A Lesson in Family

This is a bit of a slow burn, but I think it is a wonderful story of love and family. I hope you enjoy it. As always, all people having sex are over 18 and are consenting. If you are looking for a quick wank, or nothing but sex, this is probably not for you. If you are looking for a love story with character development and some hot steamy sex that fits the story, the please read on.

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How had it happened, this thing with me and Carla, Carla Swanson, goddess, head cheerleader, student body president, valedictorian of our class and me, Constantine Conners, loser?

It's hard to explain, and to be fair to myself, loser is a bit harsh. Yeah, I didn't have it great, but I was near the top of my class academically, it's just I was living with my uncle Rick, my only family. He was an ex-con who managed an all-night bookstore, you know the kind you see along the interstate in that part of town, the one with the huge neon sign with the three X's on it; him and his girlfriend Britney, she had an online thing she did where people paid to see her naked and to do things to herself. The apartment was small but clean and had walls so thin, it might as well have been a single room.

To his credit, Rick was trying, it's just hard finding a job decent people would take and that paid a real living wage when you've been in prison for ten years. He had taken on a couple of extra shifts when child protective services dropped me on his doorstep last spring, he wanted to make sure I had clothes and school supplies. He also absolutely forbade me from ever coming anywhere near his work or his friends. Britney was pretty cool, and I sometimes got to see her naked, which for a guy my age was awesome, she was the one thing uncle Rick had going for him and she was smoking hot.

I said loser because, well, our apartment was just inside the Ridgemont school district; Rick had done some serious negotiating to get me into this school and where most of my classmates wore designer clothes and had their parent's drivers drop them off or showed up in their own BMW's, I wore whatever we could find at the Salvation Army Thrift Store and rode my bike everywhere; not a Yamaha or a Harley, a used Schwinn I had rebuilt from pieces I found in the trash behind our building, so, yeah, relatively speaking, loser with a capital "L."

I had been in school last spring just long enough to learn the players and find my place securely at the bottom of the food chain, and at 5'7" and 135#, I was prime meat for any bullies that needed a target.

And then came Carla, day one of my senior year, I was cutting across the parking lot, trying to not be late, when I cut in front of a white BMW convertible taking the last primo spot in the lot, she honked and smiled at me, and I almost lost it jumping the curb and power sliding up to the bike rack like I had planned it.

First period was A.P. Physics, Mr. Carlson, I was looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time, we would have a yearlong lab and that meant I would have a lab partner which meant I had to work with an actual person and not hide in the library by myself.

There were no desks, just lab stations and none of them were assigned, Mr. Carlson had a system through which we got to choose our own partners, starting alphabetically, I would be third.

Constantine Conners, he called my name and I looked around the room.

"Just call next, nobody wants to partner with loser Connie," It was Billy Walters, Mr. Carlson called him out for being rude and most of the class laughed at the way he feminized my name.

"Um, Mr. Carlson, I'll partner with Constantine, she said it like a slight lift on the end as if to emphasize the importance of proper pronunciation. When Carla Swanson spoke, everybody in the school got quiet, especially people like Billy and even a few teachers. She was THE alpha in the school, and she wanted to partner with me, go figure. I looked up from the spot on the floor I had been staring at, pulling my long dirty brown hair out of my eyes, her smile was like a second sun had suddenly appeared in the sky.

"Um, yeah, thanks, that'll be cool," I gave a weak smile in return not fully realizing that with that one gesture, she had made me effectively bulletproof.

I had seen her around school last year of course, her and Amber Wright, her bestie, and a few other girls that thought if they hung out with her and pandered to her, she'd make them as cool as she was. Those girls came and went, but it was always Carla and Amber.

She was so untouchable, I had never paid her any attention other than to try and stay out of her way, all those teen drama movies I had seen had me primed for the abuse someone like her could dish out, so I hugged the walls and tried to be as small as I could, I was so good at it that some of my teachers didn't even know who I was.

And then Carla had said she'd be my lab partner in Mr. Carlson's physics class and my world turned on its head.

Lunch came and I grabbed the little brown paper bag from my locker and headed for the lunchroom to eat as fast as I could and head to the library to bury myself in Narnia for a precious few minutes, I had just started 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' for the third time.

