Page 202 of The Champion
“Was that so hard?” he teased.
“If you want to continue living in my house, you’ll stopmaking fun of me.” I snapped.
He thought this over for a moment.
“Fine,” His amused eyes met mine briefly before hischeeks flushed. “And yeah...Lane toldme. Logan may have said something once too.”
This could be bad. “And what did he tell you?”
“He said...uh thatyou do it when you love someone.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah...alwayswear a condom,”
“Good.”
I’d have to thank Lane and Logan for this one. I couldn’tunderstand why this was so hard for me but easy for him. I mean, Christ, he’stwelve. My parents never had this conversation with me. I walked in on Spencerand a girl when I was twelve and put a few things together from there butanything else I learned from his porno stash and health class. I guess Ithought my kids would do the same.
“You’re not having sex, are you?”
He gave me this blank stare.
“I know you’re eleven...ortwelve...or whatever.” I ran the heel ofmy hands over my eyes. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“Just so you know my real age,dad, I’m twelve.”He replied looking up at me as though I was completely crazy.
“So that’s a no?”
“That’s disgusting.” He shook his head and side-eyed me.“I’m not going to have sex. I don’t even like girls.”
“Come talk to me when you’re fourteen and I guaranteethat will change.”
“Doubt that.”
“I think I’ll bet you on that. I bet you five hundreddollars by the time you’re fourteen, you’ll spend the majority of your time inthe bathroom.”
“Why, will I be constipated or something?”
“No, you’ll be distracted bysomething.”
“Well then I will stay eleven...or...twelve.” He actedas though this would not be a problem. “And deal on the five hundred. I coulduse some extra cash these days.”
I laughed. “Now back to Arie’s phone...”
“Shit,” he muttered with another laugh.
Sway freaked out about Axel being sexually active. Sheknew after my conversations with her but the dumbass got careless and left hisbedroom door unlocked one afternoon that summer. Needless to say, Sway walkedin on them. I was on my way home from Sonoma when she called crying whileeating ice cream.
“What did he say?” I asked when she told me.
“Nothing,” her voice muffled by the full mouth of icecream. “He didn’t notice me. I saw and immediately closed the door. I didn’twant to see any more than I already had. At least they had blankets on them,this could have been worse.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Okay...when willyou be home tonight?”
“Around six, I’ll talk to him then.”
