All characters in sexual situations are 18 or older. Thanks for reading!
The AP History essay on nineteenth century architecture was not coming along easily for Noah. He leaned back in his desk chair, his eyes closed, trying to collect his thoughts. He didn't even hear his mom enter the room. He jumped and opened his eyes when she thumped a book down on his desk.
"You left your book in my office." Jessica stood with her arms crossed, looking down at the leatherbound copy of
First Love
. "I'm not sure if you should be reading stories like that. It's a bit racy."
"That book looks ancient." Noah picked it up and examined it. "It's not mine." He opened it and read a few lines from a random page. The narrator threw himself from a twelve-foot wall because a woman asked him to. "Seems interesting."
"This isn't your book?" Jessica cocked her head, puzzled. "I thought you left it when you helped me with the painting."
"Nah, never seen it before." He handed the book back to her. "Maybe Dad left it for you?"
"Maybe." Jessica was nonplussed. "I really thought..." She stared down at the book's cover. The leather was cracked and worn around the edges. It really was an ancient thing. "Well, I'm glad it's not yours. You should be reading wholesome things."
"Sure, Mom." Noah's brain turned back to his homework. "Can I take a few pictures of your new painting? I have to write an essay on nineteenth century architecture, and there's that mansion in the background. Might be cool to tie that in somehow."
"Of course, honey." Jessica patted his sandy hair absentmindedly. "Whatever you like."
"Thanks, Mom." He watched her turn and slowly walk from his room without another word. He shrugged and went back to work on the essay.
~~
Jessica's husband denied ownership of the book, too. She couldn't think where it had come from. And to make matters worse, she had a strange reaction to the thing. With her husband in bed, she locked herself in the bathroom with it like she was hiding smut, and read it through again. The way the young man threw himself after the older woman with such unbridled lust and disregard for the social norms made her feel weightless, like she'd just stepped off the edge of a cliff. Her vagina tingled in an entirely new way.
Just that very evening, she had agreed with her husband that a woman with wetness "down there" had to be ill in some way. That was what she'd been taught, and experience had never dissuaded her. But if that was true, she was sick herself. Because when she finished the book, she stood, lifted the waistband of her panties, and saw that she was soaked. She wondered if she should see a doctor. But her middle child was arriving the next day, and there was no way to find the time. It was all so bewildering.
After a cold shower, Jessica bundled herself into a pair of flannel pajamas. She climbed into bed next to her husband, trying to think flattering thoughts of Andrew. But her was fixated on the young narrator of the book, who lusted after the unobtainable, untouchable older woman. She was beginning to understand why Mara read those tawdry romance novels.
~~
"Say cheese." Noah took several pictures of the painting from different angles. All six eyes seemed to follow him wherever he went in the office. "Is it just me, or is it cold in here?" He put his phone back in his pocket and admired the portrait. For the first time, he noticed that he could clearly see the woman's nipples through her dress. That was odd. That seemed like a detail he would have noticed.
"I guess it's cold where you are, too." Noah stepped closer to the painting, peering at the woman's heavy breasts. He wondered what sort of underwear Victorian women wore. Did she have a bra on? The expression on the painted lady's face was insouciant. Her playful gaze seemed to be telling him that she wouldn't wear such constraining undergarments. "Is it weird that I think you're hot? I mean... it's weird because you look so much like my mom." He quickly checked the door. Such an admission would be incredibly embarrassing if one of his parents were listening in. But he was alone.
"I can see my breath in here." Noah rubbed his arms. He walked over and checked the vents in the office. He could feel them blowing heat. He shrugged. If it bothered his mom, he was sure she could deal with it herself. He gave the painting a finger-gun on the way out and stopped dead in his tracks. He blinked. For a split-second, he thought the painted lady was aiming a finger-gun back at him. But now he could see she was in her normal pose, one hand in her lap, one resting on her son's arm. "I need some sleep." Noah left the office quickly and got ready for bed.
~~
It was more than a little unsettling for Jessica to wake up in the middle of the night standing in her office. Once again, she was in front of the painting. She immediately hugged herself against the penetrating cold, shivering in her flannel pajamas.
"What on Earth am I doing here?" she whispered to herself. Silver moonlight fell through the office windows. She blinked, trying to get her bearings. For some reason she was holding the mysterious book.
"You are here to regale me with tales of your conquests, darling." A soft woman's voice filled the room. "Or maybe it is the other way around. I am every bit as confused as you. I am here with you, but not here. I am dreaming but awake. I am floating like one of those marvelous new dirigibles, high in the clouds." Laughter echoed off the walls, ringing like a clear bell.
Jessica froze and looked around the room for the source of the voice. She saw no one. Her heart thumped in her chest. Her muscles tightened. "Excuse... me?"
"Over here... yes... there you have it. I'm Eloise Palmer." Eloise waved from inside the painting. She was now clearly pregnant under her bustled dress. Her son still stood to her left, but the space to her right was vacant.
"I'm... Jessica... Reader." So, she hadn't woken at all. She was still in bed next to Andrew, in the grip of another vivid dream.
"A splendid meeting, Mrs. Reader." Eloise bowed her head, her gaze dropping to the book in Jessica's hand. "Oh, you have a copy of my precious story. Not just
a
copy,
my
copy. How did you get that?"