Homecoming

College; it's the sponge that had been soaking up most of her life since the first of the year and now that her final exams had been completed, she could go home to celebrate. She might not have been at the very top of her class but she didn't care, her degree would be in her hands in less than two week, so until then she wanted to go home and spend time with her parents since she hadn't seen them since Christmas. The normal five and a half hour drive was bumped up by an hour with all the little stops she made; thankfully it was mostly uneventful even with the few accidents and road work that blocked a lane or two at times. It rained for two hours when she was halfway through Connecticut but then it began to brighten the closer she got to the Massachusetts border.

Having lost track of what time it was due to a faulty radio clock, she had no idea what time it was when she finally pulled up outside her parent's home. Parking on the street by the end of the short driveway, she grabbed her purse and the duffle bag that had the essentials from the passenger seat and hopped out of her Jeep. Hearing their dog, Bailey, begin to bark, she grinned as the front door was pulled open before she was even halfway up the front walk.

"Nicholas, she's home!" Her mother called back into the house before coming to greet her with a long hug and a loving kiss to the cheek. Holding tight for a moment longer, she pulled back with a smile as she felt Bailey licking at her ankles. Bending to pick the small white ball of fluff up, she laughed as she got a puppy tongue bath as a greeting, her feet carrying her towards the front door as the space filled with the shape of her father. Leaning into his embrace while still cradling Bailey against her side, she smiled up at him as he welcomed her home.

"We are so proud of you, baby, welcome home. We missed you."

"I missed you guys, too, dad."

They migrated into the house and towards the living room, her mom speaking the whole way. "Were you able to fit the last of your things in the Jeep? As soon as we got back with all your other things last weekend, I had your father help me organize it in your room."

"Thank you and yes, everything fit eventually. I had to play a game of tetras that took a while but I finally got it all to fit." When they reached the living room, she noticed they had company. "Oh, hi Alek. How are you?"

"Hey Mya, I'm well and you? Welcome home."

"I'm good, thank you. I'm gonna go wash up, it was a long drive."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

She hadn't expected to see Alek there. Well, it wasn't really surprising since he was her dad's best friend but she had figured it would just be her and her parents on the day she finally got home. She had wanted to take them out for a nice dinner and surprise them with her good news; that she already had multiple companies competing for her. Sighing as she stepped into the shower, she closed the frosted glass door and tried to think of a way to break the news that all of the companies were out of state. It had been hard enough to leave to go to college and that had only been 5 hours away. How would they take it if she moved further away than that?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Wrapping the towel around her torso and tucking it into itself, she wrapped a second one around her hair and opened the door just as Alek walked into her room with a box in his arms. Instantly freezing like a deer in headlights, her cheeks took on the color of a cherry as his eyes worked their way up her relatively short stature.

"Sorry. Last box, helping your dad... Sorry." He set the box on her desk and quickly left her room, the door clicking shut behind him. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that she had somewhat of a crush on him. He had moved in next door her freshman year of college and within months he and her dad had become almost inseparable. He was always invited to dinner parties, the Sunday night dinners and every time they had a barbecue night. Her mother had tried to fix him up a time or two (or more) with a few of her friends but it had never panned out. He was a 'lone wolf' according to her mother who had given up after her last attempt failed so miserably. She didn't think so, though. This hadn't been the first time she had been on the receiving end of that look. She had caught him admiring her several times, especially when they were having a poolside barbecue night and they were all out in their bathing suits enjoying the cool water of the pool.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, she thought about the age gap. She was twenty-eight, her parents were both forty-eight and he was what? Twelve years younger? That put him at thirty-six so there was only eight years between them, if she had his age right. Laying back, she let herself fantasize about a life with him for a few minutes, the idea turning her cheeks pink as it took a naughty turn. Forcing her thoughts somewhere else, she sat up just in time for a knock on the door to echo through the room.

"It's just mom."

