Gail and Ryan were thoroughly engrossed in their activity, when Ryan's phone rang in the other room. Gail went to get it no questions asked, and helped Ryan by putting it on speaker for him when he asked her to. Ryan already knew who it was from the ringtone, and Michael's voice came out clear and urgent from the speaker:
"Dude! I need your help! It's an emergency!"
Ryan's heart dropped. What else could go wrong today? "Michael? Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"I need you to teach me how to go down on a dick!" Michael insisted. "It's a matter of life and death! You said you were good at oral, right?"
"Mick… you do know you're on speaker, right…?"
"What's the big deal? Scott knows I know you got the skills! I really need this favor! You've got to help me out!"
Gail picked this moment to speak up. "Sweetheart, my son's a little indisposed at the moment."
"Ah- Um- Eh- H-hi… Mrs. Kranston…" Michael stammered. You could almost see his blush through the receiver. "Is… anyone else there with you two…?"
Gail laughed a little, breaking the tension. "No, it's just Ryan and me. You're safe."
Michael sighed in relief. "It's just… been a wild day."
"No kidding." Ryan echoed the sentiment.
With that bit of fiasco out of the way, Ryan asked his friend what prompted such a question. He knew Michael and Edwardo were supposed to go on a date last night, and honestly he was a little surprised it took this long to get an update from him. He'd just assumed things had gone well.
Michael told them the story of how he'd made an absolute fool out of himself and completely ruined their first date and how he was sure Edwardo was just being nice and how much it HURT because DAMN was Eddie ever a fine-ass man if such a man were to exist AND he was loaded AND he can cook AND there's a freaking pool INSIDE his absolutely huge house AND he has the sweetest dog ever AND Michael really, really, REALLY didn't want to go home but Eddie drove him back in a SPORTS CAR of all things…
"You just don't understand…" Michael went on. "I was blessed enough to see him in a tank top! His tiddies are as big as my head! I'm dying of thirst over here… Completely dehydrated! It's just… How can someone so amazing actually have feelings for someone like me…?"
"Well, if he's the one that said he wanted to keep dating, I would take it at face value and run with it," Gail reasoned. "You might find him attractive, and he may appear successful, but you can't judge this stuff on appearance alone."
"She's right, you know," Ryan added.
"Easy for you two to say…" Michael grumbled. "One of you is mated, and the other is engaged and here I am just trying to get a slice of what you guys have… Ryan, I know I made fun of you a little when you started dating Scott, and when you were going on about the smell thing… But Eddie- Oh! He. Smells. So. Freaking. Delicious! Damn! I wish I could have stolen one of his shirts… Hell, I'd be happy with a sock! And he's so tall, I fit perfectly under his arm… I've never felt so safe around an alpha like that before…"
"Sweetheart, if you're reacting to his smell that much, then I don't think you have anything to worry about." Gail spoke with the authority of an older omega who'd seen things a time or two. "I wouldn't go stealing from him, but pheromones are a big deal when it comes to alpha-omega relationships. If he smells that good to you, there's a fair chance you smell that good to him."
"Scott's always telling me he likes the way I smell. He says it calms him down," Ryan offered.
"I just don't want to mess this up…" Michael whined. "Eddie… He's so absolutely perfect… I know I don't deserve it but… I want it so bad…"
"You know, I wonder sometimes if things really are better now than they used to be…" Gail mused. She'd already gone back to making her clay ornaments. "Back when omegas were sold by their families I mean. It worked out as much as it seems to now, and at least there wasn't any ambiguity going in to the relationship. Sometimes omegas even had a say in who they were sold to, if they were lucky."
Ryan and Michael were struck dumb by Gail's words. Surely omegas weren't worse off now than they used to be! Sure, life for most omegas wasn't easy by any standard, but wasn't having some freedoms worth the trade off? Gail continued on with her story, telling them of what it was like to be sold to her husband and mate. Back then omegas were sold as young as sixteen, though most weren't sold until they were at least eighteen. It was unheard of for an omega to go unpaired past the age of twenty. Her family had received several offers for her all through high school, but she begged them to let her finish her education first.
"I had an ulterior motive, you see," She went on. "I had a huge crush on a boy in my class. I tried to work up the courage to go talk to him every chance I had, but I couldn't bring myself to. I didn't even know if he was an alpha or not. Turns out he wasn't. I didn't find that out until well after I was bought though. But if I hadn't been so focused on him, I might have settled on any number of the offers my parents got and not met my Howard in the first place."
