It was snowing lightly in the evening as the taxi turned unto the exclusive street. The taxi driver tilted his head into the mirror, giving a look that summed up the question "really kid you live here?"
Mark Brice had decided to surprise his parents, well his dad, by coming home from college early. He'd been looking forward to Thanksgiving. With a sick professor and an early flight from Burlington to O'Hare, he made it home on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.
Mark wished he could have gone to a closer school, like Northwestern, but his stepmom made even the tiniest thought of that unbearable, and therefore unrealistic.
Mark was now twenty. When his father married his stepmom he was eighteen, but she treated him like he was half that. Having his dad move his weekend curfew from 1 am to 9 pm was just the start; telling his first and only girlfriend that he was gay was the end!
That was the point when he decided he had to go to a college that was far away. In retrospect, it encouraged him to work even harder in high school, but he'd be damned if he was going to give her credit for anything.
Mark was pissed about being dumped by Courtney over something so baseless, and that's when his tolerance of Tiffany completely disappeared. Even though it was a lie, people believed it. He hadn't been able to get another girlfriend; it was hard enough getting a fit tennis pro like Courtney.
Mark couldn't wait to see his dad, but he wasn't looking forward to a weekend with Tiffany. He understood his dad had been lonely after his mom died when he was thirteen, but really, a twenty two year old? "What was his dad thinking?" Was a thought that consumed Mark until he took keen notice of Tiffany's thin seductive figure.
Tiffany was forty two years younger than Mark's dad! They were married almost three years ago, and Tiffany was now twenty four, but didn't look like she aged or changed a bit. She was still that conniving, gold digging succubus.
Like the Sirens of Greek myth, her seductive characters were dangerous. She caused more than a handful of car accidents when she went jogging. Some of the drivers happened to be female too.
Mark's dad was a captain of industry with great strength, except for when it came to women. Mark could remember a decade ago when his dad's weakness almost broke up a long fairytale marriage.
Mark knew she was hot. He hated admitting it, but she was! Sometimes thinking about her was beyond his control. There were many times he rubbed one off to her image while laying there in his bedroom in Ledyard dorm hall.
No girl on campus could hold a candle to her, not that he had ventured out to check, inspect or harvest the crop. The Courtney incident had killed his confidence.
The cab now arrived at Mark's stately looking home pulling up the long winding driveway. "Thank you," Mark said giving the cabbie two Ben Franklin's, even though the fare itself was only sixty dollars.
The old Irish cabbie responded angrily "I can't change this kid," he said while waving the bills, then he froze a little realizing there were two there, instead of the one his old eyes first saw.
"You went out of your way to bring me all the way out here to Lake Forest, so thank you, I appreciate that." As Mark walked away he could see the beginning of a smile appear on the creases of the old cabbie's face.
Mark continued away from the cab, easily hoisting the one piece of baggage he brought, his laptop tucked away in his media/technology bag pack. Since United lost his luggage two years back, he always traveled with one carry-on and only that. "It looks like they haven't cleaned the driveway." Mark said to himself as he slid through a half inch of snow.
When he entered the mansion he spoke "I'm home," very calmly into the intercom system. There was no response. He thought that was odd. He figured at least the bitch would be home. Thinking hard, he concluded his dad was bound to be away on business, possibly due back tomorrow.
The staff must have gone home for the holidays. Mark recalled his dad insisting they take the holidays off. At Tiffany's protest, some would return for preparations on the day or night before the holiday. Tiffany certainly wasn't going to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Mark never actually witnessed her make anything for herself or anyone else for that matter.
As much as he detested her, he figured at least the bitch would be home. He recalled seeing her Bentley out front with her custom 'bad girl' vanity plate.
Well it was a big house; maybe whoever was here didn't hear him. Checking all of the first floor, the nine bedrooms, and the third floor Mark decided he was alone.
Back on the first floor, Mark ordered a pizza and went into the film room. Figuring there was no one home, Mark decided to let loose with some porn, but decided to keep it classy, and rolled up to the playboy channel.
Ten minutes later he heard the intercom buzz, and he went to get his pizza, thinking out loud "that was quick." When he opened up the door, the pizza delivery boy had his head down, no pizza in sight, and he was unbuckling his belt.
"Hey just give me a second baby, then we'll get to the pool." The shaggy haired, Latin looking pizza delivery boy said, as he drooled with anticipation with his head still down.
Mark yelled out "dude I'm not fucking gay." The pizza delivery boy jumped at this. Looking up he went pale, as Mark clearly was not who he had expected to be standing there. He bolted out of there, jumped into his alien green Kia Soul, and skidded down the driveway.
"That was fucking weird." Mark thought as he grabbed a phone to call the pizza place to find out what the fuck just happened. Then he remembered what the pizza delivery boy said, and he remembered that his dad had added a heated indoor pool to the guest wing.
As he entered the hallway to the guest wing, he noticed clothes scattered all over; jeans, boxers, a halter top and the whole clothing rainbow. Seeing this evidence Mark prepared his Camera, taking it out of his technology/media bag pack. Seconds later, Mark tumbled into the swimming pool room. Lacking even the tiniest bit of grace, he had tripped on a 34 d bra. Not knowing what he was shooting at, Mark just snapped away. "Holy fuck" yelled a male voice."
Marks heart was beating like a water pump, as he brought the camera down to his side, he realized who it was. Andre and Mark attended high school together. They weren't friends, far from it; everybody around here knew Andre Williams or knew of him.
Andre was the star quarterback for the University of Illinois now, just like the star he was when he went to Lake Forest High School, the same place where he took Courtney from Mark.