I woke up to the sound of the front door opening. Reality jolted my brain, "MOM's HOME", echoed in my head. I gently slid Cat off me, pulled the covers over her and quietly ran out to the hall. I would have to pass the stairs to get to my room, so I went into the bathroom.
I heard mom walking around in the kitchen and then toward the stairs. I flushed the toilet, quickly washed my hands and headed for my room. As I passed the stairs Mom was about half way up.
"Hi Bobby, did I wake you up when I came in?" she asked quietly, as she continued up the stairs.
"No," I yawned, as I was passing the stairs, "I just had to go to the bathroom."
"Wait a minute." Mom said when I kept walking. "You're not going to say goodnight to your Mother?"
"Sorry Mom...still half asleep." I told her turning back toward the stairs. Before my dad left, we didn't leave the house or go to bed without kissing our mother. He said it was a sign of respect. I guess he figured as long as he kissed her goodbye and goodnight it was alright to go out and cheat on her, but when she found out about it, he found out how misguided his thinking was. But even after she kicked him out and divorced him, my sister and I still showed her that respect without fail. If I hadn't been so worried about mom finding out what I had done, I never would have just walked past her like that.
I walked over and kissed her and started to turn away when she said, "What's all over you?" When I kissed her she had put her hand on my arm and was now rubbing her fingers together.
"Oh...I...um...spilled the oil, sorry, I cleaned it up." I lied, making a mental note to make sure my sisters bed was cleaned up before mom got up. She slept in the morning because she worked at night and Cat and I were up and out of the house before she got up. Cat was a freshman in college and I was a senior in high school. Lucky for me there were no lights on and the only light came from the moon coming through the window above the stairs. So she didn't see the oil all over the rest of me.
Okay, goodnight Bobby." mom said turning and heading for the bathroom.
As soon as she closed the door, I slipped quietly into my sister's room, grabbed the towel and the oil, walked quickly to my room and closed the door. My heart was pounding as I wiped some of the oil off my body. I put the oil and the towel next to my bed and lay down, and about 20 minutes later Mom came out of the bathroom. I heard her come down the hall toward my room, then stop and open Cat's door.
"Shit," I though as my heart started racing again, but I don't think she went in because a few seconds later I heard the door close. I sighed in relief, then stiffened as I heard mom approach my room. I closed my eyes and started breathing like I was asleep in anticipation of her opening my door, but she didn't. She stood there for a couple of minutes, I don't know if she was listening or what she was doing. Then I heard her walk back down the hall and close her door. I thought I would never get to sleep that night, the last time I looked at the clock it was 4am.
"Come on Bobby, get up." Someone was shaking me and saying my name. "I want to put your sheets in the wash. "Come on, before mom gets up." Cat was whispering in my ear.
"What time is it?" I groaned, sitting up with Cat pulling on my arms. "It's 7:15." She growled through gritted teeth as she leaned back with all her strength pulling me to my feet.
"Cat, I didn't get any sleep." I said holding myself up against the wall.
"Go lie on the couch...and be quiet." Cat whispered while she stripped the sheets off my bed. "It's Saturday, you have all day to rest. I want to get these in the wash before mom wakes up."