Jonah let his fork fall to the plate with a distinctive “clink,” and sat back heavily into the booth. “I’m stuffed!”
“Well, you should be! That was enough Pad Thai for three people I think,” his mom chuckled. ‘Or one ravenous teenager,” she thought.
The substantive meal and light conversation had brightened Jonah’s mood considerably. His mom avoided asking him about school, so he didn’t have to get into any of that. And, very thankfully, she didn’t seem to know that she had nearly walked in on him masturbating.
Jonah’s mom regarded him for a moment. Definitely not a little boy anymore. Still too cute to be a man. ‘That painful in-between stage,’ she thought to herself. She sat quietly for a few more moments, dreading the conversation she had been putting off all dinner. ‘Well, it’s now or never,’ she concluded.
“So, Jonah,” she began cautiously. “Do you have any romantic interests? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?”
He looked down at his empty plate and hesitated for a few moments before responding. “Are you going to do the thing where you try to talk to me about sex and it gets all super awkward and stuff?”