"Oh, come in." Standing, she went to her dresser and opened her duffle bag to pull out her clean undergarments as her mom came in and sat on her bed.

"Alek offered to take us out to dinner to celebrate your graduating. Isn't that so sweet of him?"

Pulling her panties on under the towel, she stepped into her bathroom to put her bra on as she answered. "Yeah, it is."

"Here, dear." While she been fastening her bra, her mother had pulled a red dress out of her closet and brought it to her. "You always look so pretty in this one."

"Mom, it's just dinner. We've gone out to dinner countless times with Alek."

"I've seen the way he looks at you when he thinks he can get away with it. He's not much older than you and I know for a fact that you've had a crush on him for a while."

"Mom!"

"Don't mom me, put the dress on and braid your hair since it's still wet." And with that, she left, leaving Mya speechless as she pulled the dress on over her head.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Dinner was a little more awkward than usual because her mother had made it so she and Alek were seated on the same side of the booth instead of ladies on one side and the guys on the other. Every time her hand brushed his or her elbow bumped him she tensed, wondering if he thought it was on purpose. She left like a teenager on a supervised date, not the adult that she was. When they had all finished their dessert, her dad tried to hi-jack the bill only to find out that Alek had anticipated him doing just that and had slipped the waitress his card half-way through the main course.

On the way out to the car, they had a good laugh about it before he turned to see that she had stopped to fix a strap on her shoe. Turning back, he knelt down and lifted her foot to his knee as she braced herself with a hand on the width of his shoulder. "Here, let me." Fixing the strap for her, his fingertips brushed her ankle as he looked up at her. Smiling at him as he let her foot go, she laid her hand on his arm as he stood to hold him back for a moment.

"It is just me or does it seem like my mom..."

"Is playing matchmaker again?" He finished for her, an amused grin plastered to his handsome face.

"Yeah, exactly. I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into her."

"She's been asking me since Christmas about my dating life, trying to find out what kind of stuff I like to do in my free time and a whole bunch of other stuff."

Sighing, they started towards the car where her parents were already waiting for them in the front seat. "I'm sorry, I know how annoying it must be."

"Not at all, I have to admit, its was kind of amusing at first but I can't say I'm not interested." He opened the back door for her, her face a mask of surprise at his answer. Choosing not to say anything more on the subject, she dropped into the backseat and prepared herself for an awkward ride home.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Exchanging pleasantries when they got back home, she thanked Alek for such a lovely dinner and quickly excused herself to her bedroom. Locking the door so her mother couldn't come in and bug her about Alek again, she got changed for bed and grabbed her laptop. Checking the time, she figured Ember would probably be home by then so she pulled up Skype and called her best friend. She needed someone to talk to that wasn't her mom and Ember knew everything, she even know about her crush on Alek. Frowning when there was no answer, she typed out a long message explaining all the meddling her mother was up to, she sent it and logged off. Setting the laptop on the bedside table, she laid down and stared at the ceiling, her hands idly messing with the edge of her camisole as her thoughts turned to the last thing he had said before they got back into the car with her parents. What did he even mean by being interested? Interested in how far her mother would go in her meddling or actually interested in her? How could he be? She was fresh out of college with everything up in the air for her future. She felt like a teenager most days, constantly worrying how she would make it in the real world when just two months ago she was worrying about college exams. Sighing, she closed her eyes and worried her teeth between her lips, an image of him from one of their last barbecue pool parties welling up in her minds eye. Twisting the soft fabric of her shirt in her fingers, she struggled to put the image out of her mind but it was just replaced by other memories from other nights, her mind creating a movie that lulled her into a fantasy of a life with him. She drifted off to sleep with those thoughts fresh in her mind, her dreams following the same route as she sank into a slumber that lasted into late morning.

