Free Everybody Falls by J. A. Hornbuckle Page A

unfamiliar group was calling it to order. There was no one here he recognized, yet the story given was the same.
    Jax tuned it out, turning his mind instead to the selection of cars available for his time with Lacey.
    Was this a date?
    He'd never been on a date before. Hadn't ever asked a girl out; hadn't ever needed to ask a girl out.
    Girls used to come to him, not vice versa.
    He swallowed thickly and felt sweat on his palms.
    Oh, Christ, what had he done?
    This was completely over his head.
    What if she…?
    What if he…?
    Oh, Christ!
    He couldn't breathe right and his heart was fucking racing a million miles an hour.
    Fuck!
    Get a grip, man. She's just a girl. Just another girl.
    He tried the breathing thing and felt his insides ease before the grip he had on the legs of his jeans released.
    Better.
    Okay.
    Shit, his hands had left fucking wet spots on the light colored denim.
    He wasn't going to think about it. Wasn't going to worry and stew like he did about the simplest things now.
    If he was worried, he'd just talk to Grams when he got home. She'd tell him what to do or what not to do. She was good with that kind of shit.
    Oh.
    The serenity prayer.
    The time in the meeting had gone fast, then again, this was the early meeting and people had to get back to work. He felt bad he hadn't really listened, however he had signed in which was the biggest part. It proved he'd attended.
    "Grams?" he called when he was back at the farmhouse.
    "In here," she called and he could hear the TV droning in the background. Oh yeah, Gram's stories were on. Those soap operas she was addicted to; the shows he used to watch with her as a little boy and then again when he was so doped up when he first came back.
    He went and sat beside her on the old flowered couch, his eyes glancing at the sincerely old 22 inch TV directly across from the tired, flat cushioned sofa before his eyes moved around the room.
    She hadn't changed anything since he'd lived with her and Gramps in the early nineties. Not even moved a table or one of her knick-knacky things. Same old, same old. Which was, he admitted, kind of comforting to someone who'd been lost. Reassuring, in its own way.
    He waited until the music came on, signaling the end of the episode before he started talking.
    "Uhm, Grams?" he started, nervous again. "I asked Lacey out for a drive and want to borrow one of the cars, if that's okay?"
    He felt her eyes on him before he saw her root around for the remote to turn the TV off. Gram never had the TV on just for noise or background pictures. The TV went on only for certain shows then it got turned off. Since Jax wasn't big on letting the big, bad outside world in yet, he was more than fine with her viewing habits.
    "I don't see a problem," she said finally. "Which one were you thinking of?"
    "I don't know," he said, glancing at her. "What would you suggest?"
    He saw her head tilt.
    "What's the drive for?" she asked after a while.
    "Ah…" he tried to think of an answer but, to tell the truth, he really didn't really understand the question. "Ma'am?"
    "Well, if you want to impress her, take the 'Vette," she began. "If you want to impress other people, take the Caddy. If you just want to go for a drive with a nice young woman, take the truck."
    He saw her reasoning and knew she was fishing for information without actually asking.
    "The truck will do fine," he said after letting the choices roll through his mind.
    "Good," she said and began to lever herself out of the couch.
    "Uhm, Grams?" He needed more info, yet was hesitant to ask for it. "I haven't ever…ah, I mean, this is kind of new…"
    "Yeah, Hot Stuff. I know," she said tenderly and placed one of her warm hands over the one he had on his knee. "Here's all you need to know, Jax, okay?"
    He nodded and waited for the wisdom he knew his grandma, his only living relative, could give.
    "Be yourself, don't use too much spit when you stick your tongue in her mouth and always use a condom," she said