"You must be the boy that my Roxanne has been talking about," Roxanne's Mom said excitedly, "Arthur Brown, right?" It put me off guard.

"You speak about me, Roxanne?" I asked, "What have you said?"

"She just said that you were a nice boy and that she likes you a lot," Roxanne's Mom said, "Are you two official yet?"

"Official?" I asked, confused about her wording.

"We're not dating yet, Mom," Roxanne said, "I don't think I'm ready after what happened with that guy."

"Whom do you speak of?" I asked.

"Jason was not a nice boy, Roxanne," Roxanne's Mom said, "From what you told me about Arthur here, he's a hundred times better than Jason ever was."

"His name isn't Jason, Mom," Roxanne said, "You should remember because you helped with the restraining order against him."

"I'd rather remember his name as a horror movie villain," Roxanne's Mom said.

"Jason wasn't the villain, Mom," Roxanne said, "He was the victim and his Mom was the killer after his peers killed him."

"But the mask wouldn't fit her, right?" Roxanne's Mom asked, "And besides he was the killer in the other ones."

"Whatever," Roxanne said.

"What did he do to you?" I asked, "For your Mom to call him a villain?"

"Arthur, I'm not ready to talk about it," Roxanne said, "I'll tell you when I'm ready."

"Roxy, have you told this boy about Kate, Brandon, and Marcie?" Roxanne's Mom said, "You still keep in touch with them, right?"

"Mom, I've only known him a month or so at least," Roxanne said, "He doesn't need to know everything just because I think he's cute or kind or whatever." I was intrigued. I didn't know that Roxanne held such a high opinion of me.

"I think Roxanne is cute and kind as well," I said, "She's much prettier than any maiden I've known before. That doesn't mean that I have to know everything about her. I've also never dated anyone before, so I don't exactly know how that works."

"Yeah, you're the type of guy who doesn't understand romance," Roxanne said, "And you wouldn't marry unless someone told you to and even then, maybe you won't do it."

"If I gave into their demands, I would've married a Goddess," I said, "I don't think my rank was fitting to marry her at all and the others were far too young for me."

"What is he talking about about, Roxy?" Her Mom asked in a slightly concerned tone.

"It's a video game, Mom," Roxanne said, "We were going to play together after dinner, but I still have to be tutored in Math by him. It took way too long trying to tutor him in English, so we might not even have time to play video games together."

"Oh, okay," Roxanne's Mom said, "But since you brought a boy home, maybe you should use the table to do your homework rather than hiding in your room. I wouldn't want to hear you two anything dirty in your bedroom, Roxy."

"He's not that type of guy, Mom," Roxanne said, "But to prove to you that we won't do anything of the sort, we'll finish the tutoring out here." Then, silence as we ate the meal. Once Roxanne finished her plate, she rushed over to her room to grab our homework to bring back to the table.

"This sure looks like a lot of homework," Roxanne's Mom said, "Who is getting the failing marks here? I hope it isn't my Roxy getting these zeros."

"Those are mine," I said, "The teachers couldn't read my handwriting, so they were forced to fail me."

"I only got one failing mark and it was in Math," Roxanne said, "I got a 43, which was better than last time."

"I guess," Roxanne's Mom said, "You got a 32 last time. I wasn't even sure how that was possible. What language even is the ones that got zeros written in?"

"Don't look, Mom," Roxanne said, "It's probably embarrassing enough that I know that he's failing and why."

"I just wanted to understand why he's failing," Roxanne's Mom said, "But I can't help if I don't even know what language he was writing in."

"Mom, butt out," Roxanne said, "He's not your son."

"No, he isn't," her Mom said, "But he could be my future son-in-law if everything works out with you two." Roxanne blushed and I felt a little uneasy as the only people who called me son-in-law in the other world had accused me of letting their daughter and grandchildren die. I was out on a mission, I couldn't take small children and my Saintess wife, who was ill, with me. That's one of the reasons why I was so hesitant to marry again after the death of Angelique and our children.

"Mom, please," Roxanne said.

"Okay, I'll stop trying to help," her Mom said, "But Arthur better be leaving by 8 pm, or I won't let you bring him over again."

"That's only an hour and a half from now, Mom," Roxanne said, "I worked with him with his stuff since we got home."

"Just deal with it, Roxanne," her Mom said. So, Roxanne and I went over all the things she struggled with in Math class and I think I was able to help her understand her mistakes in an hour.

"I think you got this now, Roxanne," I said, "You just struggled with some of the higher level parts, but you had the basics down."

"Thanks, Arthur," Roxanne said. She gave me a kiss on the cheek. I wasn't expecting that and apparently neither was her Mom, because I heard a gasp from the other room.

"I think I shall leave early, Roxanne," I said, "We can play the video game later."

"But, Arthur, Mom said that we had until 8 pm," Roxanne said.

"Alas, I have forgotten to call my Mother," I said, "She may not know that I have already eaten and I do not think that she would be happy to hear what I have been up to. I am ashamed that I have yet to tell her about my failings."

"Why didn't you tell her?" Roxanne asked.

"Because then I would have to explain why my homework is in a different language," I said, "'Tis rather embarrassing and I do not want her to misunderstand me any further." I heard a cat's meow from nearby and saw Rufus smirking at me from the top of a cabinet ready to pounce. The darn cat jumped and landed right on top of my head.

"I think Rufus likes you," Roxanne said, "She's rather unusually clingy to you, even though she only met you today."

"This is affection?" I asked, confused, "It feels like hatred." Roxanne chuckled and lifted her arms up, but I decided to bend down so that she could reach her cat easier. Roxanne grabbed Rufus from my head and held her in her arms.

"Rufus has her own weird personality," Roxanne whispered, "She does have a lot of the qualities of her past self. She wouldn't have taken on a dog if she was a normal cat."

"Thank you for your help, Roxanne," I said, "But I won't give you a kiss as a reward. I think I have something else to reward you with, but you have to wait."

"I'm okay with that," Roxanne said, "But don't make me wait forever again."

"Seriously, who were you?" I whispered. Roxanne just grinned at me, her silence was not the answer I was hoping for. I packed up my things and went home. As I predicted, not telling my Mom that I had already eaten was a bad move.

"Arthur, where have you been?" She asked angrily.

"I was with a friend from school," I said, "We were helping each other and I got attacked by the family cat."

"Helping each other with what?" Mom asked.

"Homework that we didn't understand," I said.

"What is your friend's name?" Mom asked.

"Why does that matter, Mom?" I asked.

"This friend wasn't a girl, was she?" Mom asked.

"Would it be a problem if my friend was one?" I asked.

"It would be," Mom said, "I don't want you to be alone with a girl. You're both teenagers, so who knows what you two could be up to behind our backs."

"We were just tutoring each other," I said, "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Then why can't you tell me your friend's name?" Mom asked, "Do you feel guilty or something?"

"Because I can't remember Roxanne's last name," I said.

"So, her name is Roxanne, huh?" Mom asked, "Are you dating her?"

"No, we are simply friends," I said, "Besides, I do not understand dating."

"Do you want to understand dating?" Mom asked, "Because your face has been red as a tomato since you walked in the door."

"I would like that," I said, "Roxanne is quite beautiful, but I'm a little weary when it comes to marriage."

"You're only 15," Mom said, "You can't get married for a while."

"That's a relief," I said.