clue. Then again, I don’t fucking care. I’m on a high, and there’s nothing that can bring me down.

That’s what I thought until I see Bethany heading over in my direction. Shit, does she ever cover up her body? I don’t understand how she could be wearing a bikini and it’s too tight, and everything’s hanging out. She may as well have not bothered wearing a bikini at all. There’s nothing that’s actually in the bikini because it seems as if it’s two pieces of string suffocating the top and bottom half of her body.

She’s heading in my direction, so I move away while her gold strings start moving toward me. I want to talk to Daniel, but he’s gone back in the crowd. I start to feel nervous that he knows about Jennifer and me.

I shake my head at the idea of it. If he did, then he wouldn’t be busting my balls about the trip. He’d be busting it about fucking his mom.

I take a deep breath and start to head in his direction when I pause and see him calling Bethany. Why the fuck can’t I get away from that woman? Besides who the hell invited her, she wasn’t liked, and high school was long over. No one had to invite her, in fear that they wouldn’t be popular anymore.

That’s when I see Daniel slapping Bethany’s butt so hard. They’re both looking at me as he whispers something in her ear. They can flirt or even fuck. I don’t fucking care. Not anymore. I’ve got a real woman at home. Daniel thinks that I’ll be tripping that he’s stepping out of line and doing the one thing that us guys never do. Sloppy seconds is one of our rules. Daniel’s just broken our cardinal rule which works out in my favor because I intend to break mine too and go and visit his mom. Then again, that’s an unspoken rule. Not one that we’ve written down in stone, but I know that if he knew he would be pissed. So, would I. But it’s not my mom I’m thinking about, it’s his.