Secrets of the Suburbs

Dear Readers: This is Chapter 2 of a 5 chapter story. All of the chapters are completed and will be released in the next couple of weeks. In Chapter 1, the McCall family moved into a new neighborhood that already had three other families. Frankie McCall, an 18-year old high school student, stumbled upon his neighbors, Claudia Park and her son Kurt, having sex. If you need more than that, read Chapter 1.

*****

Chapter 2: Alyssa and the Harts

Alyssa McCall snuck out of her room and then the house extremely quietly. As she moved, she continuously checked behind her back. She knew that she looked paranoid slipping out the door and silently crossing the street. It wasn't that she was doing something she wasn't supposed to do or meeting someone she was barred from seeing. Hell, she was an adult woman so it wasn't that she had a curfew, besides it was 2 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. Truth be told, she was just crossing the street to see some neighbors. And that was why she had to hide.

The thing was, she couldn't let her mother know that she was going to see June and Lacy Hart. Not because her mother would disapprove, but because it was her mother's idea. And Alyssa couldn't bear to let her mother think she'd had a good idea. About anything.

Alyssa was not about to forgive her mother for anything. She was angry at her mother for refusing to buy her a used car (she couldn't buy one herself, school was her job). She was angry at her mother for moving out to the suburbs where a car was a necessity. She was angry at her mother for not deciding she wanted to live in the suburbs earlier and wasting nearly a year in the city. She was angry they'd moved to the city in the first place. More than anything else, she was angry at her mother for divorcing her father and forcing all of this on them.

It wasn't just that her parents had gotten divorced. It was...the attitude that her mother and, to a lesser extent, her brother had about it. It was like...it was like they were glad the marriage was over. That it was a relief. Alyssa knew that her father was no saint. Hell, she'd been disappointed by him more than anyone else, because she kept giving him more chances. When she was being honest with herself, she knew that he was far more important to her than she was to him. After all, he'd never visited her in the city and rarely accepted her phone calls. Now that he was engaged again, he didn't even really want her around. His fiancé was just a little older than Alyssa was and he didn't want her to think he was old. But what did that change? They had been a family and had loved each other in their own imperfect way. Now the family was shattered and it felt like Alyssa was the only one who regretted it. She was the only one who recognized that if they weren't complete, even with a slightly disappointing father, that they weren't even really a family anymore. Alyssa was a 20 year old woman and she knew it was childish to blame her mother and sometimes she tried to control her anger, but that didn't stop the way she felt.

During the last couple of weeks, Susan's biggest project had been trying to get Frankie and Alyssa to go out and "make friends" in the neighborhood. It seemed that Susan had liked the suburb idea because she was looking for some sense of community or something. And it felt to Alyssa that it was particularly important that she, more than even Frankie, buy into that as well. But to Alyssa, it came off as condescending and infantilizing. Alyssa always made sure her mother knew how annoyed she was by the whole thing. And it was that vocal opposition that made her sneak across the street necessary.

In one very small way, Susan had been right. It was nice that there were "girls" her age across the street. Not because Alyssa needed a friend her own age in the neighborhood. She planned on leaving the neighborhood as soon as possible. But she did need a ride. Her (new) community college was six miles from the house and, because it was the suburbs, there was no public transportation. Luckily, Alyssa had recently learned that both of the Hart sisters went to the same community college part time.

June was 23 and had just gone back to school after a few years of bouncing around doing odd jobs. Lacy was 18 and going fresh out of high school. Alyssa had met them both two days earlier, by accident. She'd been driving home in her mother's car after going out to buy schools supplies. On her way into the neighborhood she had, by chance, followed the sisters' ancient Ford Taurus. When all three women got out of the car, Alyssa had tried to duck quickly into her home. But the Harts had called to her from across the street and she'd been roped into a short conversation. She had to admit that they were nice if a bit...strange. Like everyone else in the cul-de-sac. But she'd learned they'd gone to the same school.

Alyssa had almost asked at that exact moment if they could give her a ride in the mornings. But the question had caught in her throat, the image of her mother saying "I told you so," playing in her mind. She'd made some excuse after a polite amount of time and had gone home, hoping her mother hadn't seen her talking to them.