"Constantine, "Carla stood up and waved at me across the cafeteria, from the looks of things, she had saved a seat for me. Casting nervous glances, waiting for the punchline, I shuffled across the room to take the seat, right next to her.

I had totally misjudged Carla. She wanted to know how I learned to do that neat trick on my bike, what my parents did, and seemed sincerely sorry when I told her they were gone. She asked what I was reading, commenting that the beavers were her favorite characters and that the White Which was a total bitch. I found out that she had spent the summer volunteering at a summer camp for disabled children, by the end of lunch, if she had sprouted a halo, grown wings, and flown out the window I would not have been surprised, she was the single nicest and most down-to-earth person I had ever met. The irony was that her father was the federal judge that had sent Rick to prison.

And so, it began, Carla, Amber and me, of all people, we became The Three Musketeers. Carla didn't care that my pants were always a size or two too big and that my shirts never seemed to fit right, she didn't care that I didn't remember the last time I had gotten a haircut, even occasionally using her finger to push it back behind my ear so she could see my eyes; I liked it when she did that.

After six weeks of her infectious attitude, I found that I didn't care about my baggy pants or my ill fit shirts quite as much either, it was just my style.

Carla never once commented on things like my ever-present peanut butter sandwich and half a zip lock bag of chips for lunch, though she would slide her apple or banana across the table to me if she caught me eyeing it. We worked together wonderfully, and she was just as smart as she was everything else, as good as I thought I was at physics, she was better, she even helped me with my AP pre-calc a time or two.

"Saturday, you, me, my house. All day work session on our project, no excuses," Carla smiled at me.

I tried to think of anything to not have to go, but I knew nothing I said would work, it was happening; I was meeting her parents, not like we were dating, but they were rich, her father was a federal judge, for chrissakes, and I was, well, me. David to the lion's den, "Um, yeah, sure."

"I'll have Martha make up a bunch of snacks and we can work until it's all done. So, ten"? I can have William come and pick you up if you'd like."

She had a housekeeper and a driver, was she that clueless at how different our worlds were, I could hear the voice screaming in the back of my head.

9:57, I pulled up the curved drive to the house on my bike, impressive, but it wasn't the massive marble mansion I had envisioned. "Go on inside, Mr. Conners, Carla is waiting for you in the kitchen with my Martha," he got up from the flower bed he as tending, pulled his glove off and reached out to shake my hand, "I'm William, let me know of you need anything, won't you?"

"Um, yes sir," I shook his hand and froze when my hand touched the door handle.

"Go on, son, nothing in there's going to bite you," he laughed as he went back to his flowers.

"Carla, William said to just come in," I shouted as I opened the door.

'Great, you're here," I heard her bare feet hitting the hardwood floors as she rounded the corner at a slow run, her smile just as beautiful as that first day of class. She was wearing pink short-shorts and a tank top that almost covered her midriff with her hair up in a ponytail, I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful. I was in my standard baggy jeans and oversized t-shirt, she didn't even care.

Making our way to the kitchen, she introduced me to Martha, "Lunch at one and maybe some snacks later?" Carla smiled at Martha, her voice asking, not telling.

"I hear you're an aficionado of peanut butter and jelly, Mr. Conners, or is there something else you would prefer?" Martha was just as nice as William.

'Um, whatever you're making for Carla is fine with me," I stammered as Carla grabbed my arm and dragged me up to her study room.

Carla hadn't been kidding, as much as I enjoyed being with her, this was a workday, we went over our notes and got on the computer to do more research, we made posters and started pulling our project together. Two large cobb salads magically appeared with two glasses of perfectly sweetened tea and we took a break.

Stopping only long enough to eat, we went right back to work, Carla was a slave driver, and I was loving every minute of it. The only problem was when we got into the final construction of the project, my baggie shirt kept getting in the way, and it started to bother her that I had to stop and pull my pants up every few minutes.

"Ok, Constantine, I like you just the way you are, I really do, but this isn't working. Follow me," it wasn't a request. We went down a short hallway into a room fit for a princess, it was hers, so what else should I have suspected.

