P. J. heard someone approach the apartment door. There was a loud knock, and then Lori poked her head inside. “All clear?”
Laughing, P.J. motioned for her to come in. “Yeah, just me here. No hanky-panky going on.”
Lori blushed. She had been very careful to let P. J. and Jamie know she was coming in because she didn’t want a repeat of coming into the apartment and hearing them making out. “Where is Jamie? I figured you’d both still be in bed. It is early on a Saturday morning.”
“Her mom came and took her shopping,” P. J. said as she got down a bowl for cereal. “You want to have some cereal with me?”
“Sure,” Lori said. She could always count on P. J. and Jamie for a free meal. It was the middle of July and she had another month before her parents would be refilling her account for food on campus.
“You’re here awful early. What’s up with that?” P. J. asked. She carried her bowl of cereal into the living room and sat down on the couch.
Lori followed suit. “My mother was having a yard sale, slash bake sale to raise money for one of church’s programs. I helped set up but when her church group got there and they started talking about the new singles program they have, I knew it was time for me to leave.”
“Singles program? Like a meet and hook-up thing?”
“Something like that,” Lori said, then stuffed a spoonful of cereal in her mouth. She chewed her food up, and then said, “Of course, because it’s a Christian group, they are looking for that perfect someone to get married to. Because, as you know, people aren’t supposed to have sex until after they are married.”
“And I’m sure all of the people who come to that singles program, and meet someone, stick to that rule,” P. J. said sarcastically.
“I’m sure.” Lori picked up the remote for the television. “My parents aren’t going to let me move to campus this semester.” Lori let out a long sigh. “Dad says it costs too much and Mom says that she’s concerned that I’ll be corrupted by bad influences on campus.”
“Like the lesbians who are waiting to jump your bones?”
Lori laughed, but blushed at the same time. “Yeah, well, of course they don’t know about those corruptive influences.”
“I thought your parents knew you were gay?” P. J. asked, turning to look at Lori.
“I’ve told them that I prefer being with girls but they have not accepted it,” Lori said with a sigh. “That was one of the reasons I left the house this morning when they started talking about the singles program. Mom has been trying to talk me into going to it for months now. She said there’s a young man that comes to the gatherings that she thinks would be just perfect for me.” Lori got up to take her bowl in the kitchen. She held out her hand for P. J.’s, “Dad has made it clear that if I continue to pursue the gay lifestyle that he will cut off funds for school, so I’m trying to just keep a low profile as far as they are concerned until I get out of school.”
“You scholarship doesn’t cover much more than your tuition, does it?” P. J. asked.
“No, so I need money from my parents for books, food, clothes, and anything else I need,” Lori said, taking P. J.’s bowl. “You don’t know how much I appreciate you and Jamie letting me hang out over here.”
“Do your parents know that we are a lesbian couple?”
“Hell, no!” Lori said from the kitchen. “They would never allow me to come over here. And before you say it, yes, I’m twenty years old, but I have no money, no job, and no home of my own. I have to kiss my parents’ asses for at least one more year.”
P. J. nodded, “I understand where you’re coming from. If it wasn’t for Jamie’s dad running interference for her with Jamie’s mom, she would probably have the same problem.”
“I thought her mom was finally chilling out?” Lori asked as she came back into the living room and sat down on the couch, at the opposite end from P. J.
“She tolerates me.” P. J. said with a shrug, “But only because Jamie’s dad won’t let her push Jamie to end our relationship.”
Lori picked up the remote for the television. She kicked off her tennis shoes, and then propped her socked feet up on the coffee table. “Do you think Jamie would leave if her parents cut off her money?”
“No,” P. J. said confidently, following Lori’s example, she put her feet up on the coffee table. “We’ve already talked about that scenario. I would quit school and she would get a part-time job so we could pay for her to go. No one is going to come between us, definitely not her parents.”
Lori nodded. She turned the television on to a sports channel to see what had been happening with some of the baseball teams she followed. P. J. and she watched sports news for a little while and then Lori started flipping through the channels. They debated on what they wanted to watching a show about rejuvenating houses that looked really horrible.
That’s how Jamie and her mother found them two hours later. “What are you two watching?” Jamie asked when she saw some guy painting the outside of house that looked like it should have been bulldozed.
“It’s a show about refurbishing houses,” P. J. said. “It’s amazing the difference they can make with a house and a fairly small budget.”
“Well,” Jamie’s mom said, “If you were pursuing a career that would provide you with a good income, you wouldn’t have to settle for a house that would have to be refurbished.”
“I don’t know,” P. J. said, “I think it would be fun to fix a house up from a horrible mess to something really nice.”
“Me too,” Lori said, nodding in agreement.
“You would,” Jamie’s mother said under her breath.
Jamie rolled her eyes at her mother. “Stop baiting each other,” Jamie said, giving P. J. a glare.
P. J. shrugged and turned back to the television. Lori turned around too. When Jamie and her mother disappeared into the bedroom, Lori said, “I don’t think her mother likes you much.”
“She’s a typical mother-in-law,” P. J. said with a shrug. “No one is ever going to be good enough for her only child. I don’t think it would matter if I was a guy. Her problem with me has more to do with me coming from the lower-middle class side of the tracks, than me being a girl.”
“Does she usually call before she comes?”
“Yeah, usually,” P. J. said. “She has show up unexpected a few times. Fortunately, she hasn’t arrived during a moment like you walked in on.”
Lori turned beet red. “I knocked on the door before I came in, I guess you guys didn’t hear me.”
“So how much did you hear?”
“More than I wanted too,” Lori answered, turning even redder, if that were possible.
“More than you wanted too, what?” Jamie asked as she and her mother came out of the bedroom.
Lori looked away. “Aaa...I heard more than I wanted to hear the other day.”
“Heard more than you wanted to?” Jamie asked with a questioning look on her face.
“Aaa...you know,” Lori hesitated, looking at Jamie and hoping she would catch the hint so they wouldn’t be talking about her walking in on Jamie and P. J. in front of Jamie’s mom. “The other day, I came by and...well, you know.”
Jamie’s mom raised an eyebrow, “Why are you guys talking in code?”
“Yeah,” Jamie said, “What are you talking about?”
“Um...” Lori began, and then cleared her throat. “We were talking about the other day when I came over here earlier than I should have.”
Jamie still looked confused for a moment, and then it dawned her what Lori was talking about. “Oh,” she said looking at her mother, and then away, “that day.”
Jamie’s mother raised an eyebrow, looking from Jamie to P. J. and Lori, who were both looking away and blushing. She looked back at Jamie who was also blushing. “Oh my God!” She pulled her purse closer to her. “I’ll talk to you later, young lady,” she said, glaring at Jamie.
“Okay,” Jamie said, but never met her mother’s gaze. Her mother turned and quickly left the apartment.
“Wow, that was awkward,” Lori said, turning back to Jamie, whose face was still blood red.
“I can’t believe we just had that conversation with my mother here.”
“I was trying not to,” Lori said. A smile creeping onto her face. “But you wouldn’t let it go.”
Jamie laughed. “Yeah, you did try to keep us from going there.”
“Yeah, I’m sure the image of you and me locked in a passionate embrace is burned into her mind now.” P. J. got up, went to Jamie, and kissed her on the lips.
“Well, good,” Lori said. “That way I won’t be the only one with that image in their mind.”
Jamie pointed her finger at Lori. “You can get that image out of your head right now. I don’t even want you to be thinking about P. J. being naked.”
“Eww,” Lori made a face, “Me, neither.”
P. J. threw the remote she had been carrying at Lori. “Bite me.”
They all laughed.