Luckily, in the last couple of days (really ever since Susan had returned to work), her attention had shifted, for some reason, from Alyssa to Frankie. The third degrees had dropped off and now Susan was constantly trying to engage with Alyssa's mama's boy brother. Alyssa really didn't know what the reason behind the sudden change was. However, she had to admit that her brother had been acting strange lately. Ever since the night before his mother went back to work he had been very, very quiet. He had seemed distracted, maybe a bit confused, and touchy. But that wasn't Alyssa's problem. She didn't really care what his deal was. She just cared that it meant Susan was off her back.

It was that fact that had finally decided Alyssa to make the trip she was making now. She'd spent a couple of days going over the pros and cons of asking the Hart sisters for help. She'd rather walk twenty miles than let her mother find out she'd gone to the Harts. In the end, the fact that she had absolutely no way of getting to school on her own and the realization that she could probably get away with it undetected had decided her. And, as she skipped the last few steps across the asphalt into the Harts' front yard, Alyssa felt like she was going to get away with it.

As she made her way down the driveway, Alyssa took one last glance over her shoulder towards her mother's new house. It stared back at her blankly. She knew her brother was in the basement, staring at the ceiling strangely like had been the last few days. Her mother was probably in her own room, fretting and nervous and thinking about going down to talk to Frankie. No one was thinking about Alyssa. For the first time, perhaps ever, that made her smile. She walked the last few steps to the front door and rang the bell.

Nothing happened. She didn't hear anyone stirring inside and the door didn't open. She rang again and waited. She shifted around uncomfortably. She wondered if her mother would look out the window and see her. It would be mortifying. After waiting an appropriate amount of time, she looked at the driveway. The old Taurus was there. Mr. Harts BMW was there. It was the suburbs. No one went anywhere on foot. They had to be home. Why didn't they answer?

Just as that thought went through Alyssa's mind, she heard something. When it first hit her ear, Alyssa wasn't sure what it was. But then she heard it again. It was a woman's voice, angry. It was clear it was coming from the backyard. Someone was yelling about something. She heard another woman's voice, angrily yelling back. Not unhinged yelling, just a disagreement. It must have been the Hart sisters having an argument.

For a moment, Alyssa considered just turning around and returning to her mother's house. She didn't have any business in their fight and she was a little bit embarrassed about hearing any of it, even if she couldn't make out the words. She actually turned and looked at her mother's house, ready to go home. She had a vision of herself, returning to her room, probably not even being caught. But what would she do once she got there? She probably wouldn't get another chance to go over to the Hart's tonight. So she would just sit in her room until morning and then what? Walk to school? She sighed and heard the Hart sisters arguing again.

Suddenly a new idea struck her. Maybe she should just walk around back. I mean everyone was so...neighborly here. Her mother said so. Maybe they wouldn't mind. In fact, maybe they would appreciate it. If Alyssa walked into the back yard and June and Lacy had to interrupt their fight, maybe they would just drop it. In fact, they might appreciate the fact that Alyssa had broken it up.

Alyssa knew that if she thought about it too long, she'd realize she was rationalizing rather than actually thinking and then back out. So she quickly started to move towards the backyard. She walked across the driveway and turned right, walking down the side of the house. There were several holly trees very close to the house and she basically had to slide along the side of the house. A few seconds later, she reached the edge of the house near the back yard. She could hear the argument louder now. But there was a large bush separating her from what looked like a small deck.

She didn't want to go crashing through the bushes like a Sasquatch. It was strange enough that she was walking in on their argument. She carefully started to pick her way through the thick bushes, skirting around some of the larger plants as she moved. As she moved closer, she could make out more and more of the argument and began to feel embarrassed, like she was eavesdropping.

"I can't believe you'd do that," she heard June saying, "You knew I was going to ask him out this afternoon. You had no right to do that!" she said. Alyssa could just barely make out June through the trees, she probably wouldn't have just recognized her by voice. But the sisters, while obviously related, were unique enough for Alyssa to remember which was which.

