“Where are my panties?”
Devon looked around the walk-in closet and spotted them. “Look, never mind those, put them in your pocket or something. Is that my shirt?”
“No, that’s my shirt.” Kelly snatched it out of his hand as she looked for her shoes. “You’re putting your pants on wrong.”
Devon found he had put his left leg in the right pant leg. “Dammit”. He rushed to fix them as Kelly sat on the floor trying to both put her shoes on and fix her hair. Devon couldn’t help but think ‘neat trick’.
Devon began working on his shoes while Kelly struggled to her feet. “Hurry up, they’re coming” she said, grabbing her shirt. She tried to work her arms between the two rows of hanging clothes as Devon said “Almost there.”
Dressed but still adjusting, they made their way out of the closet, rushing for the stairs before the door opened. Once there they gave each other a once over, then turned to the door as it opened.
“Hi Mom” said Kelly, walking up to meet her. “How was the trip?”
“Oh, fine” she said. “Me and Adrian had lots of fun, didn’t we?”
Kelly’s 11 year old son came from behind his grandmom. “We had ice cream” he said, all smiles.
“Mom!” Kelly complained.
“Adrian” said Grandmom. “That was supposed to be a secret.”
“Oops” was all he could think to say.
Kelly sighed. “Come give me a hug then get ready for dinner.”
Adrian ran and hugged her tight. Then he took an involuntary sniff. “What’s that smell?” he asked.
Kelly jumped back and sniffed herself. “Ooh, yeah, I kind of stink.” Flustered, she said “Way to bring it up in front of company.” She looked around at the other two. “I’ll be right back, gotta get some deodorant.” Clearly embarrassed, she made for the stairs.
“Well hi Mrs. Gere.” said Devon. Trying to clean up his own embarrassment, he quickly said “We were just getting dinner ready. Can I grab your things? Oh, hey Adrian.”
Adrian was looking at him hard. Real hard. Devon knew that look. He knows what we did. And now I’m the guy that defiled his mother. Not the close friend I was before, someone he could have fun with and would buy him things. That’s over now, that look says it all.
Eager to get away from that look, he turned to his Grandmom, only to find her giving him the side-eye. “So what’s for dinner?”
“Uh, chicken?” he said.
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“No, no” he stammered. “It’s chicken. I made it myself.”
“Mmm-hmmm” she said. “Adrian, you go get cleaned up. I’ll go check on dinner.” She stepped past Devon as Adrian headed for the stares, still glaring at him.
Aww jeez, he thought. They both know. And me standing here alone. I can’t go up to find Kelly because he’ll be there, and I can’t go into the kitchen because she’ll be there. I’ll just wait right here. Yeah.
After a moment he thought, Hurry up Kelly.
Arid Testimony 