Arnold laid in bed that night and his mind raced and went over Kelly's words. Randomness has a pattern. A pattern of randomness. Randomness has its own pattern. Randomness is the pattern. Then his mind clicked into high gear. Randomness isn't random!

Needless to say, Arnold didn't sleep a wink all night.

*

Heather was on the edge of tears as she laid in her bed and felt terrible. She hadn't been verbally berated by her mother in a long time. Even though she was older now, it stung just as much this time as it did when she was a child, especially since she should have known better than to push her luck like she had. She had been too brazen, too sure of herself, and her mother had called her on it.

Heather had apologized several times and her mother didn't really hear her, because her mother knew that the apology wasn't as sincere as it could have been. She was eighteen and she was old enough to make decisions on her own. Her mother on the other hand, didn't see making the decision to walk around naked and to have oral sex in her house was the right one.

Even Kelly had been dragged into the conversation for not telling her mother about what had been going on. Her friend had wilted under her mother's angry rant and had slunk off to the spare room when it was over, without even saying goodnight.

*

Kelly laid in bed in the spare room and was worried about Heather. She had never seen Heather's mother that angry before and had to retreat to the spare room when told to go to bed. She couldn't hold her friend and comfort her after being yelled at, and that hurt her heart. She waited for some time, then she decided that she couldn't lay there any longer while her friend was in distress.

Kelly slipped out of bed and carefully opened the spare room door. She didn't make a sound as she crept across the hallway and inched Heather's door open. She knew it would be silent as well, because Heather's mom had opened it earlier and it didn't make any noise then. She slid into the room and eased the door shut, then walked over to the bed. Her still awake friend stared at her with wide eyes, so Kelly lifted the blanket and crawled in beside her. She had barely gotten under the covers when Heather took her into a tight hug and let the tears flow.

*

Claire laid in bed and slightly regretted coming down hard on her daughter for being so stupid. She knew that Arnold was a very impressionable boy and had even been warned about it. Claire had her own experiences with just how Arnold would act, and her mind went over her daughter's admission that she had been on her knees and had pleased him with her mouth until he came.

How could she be so stupid? Claire asked herself in exasperation. Poor Arnold probably had no idea what the hell she was doing to him. She sighed and rolled over onto her side. Arnold is old enough to have had that talk with his mother, I'm sure. She thought. Still, I might have to talk with him myself and make sure that he hasn't been traumatized by what Heather did.

What Claire didn't know was that Annie's special talk with Arnold had included a lot of erroneous details that she thought Arnold might encounter, now that he had a girlfriend. She wouldn't describe how things felt or what specifically was going to happen, since it was a little different for everyone when they experienced it. She also didn't want him to have any preconceptions that wouldn't or couldn't be met when it happened.

Annie had pretty much given Arnold a general outline for what sex entailed, in no particular order, and she had been pretty sure that he was prepared enough to handle the situation properly. She had expected any sex acts would happen at relatively the same time however, and hadn't accounted for the acts to be spread out over several days.

Heather's technique to slowly acclimate Arnold to her desires was not something Annie or Claire had been prepared for. It was both sneaky and smart for her to do that, considering the time restraints that had been placed upon her.

At least she didn't try to do it at school or try to sneak around outside somewhere. Claire thought and closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. I overreacted and I think I'll apologize to her and Kelly in the morning.

*

The next day, Arnold was out of bed and dressed for work without being asked. He wasn't quite at the happy stage, not in the general sense; but, when he sat down at the kitchen table to eat, his mother noticed the slight change in his demeanor.

“Arnold, are you okay?” Annie asked and served him breakfast.

Arnold nodded and started to eat like he normally did. Annie sat next to him and wondered what was different about him, then a thought occurred to her.

“Arnold, did you have sex?” Annie asked.

“Not all of it.” Arnold said.

Annie did her best to hide her surprise. “What... what part...”

“Oral sex.” Arnold answered.

Annie let out a relaxed sigh for a moment, then she realized what he said. “Which one?”

“Both.” Arnold said and finished eating.

Annie sat there with her mouth open a little in surprise as he took the plate and rinsed it off and washed his hands. “What... what did you think of it?”

“I've never seen kisses like that before.” Arnold said, truthfully.

Kisses? Annie thought, then she went over how it would look from his point of view when Heather had gone down on him. I guess it would look like a kiss. “Are you going to do it again?” What am I asking him that for?!? I don't want to know! I don't!

“I asked her yesterday and she said she didn't feel like it.” Arnold said.

Annie was immediately angered by this and stood up. He finally asks for something he wants from her and she has the gall to say no? She took a deep breath and let it out, so that her anger wouldn't color her words. “I think I need to have a talk with Claire about her daughter.”

