Staying with Aunt Cath

"But I don't want to stay with her; I want to live on campus."

The argument had been raging for half an hour but had got nowhere; both sides entrenched in their positions. On the one side, Jenny Archer, 18 years old and starting soon at the University of Sussex in Brighton. On the other side, Cheryl Archer, Jenny's 40 year old mother.

Jenny was 5' 9" tall, athletic and toned. Her shoulder-length blonde hair and pretty face had made her very popular at school; plenty of friends and plenty of suitors wanting to get into her knickers. She'd had a couple of serious boyfriends and had lost her virginity at 17, at a party, to one of them; Andy King. However they had split up as her A Levels had got closer; she was studious and desperate to go to uni; he was the exact opposite; it was inevitable that it would fizzle out.

Cheryl was 5' 10" tall; still lithe and fit, still beautiful, still young at heart. Her and her husband Steve had worked hard to get the nice house on a nice estate near Reading, where they had brought up their two children; Jenny and her younger brother, Michael. Neither Cheryl nor Steve had been to university, a situation which had not only applied to their three siblings but had also applied to all four of their parents.

Now, here was Jenny, the first of the family to attain a place at university; a good one at that; their first choice. Her chosen course was Computing Sciences and she had been offered a guaranteed place provided she achieved the required grades, which she did. The next thing to fix was accommodation.

Hence, the argument.

"We can't afford it, for God's sake. We spent so much on your extra tuition and your sport and everything else. You know I had to take that second job at the hotel for the extra cash but there just isn't enough to pay for halls of residence."

"But my friends are all doing it so I'll have to be left out, missing everything!" Jenny exclaimed.

"All? You mean Clare and Rachel?" Cheryl said, "Look, you'll still see plenty of them, for goodness sake; you'll only be 20 minutes drive away."

"I might as well be in bloody Reading," yelled Jenny, storming out of the kitchen just as her father walked through the front door. She rushed past him, stomping up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Hi Dad, good day?" Steve said, sarcastically, putting down his briefcase. He walked into the kitchen to find his wife sitting at the table, her head in her hands. He kissed her on the top of her head.

"Living quarters?" he asked, knowing the answer before Cheryl spoke.

"She won't listen, Steve." Cheryl answered, looking up at him.

"I know, I know," he replied gently. She stood up and put her arms around him, nuzzling into his neck.

"I'm sorry; not much of an atmosphere to walk into," Cheryl said.

"Don't be silly," he said, pulling her closer, "it's a kids party compared to the office today."

"Oh, bad day?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Not for me," he replied, "but Terry might be looking for another job by tomorrow."

"Oh, God; what's he done now?" she asked.

"He left a folder of papers on the train last month. They found their way to the Telegraph and the story breaks tomorrow." he said, wearily. She stood back, a shocked look on her face.

"Jesus," she exclaimed, "what the hell was in the papers?"

"I don't know and Terry won't tell me but my guess is government stuff. Nothing else that he handles would interest the media."

"Wow, what an idiot." she said. Steve laughed;

"That would be the mildest thing he's been called all day," he said; "The MD called him a cunt."

Cheryl sat back down again.

"Does Sally know?" she asked. Steve shrugged;

"If she doesn't, she will. They have the Telegraph delivered, for Christ's sake. If he isn't telling her right now, it won't just be a new job he's looking for."

They discussed the plight of their friends as Cheryl finished getting dinner. Suddenly, Steve put down the tea-towel he was using.

"I'll go and talk to Jenny," he said. Cheryl looked at him and smiled.

"Thanks, love," she said, "dinner in ten minutes." She moved towards him and kissed him, tenderly.

"Sorry," she said, " I didn't even say hello."

"Oh, hello," he said, laughing. He kissed her and went upstairs.

"Jen, can I come in?" he asked as he knocked on her door.

"Yes, Dad," said a sad voice from inside.

Steve opened the door and walked into Jenny's bedroom, looking round at the order and tidiness; something he knew he wouldn't find in her brother's bedroom next door. He walked over to the bed and kissed Jenny on the head;

"You nearly knocked me for six just now," he said, feigning indignation.

"Sorry," Jenny said, lowering her head.

"It's okay," he said, "I'll live. So; what's going on?"

"It's Mum, she..." Steve held up his hand and interrupted her.

"Hey! This is not on your mother, thank you. It's a joint decision, as well you know. So stop taking it out on her, okay?" He looked at her sternly.

