“Mom,” he said, “calm down.”
I saw exactly what I was doing all at once. I let go of Jenna’s hair and she immediately got up and Pam hugged her close as she sobbed into her mother’s shoulder. I took a look at the others, Violet and Jade looked shocked, their mouths opened in fear. Alice…Alice had a strange expression on her face I couldn’t quite read at that moment but it was similar to the sultry look Jenna gave me before I spanked her. At the time, I mistook it for disgust.
I dropped the paddle and ripped my hand away from my son, not that he was gripping it that hard, and I ran out of the room, through the kitchen, up the stairs, and slammed my bedroom door before collapsing on my bed. I couldn’t believe what I had done. I had let my wrath take over me and forced it all on Jenna. When really it was me, all me, that I should have been angry at.
Pam
Jenna sobbed into my shoulder and for a second it was like she was a little girl again who just got scraped knees, “Mommy!” She sobbed, “I’m sorry!”
I wasn’t angry at her anymore, after seeing Nancy totally lose it like she did it was kind of impossible to feel any hatred for my little girl. Okay, she was a young woman, I couldn’t deny that when she was wearing nothing but a girdle and thigh high boots, even when she was crying so hard… “It’s alright.” I said comfortingly, “I love you sweetie,” I told her, hugging her tightly. She stopped sobbing and calmed down. I held us apart but only far enough that I could look in my daughter’s eyes, “It’s all going to be okay.” I said.
Jenna really surprised me because she leaned forward and kissed me. It was brief though as I held her back and laughed, “Jenna,” I said, more amused than anything else, “could you stop trying to seduce everyone for a moment and put your clothes back on.”
Jenna was disappointed but she regained her composure. She began to dress again. She put her paddle back in her duffle bag and zipped it up.
“I can’t believe you own all that.” I commented, still not sure who my daughter was anymore and not completely able to accept what she’s shown us so far. There was something more pressing right then, “I should go talk to Nancy.”
Rob surprised me, “Actually,” he said, “I’ll talk to her.” And practically ran out of the room to do so. I wondered, for just half a second, if Rob was planning on fucking his mom, but realized the idea was ridiculous. Nancy wouldn’t let things go that far…
Then I thought of what she did in the video. “Maybe I should still be there…” I said walking after him.
‘Actually,” Jade said, “um, I think I should be taken home now.”
I noticed Violet kind of sneered at that but she didn’t say anything. I nodded at her for Jade though, “How about Violet takes you? She can use my car.” I handed her the keys. I trusted Violet to drive safely. It just seemed like Violet and Jade had something to talk about.
How could they not? I asked myself as I walked up the stairs, mine and Nancy’s houses are practically asylums lately…
Violet
I drove and Jade rode in silence for about half the trip. She didn’t live that far away, maybe fifteen minutes as long as the roads weren’t icy or something. But it felt like four times as long just by how awkward everything was. After a few minutes like that I really couldn’t stand it. The silence was somehow worse than the pounding pain in my head.
“Jade, I’m sorry that…” I said, “Well, for everything actually.”
Jade surprised me, “It’s okay, really.” She got a little embarrassed, “if we’re being totally honest… I’m more worried about what I did than what anyone else did…”
“What? You mean,” I was trying to get my head around it, I had to pull off the side of the road just to think about it, “You’re okay with, um, what happened? With Mom and Jenna? With me and my brother?!” I cringed as I got embarrassed too as I remembered what we saw in that video.
Jade shrugged, “I mean, it’s a bit, um, weird.” She coughed, “I don’t know though,” She sighed, her tone changed, “I didn’t ruin our friendship, did I?”
It took me by surprise and I laughed, “What? Well, I mean, I hope we’re okay, you’re my best friend. I didn’t think…anything was wrong between us! Well, unless you don’t want to talk to me anymore because, I mean, you know…”
“Your family is totally perverted and, I dunno, completely insane?” She laughed, I think she was glad to know that we were cool, even if life was a little out of control all around us…well, my life, mostly. “Don’t worry about that. I mean, I don’t think it’s normal, but Rob does have a weird medical condition and I guess…” she shrugged, “I don’t know. I think I need to think about it some more. But I’ll let you know tomorrow if we can still be friends.” She said this very casually and I knew it wasn’t really a question on her mind.
“Cool,” I said and we started driving again. I got a little worried, “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
She laughed, “Who would I tell, my two best friends are you and Rob. The only other girl I talk to at school was Vera, and can you imagine what would happen if anyone told her something like this?”
I laughed, Vera was the head cheerleader, mostly because her mother was the cheerleading coach. She was 18 like me, Jade, and my siblings, and probably the most entitled bitch I think I’ve ever met in my life. She cheered at most of our games though and we kinda just started hanging out, first on the sidelines and then at school. She might be a rude person most of the time, but I still considered her a friend.
“Her mind would explode.” I said, “She talks like she’s hot shit but I don’t think she’s ever dated a guy for more than three minutes.”
“Probably because the minute she realizes that they aren’t as ‘perfect’ as she is she has to kick them to the curb.” Jade said and we both laughed. I mean, making fun of Vera (never to her face) was a common thing for us but I think we were both just relieved that things were still so cool between us. I only hoped Jade didn’t come to her senses and decide later that we couldn’t hang out anymore…
Rob
I really wasn’t trying to act confidently. Mostly I had been so hungover that my emotions seemed to be doing most of the thinking for me. And right then I felt responsible, and not just in a “this is all my fault” kind of way. But responsible in the “this is my family and I will protect them,” kind of way.
I knocked on Mom’s door, “it’s me. Can I come in?”
She didn’t answer so I tried the knob to see if Mom had locked the door. She hadn’t so I pushed my way in.
Mom was lying on her back looking miserable, “What do you want?” She said, obviously both ashamed and angry.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” I said. As I spoke, Aunt Pam came into the room and closed the door behind her.
“And now what do you want?” Mom said to her sister.
Pam smiled, “I just want to make sure you don’t start beating up Rob.”
She was joking but Mom glared at her, then her features softened and she got very depressed and fell back on the bed. “You know, I just might, is that paddle still around.” She was joking but in a macabre way, “Is Jenna okay?” She asked, legitimately concerned.