Carla was maybe an inch taller than me, if that much and about the same size, what she was about to propose was so far from anything I had ever thought of, I almost ran.

Rummaging through a closet bigger than my whole room, she dropped several pair of jeans on the bed and a stack of t-shirts, "We're almost the same size, see if anything fits, I'll be right back with some snacks from the kitchen, again, it wasn't a request.

Carla left me to it, I started with the shirts, simple generic t-shirts, some from bands I liked and others simple single-colored shirts in indiscriminate colors; I picked and old Rolling Stones shirt, the one with the lips and tongue, and pulled it on, it fit perfectly.

I picked up a pair of the jeans, they were plain, normal blue jeans, nothing fancy or special, no elaborate needle work or rhinestones, just jeans. The first pair were a bit too tight, so I tried on the second, better, in fact I liked the snug fit. The only problem was the massive mushroom my boxers made above the top of the jeans, they fit at my hips.

"That is not a good look on, like, anybody, "Carla laughed, 'but I like the shirt. With her help, we found some jeans that fit and even though my boxers still bunched over the top of the jeans, the t-shirt covered it up and we were able to get back to work on our project without my constant wardrobe failures.

"How's it going you two?" I looked over to see a very elegant and beautiful woman in the doorway.

'Great mom, in fact, almost done. This is Constantine, my lab partner I told you about,"

"Nice to meet you Constantine, Carla mentions you often," Mrs. Swanson smiled at me and reached out to shake my hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Swanson," I shook her hand and blushed, did Carla really talk about me to her mom?

"Will you be joining us for dinner, Constantine, I'll need to let Martha know to set another place?"

"Yes," Carla practically screamed before I could answer.

"Um, I don't know, I'm on my bike and I don't like to ride that far after dark," I could feel the knot in my stomach growing. I knew it wasn't an issue, Rick was at work and Britney usually had lots of shows to do on Saturdays, so me not being there actually helped her. Whatever frozen dinner I would have pulled from the freezer would still be there tomorrow.

"Nonsense, William will be happy to give you a ride, I'm sure. I'll let Martha know, then," and she was gone. I had the feeling I would have had even worse luck trying to tell her no than I had her daughter.

Carla and I put the finishing touches on our project and just looked at each other, "Carla, what am I..."

"Constantine listen..." we started talking at the same time, laughing, and then talking over each other twice more as we tried to tell the other to go first, Carla just kissed me and said everything that needed to be said.

"Since last year when you first showed up, but you were so shy and always seemed to be avoiding me, that's why I wanted to be your lab partner," she admitted. I told her about my irrational fear of the movie stereotype and of course my insecurities about my clothes and everything ese.

"Well, if it's just about your clothes, I think we have a partial solution," I recognized the look in her eyes and knew whatever it was, it was going to happen. We were back in her room going through her closet finding three more pair of jean and a dozen shirts that I could wear, and nobody would ever suspect they were hers. From the size of her closet, she wasn't going to miss them either.

"Only one thing," she looked at me," do you trust me?" I nodded and she went to her dresser, digging in the top drawer for a few minutes coming back with a handful of what looked like briefs, "Boy shorts, they even look kind of like guys briefs," she handed them to me and except for the soft pastel colors of some of them, I had to admit they did.

"You can go in the closet and close the door to try them on, I promise, nobody will be able to tell, and no more mushroom," how could I say no to that smile?

Of course, I chose the white ones, the fake fly on the front was comforting and I had to admit the fabric was soft and felt good against my skin, even the snug fit felt nice, holding everything neatly in place and making the jeans fit better when I pulled them back on. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and walked out, Carla was smiling from ear to ear, she had already put my baggy clothes and everything we had picked out into a medium sized duffle.

I don't know that I had ever been as flat out scared as I was at dinner, Carla called her father daddy and he seemed like a nice enough normal guy, but he was the judge that had put my uncle in prison and his daughter, hie perfect, beautiful, only daughter had just kissed me, not to mention, I was convinced that everybody at the table knew exactly what I was wearing and who it belonged to.

"Constantine," the voice sounded a little perturbed.

