Safer This Way

Chapter 39

Surprise! On time and totally cheesy, but I hope you like it...Happy Reading :)

*Luke*

    I blink.

    Then I blink again.

    Then I blink a third time as my brain tries to come to terms with what just happened.

    "Did–did Erica just give us the sex talk?"

    Sean's stuttered question breaks the frozen quiet of the room, and we all share disbelieving and vaguely disturbed looks.

    "I believe she did, Sean," Owen answers what I'm pretty sure was a rhetorical question.

    North comes out of his own frozen horror with a full body shudder. "Fuck, and here I was thinking it couldn't get more disturbing than Uncle's version."

    I can't fight the instinctive wince as I remember that. When we were all starting to hit puberty, Uncle had given us his version of the birds and the bees. He'd had diagrams that I'm pretty sure now had come from Phil since some parts of his speech had sounded a little too clinical and rehearsed. If it had been up to him I'm sure he'd have stuck with the whole "no means no, and ladies first" spiel he'd started with.

    "How did she even know?" Nathan wonders aloud, and I look at him.

    "Know what?" How is he even thinking rational thoughts right now while the rest of us are lost in awkward flashback land.

    Nate goes a little red as he runs a hand through his hair. "You know, about us and Sang..."

    Gabe snorts. "You make it sound so fucking juvenile, Nate."

    Silas chuckles. "Us and Sang sitting in a tree..." he sings.

    "...apparently doing a whole lot more than k-i-s-s-i-n-g," Gabe finishes, and that finally eases the last of the tension in the room as we all dissolve into laughter, well most of us. Owen and Kota still look vaguely violated, but I see even our illustrious leader crack a smile.

    "Some of us haven't even gotten that far," Owen says without hesitation and I gape at him. From the corner of my eye, I see Gabe, Sean and Silas in much the same state.

    Sean starts laughing so hard he falls off the ottoman he was sitting on and he wheezes "I'm so proud right now."

    Owen rolls his eyes, but there's a decidedly smug tilt to his lips that says he's proud too. Kota coughs a laugh before answering Nate's original question.

    "She probably figured it out when I told her we'd asked her to officially be part of our team. It probably wasn't a stretch to imagine we'd moved in a more romantic direction since she knew I was half in love with Sang when we thought she was Shaw still." He blushes a bit at that last part and we all nod in understanding.

    "And she's just...okay with it?" Normally I would laugh at how nervous Nate looks right now, but I know how much Erica's approval means to him. She's like a surrogate mother to all of us, but especially to Nate.

    Kota smiles. "Well, Lily Anderson has been her best friend for years, so she's not one to judge. And she loves Sang, so..."

    "That's because Sang is impossible not to love," I conclude and the others nod.

    "Yes, while that may be true, she may love you lot a little less if you're late for her first date ever." I nearly jump out of my skin when Erica's voice comes from right behind me. Then we all glance at the clock on the wall and Gabriel really does jump out of his skin.