Arnold shrugged. “Is my bag ready?”

Annie nodded and waved to the front door where she had put his bag.

Arnold stepped close to her and gave her a hug. “I love you, mom.” He said and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“I love you, too.” Annie said. “I'll see you tonight.”

Arnold let her go and walked over to the door and picked up his bag and waited for his drive.

*

Claire hadn't slept much during the night and got up later than she had planned. Even after a shower and getting changed, she was still a little groggy when she walked to her daughter's room and knocked.

“Heather, can I come in?”

“S-sure.” Heather said and sat up and tried to cover the Kelly-sized lump by ruffling the blanket and tried to make the bed look messy.

Claire opened the door and saw the mess of the bed and then looked at her daughter's tear stained face and bloodshot eyes. “Heather, I... may have overreacted last night.”

“Mom, I really am sorry.” Heather said. “I just... Arnold is so... I couldn't help it.”

Claire sighed. “I know he's tempting; but, you can't be doing things like that.” She said. “I know I told you to grab hold of him and don't let go...”

There was a muffled squeak from under the blanket.

“...I didn't mean for you to literally grab him by the penis.” Claire finished. “There are certain times and places to do things like that, and sneaking around behind my back to do them is neither the time nor the place.”

“Mom, I know.” Heather said and Claire looked at her with a question on her face. “I realized it when I walked in on Arnold getting ready to have a shower yesterday.”

“Excuse me?”

“He stood there in the spare room, completely naked, and he... he was covered in sweat and... his muscles were... he looked delicious.” Heather said, her face bright red. “I told him to kiss me.”

“Heather...” Claire started to admonish her.

“Let me finish.” Heather said to cut off the rant before it started. “The spare room door was wide open and I didn't care. All that mattered was having him kiss me right away. When he did, I played with him and got him hard.”

“Good god, Heather.” Claire sighed.

“I wanted to suck him off right there, mom.” Heather said, her voice full of confidence and her blush faded. “Do you know what I did then?”

Claire had a really good idea and didn't say it.

“I told him to go and get a shower.” Heather said, to her surprise. “He did. He didn't push me, or beg me to keep going, or call me a tease for not going further.” She said. “Mom, he's the best boyfriend I've ever had. I don't want to ruin it or cheapen it by sneaking around and only getting little thrills.”

“Heather.” Claire was surprised by her daughter's maturity that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“I know I've done that in the past, and I'm sorry.” Heather said. “I'm done with wanting to sneak around, mom. Arnold is my boyfriend and I want him to have sex with me. Right here. In my bed.”

Claire was about to comment when her daughter spoke again and stopped her.

“Tonight, mom.” Heather said. “I want Arnold to stay over tonight.”

Claire was stunned. “Heather...”

“I know it's a lot to ask, mom. I really do. I'm not saying that we will have sex, because he might be tired from work or I might not feel like it.” Heather said. “I want your permission to have him here in my bed, just in case it does.”

Claire closed her eyes and dropped her head a little. I really was too hard on her last night. She thought. She would never think to ask me something like this before I ranted at her. She sighed and opened her eyes and saw the resolve on her daughter's face. “Let me think about it.”

Heather nodded and Claire turned to leave.

“If you happen to see Kelly around, try not to gloat too much when you tell her what you asked me for.” Claire said and shut the bedroom door as she left. After a few moments, the blanket was thrown off the bed.

“Oh. My. GOD!” Kelly yelled. “HEATHER!”

Heather wiped at her face and let out a laugh. “I can't believe I just said that to my mom.”

“You can't!” Kelly exclaimed and flopped down onto the pillow, then she laughed. “Wow.”

Heather laid back down and the two of them stared up at the ceiling. “Yeah.”

They were silent as they heard the car drive away.

“Do you think she's going to say yes?” Kelly asked in a whisper.

She already did when she didn't say no. Heather thought and smiled.

*

“She's late.” Annie said and looked at the clock. “I wonder why?”

Arnold stood there and waited without saying anything. A car pulled up and didn't honk the horn. Both Annie and Arnold went to the front door to see who it was. Claire had parked in the driveway and walked towards the house, so Annie opened the front door to greet her.

“Good morning.” They said at the same time.

“Annie, I'd like to speak to you about something.”

“Claire, I'd like to speak to you about something.”

Both women had to smile at that, then Annie touched Arnold's shoulder.

“Arnold, go wait in the car. Claire and I need to talk for a minute.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and went to the car and climbed into the back seat.

“Come in.” Annie said and stepped back to let Claire go inside. She shut the door and walked over to the living room and motioned for Claire to sit and sat down herself. They looked at each other for a moment, then both spoke.

