Chapter 2
That had definitely been a first; no other parent had ever suggested that I might be a source of puberty information for their son. She hadn't exactly used those words, but of course I'd known what she was talking about. I supposed it made sense, given that his dad and older brothers weren't really around for him, unlike the other families I sat for where the dad's where there. It occurred to me that this was the first time I'd sat for a single mother.
I got on the bus and sat at the back; at this time on a Saturday morning, there were few people on the bus, and definitely no one my age. I thought about taking my book out and reading, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to focus on story or let me distract me from other thoughts. Of course I knew about puberty, being in it myself, but I wasn't sure that me made me any sort of authority on the subject. It wasn't really something that I'd often talked about with my current set of friends, at least not in any sort of role-model way. My experience in actually talking about consisted mostly of crude jokes, and my other physical experiences were more about giving in to my base desires for getting off.
I supposed that I could manage to have a real discussion with Mike, if it came to that. My bigger concern was whether this would complicate things with him. If in fact there was anything for me to worry about in that regard. I thought about it for the entire bus ride home and concluded that I was probably making a bigger deal of it than it was. It had been a one-time thing, and it's not like I'd actually done anything. I knew that when I got horny that my brain went to odd places. That was normal, right? Hormones and all that. By the time I'd gotten off the bus and walked to my house, I had decided that everything was fine, there was nothing wrong me.
Mom was just clearing breakfast off the table when I walked in.
"Well, good morning sunshine", she said, "hungry for some breakfast?"
"Nah, already had some of my, y'know, world famous pancakes", I said in a boastful tone.
"Ahh, the old `charm them with my pancakes' trick, huh", she laughed.
"Works every time", I laughed back.
"Sounds like everything went fine then?"
"Yeah, it was great. Mrs. G. said she's gonna call later this week and let me know her schedule for the next month or so, wants to make sure I'm available."
"Oh, well I'm so glad to hear that", she said, "I know how much she'll appreciate your helping out with Mike, he really likes you, you know. And with his dad not being around, not too mention his less than stellar brothers."
"I know, I know, she told me", I said, adding, "I sort of knew that already anyway. And well, yeah, she said she'd like it if I ... well I guess, she just figured it might be good for him to have a guy around."
Without warning, Mom came over and hugged me, "Listen to you, you sound so grown up and responsible."
"Oh god, Mom, really?" I said, feigning an appropriate level of teen disapproval at this display of affection from a parent.
"Yes, really", she said, and squeezed me harder.
"Okay, okay", I replied, extricating myself from her grip, "I'm gonna grab a shower."
I dropped my bag in my room, remembering to pull out the briefs I'd used to wipe myself clean so that I could drop them in my laundry pile. I stood under the shower, letting the hot water run over me long after I'd finished washing myself. It felt really good, like I was rinsing off everything that had happened last night.
After towelling myself dry and getting dressed, I popped back into the kitchen. Mom asked me if I was going to be around for dinner and I told her I didn't know yet, I was going to see what the guys were up to later.
Mom knew who I meant when I said `the guys'; they'd been over plenty of times as we tended to rotate whose house we were at on weekends, although Paul's house was were we ended up most often. I dialed Paul's number and waiting while it rang; Paul was our unofficial ring leader. Even though he was almost a full year younger than us, he was usually the one to come up with a plan and the rest of us went along. Arguably he was the bossiest of our group, but that wasn't saying much given that he was generally as nerdy and timid as the rest of us. It was just the way our group had developed and none of us saw a reason that it needed to change.
"Hello?"
"Hey Paulie! How's it ... how are yah?" I asked, refraining from the usual how's it hangin' greeting, out of respect for my Mom, who was mixing some dough for what I was hoping would be either oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies.
"Mom nearby, huh?" Paul replied, catching my sudden change of phrasing.
"You know it", I said, "so how'd it go last night, what movie did you guys end up watching?"
"Ah, none actually, last night got scrubbed, Tommy's folks dragged him along to his grandmas, and Shawn got roped into looking after Willy."
"Ha ha", I laughed, "I bet he looked after his willy last night."