She went on to say how she forced herself to give up her fantasy as graduation got closer, and instead tried to pay more attention to the offers her parents were getting. Many of the men, and at least one woman, were way older than she was at the time. CEOs, lawyers, stock market executives… they all had plenty of money to buy her and have a pretty young ornament to produce heirs to their own empires. Then there was an offer in the middle ground that caught her eye. One of these empire builders wasn't looking for an omega for themselves, but for their son.
"My Howard wasn't the only suiter in my age range, mind you," Gail continued as Ryan and Michael listened intently. "I attended all the meetings concerning the offers my parents were considering. Some of the alphas were cold and aloof, almost like finding a mate was something expected of them they had no real interest in. Some I could tell looked at me like I was a living sex toy right away." She shivered at the memory. "Those were uncomfortable meetings… Then there was the meeting with my Howard…"
She described seeing her future husband for the first time, a somewhat shy figure next to his imposing father. She described having butterflies, different than the ones she had when she was near her high school crush. She found him easier to talk to than any of the other candidates she had to sit in on the interviews for. Their parents had done the majority of the talking of course, but there was something about him that drew her attention more than the other alphas had. And just like Ryan with Scott, and Michael with Edwardo, she said one of the first things she'd noticed was how good he'd smelled.
"I practically begged my parents to accept Howard's father's offer. They didn't want to at first. I wasn't allowed to see any of the numbers, but apparently they weren't offering much. I just couldn't get him out of my head. Graduation came and went and I knew I wouldn't be allowed to stay unmated for long. Offers were coming less and less frequently, and I was about to give up and tell my parents to go ahead and pick whichever suiter they wanted, when my Howard scheduled a meeting with them out of the blue, without his father present. He begged them to let him buy me. He apologized for the low offer, but apparently his family was going through some financial hardship at the time. He told my parents about how he just couldn't get me out of his head, about how he had to have me… It was all so sweet…"
"Did they accept his offer after that?" Michael asked.
"Not right away," Gail answered. "I had two other very high offers for me, so the two of us got together and schemed in secret to convince my parents to accept and well, it worked out eventually."
"But how was it better then than it is now?" Ryan asked. "I mean, you found someone you were happy with, but you still had to sit through all those interviews and your parents still could have sold you to someone else."
Gail nodded. "True, but back then it didn't seem like life was so hard for an omega. We'd go from living with our parents to living with our mates, and the rest of the world didn't seem to pay us much mind. So much has changed since omegas were given rights. It's a scary world out there, you know? It's not like there's all that many of us. Yet, every time you turn around there's a news story about an omega that's been attacked. And now it's happened to an omega that I know." Her voice got soft. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part."
Michael sighed dramatically through the phone. "I see where you're coming from, but I don't regret growing up in an age where omegas have freedom. Sure, there's been times I've been in hella scary situations, and it's not like I necessarily like working, and paying bills sucks, but if I hadn't taken that crappy job at the shipping company I'd've never met Ryan. And I wouldn't have been able to start my Instagram page. My parents wouldn't pay for all those props and hair dye and makeup and stuff. And if I hadn't picked up photography like that, I'd've never caught Eddie's eye in the first place."
"I'm thankful for the independence I've had," Ryan added softly, unsure of what else to say.
From there Michael asked Ryan how his day was going, and Ryan for the third time that day got to tell the story of what turned into his and Scott's grand misadventure. Michael was surprised at how well his friend had handled everything, to which Ryan replied that he was equally surprised. Calling today eventful was an understatement.
When there was a lull in the conversation, Michael came up with what he thought was a genius idea, "Dude, you said you couldn't get your haircut today right? Why don't we make it a date? I'll set up an appointment for both of us at that place we went to last time! I really want to get my hair redone before my next date, and you know it always goes better if you're there!"
Ryan considered. "I'd have to get Scott to agree, but I think I'd feel better if you were there when I got my hair cut too… I trust you to be honest if it ends up looking bad."
"Then it's settled!" Michael announced, sure that Scott would agree. "Mrs. Kranston, you should come too!"
Gail agreed shyly, providing there was room in the vehicle for her.
--------------------
By the time Howard came home from work, Gail and Ryan had finished their craft project and had the items drying in the oven. Dinner was started, and Ryan let himself be parked in the living room so he'd be out of the way. When it was time to eat, Gail was the one who cut his food into manageable pieces for him.
Scott managed to sleep through it all.