"Fine, Mom. Kim and I..." She trailed off for a second, and the air around Jim shimmered for a moment, and he was left standing there. "Oh, crap," Rebecca continued, in a whisper.
"What was that, honey," her mom asked.
"I just asked Jim if he would give me a ride over to the mall."
Mrs Johnson opened the door, saying, "Oh! Hi, Jim. With Rick downstairs, we didn't realize you were here." Turning back to Rebecca, she said, "Honey, why don't you have Rick drive you over, instead of imposing on Jim's generosity?"
Jim jumped in, "It's alright, Mrs Johnson. I needed to head over there anyway, and I think Rick wanted to watch something on TV, so it's no problem."
"Well, if you're sure," she replied. "But don't let her take advantage of you. If you're ready to leave, don't let her make you wait for an hour to go." Facing back to Rebecca for a moment, she said, in a much sterner voice, "And remember, young lady, what we said about closing your door with a young man present."
Rather sheepishly, Rebecca said, "Yes, ma'am."
Mrs Johnson backed out of the room, saying, "I'll let you two go, then. Have a nice time."
Jim turned to her, and asked, "Are you ready to go?"
"Can you give me a minute or two to change?"
"I'll wait for you downstairs, with Rick."