Mom rolled her eyes at me; it was hard to remember to keep it all perfectly clean when talking with my friends. Willy, William, was Shawn's younger brother.
"Yeah, no doubt", Paul laughed, "but yeah, Willy wasn't feeling good so I guess his folks didn't want to leave him on his own."
"Gotcha, so we getting together tonight then?"
"That was the plan, I'll call Tommy and Shawn to make sure they're still good. But just come over anyway, whoever shows shows. No reason we gotta have a lame Saturday night if they can't make it."
"Sounds good. Around six? We gonna order some pizza?"
"Yep."
"Okay then, see yah later, maybe I'll score some fresh cookies", I said, putting on my biggest smile for my mother.
"Niiice, you know how much I love munching your mom's cookies", Paulie said as lewdly as he could; making things sound dirty, especially about each other's mothers, was a popular past time for us.
I wanted to call him a sick fuck, but figured that would limit my chances of actually getting mom to release her baked goods to me.
Still looking at my mother, I tried to retort as discreetly as I could, "Mhmm, you're right, they're not all dried out like the ones at your house. Later."
I heard an "ewww" on the other end of the line before hanging up.
"Are you making fun of Paul's mother's cookies?" Mom asked innocently.
I nearly choked on my spit trying to stifle my laughter; the only thing better than making a crude insinuation about a friend's mother was when one of our mothers said something that we could misconstrue as crude. They'd usually consider our unanticipated laughter as yet another sign of how odd teen boys were.
"No, no, of course not, it's just that hers aren't anywhere as good as yours", I said as sweetly as I could.
"Such a charmer", she replied, "maybe I'll set some aside for you and your friends, but don't you dare insult Paul's mom while you're over there!"
"Never, we all have the utmost respect for our mothers."
"Mhmm, get out of here before I change my mind."
"You're the best", I said over my shoulder as I headed to my room and closed the door.
I flopped onto my bed and laid there; I was debating whether to grab my book and read a little or whether to see if I could just fall asleep right then. Our get-togethers usually went pretty late into the night, and getting a little extra sleep ahead of time was my way of not being the first guy to get the nods. It was always risky being the first guy to drop off at our sleepovers; not that we called them that anymore, it was cooler to say you were crashing at your friend's place. We might not actually have been considered cool, but we could at least pretend by using the right phrases.
I chuckled as I remembered one of our most classic pranks. It was a little more than a year ago; we were at Tommy's place and he had the misfortune of being the first to fall asleep on the floor as we were watching a movie. We raided their kitchen for some peanut butter and gently smeared a good spoonful onto the front of his briefs. It was a double whammy because Tommy not only woke up startled while his dog was licking off the peanut butter, he'd gotten seriously hard from his dog's tongue action. Our sides literally hurt from laughing as Tommy swore revenge in the most foul language I'd ever heard him use. He subsequently admitted that it was one of the best, but he still always blushed a little whenever we'd remind him of his bestial blow job.
I couldn't say that I was especially attracted to the guys in my little group of friends, but the close up sight of Tommy getting an erection and tenting the front of his slightly too small briefs was what I thought about that night as my friends slept and I masturbated under my blanket.
To be honest, all of them had featured in my mind at one or another while jerking off, typically during our sleepovers. Seeing one of them discreetly trying to conceal a sudden erection, a glimpse of them getting changed, hearing them piss into the toilet bowl - these were all more than enough to think about while I got myself off. Sometimes I'd try to stay awake to see if I could hear any telltale sounds from any of them; sometimes I imagined I did, but I was never quite sure. Keeping track of how long they'd been gone if any of them got up to go to the bathroom; if they were gone longer than I thought reasonable, I imagined they'd masturbated while in there. No excuses, that's just the way my hormonally driven teen mind worked.
Eventually I nodded off and slept for a couple of hours. I woke up when Mom knocked and asked me if I wanted something to eat. I sleepily looked at the clock on my nightstand and saw it just after 2 in the afternoon. As skinny as I was, I could always eat; I figured that a few sandwiches would keep me until we ate pizza later at Paul's.
