Freshman Flirt Pt. 03: Promises

This time he nodded more forcefully.

"So the question is, do you understand what might happen if I ask your mom on a date?"

"Yes, sir, I think so. Are you going to ask me if you can go out with her now?"

He looked like he half expected me to ask him, but I shook my head. "Nope, Tad, I'm not. That's strictly up to her."

"Good," he said. "I don't want to have to make decisions like that yet."

***

We had a good afternoon and evening with the kids and Luke. That evening, I invited Mandy to go for a walk with Luke and me.

"I want to go!" squealed Ceilly, forcing Mandy to use the "you've already had your bath" excuse to keep her home and give us a bit of privacy. Tad said he'd play a game with her, and nodded to me when the ladies didn't appear to be looking. I nodded back and Mandy and I stepped out with Luke.

We were walking down the street when she asked, "Did you and Tad have a good talk this afternoon?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Want to tell me about it?"

"Nope, man talk. Lots of grunting, spitting, scratching, and nose-picking and such."

"Hmm, I was watching out the back window and couldn't hear the grunting, but I'm pretty sure my eyes aren't so bad that they missed the rest of that."

"Cavemen actually did it; we modern men do it in code."

She laughed, shaking her head. "I love my son, but sometimes I almost wish I could freeze his development right where it is so he wouldn't have to be clued in on all of your manly ways."

"Sorry, wouldn't work, even if you could. It's genetic, with everything already in there. It just needs the right sets of stimuli to come out. If you were to freeze time, maybe, but that would get pretty boring pretty quick, waiting to take the next breath, savor the next bite, see a pretty girl walk by."

"Why's there always a pretty girl when men try to explain something?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I've got such a pretty one holding my hand on this walk that I couldn't think of downgrading?"

"Ummm, thanks. I think," she said, bumping me playfully. "Seriously, I'd never want to deny Tad the chance to grow up and experience everything. He's a good kid and I'm trying to teach him right and wrong, hoping really hard that he doesn't take after his father in certain areas. His language has even gotten better since you've been here working with him."

"Well, that's good to hear." Remembering my promise, I didn't mention his words or my promise to say nothing about any of it. I gave her a nod and a smile. "Tad has a very level head, Mandy. Keep stressing right and wrong, and I'm pretty sure he'll make you as proud in that area as you are of him in everything else."

"I will...and that's a problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it's a bit--I don't know, ironic?--that Mom, one of the flirtiest, most free-wheeling girls of her time, settles down over the years and turns into a half-way respectable individual, but when she suddenly has the urge to be flirty and carefree again, she's forced to practice restraint?"

Luke must have thought it strange when I stopped suddenly and my head swiveled to focus on Mandy. "What do you mean?"

"Barry, maybe it had something to do with being an only child, but I enjoyed it back then, having guys, you included, pay attention to me. Yes, I was dating Tony Crocker back then, but I loved having the boys look at me with, well, lust in their eyes. Yeah, I knew what they were thinking--I was even thinking it myself with some of them--but I had a boyfriend, which was like a protective shield to keep guys from going too far as long as I didn't. If things started getting too dicey, I'd wrap myself in the 'oh, I've got a boyfriend' excuse and everything would calm down and it would be good again.

"Then one night in Houston when I finally had a new boyfriend, I was flirting with this guy who shook his head and told me I was a 'cock tease.' He said it was hard enough finding the right girl, someone to really care about over time, without having to deal with cock teases, so he didn't want to be my friend anymore. That hurt and I had to reevaluate my life and what I was doing."

"Wow. The guy probably had a point, at least to some degree. What did you do?"

"Apologized to him, for one, and made some changes. I still flirted, but not nearly as much as before, and ended up moving through several relationships through the rest of college and grad school. I met Teddy several years later; there was a bit of flirting at first, but it was fun, on both our parts, and we ended up together for nearly sixteen years over all."

We turned another corner and were back on Mandy's street, approaching her house from the opposite direction. I gave her hand a squeeze. "We're almost back. What did you mean by practicing restraint?"

