Chapter 48: 48 Working Things Out

It took Kelly a few minutes to calm down. “I'm sorry.” She said and Annie gave her a tissue to wipe her face. “I just went two weeks without seeing him and now I won't see him for two months.”

“I guess that means you decided on your courses for the college?” Annie asked.

Kelly nodded. “I picked a great program that's going to put me near the same buildings as Arnold.” She said. “We might not have a lot of free time, since college is... well, college. We should have a few evenings together every week where we can see each other.”

“Then why are you so upset over missing the summer?” Annie asked. “Arnold only has to work weekdays, and an occasional Sunday, to prep the labs for use the next day.”

Kelly took a deep breath and let it out. “But, isn't he... I mean, I thought... the commute...”

“I know.” Annie smiled. “Two hours travelling in the mornings and two hours travelling back is a bit too much to expect of anyone.” She said. “On the plus side, we won't be moving. The house is completely paid off and we only have the monthly bills to take care of.”

“What's on the minus side?” Kelly asked.

“Arnold has to take their boarding offer and he's going to stay in a dorm room on the campus.” Annie said. “I... really don't like the thought of him living by himself; but, he has to do this to get into college. We were going to have the same problem if he went in the fall anyway, so it's not too big of a shock for me to deal with the issue now.”

Kelly nodded. “I'll be in the same situation in the fall.”

“We haven't decided if he'll be coming home on the weekends by bus or if I should go there to get him.” Annie said. “A four hour drive two days in a row is a bit much, even for someone that likes driving.” She said with a bit of a laugh. “So, we're left with travelling by bus on his own to come home, or I'll be going there on Saturday morning and staying overnight and coming home Sunday night.”

“They sound like better options than going to pick him up and dropping him off.” Kelly said.

“I think having him out of the house is what's going to bother me the most this summer.” Annie said. “It's going to be lonely being here all by myself.”

“My parents don't have that problem.” Kelly said. “We've had some... discussions about it.”

Annie smiled. “I guess they don't approve of the boarding option.”

Kelly shook her head. “They said they weren't going to pay for me to stay in a dorm room with some random girl when they can easily drive me there.”

Annie laughed. “Now that's just unrealistic.” She said. “After a month, the wear and tear on their car after making two of the four hour trips every day, not to mention the gas, is ridiculous.”

“That's what I said.” Kelly responded. “I even showed them the price comparison between living at home and living on campus.”

“They are having trouble letting their little girl go off on her own so soon.” Annie said in understanding and looked at her son. “I know how they feel.”

Kelly took her hand and it was her turn to comfort Annie. “Hopefully, I'll be close by and I can keep an eye on him when I can.”

“Thank you.” Annie said. “I'm glad that someone like you will be nearby when he needs you.”

“No, she won't be nearby.” Arnold said and Annie and Kelly looked at him. “I want her to stay with me in my dorm room.”

“WHAT?!?” Annie and Kelly yelled.

“It's for the best.” Arnold said. “Kelly doesn't have to worry about paying for a dorm room and you have someone with me to watch me.”

“But... but...” Annie and Kelly stuttered at the same time.

Arnold took out his cell phone and dialed the number for the dorm offices. “Hello. My name is Arnold Strickland and I want to confirm my room assignment.” He paused for quite some time. “It's a double room for my use only? Can I have someone stay over?” He paused again. “Not to live? What if it was a student?”

Annie and Kelly sat there and stared at him. They were too stunned at the conversation to tell Arnold no... or to speak at all, actually.

“Kelly Kendall.” Arnold said and waited a bit more. “She doesn't have to sign in officially until she registers in the fall? Okay. Thank you.” He said and hung up.

It took Annie a minute before she could speak normally. “What did they say?”

“She thanked me for being so considerate of her headaches and would be delighted to foist one off on me.” Arnold said. “What's foist mean?”

“To give something to someone that's unwarranted or unnecessary.” Kelly said.

Arnold reached out and took her hand. “You aren't unnecessary.” He said and she blushed.

“I'm sure she meant a headache, not Kelly.” Annie said. “Arnold, do you realize what you've done?”

“I solved three problems.” Arnold said and let Kelly's hand go.

“Yes, and you just asked Kelly to move in... wait, you said three problems.” Annie said, confused.

“Kelly's dorm problem, your problem with me being alone at college, and Kelly not seeing me all summer.”

“Wh-wh-WHAT?!?” Kelly exclaimed.

“We're scheduled to move in the day after graduation and I start work that afternoon.” Arnold said.

“W-w-wait, you said 'we'.” Kelly said.