“It's about Heather.” Annie said.

“It's about my daughter.” Claire said, and chuckled. “It's your house, so you first.”

Annie nodded. “Your daughter has made sexual advances towards my son.”

“I know.” Claire said. “I found out late last night.”

“That makes this easier.” Annie said. “Yesterday, Arnold expected to have oral sex with her and she said no.”

Claire sighed. “I just found that out this morning.” She said. “I'm sorry that...”

Annie held a hand up to stop her. “I had 'the talk' with Arnold, so he knows what to expect with a girlfriend.” She said. “What I hadn't accounted for was Heather trying to sneak around and hide it.”

“You... planned for him to have sex with her?” Claire asked, a little surprised.

“He's eighteen and quite handsome, according to a certain eighteen year old girl.” Annie said with a smile and Claire chuckled. “I told you before that Arnold very rarely ever asks for something.”

Claire nodded. She knew to watch out for those things and to let Annie know.

“Arnold asked Heather for oral sex yesterday.” Annie said and saw the surprise on Claire's face. “Yes, it's a surprise, mainly because he only asks when he wants something. If he asked...”

“Oh, god.” Claire said. “You're not upset that they have been doing it like I am, you're upset that she said no when he asked.”

Annie nodded. “I've told you that almost nothing gets his attention, and for him to be excited about something besides his specimens...”

“So, you're okay if he has sex.” Claire said, still a little surprised. “Actual sex, I mean.”

Annie let out a sigh, then chuckled. “Intercourse is a part of his development. If it happens and he actually likes it, then maybe he will start to open up a little.”

“What if he doesn't like it?” Claire asked.

“Then neither of us have to worry too much about them going at it like rabbits.”

Claire stared at her for a second and then laughed. “I was so worried about talking to you about this that I was shaking like a leaf.” She held her hand up and it trembled slightly. “Now I feel like I'm being schooled in keeping a calm composure.”

Annie smiled. “He knows to use protection when with her, so you don't have to worry about that, either.”

“Oh, thank god.” Claire said, relief clearly on her face. “I wasn't sure how I was going to explain prophylactics and their application to two teenagers that are eager to hurry up and have sex!”

“I wish I had a camera to record it when I had the talk with Arnold.” Annie laughed. “Talk about awkward!” She shook her head. “When I was done, he was surprised... actually surprised... when he found out that we do it for fun and not just to have kids.”

Claire's mouth fell open in surprise.

“Yes! He looked just like that!” Annie said and laughed.

Claire closed her mouth and had to laugh, too. “All right. I understand.” She said. “I'll have another talk with Heather and I'll make sure that when Arnold asks for something, she should do it right then or tell him she'll do it later and then do it.”

Annie let out a sigh. “I know this is a huge bother for you, Claire.”

“It's not that big of a bother, now that I understand the pieces in play.” Claire said and then she smiled.

“Pieces in play?” Annie asked.

“Now we need to talk about why I wanted to talk to you.” Claire said. “After I yelled and hollered at Heather for doing those things behind my back, and in my house no less, this morning she... well, she called me out on my rant.”

Annie looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“She said she doesn't want to sneak around anymore and wants my permission to have sex in the house. In her bed. With Arnold.”

Annie smiled. “That's pretty... bold... for a daughter to say to her mother.”

“You were going to say 'ballsy' weren't you?” Claire asked and she nodded. “Well, you might say something else when I tell you what else she said.” She let Annie wait for a moment, then she spoke. “She wants Arnold to sleep in her bed tonight.”

“Excuse me?” Annie asked. I couldn't have heard that right, could I?

“She said they might not have sex; but, she wants him to be there in case it does.” Claire said. “The downside of being bold is they ask for bold things.” She chuckled. “I was worried that my daughter was corrupting Arnold with her proclivities and then you asked me to make sure that when he asks, to make sure he gets it.”

“I... well...” Annie couldn't retract her statement, even knowing Arnold's sex life was about to take a huge upturn.

“Don't worry, Annie.” Claire said and stood up. “When I talk to Heather, I'll make sure she understands what Arnold asking her for something really means.”

“That... well...” Annie couldn't counter that statement, either.

Claire put a hand on her shoulder, then she leaned down to give her a hug. “I made a promise to you that nothing bad will happen to Arnold and I intend to keep that promise.” She said and let her go. “I'll keep them apart and delay it for as long as possible, so rest assured. When it happens, it'll be perfect and full of anticipation on both their parts.”

“O-okay.” Annie said, a little stunned by the turn of the conversation.

“I better go. I need to rent a wood chipper so Arnold can keep working.” Claire said and walked towards the front door. “I'm really glad we had this talk, Annie.” She said, gave her a wave, and left.