The sound of her door knob jiggling slowly woke her up and as she rubbed her eyes, she heard her mom ask if she was awake. Answering sleepily, she slid to the edge of her bed and went about getting dressed in a pair of cutoffs and her bikini. She wanted to spend her afternoon by the pool but first she needed to tell them her good news. Opening her door to the smell of what was unmistakably the grill, she chuckled and followed the hallway out to the living room. Crossing to the open sliding glass door that led to the back patio, she smiled at her parents. "I have some good news, I wanted to tell you guys but we had dinner with Alek and I wanted you guys to be the very first to know."

"What is it sweet pea?" Her mom poured a glass of lemonade for her and she sat down across the wrought-iron table from her. Waiting until her father joined them, she smiled even bigger as the news rolled off her tongue.

"I have five different interior design companies competing for me. So far the one that wants me the most is offering me just shy of six figures a year, they want me to be their main designer."

"Oh my god, Mya! That is so amazing, are you going to go with that company? Where is it?"

"That's really amazing, sugar-bear." Her father leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head, his hand resting on her shoulder as he stood between her chair and her mothers.

"I think I will, I've looked into them and they do a lot of charity work and they are always running fundraisers and donation drives. The only bad thing is...they're all the way in Oregon." She braced herself and bit the corner of her lip as she watched her mother's face fall. "I would be making enough to visit often."

"Oh sweet-pea, its okay. " Her mother squeezed her hand as her father went back to tend the burgers and chicken on the grill. "We knew you might get offers from places far away but it's still a shock to hear you might be moving all the way across the country from us."

"I know and..."

"Knock, knock!" Hearing the familiar sound of Alek's voice as he opened the front door and made his way through the house, she looked back to her mom and sighed softly.

"Can we talk about it more later?" Her mother nodded and got up to greet him as she went over to sit on the steps leading down into the pool. Setting her shorts to the side, she settled back and propped her elbows on the step behind her, letting her eyes close as she tilted her face up towards the sky. Feeling the water move against her side, she peeked through her lashes to see that Alek had come over to sit beside her. Giving him a smile, she sat up a little more and turned towards him.

"So I brought over some more of that white chocolate fudge you like so much." He grinned down at her, admiring the way the sun lit her sapphire eyes up as she pinned her gaze on him.

"You didn't have to.."

"I wanted to. I also wanted to apologize for what I said last night, it seemed like I maybe...upset you or something and I really didn't mean to."

She shook her head, catching herself as she almost laid her hand on his arm and instead lifting it to brush her hair back from her cheek. "I..no..you didn't. I wasn't upset. I was more... confused, I guess? I don't know." Glancing over as her parents went in to get other things from the kitchen, she bit her lip as she looked back at him again. "I don't understand how a man like you could be interested in someone like me. I mean..." She trailed off as he shook his head, his hand coming up to touch her cheek for a moment.

"Is this more because I'm your dad's friend? If we had met on campus and I didn't know your parents, would you still feel like its something forbidden?" He dropped his hand as her parents came back, leaning back to make it look more of a casual thing as her mother looked over with a smile.

"I guess."

"You guess what, Mya?"

The way he spoke her name made her insides twist slightly and she pushed away from the stairs until the water was up to her shoulders. Watching as he moved with her, she swam to the far end to get her thoughts under control before she answered him. Propping herself on the edge of the pool, she waited until he did the same before she spoke. "I guess it would be different if we had met a different way. I mean, if anything happens between us and my dad doesn't like it...that's going to ruin your friendship and I don't want that."

"What would you say if your dad was okay with it?"

She shot him a sharp look and raised a brow, turning to press her side against the pool wall. "And how would you know that? Mom is the only one that knows about my...Never mind."

"When you went to bed so abruptly last night, your dad pulled me aside before I went home. At first he was just thanking me, for dinner and for helping him bring everything in from your Jeep, but then he brought it up. He just looked straight at me and said, 'I'm okay with you and Mya seeing each other. You guys don't have to hide it anymore.' I guess he thinks we're already dating." He let out a chuckle at the expression on her face, trying to figure out if it was surprise or embarrassment.

