Clayton sauntered in, saw us, saw his mom, and smiled.
“Guess the jig is up, Bally.”
Mrs. Kent raised an eyebrow at that.
“Well,” Clayton explained, “I could’ve gone with ‘Secks,’ but considering the current situation—”
“Everyone downstairs,” Mrs. Kent ordered. “Time for a talk.”
It turned out “everyone” meant me, Becks and Mrs. Kent. Clayton had to get back to CHS for the JV game, but he assured us he’d rather have stayed and watched the real action. His wise-guy humor did nothing to lighten the mood. Mrs. Kent seemed to have taken a page out of my mom’s playbook. She was steely-eyed, pitched forward in her recliner as Becks and I sat side by side on the couch, but instead of finger-tapping, she sucked her teeth. It was a tossup which was worse.
“So you and Sally are a couple now,” she said after a particularly long suck, and I was glad she’d asked him, not me.
I’d already lied to one parent, but that had been about self-preservation. I wasn’t sure I could do it again, especially with the compromising position Mrs. Kent had found us in. Part of me wanted to deny it until I was blue in the face. No way, Mrs. Kent. Your son’s a girl-magnet equipped to give nuzzling lessons. He’d never be interested in someone like me. Another part wanted any denial to be a lie, but I was too smart for that.
“Yes,” Becks said.
“How long?” his mom volleyed back.
“Little over a week.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d demonstrated his acting chops from day one, but I’d never seen Becks lie to his mom. He did it with ease and confidence, like he did everything else. Even I almost believed him.
“And Sally—” Her eyes went to me, and I tried not to look too guilty. “—what were you two doing up there in Becks’s room?”
“Well,” I hesitated, unsure how to explain our lessons. “Well, Mrs. Kent…you see, we were just—”
“Doing what normal couples do,” Becks said smoothly.
“Watch it, mister,” Mrs. Kent warned. “You know you’re not allowed to have girls in your room.”
“Mom, Sal’s been coming to my room since we were seven.”
“Yes, but that was before…”she stuttered, searching for the right word. “Well, before.”
“I don’t see the difference.”
I gaped at him. Oh boy, he was just asking for it.
“You’re asking for it,” Mrs. Kent echoed my thoughts exactly. “Baldwin Eugene Charles Kent, what do you have to say for yourself?”
In the face of his mother’s accusing tone, Becks shrugged. “Sal and I have been friends a long time. It’s only natural for us to want to take it to the next level. I thought you’d be happy for us, Mom. Sal’s like a daughter to you, and here you are embarrassing her, trying to make her feel bad. To be completely honest, I’m a little disappointed in you.”
She blinked.
I waited.
Becks sat back and watched his Mom absorb everything, a faint look of disapproval on his face.
The guy was unbelievable. Mrs. Kent would never buy it.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she said. Her face fell as she looked at me. “I adore you Sally, I do. It’s just finding you and Becks in his room…it took me by surprise.”
“Totally understandable,” I said.
“But I am so happy,” she said, a smile forming, “over the moon, really, that you and Becks are finally together. I didn’t mean to embarrass you, honey. I was trying to embarrass my son, but apparently he inherited his father’s shamelessness.”
“Talking about me again, dear?” Mr. Kent stepped into the room and dropped a kiss on his wife’s head. Clayton had more of his dad in him than his mom, but Becks was a perfect marriage of the two. As Mr. Kent looked at us, I saw a matching set of Becks’s eyes looking back at me. “Hi, Sally. I miss anything good?”
“Just Becks and his new girlfriend getting better acquainted in his bedroom,” Mrs. Kent said, which finally—finally—made Becks blush. I’d been red as I could be since before she’d discovered us, so her comment really had no effect on my coloring.
“Really?” Mr. Kent was all smiles. “Well, isn’t that something.” Mrs. Kent shot him a look, and he quickly amended, “I mean, Becks how dare you take our innocent Sally here up to your room. Do we need to have a talk about the correct way to treat a lady?”
Mrs. Kent nodded her approval, but said, “That won’t be necessary. The three of us already talked, and there will be no more hanging out in Becks’s room with the door closed. Isn’t that right you two?”