'Knock'...
'Knock'...
Sally waited a minute or two, but no one came to the door. All she could hear inside was a dog barking. Frustrated and a kind of worried about not being able to find Meghan, she sighed and was about to turn around when, without warning, two arms wrapped around her from behind, one around her waist and the other covering her eyes. Sally let out a yelp of surprise.
"Hey babe! Guess who?" Sally recognized her son's voice. She squirmed a little, but Robert was holding her tight, and had pressed up against her back.
"Aa! Robert! H-hhh-hi! Uh, hi!"
"Why were you knocking on the door?"
"Oh, um, I can't find my key, so..."
"But you know your parents are at work," Robert interrupted, loosening his grip slightly and craning his neck around to face her.
"Right. Right! But I just thought maybe one of them might have gotten home early. For some reason. They do that sometimes."
"Oh. Well, it's too bad I can't let you in. I bet you wish you'd given me a key now, huh?" he said with a wink.
"Yeah..." Sally said distractedly. She had a few thousand things on her mind besides providing a thoughtful answer to the question.
"Are you okay, babe? Feeling okay?"
"Yeah. Fine..." Sally said, again almost automatically.
"Why don't we go back to my house? I know you're kind of scared of my mom, but I'll protect you." Robert smiled and gave Sally a quick kiss on the forehead, then turned around and, taking one of her hands, pulled her along gently.
"No, I..." Sally began, but then realized she didn't have much of a choice. Who knew how long she'd have to wait on the Wrights' porch until someone showed up? She couldn't exactly ask Robert when Meghan usually got home from school.
They headed to Robert's car, an unimpressive but well-maintained, decent-looking sedan. Robert opened the passenger-side door for Sally, who smiled for the first time since Robert had shown up. It was the first time anyone had done that for her in...a very long time. She got in, and Robert went around to the other side. On the short drive to the Witherspoons' home, Sally felt the silence getting heavier and increasingly unnatural, so she made a show of fiddling with the radio, pretending that she couldn't find a suitable song or station. Looking up suddenly, a stop sign loomed in the windshield.
"Robert! STOP!" she cried. Her son came to a gradual stop at the sign, perfectly on time.
"God, Meghan, you sound just like my mother." Robert stepped on the gas again. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, I just..." she trailed off.
"I know. School stress," Robert said. "Maybe we can get some of that stress out somehow," he added suggestively. Sally could only smile weakly in response.
Upon their arrival at their house, Robert got out and checked the mail, and opened the door for Sally. He fished out his housekeys and they both walked in. Sally watched as her son turned around a corner and yelled "MOM!" in the needlessly deafening way he always did. He waited for an answer, and, not getting one, proceeded to make a quick circuit of the ground floor, shouting "MOM?" a few more times, thankfully a little more softly. "That's funny," he said, reaching the kitchen again. "I don't know why she isn't home by now. She didn't even leave a note." He checked the answering machine but didn't see any messages. "I guess that means we're alone," he said, sauntering over to Sally. Before she could react, he reached his hand around the girl he thought was his girlfriend, and down into the back of her tight jeans, cupping her butt while he lowered his lips to lightly but fully touch hers.
