What about Claire? I asked, remembering the name Monique had dropped at the party.
Nah, that was just a friend with benefits thing. Turns out we weren’t really even friends. It was just benefits. But when you can’t stand being around each other, the drawbacks start to outweigh even regular sex. I liked fucking her and hated just about everything else about her.
I laughed to myself. Sounds like fun.
That night at dinner, Walt waited for everyone to dig in before speaking up.
“I have an announcement,” he began.
I looked up in surprise. This wasn’t his usual style.
“Go ahead, dear,” Mom urged.
“My lovely daughter is nineteen now, which means she’s an adult in the eyes of the law. It’s been hard for me at times, watching my little girl turn into a grown woman, but I’m proud of who you’ve become, sweetheart.”
Vanessa smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Both my daughter and my wife have been lobbying me to loosen the apron strings a little, and I’ve realized that the reason I’ve been keeping such a close watch on you is because I’m not ready for you to be nineteen. It’s not because you’re not ready to be. You are, and for that, I apologize.
“Because you are now legal to vote, to drink, to live on your own, Diane and I wanted to tell both of you that the house rules are changing. Effective immediately, you both are welcome to drink alcohol in this house. I would rather you both never smoke, but if you do, you don’t have to hide it, just don’t do it indoors. And because you’re both single right now, it’s as good a time as any to tell you that I…” He gulped. “You are welcome to have a boyfriend or girlfriend spend the night here if you want to.”
“We don’t want you both feeling like you have to run around behind our backs,” Mom continued. “All we ask is that you be responsible and considerate. If you get drunk, just keep the noise down after hours. And we don’t want to see any evidence of your romantic lives any more than you want to see evidence of ours.”
“We know that you’re both responsible young adults now, so it’s time I learned to start treating you that way,” Walt concluded. “I know neither of you are the type to throw a raging house party.”
I glanced over at Vanessa, who was unable to meet my gaze.
“Thanks,” I finally broke the silence.
“Yeah, thank you,” Vanessa added hurriedly.
“One question,” I continued.
“Sure.”
“What about one-night stands? Can we bring them home?”
Mom burst out laughing as Walt glared at me.
“Sure,” Mom finally said. “If you can convince some self-respecting young lady to come spend the night at your parents’ house, be my guest.”
“I’m not into self-respecting women, to be honest,” I said, winking.
Mom laughed again. “That’s my boy.”
“That’s your boy,” Walt grumbled. “I know you’re joking. You’d better be joking.”
I nodded. I was. Kind of.
“Now, for the first time ever in this house, would either of you like to share a glass of wine with your parents?” Walt pulled out a bottle of red from under the table.
“Yes, please!” Vanessa broke out into a huge smile.
A couple hours later, I’d gotten dressed up to go out, and Vanessa and I left together, on foot, to head downtown. Our neighbourhood was an older one northwest of downtown, and it was a twenty minute walk to the karaoke bar. Vanessa was wearing a light jacket over clothes I recognized as freshman bar wear; a low cut top and a short skirt, and with the slight nip in the air her nipples were making themselves visible.
“You sure you don’t want to wear something warmer?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Bars get warm, I’ll be fine once we’re there.”
We walked a little farther.
“That was unexpected,” I offered.
“I know, right?” Vanessa agreed. “Dad’s always been so conservative with me. I wonder what finally changed his mind.”
“Either Mom’s influence, or he finally noticed you’re an adult,” I guessed.
“Or both.”
“You are so much different than I remembered,” I continued. “Last time I saw you, you were still a kid.”
Vanessa nodded. “Yeah. I definitely feel like I’ve grown up a lot in the last year.”
I waited to see if there was more.
“I wanted to say, Peter, because I don’t think I did. Thank you for not ratting me out about the party.”
“You’re welcome. I would have if you’d left me the mess, or been more of a bitch to me if I’m being honest. But for doing something stupid and irresponsible, you handled it well.”
“Thanks, I think,” she replied. “I don’t think I’m ever going to do that again.”
“Good. Why?”
“I didn’t enjoy it.” She kept walking for a minute. “I love house parties. I’ve been to a bunch of them this year. I love the craziness, the noise, the atmosphere. But when it’s your own house, I was full of anxiety about things getting broken or stolen until I was drunk enough not to think about it, but that’s not fun drunk anymore.”
“I’m glad to hear that. We can have fun without risking burning the house down.”
“I like that you said ‘we’. It’s nice you’re not ignoring me anymore.” She made eye contact briefly.
“Yeah…” I didn’t know what to say. I’d never thought of it like that before, but she was right; I had kept her and her friends distant through my teen years. “I’m discovering you and your friends are different since getting home. You’ve got a good group of people around you. Thanks for letting me tag along tonight.”
“Most of your friends are in Kingston this summer, right?”
I nodded. “My roommates Steve, Tom and Clarence all got jobs there, and Clarence is taking a summer course.”
“Clarence?” Vanessa interrupted. “You’re roommates with a World War II veteran?”
“Knock it off. He’s a good guy. Named for his grandfather, of course, but I can assure you he’s 21.”
“I’m teasing.”
“But yeah, I don’t have a huge number of friends left in Guelph. My high school group has kind of scattered throughout the country. I still talk to a few of my old friends, but we’re not close like we used to be. I’m sure I’ll see some of the old gang this summer, but my real friends are all back in Kingston.”
“I wonder if that’ll happen to my group,” Vanessa mused. “Michelle and Sam were still here, which is part of it, I’m sure, but as soon as the others got back, all we wanted was to see each other.”
“You’re lucky. I never found that kind of close friendships with people until university.”
“I haven’t made any ultra-close friends in university. We’re opposites.”
“Living at home probably has a lot to do with that,” I pointed out. “I made all my friends in rez.”
“Living off-campus is hard,” she agreed. “People don’t make their friends in class anymore like in high school. I didn’t expect university to be so lonely.”
I wanted to ask her more, but just then, we hit the karaoke bar. The gang was seated around a pair of tables, one with Michelle and her boyfriend, a white guy and a Desi girl I didn’t recognize, and the guy who slept with Vanessa at the house party. The second table had Monique, Samantha and Kirsten. Vanessa quickly made a beeline for the guy — Carson? – hugging him and then taking her jacket off, filling the six-top table. I took my jacket off and sat in a free seat beside Kirsten.