Abigail considered her son Nelson to be a sensitive boy -- tall, good-looking, but sensitive. 19 years old and about to start university after a gap year spent travelling around Eastern Europe, he, she was sure, still found it difficult to make friendships with the opposite sex. Girls had always found him attractive, of course. He had no shortage of admirers. Perhaps, thought Abigail, that was the problem. Perhaps he thought that girls would soon tire of his winning smile, piercing blue eyes, rugged jawline. Then what? Perhaps the mere thought of being a disappointment made him instantly tongue-tied and awkward, with the result that girls got the mistaken impression that it was they who were boring him rather than the other way round.
Gosh, thought Abigail, isn't growing up difficult?
Her husband had died when Nelson was 13, in a freak accident involving a nail gun and a rather ambitious bit of DIY, and she had devoted the last few years to protecting her son from the, often imagined, horrors of being a fatherless child. Consequently, most of what she thought were Nelson's preoccupations were, in fact, her own, while what actually obsessed him she was completely unaware of. On the other hand, they were very close. Nelson had matured quickly after his father's death and had rather cleverly helped his mother through her period of mourning, so cleverly, in fact, that she was convinced it was she who had helped him.
Nelson showed little awkwardness around his mother. With her he was open and frank -- well, fairly. He was still only 19, after all, and Abigail was 40. It was not an insignificant gap. Not that they were immediately taken for mother and son by strangers. Abigail had passed on some of her own good looks to Nelson, though she had kept her full breasts and sexy hips to herself. She could still turn heads in the street -- even if she had little awareness she was doing so. Whenever they were out together she had the habit of putting her arm through her son's, with the result that they were often taken for a couple, and a rather handsome one at that. If she was honest with herself -- which, admittedly, was rare -- she was flattered. There's nothing guaranteed to give one's self-esteem a boost, she would say to herself, so much as having a handsome young man on one's arm.
Late one Saturday night she was lying in bed with the light out, thinking of nothing much at all. She heard Nelson's key in the front door lock, the clatter of the keys as he dropped them on the hall table, his footsteps softly on the stairs as he tried not to wake her.
"Is that you?" she called.
"No, it's a burglar. Keep your mouth shut and you won't get hurt."
"You," she laughed as he came into her room and sat on her bed. "How was the party? Did you meet any nice girls?"
"Maybe..." He looked downcast.
"Maybe you did or maybe they were?"
"Maybe they were nice. I never got the chance to find out."
"Oh, Nelson."
"Yeah, it was the usual story. We would have a dance, then I wouldn't be able to think of anything to say and they'd just walk off."
His mother put her hand on his. "Oh Nelson, I'm really sorry."
Probably not as sorry as Nelson himself -- who was not being entirely truthful in any case.
Abigail, however, knew there was something he wasn't telling her.
"Still, you had plenty of dances. It proves they find you attractive."
"I guess."
"So what is it about them that makes you so shy? You know they're not going to eat you."
He wished.
"Of course not. It's just..."
She squeezed his hand. "It's alright, Nelson, you can tell me. Haven't we always told each other everything?"
Which wasn't entirely true, but never mind, she was only trying to help.
"It's nothing, mum, honestly." He stood up. "I'm going to bed. I'm beat."
"If you're sure." She held out her arms to him. "Give me a kiss."
He leant forward and kissed her on the lips, just as he had done every night for years, and she caressed his cheek, just as she had done every night for years.
"Good night, darling. Sleep tight."
"Night, mum."
"And don't worry. It'll come right, you'll see."
The next morning he woke still fully dressed and with a solid erection bursting his jeans. He stripped off and went into his ensuite bathroom. In the full-length mirror his cock stood out against his slim muscular body. No, he couldn't be doing with that now. He turned on the shower and ran it colder than he was used to. Within a minute or two his cock had subsided to its normal size.
The Sunday passed in the usual way, that is, with very little activity. He watched some sport on TV then cut the grass while Abigail pottered in the garden. It was unusually cloudless and they both caught a bit of sun. Later he helped her prepare dinner. They ate early and shared a bottle of wine. After stacking the dishwasher they flopped on the sofa. Neither wanted to watch TV. They were both feeling a little lightheaded from the wine.
She leant her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Don't let me go to sleep."
"I won't."
They sat in silence.
"You're very quiet," murmured Abigail after a while.
"Am I?"
"I hope you're still not thinking about last night."
"No..."
Abigail sat up. She took his hand. "Tell me. It can't be that awful."
"I can't. It's difficult. It's not the kind of thing a guy can talk about with his mother."
Abigail smiled. "Don't worry about shocking me. There aren't many things I haven't heard before."
"I'm not worried about you. I'm more worried about embarrassing myself."
She had suspected as much. And now she could make a pretty good guess at what might be the object of his embarrassment.
"Is all this something to do with sex?" There was no use beating about the bush. The quicker everything was out in the open the sooner he would get over his embarrassment.
He couldn't stop the blush rising in his cheeks. "In a way..."
An awful thought suddenly occurred to her. "You haven't...?"
He looked at her in confusion, then light dawned. "No. No, nothing like that."
"Because you know you must use protection. I've told you..."
"It's okay," he said quickly. "You don't have to worry. I haven't even had the opportunity."
"That's a relief," his mother smiled. Then she realised what he had said. He was still a virgin. She didn't know whether to feel sorry or proud.
"Oh darling, is that what's been worrying you? It will happen, the right girl will..."
"No," he interrupted. "Not exactly."