Morbid

“Did you guys have fun?” Doris asked Annie and Arnold when they came into the dorm building.

“We sure did!” Annie said before Arnold could respond. “We haven't had that much fun together in a while!”

Arnold glanced at his mother for a second and then looked at Doris. Almost as if she knew what he was going to say, she spoke to counter it.

“Having nice clean fun once in a while sure is a nice change, isn't it?”

“Like you wouldn't believe!” Annie gushed. “We even played human checkers!”

“Human what?” Doris asked, confused.

Annie laughed and quickly explained the game.

“Oh! Ha ha! I thought you played checkers on somebody!” Doris said and laughed, too.

“Can you imagine that?” Annie snorted a laugh and shook her head.

“It sounds like you did have a great time.” Doris said. “It would have been nice to be there with you.”

“Mom said that we can invite people from the dorm next time.” Arnold said.

Doris smiled. “I'd like that.”

“Great! I'll send you the website for the organizers.” Annie said. “Come on, Arnold. We're really overdue for a shower!”

Doris waved to them as they stepped into the elevator and they rode it up to the top floor. Annie wasn't surprised that the hallway was quite crowded after her little bombshell about Arnold's birthday when they had left. She suspected that at least a few of them were going to get him something for his birthday, either as an apology for missing it or to try and get into her good graces.

Now Annie just had to wait and see who actually knew her son and who were just playing at trying to sleep with him. Annie and Arnold went to his dorm room and Arnold unlocked it for them.

“You grab a shower first and I'll cut up the cake.” Annie said and shut the door. She thought she heard a groan of disappointment from the hallway when she did so. Arnold nodded and quickly undressed, then he went into the bathroom to shower.

Annie took the cake out and cut it up into small pieces, then used the pack of small paper plates to divide it up and added plastic forks to them all. She kept two slightly larger pieces for herself and Arnold and put them aside. Arnold came out of the shower and dried off, then slipped on a pair of jogging pants.

“I'll get a shower while you hand these out to the girls in the hallway.” Annie said as she grabbed her own pair of jogging pants and a baggy t-shirt.

“Okay.” Arnold said and Annie went into the bathroom. He opened the dorm room door and several girls had come over to the door.

“Hi!” One of them said and held out a birthday card for him. “Happy Birthday!”

Arnold took it and handed her a piece of cake.

“Thank you!” She said and stepped aside for the next girl. “Go ahead, Billy.” She said and went back to her dorm room.

“Happy Birthday, Arnold.” Rebecca said and gave him a card, too.

“Why do they call you Billy?” Arnold asked as he took the card and handed her a piece of cake.

“Oh, it's short for Hillbilly.” Rebecca said. “I'm originally from down south and my friends never let me forget it.”

“Do you want me to call you Billy, too?”

Rebecca shook her head. “I like the way you say my real name.” She smiled and made way for the next girl, then walked away, too.

Not surprisingly, once the others saw him accepting the cards and things from the other girls and them getting pieces of his birthday cake in return, nearly everyone came over to visit.

Annie came out of the bathroom and quietly slipped off to the side and sat down on the far bed and out of sight of the hallway. She sat there and listened to them talking to her son and gauged their levels of interest. It wasn't until she heard a voice she had heard yesterday that she got up and peeked around the corner to see.

“Happy Birthday, Arnold.” Janet said. “I'm sorry that I don't have a card or a present to give you. I've been getting my work done and didn't have the time to go and get something.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and handed her a piece of cake.

“You don't have to give me a piece of cake.” Janet said and tried to hand it back. “I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and I hope you had a great time with your mom.”

“Mom really liked it.” Arnold said and picked up another piece of cake.

“What about you?” Janet asked as she stepped to the side of the hallway and started eating the cake.

“I liked hearing her laugh.” Arnold responded.

Awww! Annie clamped her mouth shut so she didn't say that out loud.

