Virgin on Bourbon Street

He walked back to the hotel to find his parents packed and ready to go. "I was starting to worry," his mother said.

Brian checked his watch. "It's only 11:30, you said noon."

"I know, but I thought you would come back sooner."

Brian shrugged and helped his dad carry their bags down the stairs. "So, what did you see?" his father asked.

"Oh, lots of restaurants and bars, lots of little shops, some really neat houses..."

"How were the beignets?"

"Didn't have any, it was just too crowded. I didn't want to get stuck there and be late getting back."

"Well, at least then you were thinking straight," his mother said.

They took a cab to the airport, sat around for two hours, and then they boarded the 737 for home. Brian sat on the aisle, his long legs stretched out, his mother in the middle, his father by the window.

"I decided something," Brian said. "I'm going to Penn State."

His mother, trying to doze, sat straight up. "I thought we'd decided you would live at home and go to Pitt."

Brian looked straight up the aisle and shook his head. "No. I want to go to Penn State. They have a better business school." He nodded, as though making his decision final. "I'm going to Penn State."

"We'll talk about this later," his mother said.

Brian kept nodding. "I have to send in my acceptance, we should take a drive up there, look around."

From the corner of his eye he saw his mother's head swivel to look at his father. He cleared his throat and said, "Um, if you live at home, you could save up money to buy a car."

"Don't need a car if I go to Penn State. I'd rather go to school there than have a car."

For the next five minutes they made their objections and Brian answered them in a calm, firm voice. When a tense silence fell over them Brian cleared his throat and said, "I've made up my mind."

He waited, not looking at them. The silence lasted a long time. Then his father said, "Well, if that's what you want..."

Brian closed his eyes, let the tension of the day ebb away. What a day. It didn't seem real, that all this could have happened in the course of just a few hours. He felt sleep wrapping its warm arms around him. Everything ended up for the best, in the end.

Except...except that Vanessa and her girls were back in that dank club, laughing at him, laughing at the little boy they'd fucked and fleeced and made a fool of. He'd get his revenge. It would take time, and patience, but it was something to look forward to.

But that was the future. For now, he needed to sleep. And as the engines droned on and on and on, carrying him home, that's exactly what he did.