Right where you left them

It felt strange to be wandering around a house that wasn’t your own while being essentially naked, the small towel around your waist not doing much to hide yourself from view. You did think about just going fully nude but that would be quite hard to explain if you were spotted by any noisy neighbours. Nevertheless, it seemed that you were the only one downstairs and you were able to collect your clothes and get dressed without any extra interruptions.

As much as you thought about going back up to join Emma, you decided to play it safe and stay downstairs just in case Grace caught the two of you together while Emma was getting ready. Luckily your decision was for the best as only a couple of minutes after you had your clothes for school on, you heard footsteps coming down the stairs as Grace came to join you.

She acted awkward at first but when she saw that you weren’t acting out of the ordinary, she lightened up and returned to being her normal self. You were hoping to see her in another loose top but given the weather, you didn’t blame her for choosing something that actually had sleeves for a change.

The rain had barely paused for breath ever since you woke up and it looked like there was no sign of it stopping any time soon. Grace took the opportunity to walk up next to you as the two of you watched the weather through the front living room window, silently looking out from the comfort of the warm indoors.

“Thanks for not treating me any differently” Grace quietly announced, averting her gaze when you tried to meet her eye.

“I don’t have any reason to treat you differently in the first place. You helped me out and as much as I enjoyed it, it didn’t change anything about the way I feel. I still respect you. I still think you're a great mother to Emma and I still think you're hot as hell” you explained, ending with a joke and managing to make her crack a smile.

“You're not too bad looking yourself” Grace teased back, making you raise your eyebrows slightly.

“Well in that case maybe you can join me for another shower sometime. Oww!” you tried teasing back, getting an elbow jab from the side in return.

“Hey stop playing around” Grace replied with a smirk, letting you know she wasn’t actually angry at you.

With the rain acting as a calm background noise, you let Grace know that you had already woken up Emma and that she would probably be done sooner rather than later, still hopefully giving you plenty of time to get to school without having to rush around.

“By the way, I’m pretty sure my Mom will be coming to the gym with me tomorrow” you announced, with Grace instantly turning towards you.

“Really?! You’re not joking right?” she asked, almost seeing a sparkle in her eyes as she tried to get you to confirm.

“Yep. It took a bit of convincing but I’m gonna make sure she keeps her promise. The plan is to meet her at the gym after I finish school so if you see her around before I get there then I’d invite her in before she gets cold feet” you explained.

“Of course! God, you don’t know how long I’ve tried to get her to come with me. What do you think changed her mind?” she innocently asked back.

“Well, err. I don’t know what I said that might be different from you. Maybe just that it gives her a chance to check up on me while I’m at work or that with me there she won’t be interrupting your work instead. You know she doesn’t like to be the centre of attention. ” you lied, not being able to tell Grace the real reason that you spanked her until she gave in to your order.

Grace gave a nod but she still looked like she wanted to ask more questions, making you try to divert the topic slightly.

“So err I might be at the gym but I guess I won’t be actually clocked in to work, do I have to still sign in or…” you started to ask, hoping this would get her attention.

“Oh don’t worry about that, just clock in like you're working. I mean you're technically helping a customer and given that you’ve hopefully managed to get her to the Gym I think you’d deserve more of a reward than just an afternoon's pay.” Grace replied, making her think about a potential reward for you before an idea struck her.

“Oh I know!, there's a nice wine bar quite close to the gym that I’ve heard good things about. It’s not really a place that I think your Mom would go but if we’ve already got her at the gym then I don’t think she’ll refuse. Oh this is gonna be so much fun!” Grace added giddily, now getting excited about a night out with her friend.

You wouldn’t have imagined spending a night out with Mom and Grace to be anything other than a social nightmare but maybe you could think of a few ways to spice things up for yourself before then. As you thought about your various ideas and Grace planned out the night in her head, it seemed that Emma had finished getting ready as she came down the stairs into view.

“What are you two thinking about so seriously?” Emma asked, breaking both your and Grace’s concentration.

“Nothing too important” you answered, quickly checking your phone to see how much time you had left.

You had about maybe 10 to 15 minutes left before you had to leave and staying indoors with the potential for the weather to get better was universally accepted between the three of you. You had been planning on discussing a topic with Grace and Emma together once you were in the car but given that you didn’t have much else to do, you decided to discuss it now.

Emma was already aware of the topic so it only took a couple of back and forth whispers for the two of you to be on the same page.

“Erm.. Grace would you mind sitting down with us for a minute?” you asked, directing her to the sofas in the living room.

She looked a bit confused at the request but she noticed the sudden seriousness of the mood and did as you asked. While Emma sat down next to her, you sat opposite them both on the nearest sofa, trying to keep Grace’s focus on you while Emma could try and communicate with you without Grace knowing.

“So as you know, I mentioned a weekend trip to you and asked you to cover for it to my Mom if she brought it up. Thank you for that by the way” you started, letting her know you appreciated the help.

“Right…” Grace replied, unsure of exactly where you were taking this.

“And I’ve heard that Emma has talked to you about it as well but I’m not sure if she fully explained the reason as to why we suddenly want to go off somewhere for a few days” you continued, watching Grace to gauge her reaction and figure out how much you should actually reveal.

Author's note: Chapter 201 will be released shortly :D

Again I'd like to thank everyone for your continued support for this series and hope you get as much enjoyment out of reading this then I do writing it. :)