"Hey, Mom. Yeah, they just dropped me off at the house," William said on the phone with his mother.
"How did it go?" Melissa asked.
"I'll tell you later. Are you still at Brie's?" William asked.
"Yeah, we are waiting for you to pick us up," Melissa said.
"Are you okay with Brie coming to stay with us?" William asked.
"Of course. Do you think Alan will accept that?" Melissa said.
"We won't give him a choice," William said. "Make sure she has a bag for a few days at least, and then we will see what we do with everything else."
"This is so exciting, and you did well, didn't you? I can hear it in your voice," Melissa said.
"I'll tell you when I see you, I just need to take a quick shower and change my clothes first," William said.
"No!" Melissa yelled. "I mean, we could shower together."
"Are you sure? I'm kind of sweaty," William said.
"We don't mind," Melissa said. "Did you eat?"
"They gave me some food, sorry. I couldn't turn it down," William said.
"Don't worry. We will eat too, and that leaves us with more time for other things," Melissa said. "See you in a bit."
"See you in a bit," William said.
The event had been tough, but so much fun. He was still bursting with adrenaline.
"Honey, I need food," Alan called as soon as the door opened.
"It's just me," William answered.
He tossed his bag on the floor and reached for the keys.
"Where's your mom? I'm hungry," Alan said.
"Maybe you could make a sandwich?" William suggested.
His father looked like he was trying to solve some strange riddle.
"I'm on my way to get her now, but I'm not sure she will be able to make you anything. Aunt Brie is coming with her," William said.
Alan was still looking like he was trying to figure out something deeply complex, so William took the chance to just leave. He wondered if his father would be able to solve the problem without him.
As he drove up to the parking lot he saw his mom and aunt come out of the door to the apartment building, and he drove up to them instead. His mom was holding a sports bag, while his aunt was dragging a suitcase, struggling to get it past the doorframe as it seemed to get stuck on the threshold.
"Let me help you," William said.
He jumped out of the car and ran to get the suitcase from his aunt, doing his best not to try and ogle her too-tight tights. Grabbing the sports bag from his mom, and carrying them to the car, putting them in the trunk.
"Well, how did it go?" Melissa asked.
"You don't want me to tell you later?" William asked.
"We need to know now," Bridget said.
"We didn't win," William started. "There were a lot of teams taking part, and everyone was really good. We did make it to the finals though," William said.
"That's amazing," Melissa said.
"How did it go in the finals?" Bridget asked.
"We were four teams in the finals. It was a timed relay race, and they put me as the last runner on our team. It was tough, because not only were the obstacles hard, but we needed to be fast too. I wasn't used to that," William said.
"So, you got fourth place?" Bridget asked.
"Fourth is still really good. Especially since it was your first time," Melissa said.
"We got second. It was amazing. I felt like I was flying through the obstacles, carried by you," William said.
They both screamed and jumped at him, having half expected Bridget to do it, but now when it was Melissa too, he got surprised and almost fell backward.
"Congratulations," Melissa said, kissing his cheek.
"You smell," Bridget said.
He figured he must. He had been competing in shorts and a t-shirt, and even if he had a sweater over that now, he still knew he must be full of sweaty smells.
"Did they have water if you fell?" Melissa asked.
"They did, but I managed to stay dry," William said.
"That is really good, right?" Bridget asked.
"Your team must have been very proud of you," Melissa said.
They had been very happy with him. Calling him Champ and trying to convince him to apply to the big competition on TV. They had all been on it. Even the teammate that didn't show up, but they all thought he would be able to do better than they had. He wasn't sure though. Even if there were strong contestants there today, it felt like the only reason he could do so well was that he had to make sure it was worthwhile to leave his two lovers behind for a few hours. He had done better than he had ever imagined but it didn't mean he could repeat that performance, never mind on TV on the most difficult obstacle course.
"We have big plans on how to celebrate," Melissa said.
"And you're sure Alan won't protest that I show up to stay with you?" Bridget asked.
"It doesn't matter if he does," William said.
He wasn't sure, but things had been going so well today that he felt confident he would be able to make him accept it for a few nights at least, and then with a bit of luck it could eventually become permanent.
"Let's go," William said.
He went for the driver's seat, but Melissa stopped him.
"Brie should drive," Melissa said.
"No, you should drive sis. It's your car," Bridget said.
"You drive because I let you have William earlier, but now I need to fool around in the backseat with my son for a bit," Melissa said.