I'm Ashley Catlin; unlike many women, I'm a female of few words, so I'll skip any bullshit that isn't relevant to the moral of my story -- cheating has consequences -- or doesn't somewhat explain why I did what I did. That assumes that what I did will at all appear logical to you.
I was the middle child in a family of three, with a two year older flaming gay brother, Josh, and a two year younger prissy sister, Ramona. I was my Dad's obvious favorite, something that I held against him since even at an early age I had a strong, and in many instances unusual, sense of morality; I thought that we all should be treated the same.
Since my Dad couldn't deal with my brother's sexual orientation, clear since the time he was a little kid, and since he couldn't even begin to understand my prissy little sister, I was his only "son." He taught me everything he knew about "guy stuff." I could accurately shoot any except the most powerful guns, both long and short, by the time that I was twelve, and as soon as I was legal he got me a concealed carry permit for a .32 magnum hammerless revolver, loaded with .327 magnum cartridges. That meant that even though it was light and easily concealable that it had the stopping power of a .45; hey, if you're going to carry a handgun it might as well be able to stop a bear.
My father also taught me to hunt, fish, break down a carburetor, swing an axe to split wood, dribble and shoot a basketball, and do light electrical work. I was what used to be called a "tomboy."
Since I never bothered with my appearance, and since I didn't take shit from anyone, not many guys in High School either wanted to, or had the guts to, ask me out. That changed when I was invited to the Homecoming Dance by a senior when I was a junior; I had just turned 18 a week before the dance. He was a decent guy -- we played for our school's basketball teams and that's how we got to know each other -- but not someone I was particularly interested in romantically. Nor did I think that he was really interested in me -- my impression was that he asked me because I was the second tallest girl in school at just a shade under 6 feet, and he was 6 feet 8 inches tall and would look ridiculous with an average height girl.
My Mom was more excited than I was. Although she was usually subservient to my Dad she didn't even bother consulting him before going out and getting me a very fashionable, though short, gown, had my hair and makeup professionally done, and gave me her prized matching necklace and earrings to wear. I realized that something was different when my Dad's eyes got as big as baseballs when he saw me fully decked out, my mother got a big grin and started tearing up, and my little sister stormed off pouting. It was confirmed when my date arrived and all he said for the first thirty seconds, while mechanically shaking my parents' hands, was "Oh, My God!"
At the dance I was the center of attention -- at least of the guys. There were a lot of pissed off females. Since dancing wasn't in my repertoire of skills I mostly danced only slow dances, just shuffling back and forth. Every guy wanted to dance with me, and I think I pissed my date off by accepting most of the requests; I noticed a lot of poles tenting the front of the guys' pants when they danced with me -- I pushed my crotch into them and just smiled.
I guess I have to describe myself when all done up; at least this is the assessment of at least a dozen people I've met, not mine: I look like a taller, more muscular, big-titted version of Ashley Judd. When I saw a photo of her when she was just a few years older that I was I was absolutely thrilled that people would think that I was that sexy.
It wasn't long after the Homecoming Dance that I had another dramatic change in my life. As the school varsity women's basketball team I was on was bussing to an early evening game, we went past a cheesy motel at the outskirts of town. There, standing next to my Dad's unmistakable pickup truck was my illustrious father passionately kissing a woman definitely not my mother. As I peered out the window as we went by they broke their kiss and I saw his hands cupping her ass.
I had my worst game of the season, scoring only five points and fouling out in the third quarter when I clotheslined an innocent girl on the other team. Fortunately the rest of the team played well and we still won. I explained to my coach that I had gotten some bad news on the trip to the game and apologized for my behavior and ineptitude, and she told me just to do whatever I needed to do to get my mind back in the game.
That night I confronted my father. At first he tried to deny it, but when I told him that there was no mistaking it he had some lame excuse like "I'm sorry, but sometimes I just have other needs." I stormed away after calling him a 'cheating asshole;' he didn't like it, but already had had more confrontation than he wanted so he kept quiet.
I went straight to my mother, who was in the kitchen, and asked to talk to her. I took her into the garage for privacy.
"Dad was having sex with some bimbo in a no-tell Motel this afternoon -- I saw them in the parking lot during the bus ride to the game, and he confessed other affairs, or whores, whatever they are, to me when I confronted him," I told her with a nasty look on my face in a no-nonsense voice.
She turned ashen, and then started to quietly sob. After about thirty seconds of that I asked "What are you going to do about it?" since I was perturbed that she wasn't screaming and getting a butcher knife to use to cleave off his nuts.
"It's complicated, Ashley," she said, almost too quiet for me to hear. "He has his faults, but I need to keep the family together. You kids need him, and I need him, so..."
"So you're just going to let him run roughshod over you?" I questioned in a loud voice.
"I'm so sorry you saw that weakness in his character, Ashley, honey," she replied, still lightly sobbing and now unable to make eye contact with me. I stormed back into the house and slammed the door to my room closed.
I lost complete respect for both of my parents that night, and since I never did like that prissy little drama queen Ramona, I considered Josh my only real family member.
I avoided my parents as best that I could, although I did have two screaming matches with my father when he tried to tell me to "Get over it." For the second one he got so mad that he said "You're just a spoiled brat with no idea of the real world. I ought to slap some sense into you." My response sent him fleeing.