June was the older sister, but she was shorter and thinner, making her look younger. She was only around 5'2 and had a slender, girlish build. Her breasts were small and perky, her body slim, her hips narrow. Her legs and arms were willowy. Alyssa in particular had been surprised by June's long, slender fingers with long, well-manicured nails. June had an open, girl next door sort of face. It was round with a wide mouth and small, pearly teeth. Her nose was small and her eyes were wide and set somewhat far apart. She had long dark red hair and pale white skin, but not a freckle on her face.

"I didn't know you were going to do it. I knew that you wanted to, but I didn't know if you were going to. You said you had homework!" Lacy shot back. Lacy was five years younger with a woman's body. She was taller at 5'9. She had shapely legs with muscular thighs. Her hips flared out quite wide (and she had a large, though muscular, ass) but narrowed down quickly at the waist. Her body flared back out again at a pair of large (and always well displayed) breasts. Her arms were somewhat shorter than June's, but she had the same long fingers and long nails. She had a long neck and her sister's round face. Her lips were a little fuller, her thin nose a little longer, and her eyes a little closer together. Her hair was a platinum blonde color but her roots looked like they were dark, maybe even the same dark red color as her sister. Nonetheless, her pale hair offset her extremely pale white skin almost as starkly as her sister's red hair.

"Doesn't the fact I was thinking about it just tell you that...you asking is absolutely inappropriate?" June shot back.

"You don't own him!" Lacy responded.

"Yeah, but if I say I am going to do something it is really shitty for you to just...swoop in out from under me!"

By this time, Alyssa had pushed almost completely through the bushes now, just a few thin branches blocking her from the sisters. They were only about ten feet away, standing on the back porch. There was no railing on the porch and it was only a foot or two off the ground.

It had become immediately clear to Alyssa that the sisters were arguing about a man. It sounded like June had been interested in a man and Lacy had, rather callously, asked him out anyway. Alyssa's sympathies immediately went out to the older sister. But that was the only thing going out from the bushes. This was not the kind of argument that would be comfortable to interrupt. The right thing to do in this situation was to turn around and go home, pretend like she heard nothing. But Alyssa found herself slightly titillated. She kind of wanted to know where this argument was going. Plus she was already there... She remained quietly in the bushes, watching the sisters.

"Who swooped? You saw him before me today, if you wanted to ask him to do something, you should've fucking asked him!" Lacy said.

"I had to ask him about that thing on Saturday. That was all we had a chance to talk about before he had to leave. I was going to see him this afternoon. You knew that!" June said.

"I knew you were a whiny little coward too!" Lacy said, taking a step towards her older sister.

"Fuck you June, you think you're so hot and you're so tough that any man would love you and any woman would fear you. But I'm not afraid of you, because I know you're just a stupid, little bitch!" June said, and she poked her younger sister's shoulder once sharply with her index finger. Lacy sort of leaned back and her eyes got wide. She let out a snorting little laugh.

"I feel like something just hit me in the shoulder. But I know I didn't. Because the only person here is a 98lbs midget with twigs for arms. And if she hit me...oh boy!" Lacy responded. Her nostrils were flaring and her eyes were wide. It was clear that her sister poking her had really gotten her angry. To Alyssa, this all felt let they were moving in well-worn grooves. Like this sort of argument happened all the time, but that it didn't dampen their anger. It was strange. In some ways, it seemed like they were behaving like children. Still, it was...interesting to watch and Alyssa kept her eyes on the sisters.

"Fuck," June said, poking her sister again, "You!" poking her a third time. As she reached for the last poke, Lacy's hand shot up, grabbing her sister's wrist and twisting it slightly. And then, with almost shocking speed, it was on. Alyssa didn't know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. Lacy tugged hard on June's arm, pulling her stumbling forward. June let out a sharp cry, but rather than simply catch her balance, she launched herself forward. June's arms wrapped around Lacy's legs, she bowled her younger sister over. Lacy hit the deck with a loud thud and Alyssa could heard the air go out of her lungs.