"But it is her!" Jenny roared.

"Enough!" he shouted. Jenny looked shocked. Her Dad hardly ever raised his voice, so she knew to back off.

Steve sat on the edge of the bed and put his hand on Jenny's arm.

"Now," he said quietly, "talk to me."

"Dad, I just want to be with my friends. If I stay with Aunty Cath I'll be miles away from everything. I'll miss all the fun, all the stuff that uni is supposed to be about." She could have bitten her tongue as the last words left her lips. Her Dad raised his eyebrows.

"And there was me thinking it was about studying and learning and getting a degree," he said. Jenny knew she had made a huge mistake.

"Listen," Steve said, "you'll be eight miles away and you've got your car. Aunt Cath is a great cook, so you'll be eating properly, rather than out of Maccy D's and Dominos. You'll have peace and quiet to study but still be close enough to have all the fun you want, within reason. This is not about wanting to ruin your adventure; it's about what we can afford."

Jenny knew she'd lost the argument. She looked up at him and nodded. He stood up and kissed her on the head again.

"Now, come down for dinner and give your Mum a kiss," he said. He went back downstairs to the kitchen, Jenny a few steps behind him. As he walked into the kitchen Cheryl turned and he put up his thumb, careful to shield it from Jenny with his body. Jenny walked past her Dad and kissed her Mum on the cheek.

The next few weeks raced by; late Summer was full of sports finals, parties and family barbecues and, before she knew it, the calendar turned over from August to September and uni was just over two weeks away. Jenny was driving down to Brighton to stay with her Aunty Cath for three days to familiarise herself with the town and Cath's house.

Cath was Cheryl's big sister; 45, glamorous and fun, she had been divorced for ten years and lived on her own, just off 'the front' in Brighton. Jenny remembered going there with her parents a few times when she was growing up but they didn't see as much of Cath as they saw of Penny, Cheryl's younger sister. Jenny had often wondered why that was.

Cath had told Jenny to park in her Resident space in front of the house and, as Jenny was reversing in, her Aunt came out to greet her. She had on a button top T-shirt, short denim cut-offs and block-heeled sandals. Her hair was up in a scrunchie with wisps falling across her face. She was tall, like her sisters, and had toned, tanned skin and great legs. Jenny jumped out her car and hugged her Aunt. Cath leaned back, saying;

"Let me look at you, Jen. God, you look great."

"So do you, Aunty," Jenny replied.

"Right; you can stop that straight away, young lady," Cath said, "you're too old to call anyone Aunty and it makes me feel ancient. It's Cath, okay." Jenny smiled and nodded. Cath hugged her closer and kissed her cheek.

"Now, let's get you inside. How was your journey? How's Mum?"

The two of them went into the small house where Jenny could smell something cooking. The house felt warm and cosy and welcoming; Jenny thought it had a good feel about it. She followed Cath upstairs with her bag;

"Bathroom, my room and this is you," Cath said, pushing open the door. The room was smaller than her bedroom at home, Jenny thought; but not by much. There was a single bed, a wardrobe and a desk with a computer on it. Above the bed was a large window which looked out onto the small garden. The room was light and airy; Jenny liked it straight away.

"Sorry but no sea-view, I'm afraid," Cath said, "you'll have to come into my room for that." Jenny put down her bag and sat on the bed.

"It's lovely, Cath," she said.

"Yes, it's a nice room. I use it when friends come and for my bit of writing I do." Cath tailed off as Jenny interrupted,

"I didn't know you wrote," she said, "what kind of stuff?"

"Oh, just bits and pieces for the local paper and some doodling for a book I might write one day," Cath replied. She seemed reticent to talk about it so Jenny didn't pursue it.

"Right, Jenny Archer," Cath said, as if about to make an announcement; "I've waited a long time to ask this; red or white wine?" Jenny laughed, egged on by the look of sheer delight on Cath's face.

"Ooh, white please," Jenny replied.

"Correct answer, as I've only got white in the house!" Cath said, triumphantly.

Jenny followed her back downstairs but not before she had poked her head around Cath's bedroom door. A king size bed, large wardrobe, dressing table and, out of the left hand side of the window, the sea washing up the stoney beach. When she got down to the living room there two huge glasses of wine on the low coffee table and Cath was sitting on the sofa, turned towards the large chair, with her feet up.

Jenny picked up her glass and leaned towards Cath.

