We are continuing to follow Dawn's and John's paths ahead. For those who are familiar with my other tales, it is set in the same universe and has common characters. Reading all the other stories is not crucial to enjoying this one, but you should read Parts 1 through 5 of this arc first. The number of parts to this arc is still undetermined. This is not the end of the arc, though. All people having intercourse are over the age of 18.
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Thursday, December 17, 2020
Dawn was shocked awake when the old‑fashioned wind‑up alarm clock with the bells on the top practically exploded in the bedroom across the hall. After only a couple of seconds, the jarring din was silenced, but by then she was already awake. She reached for her phone and verified it was 6:30 am. It was much too early for her to get up while she was on holiday break from school.
She lay there in John's twin bed trying to go back to sleep. She pulled the pillow from under her head and pressed it to her face, but the fragrance of the laundry soap and dryer sheets that Susan used reminded her strongly of John. 'Duh, of course. He uses the same stuff on his clothes at school,' she thought. Sighing in exasperation, she gave up trying to return to sleep and got out of bed. Nobody else seemed to be up in the house, but she pulled on some shorts over her panties for the very short trip to the bathroom.
She heard heavy footsteps descend the stairs while she was in the bathroom, so she figured that John's father was also up. As she was exiting the bathroom, she nearly collided with Owen who wasn't anywhere near awake and wasn't watching for anyone else. She was very glad she'd had the presence of mind to put on shorts before leaving the bedroom. With an 'eep', she scurried back and closed the bedroom door.
She took advantage of being up and fully awake to poke around John's bedroom. The drawers were empty, as he had taken all of those clothes to school. The small trophies on top of the dresser were all a little dusty, but they were nothing like her cheerleading awards. There was a small collection of various participation trophies dating back to the early 2010s for T-Ball, Soccer, and Swimming. Dawn gently blew the dust from them, or at least she tried to. She turned to his closet and there she found something of interest.
A white, tunic‑like garment was revealed to her. It had been pushed to the far right on the clothes rod, as though it had been long forgotten. She removed it from the clothes hanger and spread it out on his bed. It was a Kansas City Chiefs football jersey, number 88. She looked at the tag and saw it was a Large. Then she flipped it over and saw the name 'GONZALEZ' on the back. The name sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she just couldn't place it precisely.
Surprisingly, it didn't smell musty at all. Maybe being relegated to the unused part of the closet helped to keep in some of the fragrance she liked so much. Then she thought how much better it would be if it had a whiff of the 'Business Man' cologne on it. Simply the thought of that made her groin moisten and her nipples hard. Dawn quickly rehung it and placed it in a more accessible part of the closet, and she closed the bifold doors. She had to think about this more, but a plan was developing. She dressed for the day and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
"Good morning, Miss Dawn," Henry greeted her as she entered the kitchen.
"Good morning, everyone," Dawn replied, looking around. Three of the four seats at the kitchen table were occupied, and the fourth had a cup of coffee awaiting Susan who was standing at the counter assembling a couple of lunches. Dawn was not about to poke Mama Bear by sitting in her chair uninvited. Henry saw her standing there uncertainly and quickly realized her conundrum.
"Here, Miss Dawn. Sit here next to John. I need to help Susan finish packing my lunch."
Henry rose, turning the chair slightly, and taking his cup and plate to the sink. Owen didn't even look up from his bowl of Froot Loops, and John had a mouthful of the bagel he had just taken a bite of.
"Thank you, kind sir," she gratefully responded and sat in the proffered seat. Once seated, she batted her eyes at her boyfriend, trying to send a message in something akin to Morse Code, not that she knew Morse Code.
John hastily chewed and swallowed his mouth's contents and asked Dawn what he could get for her for breakfast.
"Would you fix me a toasted bagel with butter and a mocha, please, John?" she requested.
"Of course, my ... sweetie," John responded. He almost replied with "my love" but caught himself at the last second. Susan was listening carefully while assembling the lunches but did not notice anything amiss with his answer. Neither did Henry. But Dawn caught his momentary word swap but gave no indication. She simply nodded and smiled with a twinkle in her eyes.
John poured the coffee over the hot chocolate mix in her cup, stirred it, and placed it in her grateful hands. He then turned to fix the rest of her breakfast.
"So, John and Dawn, what do you two have planned to do today while we're all at work or school?" Henry inquired.
"We haven't talked about anything in particular, Dad," John answered. "Maybe I'll show her around town like she did with me in Phelps Bluff back in October. I have my house key so I'll be sure everything's locked up while we're out.
"I think I'd like to see places that were instrumental in forming John into the man he has become," Dawn murmured.
Once everybody had departed, John and Dawn set off on their adventures. He directed her to drive by the Freedom High School where Owen was trapped until the end of May. Dawn couldn't believe the size of the school in comparison to hers in Phelps Bluff. There were two levels to the building and the parking lots held so many more cars.
"John, how many were in your graduating class?"
"I think we graduated 455 out of the 525 who started as freshmen," he answered.
"So, a little more than 2,000 students across the four grades?" Her voice could not hide her surprise. "Phelps Bluff has about 550 students in total and I knew just about everybody. I just can't imagine that many students."
"It made it easy to hide out and blend into the crowd. There were the usual cliques: the jocks and cheerleaders, the geeks and nerds, the Young Republicans, the Future Farmers of America, and the like. I chose the path of anonymity and kept my head down and my nose to the grindstone."