Fallen 21

Chapter 1

I stood there stupidly, looking at Karly's mother, Marsha. She was standing in the bedroom of my home, looking at me expectantly. She had just informed me that I would be coming come with her and Karly for the holiday...

Karly was still wrapped up in my arms, having found her Christmas presents and having said thank you for them in the second nicest way I could think of at the moment, by kissing me passionately.

Suddenly she pushed me back, "Outta the way, I'm packing here!" she announced.

I looked at her, hoping she would just stop, but knowing that she wouldn't. The look on Mrs. Kay's face told me that she was not going to be brooking any lip from me on this issue. I knew that the two of them had cornered me and there was nothing to be done at this point other than go to it and make my way out the other side...

I smiled dumbly at Mrs. Kay. "Would you like a... tour?" I asked her with a finishing smile.

Her face lit up, "I would love one Gabby!"

I pointed at the floor, "Bedroom slash living room. Uh, kitchen, bathroom. That concludes our tour. Our next tour will be in two minutes with a new tour beginning every two minutes after that..."

She laughed, a genuine, true laugh, "Gabby, the way Karly talks about this place you would think it would be the Taj Mahal! Show me around!"

An embarrassed look passed my face, "Your daughter sees my little place through rose colored glasses." I held my arms out, "Look at the troll she's dating... she's not much one for taste..."

A shirt came flying out of my closet and hit me in the head, "Fuck you! I have great taste!"

You taste great... I thought guiltily to myself...

I smiled at her mom again. "Uh. Bedroom." I pointed to my shitty little twin bed, which had seen its fair share of me and Karly crawling around in it lately... "Bed." My shitty little chair, "Chair." My pile of cinder blocks and boards, "Bookcase."

Mrs. Kay made a weird cooing noise and ran over to look at the books piled up there.

Women make the weirdest noises

... I thought to myself.

"How many pairs of underwear do you need?" Karly yelled from out of the closet behind me...

I was watching Karly's mom paw at my books and I answered without thinking... "I don't plan on soiling myself, so one..." I spun around, "Why are you pawing through my underwear? Karly! Your mom is right here!"

She poked her head out and had a pair of my underwear wrapped around her head.

Oh, my fucking god!

I thought in horror.

Mrs. Kay looked back and snorted in laughter, "Oh Karly! Let me take a picture of you two together!"

Karly ran up and looked at the camera, one eye poking out through a leg hole of my underwear...

The picture was one of pure horror on my face as the two ladies swarmed around my house entertaining themselves.

I've died, and this is hell.

I thought to myself...

Karly turned her head so she could look at me through the leg hole of the underwear... "So how many pairs...?"

"Please pack them all..." I asked her in horror, mainly to end the line of questioning as quickly and painlessly as possible.

A horrible, horrible thought occurred to me right then and I quickly glanced back and snuck a look at Karly's mom... she was still thankfully engrossed in looking over my collection of books.

I ran back quickly and grabbed one of the presents, a special one wrapped in special wrapping paper, I grabbed it and stuffed it into the very bottom of the bag that Karly was packing for me.

She gave me a questioning look and I met her eyes and gave her a very firm shake of the head letting her know that she did not want her family watching her open that one...

Her eyebrows raised quickly and she gave me a smirk.

"You have a lot of really great books!" I spun around to see Marsha holding up one of my favorites, "Gardens of the Moon" by Steven Erikson. "Can I borrow this one?"

I nodded, "Of course, I love that one! It's part of one my favorite series! That one is really just okay, but the second one is my favorite book ever! I pulled it down and handed it to Marsha too."

She preened like a peacock and tucked the books under her arm. "Do you like to read?" She asked me.

I nodded enthusiastically, "I love to read. I always have something I'm reading... though I'm lazy and go mostly for fiction."

She smiled at me, and I saw where Karly got her infectious smile from, "My Joshua is like that, though usually he's reading some boring history book!" She looked at me expectantly, "So shall we continue the tour?"

I realized I was supposed to be showing her around my little place then. "Oh, yeah, right." I pointed at my small flat screen TV, the DVD player that went with it, "TV, DVD player, Karly helped me get that with her snow shoveling."

Karly poked her head back out of the closet, "Cause I'm the bomb!" she quickly ducked back in.