"Here's to a good weekend," Jenny toasted, "and a lovely house." She raised her glass and they clinked glasses together, looking at each other as they said 'cheers.'

"Yes, it is a lovely house," she said, "I'm very happy here." There was a pause as they sipped their wine;

"Mind you," Cath continued, "I had to screw Paul's lawyer for every penny I could to get it." She laughed; a lovely, dirty laugh. Jenny grinned.

"I was too young so I don't really remember Paul," she said.

"Lucky bugger!" Cath cried, "I wish I could forget him too." She raised her glass and roared laughing. Jenny laughed too; it was so infectious.

"What happened? Mum wouldn't tell me." Jenny asked. Cath gazed into space, her brow furrowed,

"I wonder why?" she said, as if to herself. She shook her head, as if she was shaking herself back into the room.

"Short version? He had another wife and a kid in the next village; married and everything. Turns out it started a couple of years previous when he got her up the duff. She had her own place so they got married with some false papers or something. He told her he worked away a lot and she was happy with that, once she'd got the sprog she wanted, so it worked fine for a bit. Then, as luck would have it, she and I bumped into each other in a coffee shop. It was crowded so I offered my spare seat to her and the kid. We got talking, talked about husbands a bit and then she took her coat off and she was wearing the jumper I'd just bought him for Christmas." Jenny realised she hadn't closed her mouth for several seconds, but she had to now, to speak.

"How did you know it was his?" she asked, incredulous.

"Stupid twat had given his tart a jumper with his initials on; PSB, Paul Stephen Birch. It was part of the gift, to have it personalised. He loved it; least, he said he did. I went home and drank a bottle of wine, trying to work out all the ways I could be wrong, you know, charity shop or she'd ordered one herself and had the same initials."

"How did you know it wasn't?" Jenny asked.

"We'd had a nice chat so, as I left, I asked her name. 'Karen,' she said. So that was that."

"What did you do?" Jenny asked.

"Followed him one night when he went off to play darts, in the league, every Thursday. He pulled up outside a house and let himself in with a key. I waited a few minutes and knocked on the door. Karen opened it and I said, 'Is my husband there?' And that was that.

"Bloody hell, Cath," Jenny said, "I'm really sorry."

"Don't be," Cath replied, "it's the best thing that could have happened. I got my freedom, a house I love, in a place I love, and time to work out who I am. Don't be sorry."

"Was it horrible at the time?" Jenny asked.

"It wasn't great. I was on my own and it was pretty shit. I had nowhere to go until Penny offered me a room for a few weeks. That turned into six months. I think her and Rob were pretty sick of me by the end but..." She shrugged.

"D'you mind if we talk about something else?" she asked.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry, yes, of course." Jenny said, blushing. Cath smiled at her.

"You need to stop apologising so much," Cath said, looking over her glass.

"Yes, sorry," Jenny replied. There was a pause and then they both burst out laughing. Cath got up and took Jenny's glass from her, disappearing into the kitchen. She returned with both glasses filled up. She sat at the end of the sofa and patted the cushion at the other end.

"Come and sit with me," she said. As Jenny got up, Cath swivelled round and drew her knees up under her chin, giving Jenny space to sit at the other end in the same position. Cath indicated for Jenny to stretch her legs out between her and the back of the sofa, while Cath stretched hers out along the edge of the seats. They picked up their glasses and their faces were only four feet apart as they drank.

"That's better, isn't it?" Cath said. Jenny smiled, feeling comfortable and relaxed and safe.

"So, Miss Archer, what about your love life?" Cath teased. Jenny snorted, nearly losing a mouthful of wine.

"Love life?" Jenny replied, "what love life?"

Cath wagged her finger at her niece,

"Now, now; no lying to your Aunty Cath," she said, "I want all the details, sordid or otherwise. In fact, the more sordid the better." Jenny laughed again.

"Well, just a couple of boyfriends really; nothing serious. I went out with Andy for a few months but when my exams got closer he wanted to go out and have fun and I needed to study. So I ended it."

"Good for you," Cath said, "and what was the sex like?" Jenny looked shocked for a moment but the wine had relaxed her family inhibitions enough to loosen her tongue.

"We only did it twice," Jenny replied, "It wasn't anything special."

"That's sad," Cath replied, "was he your first?" Jenny nodded, sipping her wine. Cath grabbed her niece's shin, rubbing her jeans.

"Sorry, love," she said, tenderly, "that's a shame. Your first time should be special but it hardy ever is." They sipped their wine together, alone with their thoughts but so close together.

