Blind Man's Bluff

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

 The house had been run down for as long as he could remember. His father had been absent since he was in early grade school, and Chris always assumed he had taken off, although his mother refused him the details. All he knew was that, other than a couple of awkward Christmas visits, he had never seen the old man again. Throughout his childhood, his mother had pinched pennies and clipped coupons, since child support had been unreliable, and mostly nonexistent. With his sign on bonus, Chris had allotted a good amount of that money to his mother, who had hired a crew to do some of the pressing home repairs, like the leaking roof.

 The sagging porch steps, had apparently been part of the remodel, since they no longer swayed and squeaked beneath his feet. The irony of it all, was now that his humble childhood abode was no longer a sagging shack, he couldn't see the changes.

 “Chris! Sweetheart!” His mother enfolded him in a hug, within seconds of him pushing open the front door. “And this must be Jake!” Jake's surprised gasp, indicated that he too had been engulfed in a southern style greeting. “Come in boys. The pie should be chilled enough to cut. Lemon. Chris' favorite. Who wants tea?”

 Chairs scrapped the linoleum, and as he sat, Chris knew he was missing the amazed amusement in Jakes's face. Not only did his mother appear ten years younger than her forty years, she had always had the attractive features and figure that made her a MILF to his friends. This combined with her endearing southern hospitality, had almost brought him to blows with several of his friends.

 “Mom,” Chris selfishly waited until the pie plate clunked, and saucers clinked on the table, to draw her attention to the gift sack in his hand. “Happy late birthday.”

 “But you already sent that card,” She protested in pleased surprise, and he heard the paper rustle.

 “Oh did you get it already?” Two days late, he had talked Randy's girlfriend into buying and mailing a card that he had tucked a check into. Jake was probably glaring at him now, for the entire candle hullabaloo earlier, but he had been afraid the card would still be in the mail.

 “I did.” The smile coated her voice, and the bag hit the table beside him with a soft thunk.

 “And you didn't pay bills with it? You bought yourself something?”

 “I did.” The repetitive words held a distinctly different inflection, one he had heard before, as a kid and a teen. As hollow as her words, was the rub of cardboard, and the pop of a flap.

 “You didn't.” Chris accused, knowing his mother too well.

 “I bought a dress.” But the words were sad, and flat, and it took him only a few tocks of the old grandfather clock in the hall to realize that she had used the money on an appropriate dress for tomorrow. “Oh! It's lovely!” The exclamation was obviously over the candle, and when she went on about how it matched the newly redone family room, Chris shot a smug smile across the table towards the sound of a fork scraping stoneware.

 “I picked it out Ms. P.” Jake gloated, and Chris replaced his smile with a glower.

 “Well you have wonderful taste Jake, just wonderful! Thank you Chris! And Jake! You boys save room for supper. The roast is almost done, and I am taking the macaroni out right now.”

 The clock chimed every quarter of an hour, while they visited, and stuffed themselves on homemade food. The atmosphere was comfortable, relaxed, and it was easy to forget that he was home for the first time in two years over a funeral. Lanie inserted a couple of thoughts into the conversation, but mostly stayed silent, and he worried that the reason for the trip was beginning to get to her, and that he shouldn't be laughing as much as he was, or even at all, this evening.

 His mother insisted on serving them up another slice of pie, and they took it down the hall to his room. The familiarly of the house allowed him to move around effortlessly. Jake fiddled with the television, turning it to a music station, and Chris straddled his desk chair.

 “Your mother is--”

 “Don't finish that thought if you value our friendship.” Chris warned.

 “I was going to say nice...”

 “No you weren't,” Chris dissented, while shoveling a bite of creamy tartness into his mouth. “At least that wasn't all you were going to say.”

 “A damn good cook.” Jake persisted.

 The sound of his friend's eating was just another curse of heightened senses, and Chris settled his own empty plate onto the desk.

 “Aha! Your yearbook!.” Jake cackled evilly, and subsequently the old mattress gave a protesting squeak under his weight. Lanie inserted a sardonic laugh, but whether it was in reaction to the squeak, or the fact that Jake was loose in the yearbook, Chris was unsure. “So you always were ugly.” The jest was quick in coming, but just as quickly, was followed by a whistle and a, “Holy fuck!  Lanie is the same as Alaine right?” Apparently, he was reading the caption beneath the one casual picture that had ever caught them as a couple out of four yearbooks. Possibly, he had even done the index search to easily find all of his pictures in that particular book. “Am I allowed to say she is hot, bro? Because she is. What a smokin hot babe!”

 “The hottest girl I've ever seen to this day.” Chris voiced the followup, well aware that she was close. Her scent was becoming easy to recognize, and her fingers immediately brushed through his hair in that old familiar way.

 Jake must have pulled all of the yearbooks down, because of the things he commented on spanned four years. After returning them to the shelf, his steps meandered around the room, the conversation was random. “This the pick you were talking about? That you got at the Jekell Hide show?”

 “Is it black? With gold letters spelling Jekell Hide.” Chris retorted, but the memory made him smile, of first meeting one of his idols before the show, and then catching the pick tossed his direction, during the show. Lanie had bought the meet and greet package for his sixteenth birthday.

 “That would be it then.” Jake drawled.

 “Hey!” Lanie pushed off of his shoulder, so viciously that he would be surprised if he hadn't actually moved with the momentum. “No asshole! He took it! He put your pick in his pocket!” Chris felt his spine aline ramrod straight, and he stared in Jake's direction. No way would his best friend steal from him. Had Lanie not seen correctly? “Do something Chris?! He can't take that!”

 Rising from the chair, Chris put his hand out, and casually joked, “Let me take a look.” The pick landed in the palm of his hand, and his thumb rubbed over the smooth in sigma area, without knowing what he actually held in his grasp. “That was a cool night.” Wandering the room, he assumed it was the correct pick when Lanie remained silent. Still holding it, he reached for, and found the really old acoustic guitar he had left behind, and leaned against the desk as he strummed, while his brain spun with disappointment in his friend.

 “Well dude, I'm going to hit the road. Do you want to come out and get your stuff?” Jake spoke of the piece of luggage in the trunk.

 Easing the guitar onto the bed, he followed his friend outside and returned alone dropping his bag to the floor.

 “Chris?” His mother's voice came from the direction of his doorway, and he could see her as he recalled her, leaning slightly against the jamb with her arms folded. “It’s nice to have you home. I'm sorry the circumstances suck.”

 “Me too. Thanks. For everything. It feels good to be back, and I wish I cold stay longer.”

 “Your friend seems nice. I remember meeting him at the hospital, but that is about all I remember.”

 With a hug, his mom said her goodnight, and Chris decided to go to bed himself. Craving quietness, he turned the music off, and pulled his tee shirt off.

“Hypothetical question.” Lanie broke her silence. “If you were friends with someone and they did something--”

 “He took that pick again didn't he?!”

(I'm so sorry about this story, it prob won't be done for awhile but decided to put up what chapters I have. The good news is Rock Stars is almost ready for pubishing, so excited, thanks for the encouragement)