Chapter 116: 116 Picnic Time

The alarm went off and Arnold had to let his mother go to sit up. That moved the blanket off of them both and Arnold turn the alarm off.

“C-c-chilly.” Annie whispered and shivered. “What... time is it?”

“Six in the morning.” Arnold said.

“It's the weekend. Go back to sleep.” Annie said and shivered again.

Arnold laid back down and pulled the blanket back over them. Annie let out a contented sigh as Arnold snuggled in and put an arm back around her. She knew she was kind of taking advantage of his good nature like this; but, she also suspected that he liked being the one to cuddle her. She wasn't sure why she thought that, though. He never said that he did, and yet she had that impression.

After the couple of times that it happened, where he had comforted her in similar ways, Annie had to assume that he felt like it was his turn to comfort her. God knew that she needed it after everything that had happened. Of course, that thought made her think that perhaps it was only her own mind that was giving her that impression, so she had to ask.

“Arnold, do you like comforting me like this?” Annie asked.

“Yes.” Arnold said.

“Why?”

“You did it for me since I was a child. Now I can do it for you.” Arnold said.

“You... you know that... you don't have to.” Annie responded.

“I'm your son. It's my job to protect you.” Arnold said. “I won't let anyone hurt you.”

Annie was touched by his words. “Arnold, I... I'm your mother. It's my job to protect you.” She said and remembered her confrontation with Cissily the day before. “I hope you don't mind me telling Amy, Cissily, and their friends to back off from trying to use you.”

“You told me that Amy was a bad influence.” Arnold said. “I should have assumed her friends were, too.”

“I would have told you that if I knew what they were doing.” Annie said and rolled over in bed to face him. “It must have seemed like I was being overly protective of you, so I hope you don't see them too often.”

“I usually eat lunch with them during the week.” Arnold said.

“Oh.” Annie said. “Arnold, I'm sorry. I didn't realize...” She shook her head slightly. “They might try something when you see them again on Monday.”

“Do you want me to stop eating with them?” Arnold asked.

“I would like to say to stay away from them; but, you have to work with Amy and Cissily. You can't afford to alienate them.” Annie sighed. “That's why I said it was okay for you all to be friends. The thing is... after yesterday...” She sighed again. “...I think it's them that will not want to sit with you.”

Arnold shrugged.

“I'm sorry if I've messed things up for you.” Annie said and lightly touched the healing bruise on his face. “I just... when I heard how they were trying to manipulate you, I had to say something to try and stop them from doing that.”

Arnold used his hand and touched her face in the same way. “Thank you.” He said and moved slightly forward and lightly kissed her.

“Arnold, I'll do anything to protect you.” Annie stared into his eyes.

“Mom, I'll do anything to protect you, too.” Arnold stared right back. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Annie said and they laid there for several minutes. “We don't have to be in the park until ten for our picnic reservation, so we should get some more sleep.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and closed his eyes.

Annie thought about just laying there and watching him, then changed her mind and rolled back over to face away from him. She wiggled backwards to get in close to let him cuddle her and Arnold's arm went back around her waist. She hugged it and only felt a little guilty about it, because she knew that she was lonely and really missed having someone to hold her.

“Thank you, Arnold.” Annie whispered as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

*

Two hours later, nearly every other door in the hallway opened.

“I love the weekends!” Someone exclaimed as they stepped out into the hallway.

“Shh! Some of us are still sleeping!” The girl across the hallway said as she and her roommate came out to talk with everyone.

“Ha ha! You're funny.”

“It's true... unless they are already up and gone.” Cynthia said from two doors down and waved at Arnold's door. “It's really not fair that she's so pretty.”

“I know, right?” The girl next door said. “I still can't believe she's his mother.”

“I'm totally stealing that outfit idea.” Cynthia said with a grin. “What an eye catcher!”

“Are you going to dye your hair, too?” Someone asked.

“Oh! What an idea!” Cynthia said.

“You'll have to grow your hair out to copy her successfully.” Rachel said from across the hall.

“I can get extensions, thank you very much.” Cynthia smiled at her and she chuckled.

“Do you think he'll like you more if you do copy his mom?” Rebecca asked as she walked over to lean by the wall.

