Care Free

"Mom, this is Alonna." Shane grabbed a bagel and cream cheese out of the fridge. "Want some?" He motioned with the cream cheese.

"No thanks."

"Hello, Alonna." I turned around and froze. His mother was drop dead gorgeous. Tan, extremely beautiful white teeth, hour glass body. The pinnacle of perfection. She was also bald. She wore an extravagantly sewn scarf around her head to sort of hide it. But you could tell. She had cancer.

"Hi," I said and smiled. I wish I hadn't known something so personal about Shane's home life. I didn't want to feel sorry for him. He was a manly man in my eyes. Hot.

"Let's take this to the bedroom." Shane waggled his eyebrows at me.

His mom placed her hand on her hip and said in a stern voice, "Shane Michaels."

"I'm joking! We seriously won't do anything." He turned to me and winked.

"I'm freaking standing right here!" His mom threw her hands up in an exasperated sigh.

"I'm just joking!" Shane laughed and kissed her on the side of her head. He was about 5 inches taller than she was.

"Hey beautiful." An equally stunning man entered the room. I gathered it was Shane's dad. He also came up and kissed her. But he kissed her on her lips. Passionately I might add. I turned away to give them a little privacy when my cheeks started burning red. They were on hot couple; and they were the parents of this really hot guy.

"Who's this?" Shane's dad turned to me.

"This is Alonna," Shane said.

"Nice to meet you, Alonna. I'm Jared, and this is my wife, Melody." His dad leaned and smiled.

"Nice to meet you too." I smiled to both of them. They looked happy. Even though I knew they must have been devastated with what Shane's mom was going through. I would feel like a fool if she really didn't have cancer and this bald style was just the new thing.

"Well," Melody cleared her throat. "If you two can manage not to...um, touch each other. Then you can go up to Shane's room. Will...touching...each other be a problem?"

I eyed Shane and blushed. "No, ma'am. Not for me." I forced a smile, trying to make my face go normal.

"Shane?"

"What? Oh yeah, of course, mom."

"Oh, let the two do what they want. You remember when we were their age, right honey?" He grinned at her with a twinkle in his eye.

"Mm-hm. And that's what I'm scared of. He's my little boy."

"Oh, please. Let's get out of here." Shane pulled me upstairs, bagels and cream cheese too.

"I love your family," I said.

"So do I," Shane replied.

I couldn't help but not want to go home that night. His mom started baking cookies. Yeah, cookies. His house was like being in a movie. Everything was just so cliche and...good. I couldn't imagine what that cancer was doing to his family...they all seemed so perfect. Maybe that's why they moved here. To start over.