I got up and followed Mom to the kitchen; she was actually heating up some leftover lasagna that she and my Dad had the previous night. That suited me just fine as I loved lasagna.
"Aren't you having some too?" I asked when Mom served up a plate for me.
"No, I had a little something earlier, and your father and I might go out for dinner since you'll be out anyway. I need to make sure I have room for dessert!"
I laughed as I dug into my lasagna; if I had to judge by my parents, I'd probably always be on the skinny side. I figured there were worse problems I could have, although I'd often thought about what I'd trade just to have clear skin; being a little overweight, being hairier, maybe even an inch off my dick. What could I say, at the time it felt like my acne were the root of any problems I had, so I was willing to bargain big.
After I ate and cleaned away my plate, I went to my room to re-pack my bag for another night away. It was still a few hours before I needed to leave, but honestly, I was excited to see my friends. I wasn't sure if it was cool for a 16 year old to be excited about staying over at a friend's, but I was; we always had a good time when we got together. It's not as though I had lot to pack, just the usual fresh underwear for the morning, a tee-shirt, my toothbrush and maybe a clean pair of socks, although I pretty much considered those optional. It's not like we were going to be running around and getting all sweaty. Mom did routinely remind me that my feet didn't exactly smell fresh all the time, whether I was running around or not. But among a group of teen boys, that sort of thing didn't really matter.
When I was done, I hit my bed and lost myself in my book for the next few hours.
At 5:30 I figured I could get going; it wasn't going to take me that long to get there, but it didn't matter. It's not like Paul was going to make me wait outside. Well he might, we weren't above that kind of juvenile thing. I grabbed my bag and started to head out; mom told me not to forget the dish of cookies that she'd set aside for us. My parents offered me a ride, but I declined; the October weather was still fairly nice and I didn't mind the walk since Paul only lived about 15 minutes away.
Paul was the smallest of us, he was several inches shorter than any of us and wasn't so much skinny as having a slender build. He had a mop of dark curly hair with waves that he could never comb into any other position, dark, nearly black eyes, and slightly darker skin tone. Like me, his face was a little oily and he had a few pimples, although not as many as I did. You could see a shadow above his lip and I guessed he'd be the first of us that would have to shave.
I rang their bell and Paul's mom opened the door, "Hi Martin, come on in, how are you?"
"I'm good, thanks", I replied as I came in.
"Martino!" Paul shouted as he came out of his room.
"For gods sake Paul, he's right here and neither of us are deaf, not yet anyway", his mom said.
"Okay, okay, let's not make a big deal of it, we'll go downstairs and you'll not hear a word from us", he said with an open mock in his voice.
"Right, if only that were true, thank god your father and I are going out."
"You know mom, I've noticed that you and Dad often go out when my friends come over, that seems like an odd coincidence."
"Believe me Paulie boy, that's no coincidence, no offence to you Martin. I'd just as soon not hear the nonsense you boys talk about and I swear to god no matter how long I leave the windows open down there, the smell never quite clears out."
I loved the way Paul and his mother bantered; he often said things to her that I'd never dare to say to mine and her retorts were pretty classic for a mom. It was easy to see how he'd gotten his attitude.
Despite his mom's comments, she never minded us being here and often made us snacks over the course of an evening, which to be honest, were almost more like full meals. Paul told us that as an Italian, it was his mother's mission to make sure that no one in her house ever went hungry. So far she'd succeeded and seemed genuinely pleased at our never ending appetite.
We took off down the stairs into their basement; when we were over, this was our space, although I think that it was generally Paulie's space even when we weren't over. When we you came down the stairs you ended up in an open space that consisted of a table, some chairs and a few sets of shelves full of board games, books and toys; this was our "games room". If you turned left and walked along the stairs you ended up in a larger open space with an old couch and recliner, a television, VCR and old stereo system; this was our "entertainment room" which also doubled as the place we slept if we stayed over.
There was an old shaggy carpet that covered a good part of this space. Sometimes I was curious about how many loads of cum had landed in there from Paulie jerking off while laying on that couch or sitting in the recliner. No wonder that his mom could never quite get the smell of teen boy out of there.
