The next day, Kelly was the first to wake up and went across the hallway and had a shower. She did it quickly and was back across the hall and in Arnold's room twenty minutes later. It was Monday and it wasn't a school day, so she slipped on her underwear, a pair of jogging pants, and a baggy t-shirt. It was her comfy outfit for relaxing in and she was going to do that today.

Kelly left the room and went down the stairs to see how Arnold had slept. It had been her first night in the house and she had been pleasantly surprised that she had slept well. When she entered the living room, Arnold was tucked under a blanket and laid on his side. His eyes were closed and he breathed slowly, so she knew he was still asleep. She glanced at the time and saw that it was really early, so she had quite some time before he woke up.

For some reason, Kelly felt like she needed to take up that last bit of space in front of him. She didn't try to fight that feeling and walked over to the couch and kept her eyes on him. He didn't wake, so she very carefully sat down in front of him, then laid down in a similar pose as his on her side, except that she was on top of the blanket. After a moment, she took in a deep breath and let it out and closed her eyes. She drifted off to sleep before she realized it and didn't wake when Arnold's arm reached around and held onto her.

Half an hour later, Annie came down the stairs after her shower and went into the living room to check on Arnold to see if he was okay. It looks like someone already beat me to it. She thought at the sight of a fully dressed Kelly as she lay on the blanket Arnold was under. At least she didn't try to climb in with him. She smiled and went to the kitchen. She made a quick breakfast while she watched a tiny television on the counter.

Kelly woke up with a bit of a jerk and tense muscles. She hadn't meant to fall asleep and looked at the clock to see that an hour and a half had passed. She started to move and felt the arm around her waist tighten.

Wait! There's an arm around me! Kelly thought in surprise and looked down at her waist. She saw Arnold's arm and she turned her head to look behind herself at his face... and he was looking right at her. “G-good m-morning.” She stuttered.

Arnold gave her a quick kiss. “Good morning.”

“We should get up.” Kelly said.

Since it wasn't an order, Arnold closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Kelly thought about telling him to wake up, then let out a sigh and turned back to face front and closed her own eyes. I wanted to relax anyway. She thought and drifted off to sleep.

Annie had heard them talking and went to see if they were ready for breakfast, then saw they were back asleep. She held in her chuckle and went back to the kitchen. She was glad that she had everything ready to be heated again, that way when the two sleepyheads finally woke up, they would have a hot breakfast.

Kelly woke again two hours later and let out a loud yawn. Great, now I'm overtired. She thought, held onto the arm around her, and went back to sleep. Arnold had woken at the sound of her yawn, then he felt her hug his arm and stop moving. He took the cue that she wasn't getting up to let him up, so he stayed there under the blanket and went back to sleep, too.

Annie checked on them again and softly chuckled. I guess Kelly is just going to relax today. She thought and went back to the kitchen. Actually, that's a pretty good idea. She pulled the pan off of the stove and made sure everything was off, then went back up the stairs. She had already made the bed, so she grabbed a romance paperback book from the nightstand and climbed on top of the covers.

*

Kelly's parents were a little worried at the thought of their daughter spending the night at her boyfriend's place, even under Annie's strict supervision. They had gotten up early and packed a bunch of things for her, as an excuse to visit so soon, then her father loaded the car up and they both drove over to Annie's place. It was two in the afternoon when they pulled into the driveway and parked next to the lone car there.

“I'll go.” Katheryn said and climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. She thought about ringing the doorbell, then shrugged and knocked on the solid wooden door.

*

Kelly woke with a start again and looked around. “What time...” She looked at the clock and saw that she had slept a good portion of the day away. “I wanted to relax all day, not sleep through it.” She said with a chuckle and pat Arnold's arm. “You can let me go now. I have to answer the door.”

“Okay.” Arnold let her go.

Kelly sat up and looked into his eyes. “Thank you for holding me all morning.” She said and gave him a kiss, then she stood up and went to the front door. She looked out the window and was surprised by what she saw. “Mom!” She exclaimed as she opened the door.

