Lexi has only been here one evening but I can tell Mom loves her. Whenever I bring a girl over, it’s easy to tell what Mom thinks. If Mom likes the girl, she’ll stick around and entertain; if not she pretends she’s busy with other things. When Izzy came over, Mom spent entire evenings baking and sewing. Once, Izzy had requested to take a ride on a horse. Mom unexpectedly explained that she had to make a trip to town. My mother rarely goes into town. She has her groceries delivered to her and when she does go shopping, she stocks up, so she won’t need to go out again in weeks. Naturally, she came back from her ‘trip’ with nothing.

My only worry now is Elena. She has never liked any girl I’ve brought home. She can be snarky toward them, too. She often disregards mostly everything they say. Mom has told Elena countless times to be polite. But to Elena, the girls I bring home are a nuisance. Her biggest complaint is that she doesn’t want to get to liking any of the girls because my ‘girlfriends go through a revolving door.’ It’s not true. I’ve had several girlfriends, but I’ve never taken a girl home that I hadn’t been serious about.

Elena makes it home before dinner. She quietly enters the house. It appears she doesn’t want any kind of attention drawn to her. Mom, Lexi, and I are sitting on the couches, waiting for dinner to finish baking in the oven.

“Elena, sweetie,” Mom says brightly, popping up from the couch. “You’re finally home! Now I have both my babies with me again.” She runs over and throws her arms around Elena’s shoulders. Elena gives Mom an awkward hug. She’s never been very affectionate. She looks over into the living room and notices Lexi as she removes her scarf. “Who’s that?” she asks Mom loud enough for both Lexi and I to hear. I roll my eyes.

“I thought I told you, honey. That’s Lexi Driver. Brett brought her as a guest for the holidays,” Mom mumbles.

“Wait. Right.” A knowing expression appears on Elena’s face. “You’re that girl that did Brett’s interview earlier this year?!”

“Yes.” Lexi rises extending her arm.

“Didn’t watch the interview myself.” Elena shakes Lexi’s hand. “But I know Brett was upset about that whole thing.” Elena looks over at me with her know-it-all expression, “Finally realized that it was not her fault but the camera guy’s, huh, Brett?”

Lexi beams. “Oh my God. Thank you! You won’t believe how much flack I got over that. I couldn’t walk anywhere in New York for a solid week without some stranger making a comment about it.”

“You’ve forgiven Brett, then?” Elena asks. “He wanted to lay the blame squarely on you. Mom told me he had refused to do interviews with you.”

Lexi giggles, “I think he was a little embarrassed … and angry.”

“Mostly embarrassed, though,” Elena says, teasing. “Aw poor, Brett. Did you manage to get the camera guy out of the locker rooms when you realized it wasn’t Lexi’s fault.”

Lexi throws up her hands. “No! Mike is still there, doing the interviews with me.”

DING

All our eyes go to the kitchen. “That will be the turkey.” Mom gets up and scurries to the kitchen.

“Mom, it’s not even Christmas day. You’ve already got a turkey cooked?” asks Elena in disbelief.

“Well, I figured we could eat the turkey tonight, have turkey sandwiches tomorrow. Then we’ll have ham on Christmas day,” Mom says in her cheery voice.

Elena hangs up her coat in the closet. “You don’t have to go to all this trouble to make Christmas pleasant, Mom.”

“Do you need any help?” Lexi offers. “I can set the table if you’d like.”

Mom is speechless momentarily. “Oh. Yes, honey. Uh, the plates are in the cupboard over there,” she says, pointing at the corner cabinet.

Lexi follows Mom into the kitchen.

Elena’s eyes widen, “Whoa.” She saunters over to the couch, her suitcase rolling behind her. She bends down next to me, her voice lowering, “A girlfriend that doesn’t expect Mom to wait on her hand and foot like you do.”

“Shush. Mom likes to look after us.”

“She also likes to be appreciated too, Brett. It wouldn’t kill you to pitch in, didn’t take Lexi long to figure that out.”

“Give me your suitcase, I’ll take it up to your room.” The last thing I want to do is piss off Elena. She’s sharp with her tongue and I don’t want Lexi seeing that in the first few days if I can help it. I snatch the suitcase out of her hand and take it up the flight of stairs and into her room. When I come back down, Lexi, Mom, and Elena are bringing plates and serving bowls to the table.