She gave a little huff. "Barry, I like you and I've been thinking about you...a lot. I didn't realize how easy it was to get attached when you're not trying, but I've gone and done it."

"That's not a bad thing."

"No, but when I invited you to stay, I was actually hoping we could, um, spend the night together tonight. Now, though, that moment of clarity strikes when you realize that restraint has to come into play. I don't think it would be a very good example to Tad, or Ceilly either, for that matter, for us do that, not even counting what legal stunts Teddy might pull if he were to find out. I'm sorry if you thought that, too, but I hope you understand."

I slipped my hand out of hers and looped my arm around her shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze. "Congrats on getting with the program, Sweetheart. As much as I knew I'd like to--assuming, that is, if you wanted to as well--I figured that out when you invited me."

We kissed out next to the garage, out of the view of prying or wandering eyes, knowing that, yes, each of us wanted it as much as the other, but also realizing that it wasn't going to happen. This was no tentative first kiss; it was a rising hunger on both our parts, with our lips playing around and over the others and our tongues dancing together. I was embarrassed as I felt myself rising, too, but she must have noticed and not been upset for she pressed herself against me even harder, making the situation worse.

My hands roamed over her back and one slipped down and cupped her buttock, squeezing her and pressing her against me even more before I realized what I was doing and moved back to a somewhat less risque area, more than a bit embarrassed. Mandy didn't seem to mind though, with her hand cupping my butt and pushing me in a similar manner.

"Wow!" I gasped when we separated, leading us both to laugh as she said the same.

We kissed once more, every bit as passionately as the first, before I escaped to avoid more trouble.

After those kisses, I realized that I was in a lot deeper than I thought, and that Mandy was further along in her post-divorce rehabilitation than I suspected. We were chuckling at our situation when we went in the house to get ready for bed, separate beds, for the night.

***

Luke and I made the trip back up I-59 toward home on Sunday afternoon, with the highway now becoming like an old friend, but one that was more tolerated than really liked. Mandy and I had spent the previous night sleeping in separate bedrooms just feet apart but feeling as if it was as many miles as the distance between Hoover and Signal Mountain. Lots of thoughts had swirled through my mind in the bed throughout the night and it was worse that Sunday afternoon as I drove.

I didn't feel like cooking dinner so I was leaving to go to a nearby restaurant when my phone rang. My problems got worse when I saw the name: Jynx.

"Hi, Bare, it's Jynx Garconi. How are you?"

"Doing well, Jynx, and you?"

"Good, thanks. Say, I know it's been a while but I'm getting off early this evening and was wondering if, maybe, you'd like to get together? For dinner or...something?"

"Jynx, I, ah, appreciate the offer, but, ah, I reconnected with an old friend recently and we're, um, dating now."

"Oh." There was surprise and a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"I'm sorry, but I like her a lot so I have to pass."

"Then you think it might be something special?"

"I don't know, but I'm sort of hoping so."

"Okay. I understand and I hope, for you, that you're right. But you know 'old friends' rarely work out the second time, right? No matter how close they were the first time? If it doesn't work out for you, give me a call and maybe we can commiserate together. You've got my number."

"Thanks, Jynx. Take care."

Maybe it wasn't nice but I hung up without letting her say another word, to add more doubts to those she'd already tried to raise. While it probably shouldn't have, her warning on the phone about old friends rarely working out really bothered me. Mandy and I had been just old friends, not lovers, so perhaps what she was saying didn't apply. Or maybe it did. I didn't know, and thoughts of Jynx's tattoo didn't help, either.

Not able to stop thinking about it all, I took Luke and we went through a drive-through rather than me walking into a sit-down restaurant alone. While on the way home, I came to some decisions.

First, "rarely" was a blanket term that meant nothing on an individual basis.

Second, I liked Mandy a lot, and would do whatever it took to see if we might have a chance together. If it worked out, great, and if it didn't...well, I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.

Finally, as soon as I got home, I blocked Jynx's number on my phone and deleted her from my contacts list.