Once past the stairs, you could also turn to the right where a curtained-off doorway led to a utility room that also held their laundry. In one corner there was a small diving wall, which was really just some open studs on one side and a sheet of plywood on the other; behind the wall was a sink and toilet, and I supposed the plywood was intended to give a small amount of privacy.
It wasn't luxurious, but I was always a bit jealous that it was mostly for his use. My parents gave us our space in our basement when the guys came over, but it was more formally set up; Paul's space felt like a real teen hangout. Maybe that's another reason we spent more time there than at anyone else's house.
"So how was your sitting gig last night", Paul said as we flopped down at either end of the couch, "did'ya have to wipe any butts or change any wet sheets?"
"Hah", I laughed, "neither, he's almost 12 so he wipes his own and stays dry at night."
"Doesn't mean he don't wet his sheets", Paul said with a lewd smile on his face, "I was 11 when I was wetting the inside of my sheets with nut butter."
I scrunched my face with mock disgust, "Oh christ, thanks for sharing that, you're probably still coating your sheets when your mom kisses you goodnight."
We both laughed as he flipped me the middle finger, "You're just jealous because you're still waiting for your first batch of baby batter."
"C'mere and I'll give you a batch", I retorted as I made a stroking motion with my right hand.
"Hey, what're you two sick fucks talking about now", we heard as Shawn walked in.
Paul was about to respond when his mother yelled from upstairs that Tommy was on the phone. He got up and leapt over the back of the couch, punching Shawn in the arm as he passed him on his way.
"Hey Shawn", I said as he took Paul's place on the couch.
"Man I'm so glad to be out the house tonight, Wills is still sick and I was tired of emptying his barf bucket", he said, pretending to heave.
"Ewww, gross", I said, "but he's gonna be okay yeah? What's wrong with him?"
"Probably he's got the flu or something, man, I hope he didn't make me sick too."
Despite what Shawn was saying, I knew he'd do anything for his little brother, and I had no doubt that he'd probably not slept most of the night while taking care of him. I remembered staying over at Shawn's one time about a year ago; his brother had been very upset about about seeing their cat having been put down. I'd sat on the floor while Shawn had sat with him on his bed, and read him a story until he'd fallen asleep. Afterwards, when we went to his room, I could see that Shawn was upset as well; I wasn't sure how he'd react, but I hugged him and he put up no resistance. We might've all talked like assholes, but none of us were really like that.
"Aw fuck", I said as I put my hand to my mouth, "put a fucking mask on then."
"Pucker up baby, lemme show you what Shawn's tongue can do", he laughed.
"The only pucker your tongue's gonna get from me is between my ass cheeks", I said, rolling over and pointing my butt at him.
Honestly, I wouldn't have said no if Shawn had actually wanted to slip his tongue into my mouth, or on my pucker for that matter. Shawn was the athletic one of our group, which wasn't really saying much. He was about as skinny as we were, but his body seemed to have some definition. He had light brown hair and brown eyes, and wore a pair of black glasses. There was some oily shine on his face, but his complexion was usually clear with the odd exception of single pimple now and then. If I had to choose, I supposed I'd have said he was the best looking of us.
We heard Paul come running back down the stairs; he flung himself up on the back of couch, came down on Shawn as though he was dropping off the top rope of a wrestling ring, and then rolled off onto the carpeted floor.
"Dickhead, you almost crushed my nuts", Shawn complained.
"You'll need to grow a pair before they can get crushed", Paul laughed as he got up and sat in the recliner.
Shawn grabbed his crotch and , "Better sleep with one eye open tonight or I'll teabag yah."
"Alright ladies, to your corners", I said and then looked at Paul, "so what's up with Tommy boy?"
"He's bailing again, they're staying out at his grandma's place for the weekend. Sooo, it looks like it's just gonna be a threesome tonight."
"You wish", Shawn said.
Paul blew him a kiss, "Ok, so what're we gonna play? I'd thought maybe we were gonna play Diplomacy, but it's not as good with just three of us. Risk?"
"I'm good with that", I said, "Shawn?"
"Let's do it, get ready to be the losers that you are."
"Big talk from the guy that can't roll sixes to save his life."