"He did not. You're pulling my leg and you need to stop." Pushing away from the wall and him, she dove under the water and swam the length of the pool until she reached the steps. Climbing out, she grabbed a towel from the rack and stalked past her parents into the house. Rolling his words around in her head, she clenched the towel closed around her body and pulled her hair over one shoulder as she made her way to her room. Hearing footsteps behind her, she glanced behind her just as she turned into her room and rolled her eyes.

"Mya, wait.." He turned into her room and almost ran into her because she had stopped and turned to wait for him just inside her door.

"Look Alek. I have had a lot of guys be dicks about wanting to date me. They stand me up for dinner or movie dates, they lead me on, etc etc. I will not be made a fool of just because you think its funny that my mom is trying to needle us into dating. I don't find it funny at all." Glaring up at him, she took a step back as he tried to close the distance between them, closing the door quietly behind him as he did.

"I'm not kidding around, Mya. I am interested. I was interested before your mom put her matchmaker hat back on. I am not those assholes from college." Again he closed the distance between them and when she didn't step back, he took that as a sign that she was beginning to believe him. "I didn't mean for it to sound like I was joking around with you."

Feeling him standing so close to her, her head was fuzzy with nerves, her hands itching to touch his bare chest as he spoke. Letting the towel drop to the floor, it pooled around her feet and now she had no reason to resist the urge. Hesitantly touching her fingertips to his sides, she felt him tense and she looked up at him as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "So, he really thinks we're already dating?" When he nodded, she let out a soft laugh and touched her forehead to his damp chest, her breath washing out across his skin as she felt his arms tighten just a tad around her.

"Well, if he already thinks that, maybe we should try it. But you have to ask me properly."

He grinned and tugged her closer until her chest was flush with his abdomen, his hands resting in the small dip of her back just before it curved into her backside. Hearing her soft gasp, he waited until she looked up at him before speaking. "Would you like to go out for dinner tomorrow? On an official first date?"

"Have we had an unofficial first date?" She smirked up at him, letting her her small frame rest against his much larger body.

"It certainly felt like it last night, didn't it?"

She didn't answer but that wasn't surprising to either of them. He had chosen that moment to bring his face within a breaths length from hers, his lips hovering over hers as her breath caught in her throat. It felt like forever had passed before he kissed her but when he did, it was like a spark had been lit beneath fire kindling. Her lips parted and before he knew it, she had swept the tip of her tongue across his lips. Letting his hands wander lower until he could firmly grasp both globes of her ass, he pulled her up onto the balls of her feet as he took control of the kiss. Delving into the cavern of her mouth, his tongue danced with hers in a silent war- swirling and circling until they had to break a part to fill their lungs with air. Once they had caught their breath, he turned to sink down onto the foot of her bed and pulled her with him, capturing her lips in another kiss as she took her place on his lap. Smirking against her lips as she straddled him, he couldn't help the fact that his cock was slowly hardening between them. He knew she could feel it the second a moan escaped her, his hands trailing down her thighs and squeezing lightly as she pulled back.

"We should probably go back out, before they think we're up to something in here." She pressed against him, reluctant to actually leave but the logical side of her brain was pushing back against the need to stay there and kiss him some more. She really didn't want her parents barging in on them, especially not with her straddling him like she was and the fact that she could feel just how excited his body was, well, that wasn't making the decision easier to make.

"You're right, but I don't want to go just yet." Palming the back of her neck, he stared into her eyes for a moment before giving her another kiss, a softer one this time. Letting his free hand trail across the expanse of her back, he let out a faint moan against her lips as she worked her fingertips through the thick forest of sandy blonde hair until she was cupping the back and one side of his neck in her soft hands. Dragging her bottom lip through his teeth, he swirled his tongue across the width of it before letting go, his eyes opening slowly to the sight of her savoring the moment with her eyes still shut tight. "Mya." Whispering her name against her lips, he smiled and picked her up as he stood, slowly letting her slide down against him until she was back on her own two feet.