“I hope so!” Cynthia said. “He should notice me more, if nothing else.”

“I don't know.” Rebecca said. “I mean, look at all of us. How long have we been walking around in front of him in underwear and towels?” She asked. “I don't think changing your hair color and wearing clothes is going to get his attention.”

“It's worth a shot.” Cynthia said.

Janet and Pam stood in front of their dorm room and listened to them.

“They totally don't get it.” Pam whispered.

“Not even a little.” Janet whispered back with a smile on her face.

“Thanks for telling me what happened in the hallway yesterday.”

“I knew you had a late shift today and would be around for most of the morning.” Janet said. “I'm sure that she won't do the whole 'intimidate us into behaving' trick again; but, you needed to know it was a possibility.”

Pam chuckled. “I can't believe you stood up to her and told her what you did!”

Janet chuckled, too. “I was plenty intimidated, believe me. I wasn't going to lie, though. I knew she wouldn't like that if I did.”

“Because of Arnold.” Pam said and Janet nodded. “I bet he loves her a lot.”

Janet gave her an inquisitive look.

“I told you about watching them on their date.” Pam said.

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Janet smiled. “What a great guy, right? Taking his mom out to the movies.”

“I bet they ate out at a nice restaurant.” Pam said and then laughed. “I'm jealous of his mom!”

Janet laughed, too. “We all are, I think.”

Pam looked at everyone in the hallway and caught bits of their conversations, which mostly consisted of Arnold's mom, and she nodded.

*

Arnold woke up and saw it was nine in the morning, He carefully slipped away from his mother and out of bed, then tucked the blanket back around her. He walked over to his dorm room door and opened it, then waved at the girls that waved at him.

“Morning.” Janet and Pam said at almost the same time.

“Morning.” Arnold said and walked over to the kitchenette and grabbed some eggs and put toast in the toaster. He quickly cooked up breakfast for himself and his mother and did up the plates. “Mom, it's time to get up.”

“Ugh.” Annie groaned. “What time is it?”

“Twenty after nine.” Arnold said.

“Dammit.” Annie said and climbed out of bed and walked over to the table. “You cooked eggs and toast for me?” She asked and he nodded. “Thank you so much.” She said and gave him a quick kiss.

Every single girl in the hallway were frozen stiff at the sight of Arnold's mother. She only wore a tiny half t-shirt that barely covered her chest and skimpy little boy shorts that showed off a lot of leg and some of her hips. They all felt a little inadequate, because of how sexy she looked, even with her just getting out of bed. Even her messy hair added to her appeal.

“We won't have time to get a shower before we have to head over to the park.” Annie said and sat down. “It's a good thing they're having activities that should help me wake up and give me some energy.”

Arnold nodded and sat down as well, then they both ate quickly. He cleaned off the table while she put her suitcase on the bed and opened it. He walked over to his closet and grabbed a nice blue shirt and his new jeans.

“Change your underwear, too.” Annie said and took out a blue blouse and a new pair of jeans. “I'm going to copy you today.”

Arnold picked up another pair of underwear and took off the ones he wore, then started getting dressed. Annie had her back to the open door and slipped off her t-shirt, picked up a nice bra, and put it on. She put on the blouse and buttoned most of the buttons, then she took off her boy shorts and quickly slipped on a matching pair of panties. Her jeans were next and she sighed happily as she buttoned them up.

“I love it when jeans fit without having to break them in.” Annie said and grabbed her toiletries before going into the bathroom. “Wow! My hair's all over the place.” She laughed and started to brush it. “I must have slept better than I thought I did.”

Arnold walked over to the bathroom to look.

“Can you get the back for me, please?” Annie asked and handed him the brush.

Arnold took the brush and ran it through her hair a few times to smooth it out.

“Thanks.” Annie said and turned her head from side to side to fluff her hair out a little. “Okay, the curling I did to it yesterday is holding up, which means I'm almost ready to go.”

“Make-up?” Arnold asked and she nodded. He went to her suitcase and brought it back to her. Annie quickly and deftly applied a minimal amount of make-up and a touch of lipstick, which made her face practically come to life with almost no effort.

“There we go.” Annie said and put everything away back in her suitcase. “We better go.”

