Jenna's dilemma

"This is so fucked up..."

For the fourth time in less an 10 minutes, Tonya Hutchinson heard the words coming from the mouth of the least likely suspect in the group meeting room and it caused her to stop momentarily and glance to her right. She had been coworkers with the woman across from her going on 10 years and there were enough times that she heard her swear to make a fist. On one hand. With a thumb left over. Here, though, one couldn't be sure if she was an Ivy-league graduate or someone who graduated from the docks, the way her mouth rambled off F-bombs one after another.

"Listen, are you okay?"

Jenna Smith blinked and looked up from her work only to find the two other women in the room glancing worriedly at her. "Oh shit...sorry, I'm so sorry..." She felt her cheeks flushing a bit before taking off her glasses and sighing. "It's been a long week..."

Tonya waited until the other woman left for lunch before she rolled her chair over next to her friend. "Is it about John?"

"No..yes...hell if I know. It's his Senior Prom and I'm more excited than he is about it." Jenna looked out the window for a moment. "I mean, I know it's his life but all he does is sit at home, do homework and chores, and then just nothing...no girlfriend, no female FWBs, I'd be okay with a guy fuck-boi if I knew he was getting some. Why am I more concerned about my son's sex life than he is?"

Tonya blinked in surprise a bit, though she was more surprised at Jenna's obliviousness than anything else. She had known John since he was a little boy and the issue with his relationships (or lack thereof) was sitting right in front of her. John was not fugly by any stretch of the imagination, having spent more of his time than his mom cared to acknowledge working out and maintaining a fit physique. It was no secret around the office of "John days" where he would come to the office to hang out with his mom or drop something off and a small (but dedicated) herd of women would mention him coming through the internal chat. It had only been through organization that it hadn't turned out in a disaster with the amount of thirsty viewers that would love to take a turn with him. Someone even suggested bribing Jenna for a chance to take him out for a spin. Tonya had nixed that idea quickly.

Too quickly in the eyes of some.

"Have you talked with John? I mean, he's a smart young man," Tonya began, hoping Jenna was too distracted to notice the way she had said his name with a bit of an edge to it. She was happily married but that didn't stop her from imagining what that young man could do, especially since her bed was drier than Lake Mead. "Maybe he's just not talking with you about it?"

Jenna nodded sadly, still not looking at her friend. "No kidding...we don't talk about things any more. I know he doesn't blame me for anything with Steve...but it's still hard. I'm not getting any younger and he's just going to one day go 'see you later, mom' and that's it." She looked back at Tonya. "Sorry, I didn't mean to dump this on you..."

Tonya smiled and shook her head, and the image of John's bare chest from when he had helped move her stuff in to her new place (the man was cut...how in the hell did he hide that from her?) "No worries, that's what friends are for." She leaned in and smiled. "Listen, I think I may have an idea for you to try out...you know, get closer to him. Find out what is going on..."