It was late in the morning when I woke up. Having worked until closing the previous day, it wasn't that surprising that I had slept so long.
Stretching as I sat up, I cracked my neck and grabbed my phone off the bedside table. Sarah had texted me about an hour ago to confirm that she was coming to pick me up once her shift was over this evening. I smiled to myself and quickly replied with a confirmation.
We had different schedules this week, so I hadn't seen her in a few days and was looking forward to hanging out with her, especially since we'd been fooling around more and more recently. It hadn't progressed to sex yet but we were slowly inching our way there. I was pretty eager for it and to finally shed my status as a virgin, even though I was a bit apprehensive about actually performing. I sometimes found it difficult to maintain my erection with Sarah when we were messing around and had to concentrate to keep it up.
I had read about death grip before but never really understood how it could be a problem until I experienced it firsthand. I had vowed to cut back on masturbating frequently but that was much easier said than done, especially with how often, and how loudly, mom and Stanley had sex.
Still, I had been managing to hold myself back while they fucked raucously during all hours of the day, and I was proud of myself for doing so.
I climbed out of bed when my stomach began rumbling loudly and headed downstairs in search of food. Grocery bags were scattered across the countertops in the kitchen and I observed mom reaching up on her toes to shove a bag of flour onto the top shelf in one of the open cabinets.
As she did so, her halter top rode up, revealing her tattoo of Stanley's initials on her lower back just above the waistband of her denim cutoff shorts. Even though it had been two weeks since Stanley's birthday when she had gotten it, seeing the small "S.P." branded onto her in dark, black ink never failed to make me feel just a tad despondent, or to make my cock leap.
Just then, Stanley comes bounding through the backdoor into the kitchen, both of his hands full of grocery bags and a self satisfied smirk on his face. He caught me frowning as I stared at mom's tattoo and didn't waste the opportunity to feel smug about convincing her to have it done, something he reminded me of by grinning like an asshole as we made eye contact. I looked away, embarrassed at being caught as well as him taking pleasure in the whole thing.
"These are the last of the groceries," Stanley says, dropping the bags onto the counter.
"Thank you, baby."
Stanley reaches over and gives her a smack on the ass. Mom's yelp quickly turns into a teasing laugh as she puts her arms around his neck and kisses him deeply in return.
I move into the kitchen, ignoring them as they kiss and giggle. Mom finally notices my presence when I open the fridge to grab the milk.
"Oh, good morning, sweetheart," she smiles as she turns her head toward me.
"Morning," I mumble back, maneuvering around them to grab a bowl and spoon.
"There's an unopened box of cereal in one of the bags," she stifles a giggle while trying to ignore Stanley's imploring lips as they move along her neck.
"Tell him now," he says in her ear.
My eyes shift from her face to his then back again.
"Tell me what," I ask warily.
"Sweetheart, why don't we sit down."
She unlocks her arms from around Stanley and pulls a chair out. I sit down, watching as she grabs something from inside her purse and moves to take the seat opposite me. Elation seems to exude from her as Stanley plops down in the chair to her right.
I shift nervously in my seat, unsure of what to expect. The last time this happened, they told me that they were officially together.
I glance back and forth between them as they sit across from me. Mom is practically glowing, a beaming smile on her face while Stanley leans back casually with his arms behind his head, his legs spread wide open. He wears a small smirk as he watches me, as if he's in on a joke that I'm not aware of.
"Sooo..." I trail off pensively. "What's this all about?"
Mom glances sideways at Stanley, still smiling. She looks as if she's about to burst.
"Well sweetheart, we found something out a little while ago, something incredibly exciting. But we didn't want to share it with you until we got confirmation and knew for sure. And, well, we did, early this morning while you were asleep."
It's then that I finally get a glimpse of the item she's been clutching tightly in both hands as her fingers unfurl, revealing something small and square. It almost looks like the back of a Polaroid picture.
My heart skips a beat as I process what she's holding along with her words. I can feel the blood slowly draining from my face and patches of black swim in my vision. No, please God, don't let it be what I think it is. In front of me, Stanley's smirk grows wider as he observes my reaction.
"Kyle, Stanley and I are going to have a baby. You're going to be a big brother!" She says this last part with a burst of enthusiasm and places what she's holding face up on the table.
My fears are confirmed as I stare down at a sonogram, the grainy black and white image of a small fetus burning itself into my brain. Printed at the bottom are the words, "Baby Pachis - 9 weeks," along with today's date.
She's nine weeks along. Her and Stanley have only been official together for five, meaning he got her pregnant a whole month before she broke up with Tim.
The memory of finding their conversation on Snapchat where he tells her to go off her birth control flashes quickly through my mind and I feel like I'm going to throw up. She had rejected the idea at the time but clearly must've come around to it at a later point.
My mouth opens as I attempt to speak. Mom stares hopefully back at me, waiting for my response, while Stanley continues to just smirk.
"Th- that's great, mom," I finally manage to force out along with a small smile. "That's really... great."
"Oh, I'm so happy you think so," she gleefully claps her hands before getting up to wrap me in a tight hug. "We finally have the family we always wanted!"
My arms mechanically move to hug her back as the happy image of mom, Tim, and I as a family is obliterated and replaced with this reality.
