Her parents were arguing again. It seemed like they were doing that more and more these days, and Christine was tired of hearing it. She supposed she had to be grateful that her parents were letting her live at home rent-free while she attended college, but if the price was frequent yelling matches she would almost rather have been in a dorm, far, far away.
Of course, the yelling was almost always limited to her mother these days, as well. Caroline McGill was one unhappy woman, it seemed, and she was taking the rest of her household down with her. Christine would normally have put on her headphones and blasted some music while she studied, but she found herself curious to know what the argument was about this time. She cracked her bedroom door and listened.
"Let it go, Richard! I said I don't feel like going out tonight." After some low rumbling that was probably her father's response, her mother went on at the top of her lungs, "I don't really care if they're expecting us." More rumbling. "Well, it was a stupid promise and I was drunk when I made it. If you're so set on going, go without me. I don't care what you do."
Christine rolled her eyes. She knew what the fight was about now. Her parents had been planning to go to some costume party being thrown by a couple friends of theirs for weeks now. She had even asked if she could tag along, but her parents had exchanged glances and merely told her it was a party for adults.
"Uh, in case you haven't noticed, I'm twenty now!" she had said in a huff. And when her dad had said, "Yes, exactly. Twenty," she had surmised it was a party where a lot of drinking would be going on.
She still hadn't seen the problem. She knew her dad probably wouldn't be drinking much because he would drive them home at the end of the night. And it's not like she had to drink alcohol. Surely there would be water and soda for the designated drivers, right? But her parents had been firm and said that, moreover, it would be mostly people their own age and wouldn't she prefer partying with kids her age?
Probably, she thought, but she didn't really have any friends who liked to party. The college she attended was actually not much for big, wild parties and she thought it was kind of funny that her parents probably partied more than most of the kids she knew. But once in a while it would be nice to let loose.
The sound of the garage door caught her attention and she glanced out the window to see her father backing down the driveway. She looked down at her desk where her essay was waiting for her to finish it, and back out at the street, where her father's car was just disappearing.
A tap on the door distracted her, and she turned to see her mother with that weirdly saccharine smile she wore when she pretended she hadn't just been arguing.
"Chrissy, sweetheart, I just wanted to let you know that I've got a bit of a headache. So I'm going to take a long bath and then go to bed early. Can you take care of your own dinner tonight?"
"Sure, Mom, no problem."
She took care of her own dinner most nights, truth be told, but this was not the time to point that out. Her mom blew a distracted kiss and then disappeared down the hall.
Christine tapped her fingertips on her thigh. If her mother wasn't going to the party, that meant her costume would go unused tonight. And her father didn't have a date to the party. There was really no reason she couldn't wear her mother's costume and go keep her dad company. The essay could wait until tomorrow, and she felt bad that her dad would be off on his own, even if his friends would be at the party. Maybe she could be his designated driver tonight.
Having made her decision, she tiptoed down the hall and into her parents' room. Her mother was already running her bath, and the bathroom door was shut tight. Christine scanned the room and saw something black and shiny tossed over a chair in the corner. There was a pair of black spike heels and a mask of some sort on the chair as well.
Bingo! She grabbed everything and hastened back to her own room to see what she'd gotten. Laying it out on the bed she felt her eyebrows rising. Way to go, Mom! she thought, looking down at what was unmistakably a Catwoman costume. Luckily she and her mother had a similar body type, so the suit would probably fit.
It was a tight squeeze--so tight that she decided to forgo both bra and panties beneath it. For a moment she'd looked askance at the long, long zipper that went from the neck all the way down beneath her crotch and halfway up the back. There were several zippers so that the suit could expose a lot of cleavage or be unzipped only at the crotch. It seemed sexy but, Christine reasoned, the crotch area was probably unzippable so that it was easy to use the bathroom. No one would want to be shimmying in and out of this super-tight suit--especially while drunk--just to pee.
She zipped up the suit, carefully tucked her hair underneath the mask, and stepped into the shoes. Glancing at herself in the full-length mirror on her door, she felt her eyes widening. She looked hot as fuck, and only thought it was too bad there would be no chance of picking up any action at the party. Because she looked good.
A slick of hot red lipstick and a quick search through her closet for a tiny black crossbody bag to hold her keys and ID, and she was ready to go.
She hoped her dad wouldn't be too annoyed to see her at the party, but she would explain, wouldn't she, that she was there to keep him company. He would understand that, surely, and maybe he would even keep her attendance a secret from her mom. Mom would be mad about it no matter what her reasoning was for going to the party, Christine thought with another eyeroll as she headed to her car.
It was getting dark by the time she arrived at the house where the party was being held. There were cars all over the street and three-deep in the driveway, but other than that you might never know a party was going on inside. The music wasn't loud, there wasn't any raucous laughter or shouting from the backyard, and Christine felt herself getting a little nervous as she headed up the front walk.
Almost as soon as she entered the house she realized her mistake. When her parents said it was an adult party, they had really meant it.
People in all states of undress were laughing, chatting, making out, or straight-up banging right there in the front room of the house. Literally, a woman with curly black hair in a nurse costume was riding some guy dressed as a jester. It was surreal.
Christine could hardly believe the evidence in front of her. Her parents liked to go to sex parties. And--oh dear Jesus--there was her mom's friend Shirley blowing some dude who was definitely not her husband Charles. Charles was--she glanced around--humping a very enthusiastic young woman in a bunny suit. Fitting, she thought.
For a moment, she really wanted to turn straight around and go back home. But then Shirley spotted her.
"Caro, you made it! Rich said you weren't feeling well. He's in the family room if you want to say hi. Some chick was giving him the eye, but I know he'd rather see you."
Swallowing hard, Christine gave a brief nod and headed through the front room. She'd been to the house once or twice before and vaguely recalled that the family room--with much more comfortable furniture where she was sure people would be enthusiastically fornicating--was through the kitchen.
No need to worry, she told herself, she could just whisper to her father that it was her, Christine, before anything more embarrassing happened. They would figure a way out of this situation together, just as they always had when things went wrong.
But she wasn't really given a chance.
As soon as she stepped into the family room she spotted her father, looking fairly morose even as a busty redhead sat on his lap kissing his neck. The redhead raised her head, looking somewhat annoyed, and spotted her a moment before her father did. She was able to scramble somewhat gracelessly off his lap just before he stood.
"Caroline," he breathed. He moved toward her and before she could say a word he had his mouth crushed onto hers. Christine was stunned into inaction at the feel of her father's lips upon hers, giving her a very unfatherly kiss. In her surprise, she opened her mouth to him without thinking about it, letting his insistent tongue inside to dance with hers.
God, but he was an amazing kisser. Shivers were running through her and her body heated from the intensity of his embrace.
"I'm so glad you changed your mind," he said in a low voice. "I've been thinking about this all week long."
