falling for the first time

November 2031 - Peter Ottomas is 49, Samantha Ottomas is 48, Sheila Lillard and Tommy Ottomas are 21, Paul Ottomas and Brittany Parker are 14, Clara Long is 13, Matt Ottomas is 9.

Emma and Sophie are freshmen at Lowell College, and Paul and Matt are the only Ottomas kids still living at home.

Paul is in the ninth grade, and he's already quite the ladies' man. Two summers ago he met a girl named Opal while she was on vacation in Providence with her family and had his first kiss. Since then he's also had dates with a number of other girls. His parents aren't sure what to do about him. He must get it from his father; Peter and Samantha had David when he was 15 and she was 14. But none of their other kids were this active in high school, so Peter and Samantha are having to figure out some rules for Paul.

"It's okay if you want to invite a girl over," Samantha tells him, "or go over to her house if her parents are home."

One afternoon he invites Clara Long home from school. They've seen each other at school, but they've never really hung out, and he really wants to get to know her. She's so pretty and feisty, especially with her new punk rock hair cut.

But Clara isn't too impressed by his dirty jokes.

"Eww," she sneers. "Gross."

"It's just a joke," he says defensively. But he decides not to tell anymore jokes he's heard from his big brothers.

So he gives up on jokes, and they just hang out in his room.

After a few hours he decides to try to kiss her.

By the time she heads home, she's crushing pretty hard on him.



*****

Tommy just got engaged to his college girlfriend, so their parents invite him and Sheila over for dinner that night. Sheila is a sweet girl, a pretty cheerleader who's also a math nerd like Tommy.

"Congratulations, son," Peter says after dinner. "Sheila's a keeper."

"Uh, thanks Dad."



*****

After dinner, Paul's friend Brittany Parker asks to come over.

She likes him a lot, a lot more than Clara.

Peter and Samantha can't watch Paul every second, and he and Brittany manage to sneak some makeout time. She's his favorite of all of his many girlfriends!