"On the road again, just can't wait to be on the road again….." Warren sang as they pulled out of Madison, heading home for the summer.

"Yeah, drive three days, be home for less than a week, and then get on a plane," Sophia mock-grumbled.

"Yeah, but we get to get on a plane to go skate in the COI tour for a month."

"Yeah, I am looking forward to it, but our life is getting really, really hectic if you think about it."

"Yup." Warren drove in silence for a bit. "I have to say, I'm glad this year is over."

"Wasn't all bad," Sophia pointed out.

"Yeah, but the bad parts were really bad."

"Yeah. Worse for you than me, I think. I actually learned a lot about myself this year. Things I needed to learn, I think. I'm a lot stronger person pulling out of Wisconsin than I was when we pulled into Wisconsin in September."

"I agree," Warren said. "You are stronger. Which makes one of us."

"Yeah, you are stronger too, Warren. You just don't see it yet."

"Sophia, everything I learned about myself this year was bad."

"Everything?"

"Well, let's see. I learned that my unassailable self-confidence isn't unassailable. I learned I can get hurt, badly. I learned that I'm weaker than I thought. I learned that if bad things happen to me I can have a lot of difficulty dealing with them." He sighed. "A year ago, I thought I could take anything. I thought I could stand anything, and I thought the only person that I ever really, truly needed was myself, and finding out that I was wrong about that was a brutally hard lesson to learn."

Sophia thought for a minute. "I can see that being disturbing in the abstract--but figuring out that you needed me, specifically, as much as I need you--that couldn't have been a totally bad thing."

Warren smiled despite himself. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. I shudder to think what I would have done after the attack if you hadn't been there."

"Well, dear heart, I promise you--no, I swear on a stack of Glenn Miller and Beatles CDs that you will never, ever again have to find that out, not until the day I die."

"Good."

"And there's some things that I hope you've also learned--good things."

"Like what?"

"That our relationship can withstand almost anything. It's stronger than it ever was. That you can go through absolute hell personally and a brutal work schedule and get out with a 3.8 GPA for the year."

"Well, that's one part of my self-confidence that is intact. Genius is genius. And let's not forget your 3.5."

"Yes, let's not," she giggled. "You also learned that you can survive things that would destroy other people. Yeah, you're shaken, but you're OK, you really are, for the most part. And last, but certainly not least, you found out that people love you, that they're on your side, and that the two of us are damn good skaters!"

Warren laughed at that. "Yeah, I must say that Worlds was pretty special. And, you're right, we are good."

Sophia shot him a wicked smile. "You also learned that if I ever leave again, you can make a damn good living as a gigolo."

Warren cracked up laughing. "I have to admit that those two months that we were apart were……interesting."

"Not just those two months. What about the other week with Alexa?"

"Can't get any more interesting than that, I think," Warren giggled. "We should probably talk about that."

"Well, I think we did." Sophia said.

"To a point." Warren thought for a minute. "Alexa's not going to be around this summer. Do you still want to experiment with other girls should the chance arise?"

"I don't know." Sophia thought for a minute. "No, not really. It's not that important. I liked it, but I think one of the reasons I liked it was that it was Alexa."

"Yeah. I don't mind, you know."

"Part of you does mind, and I understand that. You don't have to be open and accommodating all the time, you know," Sophia pointed out. "Look, I know part of it was that it was Alexa. What if we're on the tour and I get propositioned by…..oh, Stephie Eberhardt?"

Warren blushed. "Damn. You've got a point. I'd be insanely jealous. Of both of you."

"Right. Unless, of course, you got invited in again," she giggled. "So, anything I do will be done with your approval, and I don't mind if you say no, and if I really want it I can wait until we see Alexa again, because I know you don't have a problem with that. And, like I said, I could live without it forever if I had to. Look, I enjoyed it, but the next night was infinitely better, because you were there. I told you the truth--I liked having sex with a girl, but only to a point. When you fucked me after Alexa and I had fooled around, that was the best. I'm getting wet just thinking about it."

Warren cracked up laughing. "So, what you're telling me is that you're always up for a three-way."

"With you and another girl? OK, I admit, I can't see myself ever turning that one down."

"Even thought I'd be fucking another girl? Again, pretend it's someone other than Alexa. Pretend it's Stephie Eberhardt."

Sophia thought for a minute. "Yeah, I'd do it. Watching you fuck another girl while she's eating me out, I found out, is very exciting."

"OK." Warren grinned. "I wonder if Stephie is bi."

"I'll find out when we get on the tour," Sophia said coyly. "Besides, with all the joking, Stephie is not the girl on the tour that you really want."

"Huh? I've lusted after her for years!"