"Maybe, but I had no trouble rolling your mom last night."
Paul's mom announced from the top of the stairs that they were going out, but also told us that she'd put a couple of pizzas into the oven for us so we'd better not let them burn the house down. His mom's pizza was way better than anything we'd ever order; we all shouted a big thank you up the stairs and decided that we'd wait to start the game until the pizzas were done. We knew that once we were playing it was easy for us to lose track of time.
We went upstairs and Paul grabbed some drinks out of the fridge for us while we sat in their kitchen. We bullshitted about this and that while we waited for the oven timer. As we drank our colas, we had a typical teen boy belching contest, although it was no contest really; Paulie might've been the smallest of us, but he could belch a loud storm like no one else.
The timer rang and we took out the pizzas and turned off the oven. I cut the pizza into large slices, Shawn grabbed some plates and a few napkins, while Paulie loaded his arms with the 9 cans of cola that remained out the pack of a dozen. We headed back downstairs where we ate, drank, talked and played for the next few hours.
In the end I won, but it had been a close game that could've gone to any of us. We cleaned up, brought our dishes back upstairs and came back with chips and pretzels. I also brought out my mom's cookies, which lead to another round of crude mom jokes. Shawn and I settled on the couch while Paul turned on the television and VCR and put in the movie he'd selected for tonight: Creepshow, which was this sort of comedic horror show that consisted of several supposedly creepy stories with darkly humorous twists, all told by the Cryptkeeper. It was the kind of utter nonsense that we watched and loved. He got the movie started and sat back in the recliner. We watched and made inappropriate comments whenever we felt it was necessary, which was the way we typically watched movies.
At some point during the movie Paul's parents came home; they let us they were in and then went to bed, leaving us on our own.
At around 1:30 a.m. the movie was finished and we were getting tired as we came down from a sugar rush of too much soda. Paul pulled out some pillows and blankets; with only three of us here, no one needed to sleep on the floor. Shawn and I opted for the couch, with one of us at either end; it was large enough that our legs fit side by side and long enough that our feet weren't right in each other's faces. Paul would sleep in the recliner, over time the mechanics of it had worn so that with a little effort you could practically lay it back flat.
We stripped to our briefs and took our turns pissing in the toilet; none of us had been inclined to actually brush our teeth, although with the amount of garlic Paulie's mom had put on the pizza, it was choice I'd regret in the morning. I always felt a bit guilty that I liked seeing the guys in their underwear, but not guilty enough that I stopped looking. Despite our close friendship, it wasn't all that often that we'd see each other completely naked. If we went swimming in the summer, we'd all wear our swim trunks to and from the pool or the waterslide park. Mostly I'd catch glimpses if we were at a urinal or the odd time getting changed. I thought both of them had pretty impressive bulges, and it sometimes looked like Paul's was bigger, but I think maybe it just appeared that way because his overall body was smaller.
Of course we'd seen each other with morning wood or random boners at other times, and we'd make the expected jokes, but it had only ever been jokes. Nothing had ever happened between us, at least not between any of them and me, but I assumed it was true across the board.
As I said, I'd definitely thought about all of them at various times, and if one of them were to initiate something I'd be unlikely to say no. To be honest, it was just as well that we were just all good friends and nothing more. I'd be sorry if anything happened that would end up breaking up our friendship. Maybe if we all had some sort of group circle jerk where it was all of us participating equally and willingly. I needed to stop thinking about this or I'd be showing more of a bulge in my briefs than they'd want to see.
Shawn had taken his end of the couch, with his legs inside against the back; I laid down at the other end with my legs alongside his. We laid a couple of blankets on top of us and got comfortable.
"All settled in ladies?" Paul asked as he turned out the lights and settled into the recliner.
"Sweet dreams", I said, making loud kissing noises.
"Try not to have another wet one Martin", Shawn said, "I don't want to feel your spunk dripping down my thigh."
"It's hard when I'm sleeping next to such a sexy beast."
From the recliner Paul said, "Yeah, I bet it's hard."
We laughed and settled, and I was thankful Paul hadn't picked up on the implication of Shawn's wording.
