“You’re always in the mood, Ness,” he said, stepping up behind her. He pressed his hardness up against her ass insistently, and reached around to grope her tits through her shirt. “That’s why I love you.”
For a moment she straightened to give him a better feel, let her head fall back against his shoulder. He kissed that oh so sweet spot behind her ear, along her neck. She even wiggled her ass a little against him.
“You need to call her,” she said softly. “Today. She’s a good girlfriend for you.”
“I don’t want a good girlfriend, I want you,” he growled into her ear. He could see the hairs on the back of her neck stiffen. “I’m so glad you’re home again.”
“Yeah, but I won’t be for long.” She pulled the hem of her shirt away from her belly, let him slide his hands up inside.
“Why did you have to hook up with that guy anyway?”
“Josh, you know why. Now come on — stop it and help me wrap some more.”
But her hands were closed over his own, making him fondle her huge, warm tits.
“Huh uh,” he said, pulling and stroking the stalky nipples. “I’m not stopping.”
For a few minutes she rolled her head against his shoulder sensually, little sounds of pleasure welling up from deep inside her. He remained pressed against her, hard and happy, massaging her breasts.
“Oh fuck,” she said at last, in fidgety resignation. With one swift yank she bared her ass and dropped the shorts to the floor. Before he knew it she had stepped away from him, across the room to the frosty window. She hoisted herself onto the top of her dresser with a grunt, swiveled around and spread her legs; in no time he was looking at her slim little pussy.
“C’mere and lick me,” she ordered peremptorily. “I’ll keep watch.”
Minutes later, when his lips and chin were covered with her juice, and his jaw was aching, she slapped him on the head.
“Oh shit,” she said, staring fixedly out the window. “Go clean up — hurry.”
“Why?”
“It’s Mom and Dad. In a taxi.”
***
She took the empty plate from her father and kissed the top of his head before taking it to the kitchen. His head was hot — he was obviously still very angry. She clucked to herself and resolved to make the best of it. She was going to calm them down and make them be nice to each other if it fucking killed her.
They had a hard time understanding her, her parents. Hell, they had a hard time understanding anything these days, especially each other. It didn’t take much to throw them for a loop — die your hair orange one time, get a tattoo, listen to Manson. They started thinking you were an alien, started treating you like a headcase, tiptoeing around you. But she wasn’t so strange; she just didn’t have any prejudices. Not against race, creed, or sexual orientation, certainly — but also, not against making things work. Learning to live with things, improving, moving on.
She knew, for example, that they were both dead set on fucking up their whole relationship. Because her dad had found him a piece on the side, they were both going to let everything go to hell. Vanessa had decided, weeks before, that she wasn’t about to let that happen. Not if she could help them find what they needed, could nudge them in each other’s direction again.
It wasn’t that she didn’t take their anger or their pain seriously. No, their anger was genuine enough, especially tonight. Apparently they’d lost her father’s car in the ditch, which left only her mother’s mysteriously ailing Volkswagen in the drive. So they were now officially stranded, forced to coexist within the same walls, and hating every minute of it. It was absurd; they’d been coexisting for years, and happily too. For all their adult problems, she thought, they were behaving like children.
Now her dad was sulking in front of the television. Her mom was slinging things about in the kitchen, cursing a blue streak. If they could only see themselves . . .
Vanessa hurriedly washed up the plate, edged close enough to her mother to kiss her, and then hastily retreated to her room. The packages she had wrapped — and the two her brother had sort of wrapped — were arrayed on the bed, waiting for the dead of night. She inspected each one carefully, insuring that it was labeled and that the paper was tight and smooth.
So her dad wanted some excitement, some variety. That surely wasn’t so hard to understand — he was just a man, after all. He apparently was determined to rob the cradle too, if that girl was as young as Mom said. Well, there had to be some way to satisfy him, even if she couldn’t think of one at the moment. She thought they might become swingers, but rather doubted her mom would go along with that one.
As for her mom — Vanessa knew exactly what she needed, at least for the present. The noises that came drifting through the wall the night before told her the whole story. At first she’d hoped for the best — that her dad had snuck up to give her one in the night. But their nastiness to each other that morning had convinced her she was wrong. The only alternative, though it was a surprising one at first, was that Mom had been taking care of business, all by herself.
Good for her, she thought. More power to her busy little fingers. If that was helping her out, Vanessa wanted to help her help herself out. And so she would give her this little present tonight . . .
Vanessa shook the box thoughtfully and smiled. What they failed to understand, her parents, and what she had already learned from life, was that sex solved almost everything. Take care of yourself sexually, and there really wasn’t much else you had to take care of. Good sex gave you the confidence and the bearing to handle just about anything else. And especially in their situation, so obviously a sexual crisis . . . well, anyway. She would do her best for them, whatever it took. They would split up only over her dead body. Until she saw them before a judge, with her own eyes, she refused to believe it would happen. They would find a way, even if she had to find it for them.