***

I took care of some yard work after dinner and then checked with Nathan on the little pup. Then came the long wait for Ceilly--and probably Tad--to go to bed before calling Mandy. The hour time-change between us didn't help.

"Hi, Mandy. How's your evening?"

"Kids in bed, I've had a bath, and now I'm relaxed in bed with a good book, a better glass of wine, and a great guy on my phone with me. How do you think it is?"

"Aww, thank you," I replied, "and I'm glad for you on the rest. Sounds like fun." I hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was too much, but the words spilled out. "Wish I was there with you."

"Oh, Barry, I wish you were, too. You could take over for me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"Just drawing. Or maybe I should say tracing. Little circles. Over and over," she said before giving a little moan.

It had been years since Liz and I had teased each other on the phone, since well before her marriage, so it was a shock as the realization hit me and my dick hardened, all thoughts of Jynx's warning forgotten for the moment. "Mandy!" I exclaimed.

That led her to laugh. "Thank goodness! He gets it...and can join in if he'd like."

It wasn't what I wanted most by any means, but after the frustration of the previous night and considering it was with Mandy, it was something. I unbuckled my belt and dropped my shorts before climbing into bed, resting against a small mountain of pillows propped against the headboard. The cool blast of the ceiling fan caused a shiver and I settled down.

"What's happening, Mandy? Talk to me, Sweetheart."

"It's really nice when you call me that, and makes me feel...special...wanted."

"Oh, you are special, and I do want you, Mandy. So much. In fact, I didn't even realize how much until I was with you last night. I've been happier spending time with you in recent weeks than I've been in years, maybe even forever. I look forward to seeing you every weekend, and I'm sad that it will be so many days before I see you again when I'm coming home on Sunday."

"I cried when you left this afternoon," she whispered with a tiny moan following. "I used to play the flirt, the one who toyed with guys' feelings for the fun of it, to get a rise from them, and to be able to smile at all the attention, but I think I understand better now and feel bad about it, at least to some degree. Watching you drive away and realizing that there's nothing I can do about it makes me suspect I feel like some of those guys when I played with their feelings and pranced away. Now, I'm left doing the same thing some of them probably did when they got back to their rooms. Mmmm. Different hardware aside, of course."

I chuckled, imagining her in my arms, her grip engulfing me as we rocked together, long fluid strokes, slow and steady, bottoming deep within her before the sweet withdrawal, feeling her walls collapsing on me as I came out before pushing them open again as I drove back inside.

"I wish I were with you, Mandy, kissing you, caressing you, doing everything I could to make you feel good and alive."

"Where, Barry, where would you kiss me?"

"Your lips, your cheek, your lobes and neck, and probably your shoulders, too."

"Not my breasts? Mmmm. You wouldn't want to kiss my boobies...mmmm...and make my nipples hard for you?"

"Yeah, but I'd be holding you tight to me, with your breasts pressed flat against me so I could feel those beautiful nipples pressed hard against me. They'd rock around like soft cushions as we made love, but I'd be sure to give them as much love and affection as they could want, both before and after."

"That sounds so nice, but Barry, I need you now, I'm getting close. Please, harder. Fuck me harder and faster, and make me come?"

"Yes, Mandy, as hard and as fast as you want it. I'm there for you, giving it to you, trying to make you come."

Her moans were soft and quiet, but increasing swiftness as she did what she imagined I was doing to her and I did the same for her. It was some seconds later that I heard the long moan, telling me she'd gotten to where she needed, and I was just a few more pumps behind her with my own.

I lay back, thinking of holding her in my arms as we lived those moments of bliss together snuggled together, but her voice brought me back to reality a few seconds later. "Barry, thank you, dear. That was wonderful. You sleep well, okay."

"You, too, Mandy, and thank you. Good night."

There in the bed, I thought of the promises I'd made to Mandy and her son. Finally, I had real hope that I'd be able to keep both.

End of Part 3

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Follow-up Note

Thanks for reading and for your votes, favorites, comments, and follows. All are appreciated!

The final part of "Freshman Flirt" will follow in a few days.

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