Cassandra Butler gazed out through the windshield of the Range Rover as she waited for her nineteen-year old daughter Erin to finish track practice. The sun was shining brightly, but the air was still cool enough that it wasn't unpleasant. She'd turned the a/c off on the drive over and they'd opened the windows, talking above the wind noise amicably. Cassie reflected on their relationship and smiled. Erin was so much like her, and yet she was coming into her own as a young adult. At nineteen, Erin still enjoyed living at home, thankfully. In her second year of community college, she was committed to her place on the track team, and as a result was a starring distance runner. The two-year scholarship had helped keep tensions to a minimum, Cassie knew, but so did her daughter's easy-going temperament.
Erin wasn't currently dating, but Cassie was okay with that. Her coltish daughter was attractive, as Cassie had been in her college years, but she didn't seem to have the same sense of appreciation of the opposite sex. 'Certainly not like her mother,' Cassie mused, her eyes drawn to the muscular young man crossing in front of her car. In her late teens and early twenties, Cassandra Holton had gone from one boy's bed to another until she met Jeff, who asked her to marry him within six months of their first date. Erin came along after their seventh month of marriage and Cassie settled into her life as a housewife and a career as a real estate agent, though not always comfortably. Work was good and mothering was rewarding, but sometimes in those early years trying to do both was a challenge.
'Not anymore,' she thought. Erin had been such a good student, and was always helpful at home. "I'm so blessed," she whispered aloud, and added, "and there are lots of cute guys to watch, too!" She grinned at her own naughtiness and reminded herself that she was here for Erin, not for her own pleasure.
"Still..."
Her thoughts returned to her college years, as they often did. She'd been completely faithful to Jeff since those days, but she couldn't help recalling some of the times she'd had, back when she was a little wild.
'A
little
wild?' she asked herself, grinning wickedly.
Just then Erin appeared at the edge of the quad, holding one finger up to let her mother know she'd be right there. Cassie nodded to her, and Erin turned and trotted back to her bag, picked it up and headed for the nearest building to relieve herself and put her hair back in order. Cassie watched her. 'She's so cute,' she thought. Again, she recalled the similarities between her daughter and herself. Both were blonde and tall and willowy, with long shapely legs and, maybe less fortunately, A-cup breasts. While Cassandra wore her platinum blonde hair in a stylish pixie cut these days, Erin wore hers in a pony-tail most of the time; the same way Cassie had worn hers in college. Except for when she'd let it down; then it cascaded over her shoulders and proved a real magnet for the boys of her time.
'These boys don't know what they're missing,' she thought, again grinning wickedly. 'Or maybe it's Erin who doesn't...'
"Okay, stop it," she told herself aloud. She glanced to where Erin had gone, then returned her gaze to a group of boys that were walking across the quad. 'Doesn't hurt to look,' she thought, smiling at them as they glanced her way.
Erin was there before the handsome troupe of college boys had disappeared from sight, and rolled her eyes as she tugged at the door handle.
"Hey," she teased, "you gonna let me in, or are you too busy watching boys?"
Both of them laughed at Cassie being caught out. She stuck her tongue out at Erin as she settled into her seat. "I was thinking about what to put together for dinner tonight, if you must know," she laughed.
"Sure you were, Mom. So, is it gonna be sauteed pecs or freshly tanned hamstrings?"
Cassie had no answer for that. Instead, she put the car in gear and chirped the tires a little as she left the area. Erin laughed loudly.
"You could stand a little male attention, missy," Cassandra Butler told her laughing daughter. "What's the deal with that, anyway? Do no cute guys come to watch you run?"
Erin only smiled. There was a small group of boys who always seemed to be around during practice, and were
always
there for the meets. She was sure her mom had noticed them, but wanted to tease her instead. Let her. She'd noticed a couple of the boys in particular, but hadn't put herself out there. She wanted to place in State next week, as it would mean a national-level scholarship for the following two years. It was important enough to put her dating life on hold, for now. Surely her mom could understand that!
"They're around," she answered softly.
The rest of the ride home was taken up with chatting about boys, despite Erin's resolve to put them out of her mind. Cassie wasn't letting go of that, her imagination apparently charged by the last voyeuristic half-hour. Erin mostly remained noncommittal. Finally she turned to her mother and fixed her with a look.
"Honestly, mom," she exclaimed, "it's a good thing you're not still going to college! How did you ever get through your classes with all that estrogen coursing through your body?"
"I didn't, if you remember," Cassie deadpanned. "Someone came along and ruined my figure, and I never got back to school after that." She laughed. "I'm not talking about your father, by the way!" She winked at Erin.