“Hello, dear.” Katheryn said. “We're sorry to just stop in unannounced like this. Annie said that you wanted to get a few more things moved in today, didn't she?”

“Yes, right.” Kelly said. So much for relaxing today. She thought and came out to the car. “Hi, Dad.”

Kenneth nodded to his daughter and picked up a big box. “Where do you want this?”

“Oh. Um, the living room for now, I guess. We haven't packed Arnold's things yet.” Kelly said.

Kenneth walked over to the house and his wife held the door for him and he went inside. He easily found the living room and put down the first box as he saw Arnold, who stood beside the couch with a pillow and blanket on it.

“Yes, he sleeps on the couch.” Kelly said and put another box on top of the one her father had brought in. “Even though the bed is big, Annie said that even though she knew nothing would happen, she didn't want us sharing it for the first night, just in case.”

“E-e-excuse me?” Kenneth said. “What did you say?”

“I said Annie knew nothing would happen until I say it does.” Kelly said, intentionally emphasizing the point she wanted to make, namely that Annie trusted her, and she walked out of the room to go and get the next box.

Kenneth watched his daughter with surprise on his face.

Arnold walked over to him. “Stop hurting her.”

“I'm... not.” Kenneth said. “She's my daughter and...”

“You made her cry a lot.” Arnold said.

Kenneth wasn't sure how to respond to that. He thought about saying his wife had cried a lot because of it, too. “It's all because she's dating you and not listening to us.” He said instead.

“This isn't the time to talk about this.” Kelly said as she came into the room with another box. “There's stuff to do.”

Arnold nodded and followed her out of the room. Kenneth followed them as well and helped carry everything in. When they had all of it in the living room, both of Kelly's parents came in to sit down. Arnold quickly folded up the blanket and tossed both it and the pillow onto a nearby chair and sat down in front of it, then Kelly's parents sat on the couch.

“Annie? Can you come in now?” Kelly asked. “You don't have to stand by and watch with my parents here.”

Annie chuckled as she came into the room. “I'm so easily spotted.” She said and sat down in the other chair. “I assume you want to say something?”

Kelly nodded. “I'm putting a stop to the 'we're just dropping by' tactic my parents just used.” She said. “I don't want them coming here during the week. It defeats the whole purpose of me trying to live with someone else if they show up at random times.”

“That's not what we were going to do.” Kenneth said.

“Dad, you just did it.” Kelly said. “I bet you and mom didn't even look at the things you packed, did you?”

Katheryn's face flushed red and her father didn't say anything.

“Now I have to go through everything myself to see what I can use and then repack it.” Kelly said with a sigh. “I know you thought you would be helping; but, all you did was make twice as much work for me, and this was supposed to be a day for me to relax.”

“Ha! I knew that's what you were doing.” Annie said. “You didn't even get up to have breakfast.”

“I fell asleep and then woke up, realized I was overtired and went back to sleep.” Kelly chuckled. “I looked at the clock and didn't clue in at all that I had missed breakfast.”

“It's still in the pan on the stove.” Annie said with a grin. “Are you hungry? It's only about six hours old.”

Kelly laughed. “No, I'm pretty sure it passed the edible point an hour ago.”

“No doubt.” Annie said. “Are sandwiches okay? I can have half a dozen ready in a few minutes.”

“I think we can wait until my parents leave.” Kelly said.

“Kelly...” Her mother started to say.

“Mom, I love you and you've always been there for me... until now.” Kelly said. “I finally found a serious boyfriend, one that I was comfortable with and didn't make me feel bad about myself, and the first thing you did was try to tease him.” She said and her mother blushed. “That hurt me, Mom. A lot.” She sighed. “I know you think you are trying to protect me... and I have to admit that you would be... if Arnold wasn't who he is.”

“I don't understand.” Katheryn said.

“I know you don't, Mom. That's the point. You needed to talk to me like you always used to. I needed to know you were there for me, and all I got from you... and Dad... was a silly act and distrust.”

