PECK PENALTY

#6 The Goose

POV Joe

She sighs tiredly. Being questioned by my family can do that to a person. But I must say, she did well. Maybe even more than well. I was surprised when my dad told her she could call him Adam. Even Charlie, Ruth's fiancé, still calls him Mr. Felix. I don't know how but Anna seems to have made quite an impression on everyone.

If everything goes well, like Peter said, she could gain me some points with my dad and make him ease his leash on me.

"I'm tired. Can we at least go sit somewhere?" she says.

I take her to the garden in the backyard of the building. We find an empty bench and sit there. "How long do I've to stay here?" she says.

"You can leave a little after the dinner."

"When will the dinner be?"

"In about an hour."

She groans, puts her head back over the bench and closes her eyes, frustrated. "Should've thought it through before kissing me," I tell her. She sighs again. "Should've," she mutters.

While her eyes are still closed, I take a better look at her. She looks beautiful in her dress. As my eyes slide over her body, they finally rest on her lips. "Why me?" I ask her.

She opens her eyes. I take my eyes away from her lips and meet hers. "What?" she asks. "In the mall, why did you kiss me?"

She closes her eyes back. "You were alone and seemed distracted. It was easy to kiss you," she says. I bite my lips. Ironically, it would be easy to kiss her, too, right now. I lean into her gingerly, till my lips are only an inch apart from hers. "Like this?" I whisper. She opens her eyes and sees me. Her expressions go wide and she instantly sits straight gasping. I start laughing at her reaction. "Now you know how I felt like," I tell her.

She glares at me and moves away on the seat.

We continue to sit there silently for a while. I feel calm sitting next to her. She breaks the silence by saying, "Why did you need a girlfriend today? Why not just ask someone out if you needed a date?"

"My family wanted to meet you. They saw the photo your friend posted on Instagram."

"They believed it was real?"

"Your friend is a good photographer," I tell her. That photo indeed looked good. It even looked like I instigated the kiss by leaning into her. And now that I remember, I did lean into her. She gestured me to come closer. I smile at the memory.

"It's not funny," she says. "Why didn't you tell them the truth?"

"Not your business. All that matters is you owe me," I tell her. I'm not interested in talking to her about my relationship with my dad.

"So, how did it go?" Peter asks as he gets in my car the next day. "Good," I tell him and start driving us to school. "Did they like her?" he asks. "They liked her," I say. "Your dad?" he asks. "He told her to call him Adam."

"What?! Man, looks like our plan is working after all."

"It's too early to say anything. But I've my hopes up."

"Hey, Joe," Christy says, sitting next to me at the computer lab. "Hey."

"You want to come to my house today? My parents aren't home," she says rubbing her hand over my leg. "Sure," I tell her smirking. She bends towards me, showing her breasts overflowing out of her wide neck t-shirt. "Good," she says. "I feared you might say no."

"Why? You want me to say no?" I ask her. "No!" she quickly says. "It's just, you know, rumors are going around that you have a girlfriend now. Of course, I don't believe that. She must've been a random girl you hooked up with once or something."

"There you go then," I say.

She slides her hand near my crotch and says, "Where did you meet her anyway? I don't think she goes to our school," she says. I grab her hand and move it back to her lap. "See you later, Christy," I say, winking, and get up and leave. I'm not going to throw my golden goose to the wolves. I'll have to be careful the girls in my school don't find out about Anna.