“Awww! That's so sweet.” Janet said and stayed there to eat the cake as Arnold greeted the last few girls and handed them pieces of cake. No one else came over, so Arnold picked up four pieces of cake and walked down the hallway, then handed a piece to each of the girls that hadn't come over, one of which was Daisy.

“Arnold, you didn't have to do this.” Daisy said and accepted the cake. “I didn't get you anything.”

“Neither did Janet.” Arnold said and walked away. When he reached his room again, he picked up one more piece and handed it to Janet.

“What's this for?” Janet asked.

“Pam.” Arnold said. “She's the last girl on the floor that didn't get a piece of cake.”

“Thank you.” Janet said and gave him a careful kiss on the lips. “I'll give it to her when she gets in from work tonight.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and went back inside the dorm room. “Mom? What do I do with the rest?”

Annie walked over to him and put an arm around his waist for a moment. “We can eat our pieces first, then I'd say we can give a piece to Doris.”

The two of them ate the two pieces Annie had set aside for them, then Arnold picked up a piece and walked towards the door.

“T-shirt first.” Annie said with a chuckle. “You might cause a riot if you go down there without a shirt on.”

Arnold put the cake down and grabbed a brown t-shirt and slipped it on.

“Why don't you take one over to Mabel at the cafeteria, too?” Annie suggested.

“Okay.” Arnold said and picked up two pieces and left the dorm room.

Annie waited until the elevator doors closed before she walked over to Janet's room. She knocked on the door frame and Janet looked up from her desk to see her.

“Oh! Um... come in.” Janet said and looked at the mess of the room. “Just pretend a storm hit it.”

Annie chuckled and shut the door as she came into the room. “I know you're busy; but, can we talk for a minute?”

Janet nodded and pointed to Pam's desk. “Grab a seat."

Annie pulled over her chair and sat down. “I listened to most of the exchanges Arnold had with the girls in the dorm.”

Janet opened her mouth and Annie held a hand to stop her.

“I'm not here to complain that you didn't give him anything.” Annie clarified and Janet sighed in relief. “I'm here to find out what you intend to do with my son.”

“Wh-what?” Janet blinked her eyes in surprise at the direction the conversation had turned onto.

“I'm a fairly good judge of character and out of the other girls, you were the only one that seemed to actually care about him enough to ask him how he felt.”

“I... well, I...” Janet sighed again. “Actually, when he started living here, I was the only one who kept questioning the things he did and if he was manipulating everyone.”

Annie gave her wide eyes and Janet nodded.

“I wasn't subtle about it, either.” Janet said and ducked her head. “Arnold heard a lot of what I said.”

“How did he react?” Annie asked, curious.

“He didn't argue or tell me I was overreacting, or even tell me that I was wrong.” Janet said and looked back at Annie with a blush on her face. “I apologized and he didn't react to that, either. He stayed calm and spoke normally, and he didn't say anything bad about me or anything because of it.”

“Arnold's not like that.” Annie said, a little sternly.

“I know that... especially now.” Janet said. “He's just... I've never met anyone like him before. He unnerves me and he makes me feel special at the same time.” She said. “For some reason, I feel like when he gives me attention, it means a lot more than what getting attention from someone else does.”

Annie was quiet for a few moments, then she nodded. “Yes, it's... if I had to describe it... it's the intensity.”

It was Janet's turn to look at her with wide eyes, then she nodded, too. “That's it. It's the strength of his attention. You can just feel that when he looks at you, he's looking at all of you and not what he sees with his eyes.”

Annie took a breath and let it out. “I think that's the best description about it I've ever heard.”

“That's why he can walk through a hallway of barely dressed women and not even glance at them, let alone try to stare or grope them, isn't it?” Janet asked and Annie nodded.

“He doesn't really notice things like that, unless it's done specifically for him, then he'll comment on it.” Annie said.

Janet sat there and thought about it for a while.

“So, what are your intentions towards my son?” Annie asked.

“Honestly, I want to have sex with him.” Janet said and blushed again. “Proper sex with him, that is.”

