Addison O’Brian still technically lived with her father on the top floor of their building, but she spent the majority of her time going from her father's apartment to her boyfriend's apartment one floor down. She and Quentin were not living together yet, but she spent so many nights there that her father joked that she may as well move. But she didn’t want to leave her father alone, even only one story up.
So that was why she had spent the evening of the school dance with her father, watching old tapes of good Cubs games. But when that was over and her father was thinking of going to bed, she decided to listen to some music, but her ear buds had died. She had a spare down in Quentin’s apartment, so she went downstairs, smoothly put the key in the lock, turned it and opened the door, walking into the living room, where she knew the ear buds to be.
What she found instead was Tony and Candra Stevens on the couch. Neither of them was dressed and it was blatantly obvious what had just happened, especially when the scrambling for clothes and stammering began. She had told them both to get dressed and then found herself in the unenviable position of making phone calls … to both of their parents. Will Stevens to come pick up his daughter and Quentin, to let him know what happened. Now both of them were on their way while the kids, now dressed, sat on opposite ends of the couch looking at anything in the room that wasn’t Addison or each other.
Tony sat on the couch, finally having found an interesting pattern in the floor boards to stare at while he contemplated his evening. The dance had been incredible. His entrance with Candra had been perfect. The kissing was a complete surprise, but he loved that part, too. Then there was LaTonya and Stefan drama and he had suggested that he and Candra come over here to finish their make out session … and they had … and it escalated and when it was over, Tony was trying not to look or sound as disappointed as he was when he heard a key in the lock. Now he didn’t know what was worse, being busted by his father or being busted by his father’s girlfriend and his childhood crush. Well his dad only had to walk from The Blue Door home, so he would find out any second now.
Candra Stevens was mortified beyond belief. She and Tony had gotten carried away, which she didn’t mind for the most part. She could deal with him being the boy she lost her virginity to. It wasn’t amazing but she was aware the first time might not be. Maybe they could practice though and get better at it. But then they got busted by his father’s girlfriend who had gotten a hold of her father. Candra had run to the bathroom to get decent again. She had bled a little but not too much. The panic had started to set in about their spontaneity and not using a condom. That could be bad. She sat as far from Tony as she could and waited for her father.
Quentin Tyrell left the Blue Door with a canned mix of music set up. It would suck but he didn’t care. He was sick with worry and anger at his son. Addy had called and told him he walked in on Tony having sex with Candra Stevens. The boy was 13! Quentin tried to calm as he walked but it wasn’t working. As he came in the door he could barely look at Tony he was so mad. He nodded at Addy and huffed at Candra Stevens on their couch. Then before he could even begin he went to the kitchen and began rotting through the freezer looking for his emergency cigarettes. He brandished the pack at Tony “I’ve been trying to quit….what the HELL were you thinking?!” He started padding his pocket and then rifling through cupboards and drawers for a lighter with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Just then there was a knock at the door and Quentin went to answer it. It was Wil Stevens looking completely ashen faced. “Oh she’s here...she’s here alright….your girl…” Quentin’s eyes were a little wide and wild.
Candra practically leapt over the coffee table to get to the door and her father. Tony’s dad was a little scary when he was mad. She gave Tony a sympathetic look and then hung her head as she met her own dad’s gaze and walked away with him to her own parental doom.
Quentin still hadn’t found a lighter and he threw the cigarette down on the dining table “Fuck…” He rounded on Tony “For the love of God...tell me you used protection!”
Tony sat back into the couch when his father finally arrived. This was definitely not how he thought his first time would go. He was even smoking. Then Candra’s father arrived and all they could do was give each other looks of sympathy. Alone at last, he couldn’t even bring himself to look at his father when he brought up the questions of condoms. They hadn’t even crossed his mind. “It .. um .. it was .. kinda .. spur of the moment …. Dad …”
Addy had stood back for the most part, watching Quentin madder than she’d ever seen him. He nearly tears the place apart looking for the lighter, because he’d hidden them from himself when he decided to quit. As she listened to the father and son, she went in the kitchen and immediately found the lighter. She took it and the discarded cigarette, lighting it for Quentin as she came back to hear it was just a ‘spur of a moment’ thing. Wincing, she literally put the lit cigarette in Quentin’s mouth, then looked at his son. “Oh, Tony ….”
Quentin looked at Tony like his head might just explode when his son said it was a spur of the moment thing about the condom question. When Addy put a lit cigarette in his mouth he took a drag and then looked at her briefly like she had given him the only water in a barren dessert “Thank you Baby…” He said with the exhale. His next drag was almost violent looking and he jabbed in the air with his cigarette “Spur of the moment thing? You want spur of the moment babies? You are 13 years old Tony!” Then he points harshly at his bedroom “I have condoms in this house you could have taken. We’re not in the fog anymore...we have condoms!” He paces and power smokes “We’ve talked about this...since you were old enough to understand how babies were made. They talk about it at school I hope? Are they talking about condoms? Because they damn well need to be talking about condoms now that we have them?!” He shudders “You knock someone up you can kiss all those tours goodbye boy. Do you want that? Do you?!” He exhales smoke at Tony through his nostrils like a scary towering dragon.