He'd been referring to a wet dream I'd had when I'd spent a week with him and his family at their little cottage by the lake. The two of us were bunked together with his brother, and I hadn't masturbated while out there. In the middle of our last night out there I'd woken up as I was filling my briefs with cum. I was sleeping in the middle of the two of them, and I hadn't realized I'd woken Shawn while getting out of bed. I'd gone over to my bag, pulled my briefs off and used them to wipe myself, and then taken a fresh pair out to put back on.
"Did you wet the bed?" Shawn had whispered as I climbed back in.
I froze for a moment before whispering back, "No."
"Are you sure", Shawn he'd said as I felt one of his hands slide beneath my legs to feel the mattress.
"Get outta here", I had murmured in an embarrassed tone, "the bed is dry."
"Well if you didn't ...", Shawn had started saying quietly, "ohhh ... did you ... oh man, you did."
"Shut up", I'd replied, not wanting to talk about it.
"Geez Martin, relax, it's not like you're the only one it's ever happened to."
"You mean ... have you?" I'd asked.
"Well, uhh, I mean yeah but ...", Shawn had started, adding in a joking tone, "just not while laying next to one of my best friends."
We'd both laughed a little too loudly, causing Willy to stir next to me.
We'd settled back quietly without saying anything else, and soon we'd both fallen asleep again. Shawn hadn't mentioned it in the morning, and as far as I knew he'd never told the other guys about it. That would've been hard to live down; I'd never thanked him for keeping it to himself, but that would've meant bringing it up again. Besides, thanks were often an unspoken thing between friends.
I wasn't sure what time it was when I woke up; there was some faint light from a streetlamp spilling through the small basement window and after a minute my eyes had adjusted to the low illumination. I could just make out Paulie in the recliner and Shawn at the other of the couch.
I reached down to scratch my thigh, then dropped my hand to my side. I froze; Shawn had rolled on his side and I found my hand resting against his brief covered package. I was afraid to leave my hand there, but I was also afraid to move it for fear of waking him. I could just make out the outline of his shaft laying on top of his balls. My hand was starting to sweat; as I slowly pulled my hand back towards me my fingertips ran along the shaft and over the ridge of his dick head.
By now my entire body was feeling sweaty; I needed to get out from under the blankets just to cool off. I slid out from under the blankets and off the couch as gently as I could and stood up. Shawn hadn't moved and I could hear soft regular breathing coming from Paul. I made my way towards the back room, pushed aside the curtain and felt for the switch that turned on the light in the toilet area. I walked to stand in front of the sink; I ran some cold water that I splashed on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror and wrestled with my thoughts. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong; it's not like I'd purposely tried to feel up my friend. Not that there wasn't some part of me that hadn't wanted to keep my hand there, to get a better feel or more. It had been quite a while since I'd touched another boy like that, not since we'd moved.
I took one more look at myself in the mirror; there was no point in fighting it. I stood in front of the toilet and hooked my briefs under my balls and began stroking my already semi-hard cock. I felt like a pervert for thinking about how nice it would've been to reach into Shawn's underwear, to run my fingers over his fleshy shaft and knob head, to feel it become steely hard under my touch. I stroked harder and faster, picturing myself pushing the blankets aside, pulling down his briefs and taking him deep into my mouth. My breathing was becoming hard and ragged; I could practically feel and taste him as my mouth filled with saliva. At the last moment I bent forward and pushed my hard prick down to point it at the bowl; I pulled and held my skin back tight as several long ropes of cum volleyed and splashed into the water. I put my hand against the basement wall behind the toilet to keep from falling; the intensity of my orgasm after such a short burst of stroking had taken me by surprise.
I tried to slow down my breathing as I held my softening dick; after a minute or so, piss began to trickle and then stream heavily into the toilet. I shook it and milked the last few drops out before stuffing myself back into my briefs. I flushed, washed my hands and splashed a bit more water on my face before heading back to the couch. I had no idea of how long I'd been gone; it had probably been five minutes, but it may as well have felt like an hour. It didn't look like Paul had moved from his position in the recliner, and Shawn had rolled over and was now facing the back of the couch.
