Candy Rings

The Sweet Taste of a Rainbow

July creeps up on Karl like his anxiety on a good day. He turns thirteen this month. He would officially be a teenager just like Sapnap who got a new skateboard and 'The Talk' for his birthday. Sapnap never told him what the talk entailed but that it was very gross and he hated it.

Karl wasn't ready for that either nor the fact he was starting 7th grade this year, the halfway point of middle school.

His first year of middle school wasn't bad besides the late nights of studying for Algebra and English tests and learning to cope with the change of getting older. He doesn't think he will ever get used to getting older, but does anyone?

Karl's scrolling through his Instagram feed lazily when he hears a quiet knock on his door.

"Come in!" He yells, not caring to look up from his phone to see who entered his room.

"Hey sweetie." Karl's mom says as she sits at the edge of his bed.
Karl glances her way and notices that she was wringing her hands as if she was nervous about something.

He puts his phone down and gives his mom his full attention.

"What's up?" He asks, the pit of his stomach hollowing out. Karl wasn't sure what his mother wanted to talk about, but it was making him just as nervous.

Was he in trouble?

Did he forget to rinse off his plate again?

Did he not take his laundry out of the dryer?

Or worse, did his mom open his laptop when he left it downstairs and see the porn he and Sapnap had sent each other as a joke to make each other laugh?

He didn't know how he would get out of that one. It's one thing to watch it by yourself, but to send it to your best friend so he can watch it too, now that's a little suspicious.

"As you know, you're about to be a teenager soon. So that means your body is changing." His mother began.

Karl knew right where this conversation was going. He knew this was 'The Talk' Sapnap had on his birthday. Now, Sapnap never discussed with Karl the implications of that conversation he had with his father, but Karl knew what it had entailed.

Sapnap in return did a lot of 'research' on the topic and shared his findings with Karl.
This may have been a little too intimate to share with your best friend who was of the same gender, but they were curious teenagers. It wasn't harmful wanting to know the full extent of what the human body can do.

"Moooooom not thiisssss." Karl groaned, throwing a pillow over his face to shield his embarrassment.
He was for sure now his mom saw the messages on his laptop. He makes a mental checklist to remember to turn it off completely next time he leaves it in the open.

"Karl, you knew this was coming after Nick's birthday. It's your turn now, and your dad thinks it's more appropriate for me to talk to you as I don't make it as scary." His mother said with a gentle wink aimed towards her son.

Karl took the pillow off his face and looked at his mother. She smiled ever so gently and Karl knew that his mother was the safest person to have this talk with.

He sat up and pulled his knees to his chest for security.

"Now as I said before, you're at the age where your body is changing. You start to grow hair in places you didn't think you could grow it, you begin to sweat a lot more, you eat more, and you start having very intimate feelings. Feelings your dad and I had for each other which brought us you." She continued, looking at her son's gray eyes which matched her own.

Karl gulped, his nervousness somewhat subsiding. He knew what those feelings were. Lust. But he didn't know what those specific feelings felt like. He may have engaged in the activity of watching porn, but it did nothing for him. Karl honestly thought it was weird watching other people have intercourse. It made him feel the opposite of turned on.
Then again, he was almost thirteen. He had years to ever experience feelings of lust. If he ever did.