My mom's new husband Roger is one of those guys that's ugly-hot, kind of with a cave man thing going. He's not dirty or anything, just big and muscular, with a beard and kind of shaggy hair and a tendency to walk around in his undershirt when we're at home. Crazy eyebrows, too. Anyway, he can be a giant prick at times, and it's a good thing I'm not younger because I think another year of him is all I can take. Luckily he's a little easier on my kid sister Liza, who's 15. She's really quiet and obedient and studies all the timeโkind of has "no trouble here, sir" written all over her.
Yeah, sometimes he actually makes us call him "sir," even my mother does it. I think it's a southern thing. It's not all the time, but sometimes he'll tell one of us to do something, and if we just nod or something, he'll say "this is one of those times when it would be appropriate to answer 'yes, sir,'" and we have to say it. I complained about this at first to my mother, but she just reminded me that I wasn't used to having a man in the house, but this was what it was like so I should learn to like it if I wanted a happy family of my own some day. Sure mom, whatever, but I stopped complaining.
The truth is, that things have gotten a lot better since Roger showed up, so I don't mind. Mom was overwhelmed by her responsibilities at work and trying to keep up with me and Liza all the time, and now that he's taken over the finances and big household decisions for her, she's way more relaxed and able to laugh again. She was really stressed out before I guess, so we are all grateful to him for his help.
The only problem is, I recently found out that it won't be coming to me for free. In fact so far Roger has made sure that Mom and I both pay the piper regularlyโhim being the piperโfor his new role as head of household, and while I do appreciate that he's done a whole lot of work with us, and for us, and raised us all up in the world, I also feel like I had no choice in the matter, and that now my life is completely in his control. It can be infuriating, but until it is time to go away to college next year (and he will be paying my tuition), there's nothing at all I can do but obey, and wait.
It didn't take long after he moved in for me to notice Roger's authoritarian streak, actually. I mentioned that Liza is quiet and shy, but I am the opposite. I'm a cheerleader, I love to hang out with my friends and go to parties and cruise around with my friends until all hours on the weekends, drinking beers, smoking pot, and hooking up with the hottest guys in our town, which is pretty small, and I'm the prettiest cheerleader, which made my life awesome for awhile, until Roger moved in and wrecked it.
My mom had long given up on getting me to come home by any particular hour. I just wouldn't do it, and she didn't have the energy to punish me, so by the time I was a senior I was pretty much allowed to do whatever I wanted. I was coming home drunk and stoned all the time, sometimes after sunrise, and frankly my grades were in the toilet.
Roger had seen it happen a couple of times when they were dating and said nothing, but once they were engaged and he was preparing to move in, he pulled me aside for a 'chat,' in which he informed me that things were going to be changing in "this" household, and my lifestyle was going to be one of them. I had just come in, and frankly I think I was still a little drunk, so I just "yeah whatever"-ed him and went up to bed and forgot about it.
Then he moved in, and I did it again: showed up on Saturday morning just when he and my mom were waking up. It was early spring, and everyone was kind of jumping the gun on summer clothes. I was wearing a little strapless sundress I'd just bought that barely covered my ass, and because I was too drunk and exhausted to hitch it up, it had slid pretty low down on my breasts, too. (Thank goodness they're huge, or it would have been around my waist I bet!) Anyway, I staggered in and there was Roger at the kitchen table, already dressed in jeans and his undershirt, sipping his morning coffee.
He looked surprised to see me, like maybe they hadn't known I wasn't there, and then he looked pissed. This scared me, because I knew he had a temper, and he'd never been pissed at me directly before, at least not outwardly. I realized I had no idea how he was going to behave.
Well here's how he behaved, and I can't overstate how much it shocked me. I staggered in and stopped short, and we stared at each other for a long time, like long enough that it became obviously a test to see who was going to look away first. I lost, of course, and he immediately asked me if I knew what time it was.
I thought for a moment, and replied "no," with an offhanded laugh. I really didn't have any idea. "Morning?" I joked, trying to charm him. It didn't work.
"Yes. It's eight o'clock in the morning. What makes you think this is an acceptable time for young ladies to come home from their nighttime adventures?"
"I guess it's not?" I answered, laughing at his word choice, big mistake but I was nervous.
"No." He stood then, and walked right up to me so that I had to tilt my head backwards to see his face. It was actually an extremely intimidating thing for him to do, and I lost all sense of levityโand alcohol. I was in trouble. My heart began to race and my stomach churn, though at another level I felt a strange elation. Finally someone was going to care about whether I fucked up my life or not! I knew my mother cared in her heart, but not enough to try to keep me in line. Though to be fair, she wasn't nearly as strong a person as Roger, mentally and certainly not physically, so it wouldn't have come so easily. They're a good team, I realized, and looked up at him feeling a certain measure of gratitude, despite my fear of whatever penalty would be exacted. I should be punished, I thought, and gazed into his eyes in relief. Thank goodness I finally will be.
"You are never to come home this late again," he said "or early, rather. You are a member of my household, and I forbid it. Is that clear? I don't care if you're eighteen years old or not. So long as you live here, you live by my rules, clear?"