“Not date or be boyfriend and girlfriend?” Annie asked.

“I would... if either of us had the time to do that.” Janet said and waved at her desk. “Pam was right. When he starts actually taking college courses, there's not going to be any time for relaxing or hanging out with a boyfriend or girlfriend. At most, we can probably study for an hour, assuming he has similar classes, and then maybe...”

“What if he started seeing his girlfriend again?” Annie asked.

“You mean Kelly?” Janet asked and she nodded. “He's not going to.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don't get me wrong.” Janet said and held her hands up in surrender. “I don't doubt for a second that he loves her. He would have to in order to fend off everyone here in the dorm.” She said, then sighed and put her hands down. “He won't put himself in the same situation again.”

Annie took in a sharp breath. “He told you what happened?”

Janet nodded. “He put her in the hospital for her first time and they didn't even get to have sex.” She said. “I just... my heart...” She put a hand over her chest. “I felt so bad for him. That he had to go through that... hurting her and not getting to make her feel better afterwards...” She shook her head and looked into Annie's eyes. “He didn't deserve to have that happen to him.”

Annie took in a deep breath and let it out. “I really like Kelly and she's been the best thing for him...”

Janet shook her head again. “She can't be what's best for him, not if she can't even...” She stopped talking. “I'm sorry, I don't mean to judge. I know for some girls that it's difficult when their first times go bad.”

Annie sighed. “The only way it could have been worse, was if Kelly hadn't reacted like she did and stayed quiet.”

Janet gasped and covered her mouth. “Oh, my god.” She said. “She... she might have...”

Annie nodded. “She was lucky we got her to the emergency room because she needed stitches.”

“How... how bad?” Janet asked.

“She'll be sore for a few weeks and tender there for a month.” Annie said. “It also might tear there again if she's not careful.”

“That poor girl.” Janet said. “I'm sorry.”

“We all are.” Annie said. “We all had... plans...”

Janet caught her breath. “No, you... are you serious?”

“Kelly's supposed to stay in the dorm with him for the next six years as his roommate, so...”

“Oh, god.” Janet said. “That one thing messed everything up.”

“It really did, especially all the good feelings we had between our families.” Annie said. “Kelly's father told Arnold to leave her alone after hurting her.”

“And he did.” Janet said.

“At least he's not avoiding her and said they could still be roommates, but...”

“It is definitely not going to be a good idea to have them together for that long and not have them together.” Janet said. “It's not going to happen, though.”

“They can still...” Annie started to say.

“...date and have sex with other people, then eventually get married and keep doing that?” Janet asked.

Annie let out a sigh, then she whispered. “Kelly was exactly who I was looking for.”

Janet tried to ignore that comment. “Sometimes things can't work out, no matter how perfect they are.”

Annie didn't want to admit that, because she still had hope that something could be worked out. “I'll let you get back to work.” She said and put Pam's chair back over by her desk. “Thanks for talking to me.”

“I'm pretty sure I couldn't refuse, so you're welcome.” Janet said with a smile.

Annie smiled back and left her room.

*

Both Doris the dorm mother and Mabel the woman behind the cafeteria counter enjoyed the pieces of birthday cake that were hand delivered by their favorite handsome young man. Doris managed a sneaky kiss and promised that he could bury his face in her cleavage soon. Mabel said she would make him something special for his birthday for lunch on Monday.

Arnold went back to his dorm room and all of the girls greeted him as he passed. He greeted them back and looked at the pile of birthday cards on the table.

“Go ahead and sit down.” Annie said and put the last piece of cake in the refrigerator. “It'll take you a little while to read them all.” She thought about standing there to read them over his shoulder, then decided if she was that curious about what they said, she could always look at them later. “I'll get started on supper and it should be done in a couple of hours.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and opened the top envelope and read the card. He noted the invitation to go bowling that afternoon and put it back in the envelope, then picked up the next one and read it.