The rest of the evening runs smoothly. Lexi played her cards right with Elena, too. During dinner, she struck up a conversation with her. It was interesting. I had never noticed it until today, but most girls I’ve brought home, have barely said two words to Elena.

“So, Brett tells me you live in L.A.,” Lexi says. “He told me you were working in marketing and trying to be a writer. Hoping to pen the next great American novel?”

“No, actually. I’m hoping to get into writing for television or the big screen,” Elena says, timid.

“Do us all a favor and come up with something original,” Lexi says. “It’s hard to find a good television show or movie these days.”

Elena smiles, she can sense Lexi’s genuine interest. “I’m hoping to be a part of something big someday. You know, a show people get so addicted to that they binge-watch the series, or it gets syndicated.”

“Syndicated? What does that mean?” Mom asks, putting a heaping spoonful of potatoes on her plate.

“Oh, you know how some shows are so successful, networks take the shows and have them run old seasons for years,” answers Lexi. “That’s when you know you’ve come up with something truly original.”

“Oh,” Mom says.

The rest of the night was better than I could have dreamed possible. After dinner and a couple of glasses of wine, we ended up playing a couple board games. It was Lexi’s suggestion, after Mom asked if we wanted to watch my football game from last week.

“No thanks,” Lexi answered. “Sorry, Brett, but this is my break. I’m trying to get away from work. I can get back to researching all that stuff when I get back to New York.”

Elena and Mom looked at one another and laughed. Elena’s eyes bulged. “A girl that isn’t all about your job, Brett.”

“What?” Lexi asked, abashed. “It’s my job, too. Kinda. I’m sure you won’t be doing much writing over the holiday, Elena.”

Mom’s eyes twinkled as she looked at me and Elena. “No. Writers live and breathe their craft every hour of the day. Just like athletes.”

“Or horse enthusiasts,” Elena said.

Lexi giggled, “Guess I’m the only lazy one here. How about we play some board games?”

We played Scrabble and Apples to Apples. Elena won Scrabble, but Lexi was a close second. By the end of Apples to Apples, we were all in stitches, and breathing hurt. It was past midnight before we finally decided to call it a night.

“Oh,” Mom says, noticing the time. “I should have gone to bed hours ago. I have to get things prepared for Christmas day.”

“Mom, Christmas isn’t for another three days.” Elena groans.

“I know. But it is past midnight. The horses will need tending to in the morning. She rises from the couch.

“Oh cool, can I help?” Lexi offers.

“That requires getting up at the crack of dawn,” I say, reminding her.

“I don’t mind.” Lexi shrugs. “I don’t have anything else to do.”

I bite my bottom lip. I plan on sneaking into Lexi’s room after we go to bed. We clean up the games and set the bottles and glasses by the sink. Everyone goes their separate ways. Once I reach my room, I quickly strip down to my boxers. I’m itching to have Lexi. But I have to wait until I know Elena is done in the bathroom and is in her bedroom. Elena is across the hall from Lexi’s room. Elena knows how Mom feels about me having sex with my girlfriends under her roof. Once I hear silence, I sneak off to the bathroom. I want to make sure Elena isn’t in there or in the hall before I make my way to Lexi. I’ve heard so many doors open and shut in the last fifteen minutes, it’s hard to know for certain if Elena is in her room. I spend several minutes in the bathroom. After washing my hands, I leave and stand in the hallway, waiting and listening. The crack between the floor and Elena’s door is emitting a dim light. She’s probably writing at her desk again with the lamp on. Safe enough for me. Lexi’s lights are out. But I doubt she’s passed out yet. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me rousing her to satisfy any urges she may have. I’m light on my feet as I approach her door. There’s a faint creaking sound in the floor as I put my hand on the knob.

“Mom likes her you know,” a voice behind me whispers.

Elena.

“What’s your point?” I ask, turning to her.

“Thought you should keep that in mind, Bretty bear,” Elena says smugly.

“Then do Lexi a favor and don’t say anything,” I mutter before she shuts her door.

I sigh. This is so unfair. Chances are, Mom will figure out if Lexi and I fool around. She has her ways. Damn. I release the knob and walk back to my room in sexual frustration. Despite making good coin and being able to have any woman in America at my whim, I’ll have to go back to my room and rub one out like some horny, sexually repressed teenager. I want to keep Lexi in my Mom’s good books.