Michelle was standing in the sun-bathed kitchen, holding a stainless steel whisk in one hand and steadying a bowl with flour, cocoa powder, and salt in the other. She hummed a soft tune as she mixed the ingredients. The oven was heating up, and a pan with melted butter was cooling down on a turned-off stove plate.
Her tune got interrupted when the front door swung open. 'I'm home,' Jesse announced, shedding his trainers and putting them on the rack by the key bowl. He crossed the living room and headed for the stairs. 'I'll be in my room,' he added curtly.
'Hey, wait, wait!' Michelle called. 'What's the hurry? How was school?'
'It was fine,' he said, holding onto the railing with one hand. His face was flushed, and his brown hair was dishevelled. 'Nothing noteworthy.'
'And how are your studies coming along?' She was leaning on the kitchen aisle, bowl and whisk shoved aside. She narrowed her pale blue eyes. He was being weird, she thought, weird and hurried and mentally somewhere else. 'Are you looking forward to finishing school? Looking forward to college?'
'Sure am,' he answered. He was gyrating his right heel absentmindedly, observing the hardwood floor in great detail. 'And I want to put in the hours today, so I'll be in my room and cram some biology, yeah?'
Biology, she thought and smiled mischievously. 'How's that girl, by the way?' The mention of her deepened his blush's shade of red. 'The one you mentioned over dinner the other day?'
'S-She's good,' he said, driving a hand through his ruffled hair. 'She's also chosen biology as her elective, so we agreed to meet later this week...You know, quiz each other.' He started up the stairs again.
'Oh, that's nice,' she said, tossing her blonde mane and putting on a brilliantly white smile. However, there was a wrinkle to her eyebrows as she traced her son's gaze. It wasn't at eye level, she noticed. She glanced down at herself--had she spilt flour on her sweater?--and scrutinised her bosom. Her crossed arms propped it up, accentuating the size. She trailed his line of sight twice more, then smiled again.
Meanwhile, Jesse was looking puzzled. 'Is there anything else?'
'No, no!' She straightened her back and grasped the whisk, toying with it, gazing at Jesse from beneath her lashes. A dimple dotted her left cheek. He stopped staring, back to twiddling his fingers and rubbing his heel into the floor. 'Just...Let me know if you need me to drive you.'
The washing machine's beep-beep-beep sounded from upstairs.
'I will.'
Jesse was sitting in his room. His phone was propped up on an eraser, angled for better viewing, and his shorts were bundled around his ankles. His breathing was sharp and sporadic, and the grip around his penis was tight as a strangle.
He didn't expect it'd take too long; he was pent up. He'd spent most of the half-hour train ride necking with Aubrey. A strong gust of wind could've set him off, but his mum had to interrupt, and his excitement had waned. For a split second, his mind returned to her chest--she hadn't displayed any cleavage, but the outline had been enough to stoke his thoughts--but he banished it immediately. And then he'd been obsessing over finding a video featuring an actress at least resembling Aubrey--which resulted in a quarter-hour browsing through the red-headed sections of popular websites.
Dawn-coloured hair, milky skin...the images fuelled his vigour. His breathing quickened further, and his pulse thumped in his ears as his hand moved up and down on his lap. He wasn't in the habit of watching porn with sound, but enough pre-cum had leaked from his tip that a soft squelching sound accompanied every thrust. It got to the point where he couldn't hear his mother's footsteps, only noticing her intrusion after she'd flung the door to his room wide open.
'Oh!' she exclaimed. 'I'm sorry! So, so sorry! I didn't mean to intrude on you like that, during...that...'
Jesse gasped, and his hand slipped. For a second, he feared he might've torn his frenulum, but that fright quickly subsided beneath his mother's supervision. He grabbed his member and stuffed it into his boxers, then stooped and scrambled to pull up his shorts. His flush grew tomato red. He cocked his head at his mum and said, 'How about knocking?' His voice was tinged with exasperation and humiliation.
She was standing in the doorway, hefting a bundle of fleshly-washed and neatly folded clothing. She had made no attempt to leave the room, close the door, or raise a hand before her eyes. 'Oh, don't be so bashful,' she said, then strolled to his wardrobe on the left-hand side. She put away his clothes. 'I'm your mother. There's nothing you need hide from me, especially when it comes to something as natural as masturbation.'
The M-word seemed to cause even more offence with Jesse, and he looked at her with exaggerated shock. 'D-Don't talk like that! Not in front of me, at least. Can you...can you leave my room? I want to do some studying now...' He was still hard and pressing down on his lap with both hands, turning the backrest of his chair to hide as much as he could.
'Studying,' Michelle repeated with innuendo. 'Sure, of course.' She closed the wardrobe and walked back to the door. 'But...talking about biology, you know it's nothing to be ashamed of, right? You're not the only one doing it,' she added with a coy grin. 'It's not like I was unaware of your habits. Who do you think empties the bin beneath your desk?'
'Please just get out!'
'All right,' she said defensively. 'No need to get worked up, young man. Helpful hint: your door locks.'
His mother ducked out. She closed the door behind herself, and Jesse allowed himself to relax. The pressure he'd put on his crotch had worked against him, and his cock was still stiff. He was about to pull it out again and pick up where he left off when--
'Oh, and...' Michelle peeked in through a crack '...I've made a batch of brownies. Come down when you're done with your...studying. Make it quick so they don't get cold!'
'Mum! For fuck's sake...'
'...okay, okay...'
'You seem a little tense.'
'I'm just...stressed. Lots of schoolwork left to do.'
'Did you...?'
'What?'
'Well...' Michelle put down her half-eaten brownie and gestured an up-and-down motion, her hand shaped into a cylinder '...finish?' She then picked up her tall glass of milk and gulped down two mouthfuls.
Meanwhile, Jesse's expression dropped. 'Can we not talk about that? It's totally inappropriate...'
'It's not,' Michelle said calmly, licking her lips. 'Who do you think taught children about the birds and the bees before schools started teaching it? Mothers and fathers. And who do you think--if you were a girl--would help you with your period? That's right'--she smiled--'yours truly. The only inappropriate aspect is your reluctance to be frank with me! I'm your mother, Jesse.'
During her monologue, he hadn't touched any of the brownies piled on his plate and had to take a big sip to cool down before speaking up. 'All right,' he said, 'but even so, I don't want to talk about it. No offence to you and to mothership in general, I guess. I don't feel comfortable talking about it with you.'
'That's okay.'