“The dorm manager added you to the room listing.” Arnold said. “You don't have to sign in officially until you register for classes in the fall semester.”

“A-Arnold, I... oh, god.” Kelly said, her face bright red. “We haven't had sex yet and you want us to live together!”

“This... could be a problem when your parents find out.” Annie said.

“It's a problem right now!” Kelly said. “I've never lived with anyone before!”

“You were going to have to live with someone in the fall anyway.” Annie said. “Is a random unknown girl better than Arnold?”

“What? No!” Kelly said, then she sighed. “It's just... how... how do I live with my boyfriend?”

Annie sighed as well. “I can help you with that during the next week, assuming your parents don't throw a fit and freak out about it.”

“Oh, they are definitely going to freak out about it.” Kelly said. “I guarantee it.”

“Don't tell them.” Arnold said.

“What?”

“If it will cause a problem, don't tell them.”

“But... this is... Arnold, we...” Kelly couldn't put her thoughts into words.

“Your lives are changing so quickly after years of stability.” Annie said for her and Kelly nodded. “I think I have to agree with Arnold. They don't really like you dating him or having him visit you, so if they know you're going to be living with him, that's not going to be good for anyone.”

Kelly took in a sharp breath. “I'm going to be living with him.” She looked at Arnold. “You and I. We're going to live together.”

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Arnold nodded. “You and me. Together. Alone.”

Kelly's face turned red again as he repeated the words she had whispered after a make-out session.

“Then we need a cover story.” Annie said. “How about we say that Kelly will stay with me for the summer, because I miss Arnold so much and want someone else in the house?” She asked and smiled sadly. “The truth is the best lie we could tell.”

Kelly took Annie's hand and gave it a squeeze. “It's going to be okay. If we are all going to make this work, Arnold and I will be coming back here every weekend on the bus all summer.”

Annie nodded her head and let her hand go. “All right. That's what we'll do.” She said. “We'll need to work out the details of getting your things over here and then getting them to the college.”

“I'll also need to convince my parents that I'm doing this as practice to try living with someone else.” Kelly said. “That's also the truth, since you'll be teaching me how to do just that.”

Annie smiled. “We can worry about it tomorrow when I come and pick you up in the morning.”

Kelly gave her a surprised look.

“I'm going to need to meet your parents to make this work.” Annie said. “Don't worry. I won't be mentioning anything about how pig-headed they are or about how they are making a simple relationship into something so complicated that it's become a mess of their own making and completely out of proportion.”

Kelly let out a sigh. “They really did make a mess, and it's hard to...” She looked at Arnold. “It's hard to look at you and know that my parents are too blind to see that you're the perfect guy for me.”

“That's your parents' problem, not yours.” Annie said. “You keep looking at him however you want and let your parents worry about how they see him.”

Kelly took another breath and let it out, then nodded.

“Good! Now get upstairs and set that beast up for Arnold.” Annie said with a smile. “You don't have much time before I have to drive you home.”

Kelly smiled and reached for Arnold's hand. He took it and the two of them went up the stairs and quickly made a good-sized area for the movements he might need to make when using the VR headset. They didn't have to clean up the desk, since it was pretty bare already, and they opened the box and took out all of the things inside. They had it all hooked up and turned on ten minutes later.

Kelly walked him through the things she had read online about what he would need to do for work while using the computer, and that took about an hour. After that, she set up the VR rig and the controllers and set them on the desk. She showed him how to load the right program and they installed the software for it.

After that, they tried playing a demo disc the guy at the electronics store gave them and the headset and controllers worked perfectly. Arnold already knew how to adjust the controls for his own use and change the buttons to do what he wanted. He left them on the default settings and played through a few of the demo programs, then it was time for Kelly to go.

“See you in the morning.” Kelly said and gave him a kiss goodbye. “I'll bring over a few games for you to try and get more experience. Since I'm going to stay here all week, we'll have lots of time to get your skills up to the right level to play Fortune's Favour.” She smiled. “Brad and his friends won't know what hit them!”

Arnold smiled at her and gave her another kiss.

“Let's go!” Annie said loudly from downstairs.

“Okay!” Kelly said and gave Arnold a look that said she was looking forward to spending so much time with him, then she left. Annie drove her home and dropped her off, well before her curfew, and drove back home.

Arnold put in the next game and tried that. He had no basis for it, so he played cautiously at first and eventually figured out what the point was. Once he did, he quickly went through the entire game in four hours and only lost two lives.

“Time for bed.” Annie said from the doorway.