Arnold nodded and the two of them stepped out of the dorm room and Arnold shut and locked the door.

“We can have a piece of your birthday cake when we get back this afternoon.” Annie said and almost laughed when she heard a dozen gasps behind her. “It's a good thing it's big and a nice rectangular shape.” She smiled and took his hand. “I think a few of your neighbours might want a piece, too.”

Annie led Arnold down the hallway and everyone stared at them as they passed by. She hit the button for the elevator and it opened right away, so they stepped in and the doors closed. They rode it down to the ground floor and it stopped at every floor. By the time they reached the bottom, they were squeezed at the back.

“Is it always like this?” Annie whispered the question into his ear.

“In the mornings sometimes. I usually miss the rush during meals and after classes.” Arnold whispered back into her ear. His breath tickled her ear a little and she stopped herself before she laughed. The doors opened on the ground floor and the elevator emptied out into the lobby.

“Good morning, everyone.” Doris said happily.

A chorus of various 'good mornings' came back to her and a couple of the girls went over to her desk to chat with her for a bit. Annie waved to her and she waved back, then Annie and Arnold left the building. They climbed into the car and drove over to the nearby park that had several activities and a public picnic lunch for the participants.

Annie paid the ridiculously small fee that was actually a donation to a local charity. She perked up after the first activity, which was a short bike ride around the man-made lake in the center of the park, then they had several other things to do, like a treasure hunt. Arnold enjoyed that one, because they handed out shovels for them to use. They figured out the clues easily and dug up all of the items to be found.

They did another activity called 'human checkers', and they played checkers with people who had to leap frog over others to claim them. Annie laughed almost the entire time and ended up losing because she was having too much fun and wasn't paying attention.

They all gathered in the main area where dozens of patterned blankets had been laid out, then they picked the lunch baskets they wanted. There were all kinds of things to be had and Annie chose the ham and cheese sandwich one, because the dessert inside was brownies and she loved brownies. It was a guilty pleasure for her and she had three of them gone by the time she and Arnold had found a nice blanket to sit down on.

Everyone ate lunch and then the people running the event said that there was only one more activity to do. They had to lay back and tell the people they were with what they saw in the clouds. That made everyone laugh, especially because the organizers were completely serious, then everybody did it.

“I think that's a hippo!” Annie said loudly and pointed at a round cloud, and a few people laughed. She was almost giddy as she rested her head against Arnold and just pointed at random clouds and spouted whatever came to her mind. Arnold's hand found her unoccupied one and she gripped it as she kept talking.

After twenty minutes, the organizers announced that it was officially over and that everyone was free to just lay there and relax. Not surprisingly, everyone did. It was actually a really nice time and they had all enjoyed it, especially Annie.

Eventually, everyone got up, some reluctantly like Annie, and gathered up the basket and blanket. They brought them over to the organizers, who thanked them for coming, and Annie gave them another twenty dollar donation.

“Miss, you already...” The man said.

“You guys did a great job organizing all of this.” Annie said. “I had a wonderful time.”

“We're really glad you liked it.” The woman next to him said. “Thank you for coming.”

“Will you be doing this again?” Annie asked, hopeful.

“It was a pretty good success, so probably.” The man said.

“Now that I know what it's like, I'll be sure to bring a lot more people next time.” Annie said.

The woman laughed. “They can only make blankets so big!”

“Ha ha!” Annie laughed. “I didn't mean I'd have them with me, I just meant I'll bring them along.”

“Then we'd be happy to have more bodies floating around.” The man said. “We'll post it online and let you know when the next one will be.”

“Thanks!” Annie said and she and Arnold left the park and went back to the car. “Arnold, I really did have a great time.”

“I know.”

“Would you want to come back with me the next time?”

“Yes.” Arnold said and thought about what she told the organizers. “Who else would you bring?”

Annie chuckled and started the car, then pulled out of the parking space. “You've got a whole dorm full of young women that looked like they weren't busy today. I'm sure if we asked them to come along, at least a few of them would.”

Arnold looked at his mother and she glanced at him for a moment, then looked back at the road.

“Okay, most of them would.” Annie admitted with a laugh and drove back to the dorm.

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