Firmly resolved, she lay back on the bed, sighing. Now if she could only straighten out her little brother. She smirked, remembering that afternoon. Actually, “straightening him out” was never a problem for her.
***
After a bitter lunch and a worse supper, after cleaning in the kitchen and prepping the turkey for the next day, after either fighting with or ignoring her husband for most of the long, dreary day, Sherry was finally at her wit’s end, and decided that all her intentions of sharing a relaxing family Christmas had been flights of lunacy. She gave it all up, consigned it to the winds, washed her hands of it. She’d cook tomorrow but that was it. Neal could go fuck himself.
To top things off — just a little twist of the knife from God — the cable had gone out just an hour earlier, apparently due to the snow. How that could happen, she didn’t know — she was born in Florida, yes, but she certainly didn’t see how cold shit falling from the sky could knock out the cable. Oh well, said God, it can. So her cherished plan for her evening’s release (there was no fucking way Neal was coming to bed with her tonight!) now had a major kink in it. She had hoped to catch some more porn tonight and get herself off again. She had enjoyed herself the night before, and had doubly enjoyed Neal’s aggravated questioning about it. Hilarious. He had an affair for months, but he was jealous of her intimacy with a remote control.
Disgusted with the whole damned day, and highly dubious that the morrow would bring them any “peace on earth,” Sherry took a Valium, turned off the lights on her pathetic little tree and headed for the stairs. On the landing she met Vanessa, coming out of her room with a wrapped box in her hand.
“Hey!” she chirped. “What’s wrong — where you going?”
Sherry stopped and shook her head wearily.
“To bed. I . . . I don’t feel very good –”
The sob in her voice started her off; she fell into her daughter’s arms and let herself be held, crying against her shoulder. Her daughter — now an unfamiliar set of protrusions against her body, all tits and tummy — held her tightly.
“What happened?” she asked, the warmth in her tone surprising Sherry.
“It’s all so fucking disastrous, so stupid and hurtful . . . I can’t stand it anymore! I just want out.”
“I’m sorry, Mom . . . God, I’m so sorry. I should have come back down sooner.”
“Oh, it’s not you,” said Sherry, releasing her, a little ashamed of herself. “I’ll be okay — I just need to sleep. And forget about it.”
Forget about it — sure, she thought. And how do you propose to do that?
“Okay, well . . . I know we usually open one gift on Christmas Eve. So I . . . ”
“Oh baby, look — I shot that in the foot this year. You’re sweet but . . . just save it till tomorrow, okay? I’m not really in the mood right now.”
“No, listen,” her daughter countered, pressing the package against her. “Just take it with you. Um, open it in your room, tonight. It’s just a little something from me to you.”
She smiled, that beautiful rosy smile, even prettier now that she was pregnant. Sherry nodded quietly and took the package. Her daughter kissed her cheek and started down the stairs.
“Open it now, okay?” she called back. “In your room.”
“Okay, baby.”
“I love you.”
Minutes later, Sherry stared in awe at what lay before her on her bed, there amid the colorful shredded wrapping. Next to the long gold necktie box that had contained it, and the box that read The Big Bear, and the little card that read TO MOM FROM NESSA — SOMETHING EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE.
It was a dildo, she thought.
More, it was a vibrating dildo.
More, it was a long pink gel vibrating dildo, with a realistic penis head, three speeds, and a handle shaped like a teddy bear.
Sherry had never been so embarrassed, nor so gratified, in her entire life.
***
That night Neal pulled the cushions off the couch and slept on the floor atop them — a slight improvement. He jerked himself off while thinking about Melanie, but he had a long, intensely wicked dream about Vanessa. He awoke from it hard and throbbing.
If he could have, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have driven to Melanie’s apartment that very night, even if it meant leaving Sherry forever. Things were getting too difficult around here.
Josh fell asleep stroking his meat, waiting to hear Vanessa coming to bed. Instead he listened to his mother in the next room, getting off again. As he played with himself, he thought of Jeanie, her sister Wendy, his ex-ex-girlfriend Sarah, his mother, his sister, a girl behind the bakery counter at the Winn Dixie and Katie Couric. It was a mixed-up world.
Vanessa stayed downstairs for three hours after giving her mom the gift, trying to let the poor old girl have a little privacy. When she did go to bed, she was surprised, but delighted, to hear Sherry still going at it next door. Everything finally fell quiet about twelve-thirty; she snuck downstairs to put her presents under the tree, and returned to bed with Jasper in tow by one o’clock. She then had such vicious sex with Laurence Fishburne that it shook the bed and made Jasper whine.