I shook my head and looked across the table at Mr. Swanson, "I'm sorry sir, I'm just a little nervous, what were you saying?" my god I was so busted, he was going to eat me alive.

"Actually, I was just asking if you were a Stones fan, I like the shirt."

"To be honest, Mr. Swanson, this is, um Carla's. I borrowed it because mine kept getting in the way when we were working on our project," I had no idea why I told him he truth, anything had to be better than me wearing his daughter's clothes, "But, yeah, I mean, yes sir, I do like their music," I felt like I was going to faint.

"Well, that is a first," he laughed, "I admire your honesty, not many men your age would admit to their girlfriend's father that they were borrowing her clothes, even it was just a t-shirt, and Constantine, please relax, you are our guest and If Carla likes you, so do I."

"Thank you, sir," he said girlfriend, I smiled and looked at Carla, letting out a sigh so loud it got Martha's attention.

The rest of dinner went without incident and when it was time to go, Mr. Swanson walked me out to William's truck not batting an eye when Carla kissed me again before running back inside.

"You know she's my little girl and I expect you to treat her like a lady?"

"Yes sir, I will."

"Is there something else bothering you Constantine?"

I looked at the ground kicking at an imaginary rock, "It's just that well, um," I didn't know what to say.

"Go ahead, I've probably heard it before, you hear a lot of things when you do what I do."

"Yes sir, it's just that my uncle, um, Rick Conners, you um, you sent him to prison a long time ago and I live with him, and I just really like Carla and she's so nice to me and I don't want to mess this up and ..." I was babbling.

"Does Carla know about your uncle?"

"I don't think so. She knows I don't have very much, and she likes me anyway. Like I said," I could feel the tears welling in my eyes, "I really don't want to mess this up."

"Well, from the way Carla acts around you, I think you're doing ok, and the thing about your uncle, let's talk the next time you come over, ok?"

I nodded and climbed into the truck.

Dropping the duffel on the floor, I collapsed onto my bead letting out a muffled scream and not even trying not to smile, I was Carla Swanson's boyfriend, could life get any better?

Something buzzed, and buzzed again, I found the cell phone in the duffle," Hello."

"Hi, did you get home ok?" it was Carla.

"Whose phone is this, did you drop it in the bag by accident?"

"No silly, it's yours. I noticed you didn't have one and when I talked to my mom about you being my boyfriend, well, we got it for you, you're on my data plan, so we can call and text each other like couples do," One more time I just went with it, doubting that I was ever going to be able to tell Carla no about pretty much anything, we talked for over an hour and then exchanged texts until we both fell asleep, this boyfriend thing was nice.

Sundays were Rick's day off and he and Britney disappeared while I got caught up on all my schoolwork. I had an English paper to write and tons of calc, which gave me the opportunity to call Carla a few times. By the time Rick and Britney got home, I was completely caught up and was chilling on the couch, watching a movie, sort of, and texting Carla.

They didn't notice that my clothes actually fit or that I was smiling or that my hair was actually pulled back out of my face, all Rick could see was the phone, "Where do you get that? Whose phone did you steal? Everything I do for you to keep you from ending up like me and this is what you go and do," he was livid.

"Rick, it's not like that, my girlfriend, her parents got it for me so we could call and text and stuff, that's all. I promise," he grabbed the phone and started scrolling through the texts realizing that I was telling the truth.

"Your girlfriend?" Britney was smiling, "Con Con," she was the only one that called me that," has a girlfriend, well how awesome is that? Is she cute?"

Rick showed Britney one of the pictures Carla had sent me, handing the phone back to me, Britney grinned, "Nice job Con Con." Rick was grinning, too.

They had brought China Café takeout home with them, so we set the table and ate all at the same time for possibly the first time since I had moved in. When the conversation got around to who Carla really was, it got interesting. Rick handled the news I was dating the daughter of the man that sent him to prison better than I expected. I told them that Judge Swanson knew Rick was my uncle and I live with him but nothing else. For another first, we talked about Rick's job and his friends and Britney's online activity and what it meant to me, agreeing that nothing was going to change in the short term, but we might need to figure something out.