Bunking down for the night

Ben was shocked at first, but instinct took over. A pretty girl was kissing him, so he kissed back, lips parting slightly as tongues began to massage one another. His body felt reenergised as the warmth of arousal spread through him.

His hands came to rest on her arms, and then, almost on their own, traveled down until they settled on her hips. For her part, Suzy had a hand resting under his shirt on his bare chest, fingers splayed out over his heart.

Things were getting heavy, but the sudden realisation of just who exactly he was making out with struck him. Reluctantly he drew away, guilt staining his mind.

Suzy was blushing furiously, chewing on her bottom lip and looking anywhere but at him. “Sorry,” she muttered, “that was a bit…much.”

“It was nice,” Ben hurriedly told her, “but…not the time and place.”

And also because they had just committed an act of temporal ****, but Ben kept that part to himself.

“Right,” Suzy nodded, forcing composure. “Um…it might be better if you take a walk down the block or something,” she gestured inside, “my mom will be buzzing around the house cleaning up for a while, but come eight o’clock she’ll be settled into the living room with a glass of gin. I’ll be able to sneak you down to the basement without anyone knowing then.”

She took off her watch. “Here, so you know when to come back.”

Ben hummed in agreement and enjoyed how she leaned in close to affix the watch to his wrist, her soft fingers caressing his skin as she did. Shit, he caught himself looking at her all the time. She was so goddamned pretty and kissing her had felt so goddamned good. But there was something else. He felt drawn to her in another way that he couldn’t quite put a name to and it scared him. Was he really catching feelings? For his teenager mother of all people??

They made a show of going back inside and saying goodbye. Francine told him that he had a standing invitation to come back for dinner any time and as he stood in the doorway she leaned in close.

“Come back any time,” she whispered to him with a curious smile, “I hope to see a lot more of you.”

He didn’t really know what to make of that so he simply nodded before making his exit. It was dark out, so he couldn’t really discern how different the neighbourhood would look from its future state, but he followed his feet and walked aimlessly for a while.

The gravity of what he had done wasn’t lost on him. It wasn’t just the moral implications of ****, but there was also the greater, quantum mechanics of it all. Ben had seen a lot of media about the nature of time travel and a lot of it was contradictory.

Had his actions this night completely fucked the space time continuum? Would he phase out of existence? Or had he created some kind of alternate timeline? Perhaps it was simply a matter of his actions not being consequential enough. Maybe the butterfly effect was horseshit?

It had grown fairly dark by the time he stopped by a streetlight to check his borrowed watch. Eight. Perfect.

He strolled on back and stood in front of the family home. He waited around for maybe five minutes and wished desperately that cellphones and text messaging were a thing in this time. He thought he might have seen a face peak out from behind curtains in the second story window and about a minute later the front door creaked open and Suzy, dressed in her PJs, waved him inside.

She held a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. The tv was flickering away noisily in the living room while Francine laughed away at some joke from Chevy Chase. The two crept along the hall and down to the basement.

To Ben’s great surprise Suzy had laid own blankets, quilts and pillows for him. It was quite a cozy little nest she had made.

“I’ll set my alarm early,” she told him, “that way we can sneak you out before anyone wakes up.”

Ben nodded and they stood awkwardly like that for a moment. Suzy hesitated for a second, then reached out and kissed him again. It wasn’t nearly as hot as before, and she broke away just as quick, but it sent a flush of arousal through his body.

“Sorry,” she said, chewing her bottom lip. “It’s just….I really like kissing you.”

Fuck, what could he say to that? He should be shutting this shit down. But he found he didn’t have the heart to do that, so instead he offered a weak, “I like kissing you too.”

She gave him another bashful smile, and then hurried off upstairs.

He sighed deeply, wondering what the fuck he had gotten himself into and cursing his own foolishness. But he was emotionally exhausted and he needed rest, so he partially undressed and got into the makeshift bedding that had been set up.

Sleep found him quickly, and his dreams were mostly pleasant and unmemorable. His body began to recharge after what felt like a marathon of emotion.

But at some point he found himself stirred awake as someone lifted the covers. He was unsure if he was still dreaming, but then a warm, naked body pressed against him…