"Yeah, but that's from far away. You don't really know her. Think about it, if I offered you a night with any girl on the tour, would it really be Stephie? Assume that your girl of choice is willing."

"Yeah, I think I'd pick Stephie. Who do you think I'd pick?"

"Christine Arsenault."

Warren smiled. "Would you really want me to sleep with someone who's half in love with me?"

"Good point," Sophia agreed.

Warren looked up at a sign. "Rest stop. Coffee?"

"I'd love some."

---------------

It was early afternoon. They had stopped for lunch, and were back on the road again.

"Alexa's staying with her grandmother?" Sophia asked Warren.

"Yeah. Her parents won't speak to her. It's ridiculous. Oh, and you missed the big teary goodbye this morning."

"Who?"

"Cait and Paul. It's gonna be a long summer for those two."

"Well, Paul lives in Cleveland, and Cait lives where?"

"Rochester, New York."

"That's not that far."

"It's not distance, it's time. They both have to work. So, they have to plan get-togethers, and they're not going to be that frequent. Cait is coming to Cleveland, however, when COI is there. I already made sure they got tickets."

"Cool. We'll get to introduce them around."

"Yup," Warren agreed. "Now, tell me what kind of fresh hell we're going to encounter at your house?"

"Oh, you mean the Civil War reenactment?" Sophia sighed. "Apparently, Dan and Kate are barely speaking. I haven't told you the whole story, thought. Dan walked in on Kate….and David."

"Oops. Doesn't that man knock on doors?"

"Not Kate's door. Drives her nuts. Drives me nuts. Anyhow, when he walked in, his darling baby girl was straddling her boyfriend."

"Yikes."

"They had a big blow out. Dan told her to break up with David."

"Oh yeah. Great way to handle it," Warren said sarcastically."

"Exactly. Kate was so incensed she said that she was going to fuck the entire Oceanview High baseball team out of spite, and she was going to move in with her drunk, mentally disturbed mother, just to get out from under Dan's thumb."

"Wow."

"Well, she didn't move out, and Dan didn't press the break up with Dave issue, but they kind of barely tolerate each other. Dave's afraid to go to the house if Dan is there. And Kate put a lock on her door, which made Dan livid."

"Oh, goody. What a fun homecoming this is gonna be."

-------------------------------

They were right. The homecoming was strained. Ellen was glad to see everybody, as was Kate, but Dan was noticeably cold to Sophia and especially Warren.

In fact, the second day they were there, Sophia came upstairs to get something from the kitchen. Dan and Ellen didn't realize she was there, and were having a loud argument in the living room, which Sophia could here plain as day.

"Dan, she's only home for a week!"

"But then she's coming home for another two months after the tour is over," Dan said. "And it's going to go on then. I don't like it. I don't want him spending the night here."

"Dan, Warren was spending the night here long before you came along."

"Yes, but this is my house, too, now. And having him practically move in is not setting a good example for Kate."

"First of all, Kate does not need Sophia to get ideas, just in case you haven't noticed. Second of all, Kate knows that Sophia is not your daughter and you have no say in what she does. Third of all, you're being completely unreasonable."

"What I think is unreasonable is allowing a teenage girl to have her boyfriend over for the night! They've been doing it since they were how old?"

"How is it that you are becoming more close-minded? Remember the first night you met Sophia? When she told you that two of her favorite things were sex and baseball? You thought it was funny then!"

"That's before it started affecting Kate."

"Fine," Sophia said as she stormed into the living room. "Dan, you don't want me around? That's easily fixed."

"Were you eavesdropping? And, no, it's not you I don't want around, it's Warren." Dan said.

"I wasn't eavesdropping. I came up to get a coke. You were yelling. And, as for the other thing--if you want me, you get Warren. We're a package deal. As are Kate and Dave, though you're too pigheaded to see that. Anyhow, when we get back from COI, I'll move in with Warren at his house. Satisfied?" She stormed back down the stairs.

"Good." Dan said as Sophia disappeared.

"No, Dan, it is not good! There's no way I'm going to let Sophia leave like this."

"Ellen…."

"No. You listen to me. I have not been able to say too much because Kate is not my daughter, but now you're forcing your views on my daughter, and I won't stand for it. And I've never pushed the issue of exactly who legally owns this house, but I'm going to now. Sophia stays. Warren stays. If you have a problem with that, you know where the front door is."

"Ellen!"

"You have a problem with female sexuality. Now, I've managed to loosen you up enough where we are concerned, but you're still taking it out on your daughter, and now you're trying to take it out on my daughter. I won't stand for it. Sophia goes nowhere. And you can consider yourself officially informed that I am also on Kate's side." With that, she got up and went to the intercom. "Soph, I'm coming down."

"OK."

(end of chapter)