"Sean, do you have plans?"
The man looked up from his book.
His friend of six years was asking him during lunch. He partially took off his headphones to hear better.
"Why?" he asked.
"Come over the house later. Mom bought a little too much meat for the barbecue. I invited Fred and Ivanesko too," he replied, chuckling.
Sean chuckled as well. He could just picture Eri carrying way too many grocery bags in contrast to her petite body.
He reached up to adjust his wire-rimmed glasses and immediately decided to go. Sean did love a good barbecue. He didn't have anything else to do either, so why the hell not?
"I'm in. Do I need to bring anything?" Sean asked.
"Nah, man. We're cool. See you there after school, all right?"
Sean nodded in response as Hibiki left. They had different classes so their schedules were slightly different. His lunch break was just starting. Meanwhile, his three close friends were already done so they headed for their next class.
Sean didn't have any appetite today, so he only bought a simple drink from the vending machine; a strawberry-flavored yogurt in a cutesy milk carton. Not many loved it, but he was one of the minority. His friends also pointed out how hilarious it was to see him, a guy who was menacingly tall, gulp down pink-colored products whose obvious demographic was young girls. He gets strange looks too, but he didn't mind it that much. Guys can like pink. In fact, pink was made for men back in the day
Plus, he didn't buy it for the color anyway. He genuinely liked the taste.
He loved reading random romance novels he brought to school while drinking it. Cheap flavor for cheap literature.
No one would've guessed he liked reading these kinds of books in a million years.
Sean was an intellectual with one of the highest averages in school, but shitty books were his guilty pleasure. More so than classics, he liked reading web novels most literary critics would spit on.
He didn't realize the time until the last people were leaving. The school bell had been dysfunctional since last Wednesday when this guy named Garry threw a fire-cracker for fun. Obviously, he was suspended. The school board promised to repair it, but he doubted it. That bell is as good as gone for a few months at least. That might pose quite an annoyance for him since he liked listening to music with his headphones on during break time.
He looked around. Lunch break was already done for his batch. Only a few familiar faces remained in the cafeteria. Unhurriedly, he walked back to class.
The teacher was already there.
The physics teacher stared at Sean as he entered the room before continuing his discussion. The high-performing student shrugged. Most people didn't mind his occasional tardiness if he performed as perfectly as he did on tests and regional competitions. In fact, most teachers loved him. He grabbed the subject's materials from his bag and skimmed over it.
He sighed. Thermodynamics was the central focus this week.
Elementary, he thought.
That meant a long boring week for him. He put the book back and let his mind wander before deciding to continue the book he was just reading a while ago. The teacher probably noticed, but he didn't say anything about it. He knew Sean easily dealt with much harder, collegiate level of physics; regionals were pretty competitive and even then he was known.
Time passed by pretty quickly for the young man as he finished the novel he was reading. It was nice. He didn't get much of the hype from the internet, but it was still a good read.
Sean said goodbye to a few people and left the school with his bike. Hibiki said they were cool, but he felt it too rude to drop by and eat despite literally bringing nothing. So he stopped by a local convenience store and bought snacks. Hershey's, Milky Way, etc. Hibiki's mom especially loved these particular brands of chocolate. He laughed at the thought of her.
When he arrived, only Eri was there, setting things up.
She wore a simple white shirt and black sports leggings most men would faint at the sight of.
Including him.
Sean's heart skipped a beat. He's never admitted this to his friend, but he had a huge crush on his mom. Eri was fucking gorgeous to him. She was nice, beautiful, extremely strong — which was evident in the way she raised Hibiki all by herself in an unfamiliar, foreign country. They don't exactly make it easy for people to do that.
Did Sean mention she was beautiful? It probably sounds fetishizing for a typical white guy to say this, but Asian women age so gracefully. Their skin, though wrinkled, didn't seem to sag all that much.
And Sean always had a thing for strong, experienced older women.
In short, fucking
MILFS
are where it's at.
Eri saw him and waved. Sean bowed slightly in a Japanese way and greeted her, "Good afternoon, Ma'am. I couldn't resist when Hibiki mentioned a barbecue."
The womanly mother smiled when she saw him — they were quite close. Out of all of her son's friends, Sean was by far her favorite. Of course, she saw him grow up after all; he was basically a second son to her.
"I wouldn't want you to hold back, Sean. Get inside and wait for them."
Almost gave him a boner with the first sentence.
"They're not here yet?" he asked, trying to tamp down the sexual thoughts threatening to pour out of his mind.
Eri answered, "I told Hibiki to buy a few condiments for me. I didn't notice I had run out of them until this morning."
"Let me help you with that," Sean offered as he took the heavy tools off her hands without being prompted.
Eri slightly flinched with his towering figure suddenly so near her. She knew her son's friend was tall, but he didn't really appear so tall until he was just a few inches away. Last time she checked, he was just a kid who couldn't even reach her waist.
She gazed up at Sean and realized her head could only reach slightly below his broad shoulders.
She complimented, subtly looking down to avoid the young man's frequent eye contact, "You've grown really tall, Sean. You look nice."
Sean flushed furiously. He wasn't used to compliments about his looks. Mostly, people just talked about his academics or his intelligence.
"Thanks. Anything else you need carried, Ma'am?" He changed the subject, flustered out of his mind.
She didn't notice, obviously. He had an excellent poker face.
"Yeah, actually. The metal grill in the garage. I cleaned it yesterday. Could you bring it over here to the yard?"
"No problem," he mumbled before heading straight to the garage. The metal grill was pretty heavy, but it wasn't a problem for him. He carried it over to the yard and clapped his palms free from the peculiar feel of iron and dust.
Eri quietly stared at him and said, "You're really strong, aren't you? That probably wasn't easy to do in a single breath."
"I work out. They say it tames anxiety. They were partly right."
Sean laughed in good fun. She didn't.
Eri seemed worried, but she was hiding it so as to not startle him.
"You... have anxiety?"
"Regionals were really stressful as a first-year. I didn't want to make mistakes."