Tony sighs and looks at his Dad. “I didn’t think about that, Dad.” he admits. “I mean they teach us about sex in school .. it’s just .. I don’t know.” he sighs. “I … OK I didn’t think about the condom, but even if I had … um …” he looks quickly at Addy and then back to the floor. “I’m not totally sure how to put one on. And … would your condoms fit me? I mean I’m shorter than you and I guess … from the pics on the internet I’m kinda .. I mean I’m not braggin Dad, honest … but big, you know….” he pauses. “I don’t want a baby … I don’t want to lose my career. It just .. one thing led to another and …”
Addison sighs deeply and goes back into the kitchen while they talk. She goes into the freezer and brings the rest of the emergency pack into the living room with the emergency ashtray, setting them and the lighter on the coffee table. She hesitates, but then she moves to a chair in the room, refusing to leave Quentin while he’s so stressed. And it’s a horribly awkward conversation for them both. She bites her lip and offers up. “Mr Reinhardt always says there should be bananas ….” it’s not the joke it might sound like. “Q … we have cukes and zucchinis. I mean … I could teach him, if you're too uncomfortable…” and she would. Addy was not known for her shyness.
Quentin finishes his cigarette and then fidgets after putting it out in a glass on the table before the ashtray shows up. He’s mad as hell and twitchy. Tony asks some questions which make him realize there are serious gaps in his son’s understanding about safe sex and he sits down and sighs “Jesus help me…” He exclaims...it’s a small prayer and an expression this time. “You’re looking up your weiner on the internet now?” He shakes his head and then looks like he might either laugh or cry. Then Addy starts talking fruits and veggies and offers to teach Tony how to put on a condom. It dawns on him just how mortifying it will be for Tony to sit there while she demonstrates and he nods “Mmmhmm…..then that’s what we’re gonna do. Addy...go get a cucumber...the biggest one for Mr. Bigshot here. I’ll get the condoms. You’re gonna watch her….and then you’re gonna show us you can do it…..and then you’re grounded from girls...that’s right girls! Not Addy but girls your age...until you show me you can put a condom on a piece of fruit of veg every damned day for two weeks!” He puts another cigarette behind his ear and stalks off to the bedroom.
Tony knew things were going to be bad from the moment he heard the key in the lock, but this was reaching nightmare levels of cringe. He appreciates the sentiment of Addy offering to help, but then his father insists she do it. His jaw drops as his father goes on. The grounding isn’t so much a problem as having to learn this and learn this because Addy is teaching him. After his father heads in the bedroom he looks at Addy. “I’m sorry.” he tells her, as she seems more receptive anyway. “I really am .. and … “ he blows out a breath and drops his head again. “Was it this bad for you your first time?” he has always assumed there had been others from school.
Addy got up immediately and pulled out a cucumber and zucchini that were just about Q sized as Quentin ranted on. Then he went for the condoms and Addy went to sit beside Tony on the couch. He apologizes to her and asks about her first time. “I wasn’t 13.” she tells him. And then pauses to place the vegetables on the coffee table. “Tony, I was 18. Your father is the only man I’ve ever had sex with and ever PLAN to have sex with. Because I love him.” she gives him a little one armed hug. “Wait for the fireworks, Tony. It means so much more when you’re in love.” and then she has to chuckle. “Or so I’ve been told by people who have had more than one partner in their lives.”
Quentin was walking back from the bedroom with a couple of condoms and pauses in midstep as he overheard Tony’s question to Addy as well as her answer. As much as he wanted to punish Tony for being reckless and having unprotected sex so young, how it made him feel was it’s own punishment. Quentin’s heart hurt to know it. Addy’s answer was perfect though and it made him smile. He came back looking calmer and sat on a chair across from Tony and sighed “I wasn’t trying to listen...but Addy’s right. Being in love with someone in a committed relationship will always feel right when things get more intimate. It’s not just pregnancy or STIs Tony. It’s love and respect. For a partner... and for yourself.” He handed Addy the condoms “You still need to learn this part... but it’s the easy part in the big picture. I love and respect Addison and we’re still careful. You’re lucky you get this easy part Tony. But there’s more we did during the fog….more and well different approaches. I had to learn Addy’s cycle and the safe times when there were no condoms. Another great way not to get pregnant is to just find other ways to please one another without intercourse. There are options….good ones. Kissing, touching, oral sex…...some folks like the anal thing. Not judging it….but not high on my list personally.” One day they might want children together but that was a discussion for just the two of them.