“That's not true.” Kenneth said.

“I wish I had recorded it all, just so I could show you the truth, Dad.” Kelly said. “I couldn't believe the things you both did, and all because Arnold dated Heather first.” She looked at her mother and then her father. “So, no more unexpected visits to check up on me during the week. Annie won't even open the door.”

Katheryn caught her breath and looked at Annie.

“I'm sure you can call her cell phone whenever you want in the evenings, since you can do that while she's in college, too.” Annie said. “If she doesn't want you visiting during the week, then I have to respect her wishes.”

Katheryn let out a sigh. “I'm sorry I messed things up so much.” She said and looked at Arnold. “I'm sorry that I tried to test you. I just wanted to see if you would cheat on my daughter.”

“That's okay. I like taking tests.” Arnold said.

Katheryn blinked her eyes for a moment as she thought about her tests, then she blushed and turned her head away to try and hide it.

“So, is that it?” Annie asked. “Is everything okay now?”

“Considering you didn't get to rant and rave at them, I guess so.” Kelly said with a smirk.

“Good god, I was so angry!” Annie laughed. “If you hadn't come out that day to stop me, I swear I could have peeled the paint off of the walls with my scathing remarks!”

Kelly laughed, took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. “It cost me another week of being grounded.” She said and looked at Arnold, then back at Annie. “It was worth it, because I didn't want to lose you. Either of you.”

Annie nodded and stood up. “Let's have some sandwiches to celebrate not yelling at each other.”

“I'll help.” Kelly said and stood up. “Mom, do you want to help, too?”

“Yes!” Katheryn exclaimed and her blush didn't fade as she stood. “Yes, I do. Thank you.”

The three women went to the kitchen and left the two men alone in the living room.

“Have you had sex with my daughter?” Kenneth asked in a low whisper.

“No.” Arnold said.

“Are you going to have sex with her after prom on Friday?”

“Prom?” Arnold asked.

“It's the formal dance they have after graduation.” Kenneth said. “Didn't you know that?”

“No.” Arnold said. “Am I supposed to have sex with her after prom?”

Kenneth wasn't sure how to answer that. He knew that a lot of students got together just to have sex after prom; but, he didn't want his daughter to be one of them. As he thought about it, the three women came back into the living room. Before he could speak again, Arnold beat him to it.

“Mom, am I supposed to have sex with Kelly after prom?” Arnold asked.

“PROM!” Kelly gasped and dropped the plate of sandwiches. The plate broke and the sandwiches scattered a couple of feet away across the floor. “I totally forgot about prom!”

“It's all right.” Her mother said and took her into a hug. “We've got three days to plan.”

Annie walked over to Arnold. “Having sex is a choice between two people and not something that any event, no matter how important, can trigger.” She said. “That would be like making an appointment to do it, and that removes all the romance and the significance.”

“Okay.” Arnold said.

“We'll need to head out to look for a dress right away.” Katheryn said. “I don't know if we'll find a really nice one this late, though.”

“I wouldn't worry about that.” Annie said with a smile and turned to face them as she put an arm over Arnold's shoulders.

“What? Why not?” Kelly asked.

“I'm tempted to tease you and tell you to wait.” Annie said and gave her son a hug. “Stay here. If you hear a scream, just this one time it is because someone was shocked and it's not them being afraid.”

“Okay.” Arnold said.

Annie walked over to Kelly and Katheryn. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”

The three women left the living room and went up the stairs.

“Your mother gives great advice.” Kenneth said, to try and reinforce her words about waiting and not having sex after prom.

Arnold only nodded and didn't say anything, because he was waiting to hear a scream. A few moments later, he heard what could only be called a blood-curdling scream. Kenneth lurched to his feet and started to turn, then he felt a hand grip his arm and actually stopped him.

“You heard my Mom. She said to stay here.” Arnold said.

Kenneth thought about trying to pull away, then decided it wasn't worth potentially hurting Kelly's boyfriend, not right after he and his wife had made up with their daughter. He turned back and sat down on the couch instead.