M Club Ch. 19

She was stark naked in her boyfriend's house with his parents, at this very moment, walking in through the front door. She ran a hand across her breasts. Crazy, empowered, sexually potent. This was the Lisa she'd known lurked, deep beneath her prim and self-conscious façade.

Wait, boyfriend? How'd that idea cross her mind? The very notion slipped right into her chaotic mix of emotions - what she had, what she wanted, and what she feared.

Voices came up the stairs, reminding her she needed to focus on making herself decent. She quickly blotted as much of the mess from her panties as she could with toilet paper, then flushed it away. Even hearing muted voices coming from downstairs, Lisa found herself procrastinating getting dressed. She felt so deliciously naughty being naked. What would it be like to get caught?

She shook her head. Enough. She and Sean, and the rest of the M Club, had done more than enough flirting with risk recently. Hell, they'd gone past flirting and right to the whole enchilada when the principal caught them in the most compromising of positions. If she wasn't careful, this willingness to indulger her fantasies could get her in a lot more trouble than it already had.

Lisa dressed, almost reluctantly, and washed her hands and face. Over the last few minutes, her complexion had returned to something resembling normalcy. She felt as ready as she could to face his family.

She opened the bathroom door and found Sean's mom standing in his bedroom doorway. They'd been talking softly enough she hadn't even been aware of Mrs. Gregg's presence. At Lisa's appearance in the hallway, she turned and gave a nod of acknowledgment.

"Hello, Lisa," she said. "Hope you're doing alright. Sean mentioned that Den isn't exactly on speaking terms with you, either, right now."

How much else had they shared since the incident? Lisa thought she probably should have asked, but at this point she also trusted Sean enough to do the right thing. It shouldn't have been any surprise that his mom would know about Sean and Den not talking.

Lisa shrugged. "Doing okay, I guess. She's at least responding to a couple of my texts once in a while. Maybe with a little more time."

Mrs. Gregg opened her mouth to say something, then hesitated. "I hope so."

There was a hint of something unsaid in her voice, like Lisa was being judged but Mrs. Gregg was going out of her way to hide that fact. Did she suspect something more in Lisa's presence here? She'd certainly have every right to. It made Lisa feel guiltier for what she and Sean had just done. Why had she been so foolish as to think coming over here was a good idea? Because she wanted Sean and her best friend, the only one she'd ever felt comfortable unloading on, was shutting her out.

Lisa changed gears. "I never got a chance to thank you for the other day. I'm not sure what you said to Principal Weimer, but..."

She didn't want to open that can of worms, but unlike Denby she felt openly acknowledging it was the best way to move on. And she did feel grateful to Sean's mom.

Mrs. Gregg's mouth tightened just a bit, but she still made a small smile. "We all make mistakes. As long as we learn from them, I think that's enough."

Lisa got the hint. "Yeah."

"I was about to start dinner," Mrs. Gregg said, thankfully ending that line of conversation. "Will you be staying to join us?"

Lisa appreciated the invitation, but knew she'd feel incredibly awkward. It wasn't like she was Sean's girlfriend, nor had she even been much of any kind of friend until recently. She'd just spend the entire dinner wondering what Sean's mom was thinking. Denby's stance made a little more sense to Lisa, even if she was taking it to unhealthy extremes.

"Thanks, but I have to pass," she said. "Should be getting back home soon, anyway."

Mrs. Gregg backed out of Sean's bedroom doorway toward the stairs. "Well, you're welcome any time."

Lisa wondered if she could ever be as cool of a mom as Mrs. Gregg. The revelations and other crap she'd had to go through with Sean and then the entire club lately? How many moms could handle that without blowing up, let alone taking it in stride?

Once Mrs. Gregg was down the stairs, Lisa poked her head around Sean's doorway. Almost instantly, she could smell the tangy odor of their sexual escapades. Shit, shit, shit. His mom had to know and once again just calmly stood there as if nothing was amiss.

"You okay?" Sean sat, dressed, on the chair at his desk. He'd managed to tidy up his bedsheets and there were no other obvious signs of their make out, but it hardly mattered.

"She knows," Lisa whispered as she slipped into the room, leaving the door open.

Sean's face lost a shade. "You're sure? How?"

"You can smell it from the doorway."

Sean sniffed the air, but probably couldn't smell it from having been in the room all along. "Crap."

"I can't imagine what she's thinking." In truth, Lisa could imagine a whole bunch of things.

Sean sighed. "Well, she seems to have been pretty open-minded about everything so far. I'm guessing she'll just let me deal with my own mistakes. Live and learn."

"Am I a mistake, then?" Lisa felt a flash of annoyance at his words but tried not to overread them.

Sean's eyes went wide. "What? No! No, of course not. I just...you know how everything is. You're right in the middle of it with me."

Lisa stepped forward and took his hands. "Yeah, I know."

"If you were a mistake, I could only be so lucky to keep making them." Sean gave her a little smile that melted her heart.

She leaned down until they were almost nose to nose. "Care to make one more poor life choice?"

He grinned. "Is it with you?"

She kissed him, and he kissed back. It lingered but was no longer a desperate prelude to more. Rather, it sealed a level of understanding. At least between the two of them, they knew where they stood.

"I really should get going," she said as she stood. "I'm still going to keep working on Den. She has to break and come to her senses eventually. She's still my best friend and I can't let any of this change that."

Sean nodded. "Getting between you two is the last thing I want. Even if that means I have to step aside from both of you."

Lisa knew he meant it, though she didn't like hearing it. On one hand, a small part of her wanted to know he put her above everything else. But that was silly. And then on the other hand, she wanted to see Denby happy, even if that meant finding a way to reconcile things between her and Sean.

"Hopefully it won't come to that. Walk me out?"

Sean took her hand while they walked down the stairs, letting go just before they came into view of anyone in the living room. It turned out to be empty, but she understood the hesitation to publicly show any affection when his relationship status with Denby was still up in the air. Even if Denby had officially dumped him, it would be a bad look. She was very relieved not to face Sean's mom again just yet.

For the same reason, they didn't kiss on the porch, though Lisa could see the desire to on Sean's face. Instead, he just smiled and waved as she parted ways.

"Thanks for coming over," he said.

Lisa turned back and caught his wink. She rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. See you at school. And if I can get anything out of Den before then, I'll let you know."

Sean waited and watched until she was in her car and down the street. It was going to be a very long last week of school, between finals and the maelstrom of emotions pulling her in every direction at once. She was supposed to be the innocent, smart, got-her-shit-together girl. This wasn't supposed to happen to her. How could the best and worst of her life all happen at the same time, stemming from the same series of events?