Tony blinks at Addison’s answer. He would have sworn that Addison had all kinds of experience with men. Then again that had been a boys fantasy about his crush. He hugs her back and blows out a breath. “There weren’t any fireworks.” he admits. “I like Candra, but not all that much. I thought I did, but then .. I don’t know. It’s confusing. She’s nice and all, but I already knew I didn’t love her, you know?” His Dad comes back in with condoms and then he looks at the vegetables. “I mean … what about … her.” the last word comes out harshly, which should tell them all he means his mother. “Was it love? And I know there have to be other women, but no one ever slept over like Addy does.” He considers what his father was saying about alternatives to intercourse. He thinks he’d really have to like a girl to get t know her menstrual cycle just to avoid pregnancy and he and Candra hadn’t even played around with oral sex. He’d fingered her, but then things had gone straight to sex.
Addison nods. “It’s REALLY confusing, Tony. I know.” she listens to the rest and sighs when he talks about his mother. They had bonded a lot when Tony was younger over their shared resentment and dislike of their mothers. And then Tony notes that no woman beside her had ever slept over before she had and she can’t help but smile a bit. In some ways she was some kind of a first for Quentin.
Quentin looks ashamed at the question about Tony’s mother “No. It wasn’t love with your mother. But it gave me you Tony...and you are the best thing in my life. You and Addy now but you first and always. You became love and all the love channeled through you... from my love to your Grandparents to Addy’s... shines out of you. I know someday you’re gonna give that to the right person and you’ll feel it back...like getting hit by lightning.” He looks at Addy. “Yeah there were a few others but never that feeling...it was never right.” He chuckles now “You ready to learn how to cover your cucumber? Because I want you to have all the choices in life Tony. Us calling Candra’s folks...they’ll be there for her come what may. You should ask her if she’s ok though.”
Tony nods and smiles a little bit when he includes Addy in. He looks at his father and tells him. “I know I had a crush on Addy when I was a kid, but now .. now she’s more like a mother to me. You know. Helping me with homework and … yea …” he sighs. “Telling on me when I fu … mess up.” he opts not to use the word fuck under the current circumstances. Then he blows out a breath. “Yea … I’m ready … I guess…” he looks at the vegetables and wonders if he’ll ever look at a salad the same way again.
Addy bites her lip when Quentin speaks and swallows hard when Tony tells her she is like a mother to him. She sniffs when veggie covering time comes up. “OK …. Now…” she picks up the zucchini and shamelessly begins. “If you’re like your Dad then this should be about right. But heres how it goes.” she puts the cucumber between her knees because she needs both of her hands. She reaches for the condom. “Be careful how you open it, to make sure you don’t rip it. She’s not going anywhere, trust me.” she opens the packet and takes out the condom “Like this …” she places it, and rolls it out for him. “Now at the base, you make sure it’s on right like this.” she demonstrates. “And you’re ready to go and save.” she pauses. “After you cum, you need to get it off of you and in the trash. Don’t loiter too long inside of her, because there might be leakage.” she crumbles it up and tosses it on the table.
Quentin got a little misty eyed too when Tony said Addy had become like a mother to him. He had suspected about the crush. Boy had good taste after all. He watches Addy do her demonstration and darkened a bit when she says if you’re anything like your father. He wasn’t sure which one of them that would be more awkward for. Tony knew more about him today than he ever had or might want to but Addy had been the one to walk in on the kid doing the deed. They were all mortals in this room. Quentin adds one point about the condom before he hands Tony a cucumber “Addy’s a pro...” It dawns on him how that sounds and he clears his throat.”You want to leave a bit of space at the tip. It’ll hang but that’s where the juice goes. Ya feel me? And yeah don’t hang around inside after. No matter how good it feels.” He also offers Tony a condom “Give it a try. And if they’re not making you kids do this in school I’m gonna email that Mr. Van Burren because this stuff is important. Some STIs can kill you. Some are for life.”
Tony blinks at Addy. She pulled no punches and he’d never had to ask her ‘what do you mean’ and this was no different. He feels his cheeks grow hot when she compares the food to his father, but she's also right. He watches and then his father adds to the lesson and he nods. Then his dad calls Addy a pro and he gapes, then the lesson continues. He takes the condom. “No … the food is in one room and the health is in another, Dad.” and when he hears about an email to the principal he groans. “We know about the STI’s, Dad .. just not exactly how to not get them besides … you know .. not having sex.” he takes the zucchini and does what Addy did.