What the hell is she packing in there I thought wildly

...

I only have so many clothes... is she moving me out?

I thought in a panic.

I gestured towards the kitchen, and Mrs. Kay moved in that direction. "Fridge, range, counters, sink, my dinner table slash study desk."

She moved into the kitchen and I was surprised how much she reminded me of her daughter the first time I had shown her around my little cell. She looked at me, "I've never seen a young man's house so clean, Gabby. You should be proud of yourself!"

I smiled shyly, unwilling to accept the praise. "I live simply, ma'am. Easy to keep things clean when you don't have much."

She looked at my little single serve coffee maker, the one I had gotten for Karly so she could have coffee when she slept over. "Oh, I love those little things, can I have a cup?" She asked me.

"Sure!" I beamed with pride, "Coffee or tea?" I asked her.

It sounded like a herd of elephants were running from the front room...

Karly appeared at the entryway to the kitchen, "Coffee? She asked me excitedly. You got a coffee machine?"

I laughed at her excitement, forgetting that I had forgotten to tell her about the machine I had bought just for her. "I got it for you cause you're such a grumpy head in the morning without coffee."

She went completely still and my heart dropped into my stomach... "Oops." I said aloud. Looks like I just let the cat out of the bag about Karly staying over a few times...

I looked slowly over to Mrs. Kay.

Dear God: I don't ask for much, and normally I would never ask you for something like this, but please tell me she had a stroke and dropped dead and didn't hear that...

She just looked at me with a smile on her face. She walked over and pinched my cheek hard. "Thank you for being a terrible liar Gabby!" she gave her daughter a cross look, "Unlike some..."

I felt terrible. I needed to make this right... "Mrs. Kay, it's my fault... not- "

She waved her hand at me dismissively, "Pish Posh. If my Joshua had had his own apartment at 18 I would never have left his bed!"

"Mom!" Karly screamed, "Gross!"

Mrs. Kay looked her daughter square in the eye... "And he was so good..." she whispered in a sultry voice...

Karly rubbed at her head viciously, "Ew, ew, ew... that one's burning its way in for sure!"

She walked over and hit me, "You're going to pay for that one..." she told me.

I looked at her seriously, "You remember the Joe incident?"

Her eyebrows raised and she looked at her mom very carefully... "So, how about that coffee!" she announced, giving me a venomous look.

"I stepped aside, you ladies pick out what you want!" I announced cheerfully, while I went over to the cupboard and got out the two coffee cups that I had bought so Karly and I could have coffee together. Never in my wildest dreams had it occurred to me that I might be having coffee for more than two...

They busied themselves with the machine and I used it as an excuse to dive back into the bedroom to see what Karly had packed for me.

How did she jam so much in my bags so quickly? I asked myself when I looked.

She had my travel bag packed already, filled to the brim with nearly every piece of clothing I owned. My book bag was filled with my wrestling gear, my singlet, my shoes, my headgear, she had even thrown in my emergency bag, which held rolls of athletic tape, nail clippers, a file, a bunch of band aids and a few tampons (which were great for stopping nose bleeds on the mat).

I finished zipping the bags up and threw one over my shoulder while carrying the other into the kitchen with the ladies.

Karly was breathing over a cup of hot coffee, trying to cool it down. Her mom's cup had just finished brewing. I dropped my bag on the floor. "I'm guessing since you packed my whole house for me, I'm not getting to come back here before we leave for the tournament..."

Karly gave me a beaming smile, set her cup down and ran over and kissed me. When we broke it off, I leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I love you, but I'm so going to kill you for this..."

She just smiled at me and gave me another earth-shattering kiss. Then she leaned in and whispered, "Suck it, loser!"

My jaw jutted out at her, showing her what I thought of that...

Her mom interrupted us with a polite clearing of her throat. "Have you come to terms with what's happening yet Gabby?"

I looked at her. "On one condition... what do you think of my house?"

She laughed, "You need to get some more furniture... this place needs a woman's touch!"

I laughed at her. "Okay... since you were honest with me, I'll go with you..."

Chapter 2

We pulled up to Karly's house and I knew I was in serious trouble...

Fuck me, this place is huge!

I noted as I looked at the beautiful home before me...

I shook my head... one room in this place... probably the bathroom, was going to be bigger than my entire house.