Arnold saved and ended the game, put the controllers down and took off the VR headset, then walked over to her. “I love you, mom.” He said and hugged her, then gave her a quick kiss. “Thank you.”

Annie held her tears back. “I should ask what you're thanking me for; but, it doesn't matter.” She said. “You're welcome.”

“Goodnight.” Arnold said and let her go, then he changed and went to bed.

Annie tucked him in under the blanket and stared into his eyes as she pet his head. Arnold stared right back at her and neither of them spoke for several minutes.

“Goodnight.” Annie finally said and left his room.

The next morning, Annie went to pick up Kelly and put on the best performance of her life. Kelly's father had been surprised when Annie had shown up so early and knocked on their front door.

“I'm here to pick up Kelly... so she can... teach Arnold what he needs to...” Annie let her emotions overwhelm her and she burst out crying. “He has to leave me on Friday! FRIDAY!” She yelled and tried, quite fruitlessly, to wipe at the tears rolling down her her face. “I was supposed to have... all summer to get used to him leaving me... and I only have six days!” She said between wracking sobs.

Kelly's father wasn't sure what to do. “Katheryn!” He exclaimed and stood there awkwardly until his wife came and rescued him.

“What's going on?” Katheryn asked and he quickly said who she was and what she wanted. “You poor thing.” She said and hugged her. “Please, come in.”

They led her inside and took her to the living room. Annie calmed down a little, just enough to not babble, then laid it all out for them. About losing her husband not long ago, about only having Arnold in the house and no income, and about how she had been nervous about him dating Heather because of her reputation. She also said how relieved she was when he started dating Kelly.

Kelly's parents sat there and listened to her impassioned plea to allow Kelly to stay over while she helped Arnold prepare for going to work for the summer. Of course, that led directly into how lonely she was going to be all summer with him gone... and then she caught her breath.

“Kelly can stay with me!” Annie exclaimed and wiped at her tears as she smiled. “With Arnold out of the house, it's a perfectly safe place for her to practice living with someone other than her parents!”

“I don't know...” Kelly's father started to say.

“It'll only be during the week, because Arnold will be home on the weekends.” Annie told them. “That way, they both get used to being away from home and visiting us on the weekends.”

“That seems a bit complicated.” Kelly's mother said.

Annie nodded several times and took several breaths. “I know it seems that way, but... it will be a huge help for me.” She said. “I can't deal with him leaving so soon. The house already seems so empty. If I'm there all alone for the whole summer, I...” She shook her head. “Please, let Kelly stay with me.”

Kelly's father sat there quietly for a few moments. “By the sound of it, you don't plan on leaving them be alone all summer.”

Annie nodded. “I can honestly promise you that neither Kelly nor my son will ever be left alone.” She said. “Both Kelly and Arnold will have a pair of eyes on them at all times when they spend time together.”

“WHAT?!?” Kelly yelled from the hallway.

Annie looked at her parents and they nodded.

“Kelly, I want you to stay with me, and you heard the conditions.” Annie said. “I know that wasn't what you wanted to hear, not when your boyfriend's mother asks you to move in.” She said and she took a deep breath and let it out. “But, that's all I can offer. Will you accept?”

Kelly opened her mouth to say no, then dropped her head and turned from side to side as she thought about it. Was it worth it to move in together if we are watched all the time? She asked herself, completely forgetting that Annie was only asking for her to move in as a way to get her out of her parents' house. I like spending time with Arnold, so it doesn't matter to me if his mother was there the whole time. She thought, then looked at her parents and then at Annie as she made her decision. “We can try it for a week, and then...”

“Thank you!” Annie hopped up and strode over to Kelly and gave her a hug. “You don't know how much this means to me.” She said and let her go. “Why don't you pack an overnight bag for now and we can worry about picking up more things tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Kelly said and went back to her room to pack her suitcase.

“I really appreciate this.” Annie said as she walked back over to the couch and sat down. “What a relief it's going to be to have such a wonderful girl around.” She gushed. “She's smart, pretty, and she doesn't paw at my son like someone else I won't mention.”

Kelly's parents looked at each other for a moment and then back at her.

“I know you think he's like his ex-girlfriend; but, he isn't. He only just started to express an interest in sex and I had the talk with him, then he did it.” Annie said and sighed. “You don't know how much I regret that Kelly wasn't his first girlfriend.”

“I think we do.” Kelly's mother said.

Annie nodded and took her hand. “Maybe this time things can go right for a change, now that he has a sensible girl to look after him.”

Kelly's parents hoped for the same thing and the three of them waited for Kelly to pack.

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