I slowly and gently laid back down, pulling some of the blankets over me. I let out a deep breath, closed my eyes and let myself drift back to sleep.
I woke up to bright light streaming through the window and Shawn climbing over me; I noticed his morning boner as he walked off towards the back room. Paulie was stretching in the recliner and I could clearly smell bacon being cooked; his mom always knew what we liked.
Paul started to get up just as Shawn came back and I couldn't help myself from looking; Shawn's erection had clearly gone down and I could make out a bit of a wet spot where the tip of his dick was pressed against the front of his briefs.
"Fuck boys, I've got a nasty taste in my mouth", he announced as he flopped back onto the couch.
Paul got up, scratched his balls,"Wasn't going to tell yah, but Martin and I washed our nut sacks in your mouth while you were sleeping. Your tongue really tickles y'know."
Shawn flipped him the finger as Paul walked away towards the back.
We heard Paul's mom shout down the stairs that breakfast was ready. We didn't need to be told twice, so we got up, pulled on our pants and headed up stairs, not bothering to wait for Paul. We were sitting at the table, digging into our plates of bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast, when he came up. Unlike us, he hadn't bothered to throw on his pants, but that wasn't unusual when we stayed there overnight.
His mom put a plate in front of him, "Paul, honestly, why can't you put on your pants when there's company?"
"They're not company Mom", he said as he spoke with a mouthful of eggs and potatoes, "they're my friends, not like they haven't seen me in my gitch before."
"Doesn't mean we have to like it", I said, even though I secretly did.
"Yeah", Shawn added, "plus maybe your mom doesn't want to see your little dinky and marbles either."
Paul shot Shawn a look before his mother chimed in, "You should listen to your friends, I've seen more than enough of you parading around the house without your clothes."
He started to blush a little as his mom carried on, "At the very least you keep your hands out of your pants when you're not in your room."
We howled with laughter, nearly choking on our food as Paul frowned and looked at us, "Shut it boys, not a word."
"Don't be rude to your friends Paul", his mother chided him, but unable to hide the grin on her face at having successfully embarrassed her son.
"Yeah Paulie, don't be rude", Shawn said, receiving another dirty look in response.
We knew it was all in good fun and that Paul wasn't truly mad at us. Having our mothers do or say embarrassing things in front of our friends was just part of the fun; it was completely expected that we'd encourage that behaviour. Although I had no doubt that Paulie's hands found their way down into his pants routinely, at least as often as my own in my pants. We finished our breakfast and headed back to the basement after helping clear the table.
Shawn and I finished getting dressed, putting on our socks and shirts. Neither of us had bothered to get anything clean out of our bags, although we did brush our teeth. Even Paul put on a pair of sweatpants before we folded the blankets and piled the pillows that we'd used.
"Well gents, another successful night", Paul announced when we were done, "what's up for the rest of your day?"
I said that I'd had no specific plans, but thought that maybe my parents had said something about an aunt, uncle and cousins coming over for dinner. Shawn said he'd probably just stay with Willy for the afternoon while his parents went shopping.
I could hear the concern for his brother in his voice, "I'm sure he'll be feeling better, don't worry."
I was tempted to give him a hug, but wasn't sure whether he'd want me to do that in front of Paul.
We went upstairs, thanked Pauls' parents for letting us stay over, the food and everything else.
"Okay guys, let'em hang low and loose, see yah at school on Monday", Paul said as we left.
"See yah", we both said, almost in unison.
Shawn and I walked home together part of the way as we both lived in the same direction.
When it was time to split up I said, "Alright Shawn, take it easy."
"You know it."
I put my hand on his shoulder, "And I hope Willy's feeling better, tell him I said hi."
"Thanks, I will", Shawn said, and then added, "you're a good friend, y'know?"
I smiled, "You too."
We walked our separate ways; when I got home I unlocked the back door and went inside. It was quiet and I wondered if mom and dad were still sleeping, but that would seem pretty unusual. There was a note on the table that they'd gone to the store to get a few things for dinner. Apparently it was confirmed that my aunt, uncle and two cousins were coming for dinner later.