I walked in awestruck. We parked in the garage, which I noticed, was bigger than my entire apartment. There were three cars parked inside, Karly's mother's Escalade, an F-250 pickup and Karly's little Toyota. Besides that, the entire garage was lined with power tools and assorted machinery. I saw an expensive table saw, a beautiful drill press, a metal working and a woodworking lathe, even a milling machine.

Holy fuck!

I thought as I looked around. This was probably the simplest room of the house and yet it held a hundred times the value of my entire house, and that wasn't even counting the value of the cars!

Karly looked at me as I took in everything. "Don't you freeze up on me. It's all just stuff." She warned...

I looked at her and gave her a weak smile...

How am I ever going to give her all of this?

I asked myself in wonder.

She smiled and pecked my cheek. "Come on, let's get inside." She asked me.

We exited the garage into a beautiful kitchen. Modern appliances, a free-standing kitchen island. Again, the entirety of my house could fit into the room with standing room besides.

Karly's dad, Joshua, looked up at as from the center island of the kitchen as we walked in. He was rubbing an enormous pile of steaks with seasoning and piling them up on a plate. "Hey! How are all of you? How were the roads?!" He asked with excitement.

I was a little taken aback. Joshua had struck me as a pretty reserved man the first time I had met him. Now, however, he seemed like a little kid. Maybe it was the difference between his public and his private face, or maybe he was just infected with the spirit of the holiday?

Marsha walked up to him, draped her arms around him and gave an enormous kiss.

Well, now I know where Karly learned to drop those world shattering kisses on me...

I thought.

I looked over at Karly to gauge her reaction and saw a look of naked pride on her face. She was proud of the relationship her parents had, and seemed terribly glad of their happiness. She caught me looking and took my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. I was enormously glad to have her support.

I felt extremely awkward for having been there and without her hand in mine I probably would have chickened out and run for the door.

Joshua came up for air and looked at me. He seemed to be genuinely glad to see me. "Gabby! I'm glad you decided to join us!" he nearly shouted.

I realized then why Karly compared me to him so often. He had the same tendency to get overly loud when he got excited, like I did.

I looked at the floor shyly, "Thank you for having me, Mr. Kay." I added, "Not to minimalize, but it's not like I had much choice with these two dragging me bodily out the door."

He laughed, and gave a dismissive wave, "Yeah, the two of them are pretty brutal when they team up..." He met my eyes, "And call me Joshua. There's no need for any Mr. Kay's here..."

I smiled at him, "That's going to be extremely hard for me sir... I was raised that you called an adult with an honorific... going to be a hard habit to break."

He raised his eyebrows at me, "Well, you're an adult now too." He turned his head slightly and raised his eyebrows, "Nobody will give you anything in this world son, if you treat everybody as if they're better than you, many will take advantage of that, and treat you like they're better than you."

I smiled back at him. Joshua was a man that liked to throw you a lot of little tests... "But, if you treat people with respect and dignity you'll learn quickly the measure of their personality. A man may think he's better than me," I shook my head, "doesn't mean he is, and I now know what kind of person he is, how honest, how likely to take advantage of me."

His laugh was a boom in the room. He walked over and offered me his hand, "Karly, I love this young man!" he announced.

I dropped my bag and gave him my firmest handshake this time, not in a contest of wills, just a firm handshake that told him I was there.

He smiled at me warmly and met my pressure. "You have an excellent handshake, son. That will take you places if you let it."

I blushed a bit at his compliment. "Thank you, sir." I said politely.

He clapped me on the back. "Karly, why don't you help him put his stuff up, while I throw these on the grill."

She smiled at him ear to ear, "Okay!" then she looked at me, "We're going to have a full house, so you're going to be sleeping in my room!"

Dread. My eyes snapped wide in horror, "No I will not be!" I informed her.

Karly stopped and gave me one of her patented, Karly is not happy, looks.

I pointed back to the garage, "I can sleep in the garage... I can just throw my blanket in the back of your dad's truck... I'll be fine."

Then I realized my girlfriend had just told her family I was going to be sleeping her room with her dad standing within punching distance of my oh so valuable face...

I looked at him in horror only to see him laughing. He looked at Karly, "Is he for real?" He asked her...

She looked at him with a wry smile on her face, nodding, "Afraid so daddy..."

