Kelsey Andrews pulled up hard, and squeezed herself into her skin-tight cutoff jeans. After two minutes of struggling, she was finally able to button her shorts snuggly around her slim, eighteen-year-old waist. She turned around to check out her butt in the mirror. As critical of her own body as she was, she thought she looked fantastic. She donned a halter-top and a pair of sandals when her cell phone began to ring. She checked the caller ID, and saw it was her older sister, Allison.
"Hey babe, what's up?" Kelsey said cheerfully.
"Hey, I'm on my way home from Bryan's pool party now," Allison said gleefully.
"Already?" Kelsey said with surprise. "I thought you'd be there all day."
Kelsey sat down on her bed and stretched her long, slender legs.
"Well, his family eats dinner together at five, so we all had to leave," Allison said.
"Oh, that sucks," Kelsey said. "I'm on my way to Sandra's, so there's not much to do at home."
Kelsey wiggled her toes and admired the pretty red nail polish she recently applied to each of her toenails.
"Hmm," Allison said. "I was thinking the family dinner idea was a good one. Been a while since we had one of those, don't you think?"
"I guess," Kelsey said. "But with Jeff out of town that's not really possible today."
"I mean just us three," Allison said. "You, me, and Mom. You know, our real family."
Kelsey twiddled her fingers through her blonde pigtailed hair. It did seem like a nice idea to her, just the three of them. Ever since their family moved in with Jeff, Kelsey felt her original family had lost some of its closeness with its new patriarch. In fact, they hadn't had too many family dinners with Jeff either, what with their summer jobs and busy schedules and all.
"I'll see what Mom's doing," Kelsey said. All she could hear on the other line was Allison's giggling, undoubtedly because her boyfriend Chase had just untied her bikini top or some boyish prank like that, so Kelsey ended the call. She tucked her phone into her purse and took another look at herself in the mirror.
Kelsey had to admit, she was looking good. Her breasts had filled out quite a bit in the past year, and her daily sit up routines were doing wonders for her abs. Kelsey stared at her soft, smooth belly, which was not covered her skimpy halter-top. Although she did not have a belly button piercing, she hoped to get one if not for Jeff. Yes, Jeff Harkin. Her mother's new husband. He made a lot of money as an automotive engineer, but his conservative views made Kelsey and her sister feel at times like prisoners.
Her mother Sally was having a lot of difficulties making ends meet as a single mom, so since moving in with Jeff, Kelsey and Allison began enjoying benefits they hadn't had since even when their father was alive.
The problem was his incredibly controlling nature. Jeff was always keeping tabs on their mother Sally while they were dating, and since marrying and moving in with him, he'd been actively involved in the lives of Kelsey and Allison as well. He would want to know details of who their friends were, where they were at all times, and had very little respect for their privacy.
He would read their school notes, search through their book bags, they were required to tell him the passwords to their email accounts, which he checked daily.
Worst of all, Jeff was very particular on how Kelsey and Allison dressed. He only wanted them to wear the most conservative of clothing, which made it difficult for them to be popular in school, especially with the boys. Allison was especially resentful of this as she was now graduated from high school, but Jeff reasoned that she still lived in his house, and therefore was required to either follow his rules or submit herself to the consequences he selected for her. Jeff's absence on account of a business trip gave Kelsey this brief opportunity to dress a bit racier, so she wanted to take full advantage.
Plus, while her telling her sister that she was planning to visit her friend Sandra was true, the real reason Kelsey enjoyed spending time with Sandra was Sandra's particularly handsome older brother Chris. Chris was two years older than Kelsey and swam on the boys swim team, and Kelsey had developed quite a crush on him shortly before school got out for the summer.
Kelsey loosened the tie binding the front of her halter-top together to allow a few more inches of her cleavage into view. Kelsey smiled at her reflection, and sauntered sexily out of her room.
Kelsey pranced down the stairs, just as her mother was leaving out the back door. Sally Harkin was dressed in a bright green bathing suit with a beach towel wrapped around her torso, most likely getting ready for an afternoon of sunbathing.
"Hey Mom, do you have any plans for dinner?" Kelsey asked.
Sally shrugged.
"I was going to start something when Allison got home. Why, you hungry?"
"Nah," Kelsey said. "Besides, I'm going over to Sandra's now."
"Oh," Sally said, tying her bright blonde hair into a bun. "In that case, just reheat something from the fridge when you're ready. No sense planning dinner if everyone's out for the afternoon."
"Yeah," Kelsey smiled.
Sally left out the glass sliding back door and shut it behind her. Kelsey was glad her mother was finally getting a chance to get some sun; Sally hadn't spent very many carefree days basking in the summer heat since getting married. Kelsey smiled as she watched her mother untie the beach towel from around her torso and let her swimsuit clad-body bask in the July sun. Kelsey was a bit disappointed her mother was not wearing a bikini. Sally used to wear them all the time before she got married, but now Jeff forbade anything but conservative one-pieces.
Kelsey checked the time on the Mickey Mouse novelty clock hanging on the kitchen wall before skipping towards the front door. Sandra lived only a block away, so Kelsey could walk there with little trouble. Still, she was jealous of her sister Allison, who had her driver's license and her own car for some time now.
Kelsey heard her sister's car pulling into the driveway, so she decided to take a moment to tell Allison that no, there would not be dinner today but to get something from the fridge, like her mother had just said. Kelsey stepped out the front door, only to see that the car pulling into the driveway at that moment was not, in fact, her sister's.
It was Jeff's.
Kelsey's heart sank. Jeff had come back from his business trip early. Kelsey saw his face staring straight back at her, dressed in her skimpy wardrobe that she promised him she would never wear while living under his roof.
Kelsey turned and ran back inside, and raced upstairs to her bedroom, while the rumbling motor of the garage door sounded to Kelsey like the tremble of Doomsday at that moment. She had just closed her bedroom door when she heard the front door close and the trumpeting voice of her stepfather.
"Kelsey, get downstairs now!" he shouted. Kelsey pulled a dress from her closet and laid it upon her bed.
"Don't bother changing clothes, Kelsey, I already saw you. Get downstairs right now!"
There was no way out of this one. She was going to get it this time. Probably the worst one yet. Best to just get it over with.
Kelsey opened her bedroom door and nervously descended the stairs, finding her very infuriated stepfather waiting for her in the living room.
Kelsey meekly stepped off the last step and stood at the base of the staircase.
Jeff stared at her up and down. For the longest time, Kelsey just stood there and waited for him to speak.
"What's your excuse?" he finally asked.