Addy wasn’t feeling awkward as much as she thought she might have been. She’d seen him bare assed and a glimpse but she didn’t think of him like that and she had given him baths when he was much younger. Quentin threatens to email Mr VanBuren and Addy chuckles. Then he calls her a pro and she just shakes her head. “I love you too baby.” she tells him, laughing a little bit. “But that does bring up a good point. Condoms aren’t the most romantic form of birth control. If she knows how to put it on, that can add to the experience of making love.” she looks at him. “And don’t decide not to use a condom because she CLAIMS to be on the pill. You have to be able to trust her because your father’s right. You can get something that you can’t get rid of, can pass on to your kids and/or will kill you.” She looks at his work and nods. “That looks OK … I’ll run to the Love SHack tomorrow and pick up a bunch of super el cheapo condoms for you … to practice with not to use. You get what you pay for. Always buy the best condom you can.” she tightens her jaw. “And mean practice with yourself. So this might not be the worst two week grounding you’ve ever had.” she almost smirks Almost.
Quentin gives an impressed nod at Tony repeating the demonstration “That’s good. But don’t get cocky..” He chuckles at his own pun. He nods along with Addy and gives her a wink “All true.” He shakes his head and laughs about her practice joke. He’s clearly not furious anymore. “I am going to send that email. And they should have condoms at school... in dispensers in the bathrooms like at the Blue Door. Or maybe by the nurses office somewhere. Not every teenager has parents comfortable having these conversations. My parents, bless them, told me nothing about birth control. Other than I would be burning in hell if I had sex before being married properly in the church and the eyes of God. Kids need information from more than one place or person.”
Tony listens to Addy and nods. “I mean we didn’t even talk about it .. it just … happened.” he cant help hut laugh a little when Addy says this might not be his worse grounding. Then he’s glad his father isn’t actively angry anymore, but still groans at the puns. He blinks when his father suggests they give away condoms at school. He’s never heard of such a thing before.
Addy listens and shakes her head at Quentin. Then he says he wants condoms in schools. “Good luck with that, baby. I don’t know how that will fly between the parents and the school board and district. Does Alexandra have to deal with other places in BC for the Academy?” she thinks it might go over better if they don’t have to, but still.
Quentin looks sympathetically at Tony “If you can’t talk about it with someone, you shouldn’t be doing it.” He hears what Addy is saying “I dunno but it’s worth a shot. It’s not the fog anymore. Things can change. The worst thing that could happen is we get a thank you for your concern form letter back and they don’t do shit. So maybe then we reach out to the parents association...start a petition for our kids to get better information and some practical resources.” He’s clearly including Addy in the “we” of parenting stuff here.
Tony nods slowly. “Yea … I get it.” he sighs about the whole school board thing. It meant his father loved him, but at the same time, it was kind of scary to him. But he smiles when he includes Addy. “Um … Dad …” he takes the condom off of the zucchini and puts it on the coffee table. “And … I guess Addy too … um … maybe this isn’t the time but … um … Addy is like my mom and … um … would it be … alright if I …” he bites his lip and looks between the two of them.
Addy nods her agreement with Quentin and smiles when she gets included. Then Tony starts stammering and she isn’t exactly sure why.
Quentin is looking a bit fierce about advocating for better sex education for teens but then he’s unseated by Tony’s words and the faltering of them at the end. But something clicked as he looked between his son and the woman he loved and with a loving smile he nods at Tony “Finish your question son.” He reaches for Addy’s hand sort of casually while he waits.
Tony rakes his lips with his teeth. This was a big question. “I …” he looks between them, his father holding Addy’s hand. “I want to call Addy Mom.” he lets the words spill out of his mouth.
Addy takes Quentin’s hand and holds it. Then Tony asks a question and she feels the air leaving her body. She turns and stares at Quentin and then back at Tony, flabbergasted.
Quentin’s face breaks into a teary eyed grin and he nods at Tony. “I’m all for it. Addy... it’s uh... it’s for you to answer. But you have been Tony’s mom more than the one he came into the world through. And I love you.” He squeezes her hand and then looks lovingly at Tony.
Tony sees Addy's shock, but his father’s grin seals it. He looks at them and waits on Addy’s answer.
Addy blinks away a tear. “I love you, too Quentin … and you too Tony.” she blinks again. I’d love that, Tony. I really would.” she sniffs and blinks again, determined not to cry.
Now Quentin starts chuckling “You better just hug your mother Tony.” He can see Addy trying to be tough and he’s already got tears streaming down his face.
Tony sees Addy trying not to cry and he takes his father’s advice. “Yes, sir.” he scoots over to them and hugs Addy.
Addy was doing a decent job until Tony hugged her. She hugs him back. Kissing the top of his head. And she begins to cry. “God you guys! What the fuck?” but she’s laughing in happiness. This was one hell of a night, to be sure.
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