"Thanks, Cath. That's made me feel heaps better." They both spluttered into their wine and began roaring with laughter. Cath slapped Jenny's leg and said,

"You and me are going to get on great."

The rest of that first evening was a blur of great food, great fun and great wine. By midnight, Jenny was flagging and found her eyes drooping.

"I should go to bed, Cath," she said. Cath grinned, looking at the clock;

"So should I," she said. They cleared away the last glasses and Cath started turning off lights. Jenny climbed the stairs and waited for Cath on the landing. She put out her arms and hugged her Aunt, resting her head on Cath's shoulders.

"Thank you for tonight," she said, "I had a lovely time." Cath kissed her cheek, saying,

"So did I, love. See you in the morning."

Jenny closed the bedroom door behind her and unpacked her bag. She hung up her clothes and began to undress for bed. With her jumper and jeans off she stood in her underwear; a black bra and black knickers. She unhooked the bra and rubbed her breasts to get rid of the stress of the day. She slipped on a baggy T-shirt with Garfield on it and grabbed her toilet-bag, opened the bedroom door and padded to the bathroom.

When she had finished her nighttime regime, she flushed the toilet, turned off the light and unlocked the door before turning right down the landing. As she passed Cath's door she was about to call out 'good night' when something caught her eye. The door was slightly open and there was a flash of red colour as Jenny passed. Curious, she stopped to look. The red flash was a reflection in a mirror and when Jenny looked, she could see her Aunt removing her bra, a red lace bra which was packed tight with her full breasts. The bra was discarded and Jenny was fascinated by Cath's tits. Big, full orbs with prominent nipples, they looked amazing; but what attracted the young woman's attention were the areola. They were huge; a deep, dark brown colour and huge. Suddenly Jenny realised that Cath was looking at her tits in the mirror. Her hands were massaging the orbs, her fingers touching the nipples and then rubbing them to make them even more erect. Cath had her eyes shut and had a sensual look on her face as she played with her tits; a quiet moan of pleasure escaped her lips. Jenny was transfixed by watching her Aunt, transfixed by the woman's beautiful tits.

Cath suddenly opened her eyes and, for a split second Jenny thought she was looking straight at her in the mirror's reflection. Jenny ducked away from the crack in the door and tiptoed back to her room, mortified that she might have been caught spying on her Aunt. Once inside, she got into bed, turned out the light and pulled the duvet up to her ears, closing her eyes tight shut.

Five minutes later Jenny's bedroom door opened and Cath looked in on her niece. All she could see was some blonde hair above the top of the duvet. She smiled to herself and retreated back to her room.

Next morning Jenny woke with that unsettling feeling of not knowing where she was. She lay still, looking up at the ceiling and thinking back to yesterday. Slowly, the events of the day came back to her. She looked around the room and got her bearings. She sat up and was pleasantly surprised to find that she didn't have a headache; Cath's mild nagging about drinking water in between glasses of wine had clearly worked.

She got up and opened the door, listening for signs of life. The first thing which chimed with her was the smell of coffee; Cath was up. Jenny went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth then put her hair up in a ponytail. She went downstairs and found Cath sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and reading her phone.

"Morning," Jenny said, cheerily. Cath looked and smiled.

"Good morning," she said, "how's the head?"

"Fine," Jenny replied, "your nagging paid off." She grinned as she got a cup from the cupboard and poured herself a coffee.

"Nagging?" Cath said, indignantly. "Nagging? I don't nag, young lady; I give considered advice." She grinned back at Jenny who sat opposite at the table.

"It was a lovely night; thank you," Jenny said, sincerely.

"It was; you're good company," Cath said. "Now; I'm off today so I thought we could do the town and I could show you the good cafes and restaurants and you could get a feel for the place. How's that?"

"Sounds good," Jenny replied. "Can I treat you to breakfast somewhere?"

"That would be the perfect start to the day," Cath said. "The best breakfast in town is just around the corner."

"I'll get dressed then," Jenny said, taking her coffee back upstairs with her.

When she came back down, fifteen minutes later, she was greeted by a wolf whistle;

"Look at you," Cath said, "damn, you've got great legs." She walked around Jenny, admiring her outfit.

"Tight crop-top? Check! Block-heeled sandals? Check! Silver drop earrings? Check! And last but by no means least, short skirt to die for? Checkmate!" Cath shouted, triumphantly. Jenny blushed a little;