When they both reached the ground it was absolute pandemonium. Neither waited for Lacy to catch her breath, they were on top of one another. They rolled around on the deck, their arms and legs flying. Alyssa could hear them slapping one another and she could she their hands pulling on one another hair and knees driving in between one another's legs. They were screaming wildly as they fought, words coming out that were completely indecipherable. The whole deck seemed to be shaking lawn furniture was being tossed from side to side.

Alyssa stood frozen in the bushes, not exactly sure what she was seeing. She had seen videos on the internet of girls fighting, joke videos that people made. She could also remember fights when she was much younger. But this just seemed...bizarre. These were two adult women and they had simply...lost their minds. It hadn't even seemed like the fight had reached that level when it started. There was just no explanation for what Alyssa was seeing. But she was seeing it. She couldn't look away, it was too crazy.

She was watching so intently, that she hadn't noticed that someone else had arrived on the scene. The backdoor to the house had opened up and Carl Hart had stepped out onto the deck in his bathrobe. Alyssa had seen him once before, walking about to the mailbox to get his paper. She remembered being sort of shocked that a man who looked like he did had such undeniably beautiful daughters. Maybe he had just not aged well or maybe their mother had been a beautiful woman (somehow). Regardless, at around 5'7 and 245 pounds, Carl did not look like he belonged to the same tribe as his daughters. He had short dark hair formed in a horseshoes around the bald top of his head. Her wore thick glasses and had a permanent five o'clock shadow. He had thin arms and legs, with a round stomach and almost no ass. Alyssa remembered thinking he looked like a manager at an office supply store.

Perhaps it was it utter remarkability that allowed him to sneak up on his daughters (and Alyssa). One moment they were rolling around on the floor, screaming and tearing at one another. The next, they were completely silent, laying on the deck, looking up at their father. He had stilled the air with a loud whistle, made with his two pinkie fingers thrust between his lips. The two girls were panting and rolled away from each other, suddenly looking sheepish and embarrassed. The two girls had both been wearing denim shorts, June with a red tank top and Lacy with a white t-shirt. Alyssa noticed that the neck of the white shirt had been stretched down so far that she could see Lacy's black bra. The red tank top had been torn straight down the middle and now hung on June like a flimsy vest, the center clasp of her bra also visible. The sisters sat up next to each other on the deck, looking up at their father.

"What the...heck is going on out here you two?" Carl asked. His voice was nasally and soft, but it had a warmth to it as well. Alyssa was struck by the fact that this man was so much less...muscular and sturdy than her own father. But somehow, in a handful of words, he'd managed to project a warm masculinity that her brittle father could never touch. It was less a thought she had, than a feeling that ran through her. She learned forward slightly now, curious about what would happen next.

"Dad..."both girls said at the same time. They turned and looked at each other coldly and then, just as suddenly as it had started, the argument was on again. They were no longer physically fighting, but they were yelling over one another at the tops of their voices. It was so jumbled that Alyssa couldn't make out a word of what they were saying. Apparently, Carl couldn't either. Once again, he whistled loudly and the girls instantly became quiet, looking up at their father.

"I am tired of this girls, I really am. You're both adults now. I can't break up a fight every other day. It is ridiculous. I know you girls can get along, because you do it every other day. You can't keep doing this hot and cold thing with one another all the time. It is crazy. And it is embarrassing. The entire neighborhood can hear you fighting. They probably think you're both sick, fighting about...nothing all the time..."

"It isn't nothing Daddy," June said (Alyssa thought it was strange, she hadn't called her father daddy in over a decade). Carl lifted his hand and shook his head, looking at his two daughter seriously. June instantly became quiet. Alyssa was impressed by how quickly Carl had taken command of the situation.

"I don't want to hear it right now. I asked what you were fighting about and you two couldn't stop screaming long enough to tell me. I don't want to hear it..."

"But Daddy!" Lacy said.

"No!" Carl said firmly, "Whatever it was, I am sure it wasn't important. Before I hear anything more, I want you two to kiss and make up." The two sisters looked at each other acidly for a few minutes and then turned back to Carl. June shrugged her shoulders, "I mean it," Carl added, "kiss and make up or we aren't talking anymore."