Cora, Book 1, It Begins

Chapter 25, Stress Relief

It had been a rough week for Greg. The anger outburst had confused him, that had never happened before. He was overrun with guilt and embarrassment. Most of the kids now avoided him. The stories around the school about James were, as usual, severely exaggerated. They went from a broken nose to being on death's door. It had taken its toll on him. He didn't have his sisters killer instincts. She could cut down someone and feel justified. There was something in her brain that told her who was a threat and who wasn't. He knew his job was to defend the rights and freedoms of all peaceful beings but the killing bothered him. Being male, he kept that all inside him, tried hiding it from the world. He couldn't hide it from Cora though. When they fought together he would do the planning and calm Cora's anger so she could process but as soon as they hit the battle field he tied into her, letting her take the lead. She controlled the killing. He was happy with that part. She was the most accomplished warrior he had ever seen, to her it was all automatic.

The girls had coerced Greg into a Friday night party at Lisa's. He needed to get away, even for an evening, relax and have a few beers. They arrived at about 8 pm. Cora had to drag him in. This situation went completely against Greg's protection wall. He didn't notice the cute house, the little ornaments, the night blooms or the cute little porch. He did notice the big hug from Lisa's mom. "Oh Greg, I'm so glad to finally meet you. The kids have told me so much about you."

"Oh, hi Mrs. M," Greg responded.

Greg didn't fully know how to deal with the open affection coming from an Earthling outside family but he sure felt the love coming through.

"Oh my, you have the same beautiful white aura that your sister does."  Mrs. M said, she then pulled back staring at him right in the eye. "Son, the bad emotions you are enduring will only cause you grief and heartache. If you need help with it, I'm here. I can help you fix it."

Cora smiled and started dragging her brother off. She knew Mrs. Mom would have him on the couch mixing him a potion if she let him stay.

"Hold on a second," said Mrs. Mom holding out her hand.

Greg was confused.

"Keys ,there will be no driving tonight if you have been drinking. Mrs. Mom ordered.

"Rule number two." Cora said.

Greg smiled and handed over his keys then started to follow his sister down the stairs. He stopped and turned to Mrs. Mom, "what's rule number 1?"

"No chemical drugs," said Cora.

Mrs. M smiled as Greg turned and continued to follow Cora into the basement with the gradually emerging sounds of Peter Frampton blasting from somewhere down in the depths.

"Lots of positive vibes here for sure,"  he said to Cora as the turned down the hall.

Cora turned and smiled while reaching for the door. Swinging it open Greg heard several familiar voices call "CORA!"

As she got through a bunch of hugs she pulled him in by the arm. As soon as he was in view there were several shouts of "GREG" and "BIG GUY."

Well, I guess I'm welcome Greg thought to himself. As he tried to enter he was hit with hugs and kisses from both Lisa and Kim. Lisa grabbed him by the hand and dragged him around for introductions. Like Cora, Greg was taking a second more in-depth look around the room, taking it all in and missed most of the names.

Dave pointed to the recliner beside him. "Big Guy? Hey Big Guy, I snagged this chair for you,".

The only problem was that it was occupied by a girl curled up and fast asleep. Her long brown hair hanging over her face. Cora shoved a beer in his hand and told him to go sit down, relax and watch the entertainment pointing at Bev who was up and acting out some story.

Dave shook the girl, "Pam, Pam, wake up, remember, that's Greg's chair,"

Greg started to protest but before he got halfway through Pam got up and pointed to the chair. She was still almost fully asleep. Greg hesitated until she said, "hurry."

He was hesitant but he went over and sat down. He understood the rush though as Pam climbed up onto his lap and fell right back to sleep. "

"She worked all night last night then came right to school. Her family sets up displays at home shows and shit. There's one this weekend somewhere close by." Dave said as an excuse for the very tired girl.

Greg nodded, he didn't mind at all. She was what most guys would consider plane but he had seen her around the school, to him she was beautiful. She was average height with a very female figure and beautiful green eyes. She had never given him a passing smile no matter how much he tried to get her to notice him, Now she was asleep on his lap. Life was becoming wonderful again. 

It was a typical  night at Lisa's. Everybody happy, beer flowing, pot-smoking, lots of laughing and cool music. It was a pleasant surprise to Greg that most of them would stand up and act out silly stories about themselves. Not just the girls, even some of the guys. Greg still had a preference for Kim's but there was another shorter girl he didn't know that was damn entertaining as well. Greg's jaw and stomach muscles were hurting later in the night from laughing so hard. He put away a lot of beer. People came and went. All got hugs coming and going. There was also absolutely no tension or drama. These people were completely different than those he met in his first year on Earth. These were good people, fun people.

Lisa spent a lot of time massaging Greg's shoulders and upper back, it was wonderful. Every time he tried to protest she slapped his hands away and told him "shut up, don't you make me feel better when I'm stressed? This is what friends do."

As the evening went on Greg got talked into a game of Passout.  Which he found he wasn't very good at it. It wasn't long before the many, many beers and the second hand pot smoke got to him and he was back on the lazy boy passed out with Pam on his lap.

He woke early in the morning, lifted Pam off his lap and headed to the bathroom. Stepping carefully around the body's all quietly sleeping on the floor. An album was still turning on the turntable doing that pshhht pshhht sound as the needle rubbed against the label. The sound irritated him for some reason. Probably the hangover. Fixing that became the first order of business. Once the turntable was turned off the search for the bathroom was underway. It didn't take long only a couple of wrong doors before he found it. Standing at the toilet doing his business he had to put a hand on the wall to keep himself from falling over. His head was spinning. At least he didn't have to go into battle like this. He had done that far too often.

After he was done he went over to the sink and washed his hands and splashed some water on his face. He thought he saw something strange in the mirror so he let his eyes clear and took a second look. Yep, lesson learned. Don't pass out to early. He rubbed his eyes again just to be sure. Yep, it seems both his eyebrows had been shaved off .He didn't feel it would be hard finding the culprits though. Seems Lisa and Kim had thought autographing their work in black marker was an appropriate addition to their efforts.

"Hang on" Greg mumbled. Starting to panic.

A light went off in his head, he thought he had noticed something else through the fog in his head. He pulled open the front of his pants and had a look down at himself. Seems no spot was sacred with these girls. They had shaved his groin as well. With a closer look, he saw the little hearts drawn all over his freshly shaved area. "Oh shit, is that Pam's signature?

He hesitated for a moment then smiled. It was a fun night regardless. "Shit, I'm going to get a rash for sure though."