"It was going to happen," Tina thought as she pads down the hall. She could hear her parent's voices; angry and too loud. Closed doors and distance muffle the words. Mom sounds hysterical and Dad sounds exasperated. Tina peeks around the corner to look down the stairs. Seeing no one, she scoots past the top of the stair and slides up to her sisters closed door. Tina takes a deep breath and sighs. "When was the last time I got sent to my room? When was the last time Mom and Dad had a fight. Why are they fighting when it's Christy they're mad at?"
Tina raps lightly on Christy's door. She'd been warned to go to her room and stay there. They both had been. Everything happened so fast. She was sitting at the diner table with her parents. Christy was running late and Mom wouldn't say grace until everyone was sitting down. Christy came to the table wearing a tight T-shirt and the trouble started. Mom first noticed that Christy wasn't wearing a bra and started lecturing her on what the neighbors will think. Then Mom noticed the telltale lumps of Christy's nipple rings and the volcano erupted!
Tina tapped a little louder on her sister's door. Christy opened the door a crack, saw it was Tina and rushed her in.
Christy looked miserable. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her make up was smeared and trails of tears crossed her cheeks. Christy slumped down on her bed looking like a beaten puppy. Tina sat next to her, took her hand and asked, "You hanging in there, Sis?"
Christy cleared her throat. When her words came, they were thick and raspy, like they didn't want to leave the safety of her throat. "I knew they'd be mad. I knew they'd be mad if they found out about the piercings. I had no idea how mad."
Tina squeezed her sister's hand. The first thing Mom did was send her to her room. She waited for Christy to say something else, not wanting to push her.
"You know the what-will-the-neighbors-think lecture?" Christy finally asked. She didn't have to wait for Tina's nod. It was Mom's favorite lecture. "Well… Mom won't be able to go to the store now because the whole town knows that her daughter is a sick tramp." Tears welled in Christy's eyes again as she choked out, "I'm a diseased and depraved harlot. A slut in the service of Satan..." Christy pausing to suppress a sob, then whispered, "I never thought any of that stuff would hurt, but she really, really meant it."
Tina hugged her sister and whispered, "All that over pierced titties? What would she do if she knew what you were doing in your spare time?"
Christy coughed a dispirited laugh. "Gee, I don't know. She already wants to lock me away in a convent. If she knew that I like to fuck…?"
Tina had been stroking Christy's hair absent mindedly. Now, she leaned over and kissed her sister's forehead. Then she kissed Christy's nose and then her lips. Tina felt Christy's lips part as their lips came together. Her tongue probed tenderly to find Christy's. It felt nice to be kissing her sister. The erotic charge might help ease the pain.
Tina drew back slightly and whispered, "The whore of Babylon is a good kisser. I still love you, you stinky cunt."
Christy laughed a real laugh this time. "Is that how you sweet talk all the ladies?"
Somewhere down stairs a door slammed. A few moments later, a car engine fired up. Headlights played across the room and the car was gone.
"They're gone," Tina sighed.
"It's quiet." Christy agreed
Tina kisses her sister again, this time with more passion, more probing and play. It's a long, lingering, wet kiss. While she plays tag with she sister's tongue, her hard slides under the too tight T-shirt to play with the offending pierced nipple. Tina finally comes up for air and asks, "can I try to make you feel better?"
Christy leaned back to dramatically pull her T-shirt off.
Boom, boom, boom; Three heavy raps on the door. Tina and Christy jump apart like the sound was an electric current. The door slowly creeks open. The girls stare at it with dread. Freddy Krueger dread playing through their heads.
"There you are Tina," their Father said with a sigh. "Your room was empty."
Silence hangs over the room. No one is really looking at anyone. Christy finally looks up to see her father standing at her dresser, idly inspecting the girly flotsam that accumulates there. She felt a sudden wave of sorrow. Dad looked old. A dejected mask of misery hid the usually animated features of the man she'd grown up with. She usually thought of her Dad as a strong, stubborn, sort of good looking for an old guy man. Standing there, he looked utterly defeated.
"Umm, I'll just be going," Tina said as she scurried out of the room. "Thanks for the help on the homework…"
Dad closed the door gently after Tina left. He turned to face Christy and ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "I don't really know where to begin," he sighed. Christy braced for another round of berating. "Your mother is a very strong willed women" he said. "She really does mean well… I don't know where to start…"
He sat down heavily at the foot of her bed. He stared at his hands, which were clasped as if in prayer. He continued staring at his hands, "I probably should have cut her off earlier. She said things down there that were simply mean, vicious and untrue." He paused again, working hard to form the next sentence. "I don't know how to begin to apologize…"
