College; it's the sponge that had been soaking up most of her life since the first of the year and now that her final exams had been completed, she could go home to celebrate. She might not have been at the very top of her class but she didn't care, her degree would be in her hands in less than two week, so until then she wanted to go home and spend time with her parents since she hadn't seen them since Christmas. The normal five and a half hour drive was bumped up by an hour with all the little stops she made; thankfully it was mostly uneventful even with the few accidents and road work that blocked a lane or two at times. It rained for two hours when she was halfway through Connecticut but then it began to brighten the closer she got to the Massachusetts border.
Having lost track of what time it was due to a faulty radio clock, she had no idea what time it was when she finally pulled up outside her parent's home. Parking on the street by the end of the short driveway, she grabbed her purse and the duffle bag that had the essentials from the passenger seat and hopped out of her Jeep. Hearing their dog, Bailey, begin to bark, she grinned as the front door was pulled open before she was even halfway up the front walk.
"Nicholas, she's home!" Her mother called back into the house before coming to greet her with a long hug and a loving kiss to the cheek. Holding tight for a moment longer, she pulled back with a smile as she felt Bailey licking at her ankles. Bending to pick the small white ball of fluff up, she laughed as she got a puppy tongue bath as a greeting, her feet carrying her towards the front door as the space filled with the shape of her father. Leaning into his embrace while still cradling Bailey against her side, she smiled up at him as he welcomed her home.
"We are so proud of you, baby, welcome home. We missed you."
"I missed you guys, too, dad."
They migrated into the house and towards the living room, her mom speaking the whole way. "Were you able to fit the last of your things in the Jeep? As soon as we got back with all your other things last weekend, I had your father help me organize it in your room."
"Thank you and yes, everything fit eventually. I had to play a game of tetras that took a while but I finally got it all to fit." When they reached the living room, she noticed they had company. "Oh, hi Alek. How are you?"
"Hey Mya, I'm well and you? Welcome home."
"I'm good, thank you. I'm gonna go wash up, it was a long drive."
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She hadn't expected to see Alek there. Well, it wasn't really surprising since he was her dad's best friend but she had figured it would just be her and her parents on the day she finally got home. She had wanted to take them out for a nice dinner and surprise them with her good news; that she already had multiple companies competing for her. Sighing as she stepped into the shower, she closed the frosted glass door and tried to think of a way to break the news that all of the companies were out of state. It had been hard enough to leave to go to college and that had only been 5 hours away. How would they take it if she moved further away than that?
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Wrapping the towel around her torso and tucking it into itself, she wrapped a second one around her hair and opened the door just as Alek walked into her room with a box in his arms. Instantly freezing like a deer in headlights, her cheeks took on the color of a cherry as his eyes worked their way up her relatively short stature.
"Sorry. Last box, helping your dad... Sorry." He set the box on her desk and quickly left her room, the door clicking shut behind him. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that she had somewhat of a crush on him. He had moved in next door her freshman year of college and within months he and her dad had become almost inseparable. He was always invited to dinner parties, the Sunday night dinners and every time they had a barbecue night. Her mother had tried to fix him up a time or two (or more) with a few of her friends but it had never panned out. He was a 'lone wolf' according to her mother who had given up after her last attempt failed so miserably. She didn't think so, though. This hadn't been the first time she had been on the receiving end of that look. She had caught him admiring her several times, especially when they were having a poolside barbecue night and they were all out in their bathing suits enjoying the cool water of the pool.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, she thought about the age gap. She was twenty-eight, her parents were both forty-eight and he was what? Twelve years younger? That put him at thirty-six so there was only eight years between them, if she had his age right. Laying back, she let herself fantasize about a life with him for a few minutes, the idea turning her cheeks pink as it took a naughty turn. Forcing her thoughts somewhere else, she sat up just in time for a knock on the door to echo through the room.
"It's just mom."
"Oh, come in." Standing, she went to her dresser and opened her duffle bag to pull out her clean undergarments as her mom came in and sat on her bed.
"Alek offered to take us out to dinner to celebrate your graduating. Isn't that so sweet of him?"
Pulling her panties on under the towel, she stepped into her bathroom to put her bra on as she answered. "Yeah, it is."
"Here, dear." While she been fastening her bra, her mother had pulled a red dress out of her closet and brought it to her. "You always look so pretty in this one."
"Mom, it's just dinner. We've gone out to dinner countless times with Alek."
"I've seen the way he looks at you when he thinks he can get away with it. He's not much older than you and I know for a fact that you've had a crush on him for a while."
