Common Decency

Chapter Tweleve;

Keep your hands to yourself.

The letters were becoming more frequent. This one was rather polite. They'd been coming weekly lately. One of them even told me to kill myself. It was starting to get on my nerves.

I felt like all the girls were snickering behind my back. As if it was the whole school versus me. I hadn't told Roman. I wasn't planning on either. He'd only worry, or call the police or something. No, I would gather my threatening notes and keep my mouth shut. No reason to make my problems somebody else's.

Our lunch arrangement remained the same, only Roman joined us now. Jason no longer sat beside me but across from me and beside Alex who was sitting beside Sofi. Madison was on my other side. We were silent. Roman and I had a maths test and Madison and Jason had a Biology test. We were cramming food and knowledge simultaneously. Alex and Sofi chatted back and forth. His arm around her shoulder, her head in the crook of his neck. Roman would never do that. I wouldn't want him to.

The maths test whizzed past. I failed. I must've. The rest of the day followed suit just as quickly. It was already time to go home. Halloween was next week. Roman and I were going to go get costumes. We weren't getting matching ones or anything. He just wanted my input. He had terrible dress sense.

It had been a month since our first date. His parents had loved their holiday and came to my house to thank me personally for co-organising the whole affair. This had led to my mother meeting Roman. She's already smitten. Alex was jealous because Sofi still wasn't really accepted after nine months. But they were a year younger.

Roman was, for some unknown reason, sold on a Native American costume. His blond hair and blue eyes stood out in the most ironic way possible. I went for a pair of vampire fangs and some face paint. His total cost tripled mine. Rich boys.

As we were walking out of the store, I spotted a part-time vacancy. Then I shook my head and decided I had greater things to be worrying about. House exams were only a few weeks away.

"That maths test was killer," he groaned as I started the engine to go home.

"Right? What does induction even do? Prove something by assuming something? How can you prove something when it's based off an imaginary fact?" I shook my head and smiled at him, he returned it with a grin and placed his hand in-between my thighs. He always did this when I drove.

"What'd you get for question B3?" Roman asked, his thumb moving in circles on my leg.

"Ehhhh, I have no idea which question that was. The paper is in my bag," I motioned to the backseat behind me. The hand removed from my leg and Roman climbed to the backseat to retrieve my bag.

After a long pause of ruffling pages and various zips being opened, he finally returns. Test in hand.

"If three to the power of three x plus eight squared x minus three x plus two equals zero and x squared plus two is a factor, what are the remaining factors and find the value of x."

"Oh yeah, I remember that one emmmm.... 42."

"You're an asshole."

After our little shopping spree, Roman had dinner at my house. We had pizza and salad. Riley had mashed potatoes and mushy peas. He was completely green once he'd finished. Roman helped my mother wash the dishes whilst I tackled the nightly challenge of putting a toddler to bed. Not an easy task.

After finally rubbing all the peas off of his little baby face, dressing him in his pyjamas and fighting with him to brush his teeth; I let him pick his bedtime story. He picked our favourite, the Cat in the Hat.

He talked along with me as I recited the rhyming stanzas, we both knew the story by heart anyway. Then I tucked him in and kissed him goodnight.

"Nigh, Wen."

Goodnight, Lee."

Roman was waiting for me outside Riley's bedroom door. He wrapped me in an unexpected hug and kissed the top of my head. I lingered in the embrace, soaking in his warmth and the closeness. I let the negativity of those stupid notes and the stress of school wash away and just enjoyed being hugged.

When we finally untangled ourselves, my mother was watching us, "Guys, I want to talk to you in the living room for a second."

Roman and I exchanged puzzled looks but followed my mother into our living room. She took the armchair, letting Roman and I sit together on the couch. Mum was blushing and staring at her hands. The lightbulb went off.

"Mum, you're not gunna give us 'The Talk', are you? Cos we don't need the talk. We know everything and like, yeah don't give us the talk. We know the things." Shortly after Alex started bringing Sofi home, my mother sat them down and talked about sex, babies, STI's and everything else under the sun. It was awkward between them for a week.

"Eh, Ren, I am your mother and I know that I am far too late to be giving you the sex talk," I blushed and stared down at my feet, "And I don't need to give you the talk anyway, it's not like you two are that far in your relationship yet." This comment threw me off guard, was it that obvious? Roman and I hadn't even talked about sex, not really. I could probably count on my fingers and my toes how many time we'd even kissed.

"No, I don't want to talk about your relationship. I want to talk about mine." My mother sighed and I could see the hope in her eyes.

"You've met somebody?" I asked, giving her a positive smile. She nodded and beamed at me, obviously surprised by my immediate acceptance.

"His name is Tim. He's a network technician for a firm in town, he has a daughter who is a few years older than you and a son around Alex's age."

"How long have you been seeing him?"

"A couple of months. We both feel like its time our families to meet each other. We were thinking maybe we could all go out to dinner this weekend."

"Mum this is great news. I am so happy for you. Of course I'd love to meet him and his family." I stood up and hugged her tight, Roman stood too and gave her a bright smile.

"Roman, you are obviously invited to join us." My mother declared, outstretching her arms and insisting a curt hug.

"Thank you, Mrs Collins." He answered and I could see a slight blush warming I his cheeks.

"Call me, Lisa."

"Lisa." He agreed, politely nodding.

"Now go upstairs and talk to each other. You hang out down here far too much." She said sternly and shooed us out of the room. I grinned at my mother's horrific subtlety and lead Roman up the stairs to my bedroom.

"How do you think she knows?" Roman asked, as I dealt the next poker round. My skittle pile twice as large as his.

"Knows what?" I replied, concentrating hard on the cards.

"That we haven't had sex yet," I glance up toward him and he has his serious face on. I stack all the cards and push them aside and scoop the skittles back into the bag. Then I crawl across the bed and lie beside him. Together, we stare at the ceiling whilst I consider my answer.

"Do you want to have sex with me?" I asked him, turning and leaning up on my elbow so I could see his face.

"Yes." He kept his face towards the ceiling. I could see very little expression flickering past. "Do you want to have sex with me?" He responded.

"Yes," I answered easily.

"Then why aren't we having sex right now?"

I knew the answer and so did he.