nothing like Roxie

Kyle knew it was coming. Yeah, his Mom was upset.

"What were you thinking!" She was really in her screaming mode then at three in the morning.

"Relax." OK, that was possibly the worst thing he could say. Thankfully, he hadn't brought the rest of the little cigarettes home. He'd stuffed them some place back under a slight loose floor board. Really, this was all starting to get to him. Keeping hush hush about so much. "Amanda isn't like any other girl I met."

"You said that about Roxie."

"OK, but she's not like Roxie, she's not Mom," Kyle hoped he was right. He wanted to be right about this. "Her Mom's been sick. Even in the hospital."

"Whats wrong with her?" Her mother looked at him as if she had all the time to talk about this.

"I don't know. Something serious. Its got to be. She won't talk about it. She thinks she's the one and only helping out at home. God, Mom, don't make a federal case out of it. So we were late. She had car trouble. Eric came and helped. You know it was a mess out there. I promise this won't ever be anything like with Roxie. It won't." He knew he was begging. But he meant it.

His Mom finally calmed down.

"I just want you to be careful," His mom told him as if he needed this tattooed on his butt, perhaps.

"I always am."

God, he could feel it coming. She was going to talk about sex, wasn't she?