Intermission - Her son’s girlfriends (Part 1).

It was strange to think about it in more ways than one. Her socially anxious, shy, introverted Oliver had five girlfriends. One was enough to make a mother worry, but five? For the longest time, Holly Brooks worried her son wouldn’t be able to live a fulfilling youth, but maybe he was taking it a little too far now.

Holly chuckled to herself. No, it was fine. Compared to seeing the boy silently go from home to school and then straight back to his bedroom, this was far, far better. He smiled more, he talked more, he had friends, he had goals he was willing to work for and did work for. He was growing rapidly as if trying to make up for all the time he had lost. It made her immensely proud, and as such, she was willing to overlook a few things.

As she drove closer to her house, she noticed a SUV parked right outside by the sidewalk. Holly parked her own car in the garage and stayed in her car for a short moment before getting out.

She took a deep breath and composed herself. Just the day before she had asked Oliver to bring his girlfriends whenever they had the chance, and her son had texted her early that Friday morning to ask if they could come that afternoon. The boy certainly didn’t want to leave things for later. That was good.

Holly recalled their names. There were Alice and Noelle, who had been good friends with Isabelle for well over a year already. It was a surprise to hear they were dating Oliver, since they hadn’t shown much interest in each other in all that time. She had to guess the girls began to notice how her son was changing and growing in so many ways. And of course they had. Oliver was a particularly handsome young man.

Then there were the other three. Milana, Grace and Sarah. Oliver spoke about them every so often, and if what Isabelle had said was true, then Holly would bet they had been the firsts to approach him.

Holly sighed heavily. Should she ask the hard questions? She didn’t want to make them all uncomfortable or put them off. She didn’t want to scold them and sour their relationship with Oliver. However, she needed to know they weren’t getting in any trouble, or that they wouldn’t in the near future.

…

Did they have sex already? It was genuinely hard to tell just by looking at Oliver. The boy still had this air of innocence to him, but it was possible that was just her motherly side speaking. He was shy and introverted, so it was a little difficult to picture him making any moves on a girl, but that didn’t mean girls wouldn’t make moves on him. And yes, her gut feeling told her that they had already done it.

Holly nodded to herself, deciding on a course of action. She got out of her car and went into the house through the front door. There wasn’t any chatter. They were likely waiting for her.

She was right. The entire group was in the living room. The girls all had a glass of soda or juice in hand. Oliver and Isabelle were sitting by themselves, Isabelle on the single sofa with Cake on her lap and Oliver in a chair he’d brought from the kitchen. She almost laughed. Oliver was being too careful, but she appreciated it.

“M-Mom,” Oliver started, standing up.

“Oliver, Isabelle, upstairs. I’d like to be alone with them.”

Oliver flinched and spared a look around.

The brunette with the braid, Grace, smiled at him and nodded. “I think it’s better this way, too.”

Oliver uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck, then he met Holly’s eyes with surprising firmness. “Alright. Just remember that if you speak too loudly, I’ll still hear from my room.”

He put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the living room. Isabelle stood up hastily to go after him, making Cake jump out of her lap. Another surprising thing was that Cake didn’t run after her dad. Instead, she waited until Holly sat down on the single sofa Isabelle had left available and jumped on her lap.

Holly chuckled and pet Cake’s back. “I suppose I didn’t tell HER to leave, did I?”

That comment seemed to ease the tension in the room. Holly spared another quick glance around. The girls were all in casual clothes, telling her they hadn’t come directly from school. There was also a single car outside, so they likely all went home and one of them picked them all up to bring them here. Noelle, Alice, Milana and Sarah were sitting on the long couch, and Grace sat alone across from Holly on the other single sofa. Out of them all, Milana and Sarah seemed the most nervous. Noelle and Alice knew her already, but they still seemed unusually timid. Grace tried to look calm and composed, but Holly could tell she was tense. It showed on her shoulders and on how hard she was trying to keep a straight back.

Did this mean they were worried about making a good impression? If so, that was good. It meant they cared enough about her son to want to be on good terms with his family.

“I’m sorry, girls. Did I make you wait long?”

“Not at all, ma’am,” Grace answered. “Actually, we apologize we got here early.”

“Yes. You just got here from work.” Alice added.

Holly smiled and waved dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s a Friday. Tonight I get to kick back and watch four or five more episodes of the show I’m watching.” She stroked Cake’s back again. “She watches it with me. I don’t know if she’s interested or if she’s just keeping me company, but it’s become a nice routine for us.”

Noelle giggled softly. She had a soft spot for Cake, being the one who originally rescued her.

“Did you all come in a single car?” Holly asked them.

“Y-Yeah,” answered the long haired blonde girl, Sarah. “It’s my car. I went to pick them up.”

“Ah, that’s right. I think I remember Oliver telling me you drove an SUV since you have a big family.”

Sarah nodded stiffly. “Yes. There’s me, my parents and three little siblings, so…”

Holly was starting to feel bad. Even with something as simple as that she was intimidating these girls. How come she always ended up looking like the villain? Maybe growing up with a bunch of assholes for ‘friends’ was the reason.

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