Joshua clapped me hard on the arm, "Tell you what, I'm going to go put these steaks on the grill. Karly, can you show Gabby into my den and he and I can talk? We can discuss the house rules and expectations and maybe that will make him a bit more comfortable."

Okay. So, I knew this was coming. I had to expect it.

Karly took my bags from me and walked me to an enormous room. It had a couple of rich, brown leather chairs, a couple of beautiful end tables and a very expensive looking leather couch. Books and rugs lined the walls. There was an actual stuffed bear in the corner, as well as three enormous gun safes and a brace of shotguns hung up on the wall.

There was a computer workstation and a workbench that held a partially disassembled AR-15 rifle, along with assorted tools, and cleaning materials.

I looked at Karly, "Are those loaded....?" I pointed to the shotguns.

She gave me a measured look, "Don't be a drama queen. Daddy is a big barker, but he doesn't have any bite. Besides, he loves you, because you remind him of himself at his age..."

I leaned forward and gave her a very chaste kiss and then ran my fingers down her face and held my hand to my heart in our own personal little salute. "If that's the case he knows exactly what's running through my head every time I look at you... trust me. He doesn't like me after that!"

She ran her fingers down my face as I had for her and laughed. "It will be okay. He'll be in in a minute. Just wait here and I'll throw your stuff in my room... maybe I'll open up the present you hid in your bag!" she tossed to me as she walked from the room.

"Don't you dare!" I yelled at her as she walked away... that present was going to take some explaining...

She started to walk away... "Oh, and yes, they are probably loaded..." she tossed over her shoulder...

Like that she was gone and I was left alone to await my death...

I walked over and examined the shotguns hanging on the rack. A Remington 870, a pretty textbook pump action shotgun. A Benelli, M2 Turkey Edition, and a Kel-Tec KSG. All three seemed well cared for, and all three were very different shotguns meant for three pretty different applications.

A voice startled me from my study, "Wondering if they're loaded?"

I turned and saw Joshua walk into the room, closing the door behind him.

I smiled and told him, "I already asked Karly that exact question."

He stepped up next to me and looked at the shotguns with me. "Do you like firearms?"

I smiled and looked at him, "Very much so sir..."

He gave me a measured glance, "You know not to touch, right?"

I laughed, "I'm in enough trouble with you sir, no way I'm digging that hole any deeper by going and handling a firearm in your home without your permission."

Our attention turned back to the firearms. I could tell he was curious about my views, "Which is the nicest?" he asked me. A clear test.

"Depends on your view and the application. The Benelli M2 is the most expensive, and if I was going turkey or duck hunting, it would be my first choice, though the choke would have to be adjusted for duck hunting. That's a turkey choke tube." I pointed at it. "This one is a custom shop model, so it probably doesn't have the reliability issues most semi auto shotguns have, but the KSG is a high capacity combat shotgun. Duel, high capacity tubes carry a lot of ammo in a very compact platform. Short bullpup design makes it easy to work in close spaces. Pump action so reliability is most likely pretty good." I frowned, "Of course, the 870 is a workhorse with decades of proven reliability. A good shooter can keep it fed while they fight, plus its bare basic so it is going to be completely reliable, so that makes it a good choice." I turned and looked at him, "So in short, it depends on the application."

I could see a tremendous amount of approval in his eyes. "Do you shoot a lot?"

I smiled, "My dad started me when I was really young, but it's been years since I've gone." My eyes went a little distant, "That part of our relationship went cold a long time ago."

He clapped me on the back, "Why don't we have a seat?"

I stopped him, "One thing. You have a $3,500 shotgun hanging on the wall... what's in the safes?"

He smiled at me. "Maybe one day you will find out."

I smiled back and had a seat in one of the chairs. It was amazingly comfortable. This was not going to be a pleasant conversation... but at least I would die comfortable.

Joshua walked over and opened a cupboard, to what, I shit you not, appeared to be a wet bar...

He looked over his shoulder at me, "Would you like a scotch?"

I laughed, "No, thank you, sir."

He looked back at me with some seriousness in his eyes... "I wouldn't normally offer an underage young man a drink in my home, but, you look like you could relax a bit, and it is a holiday." He raised his eyebrows, "One time offer, well, one time until the next holiday or you turn 21."