The Dinner Party

Writer's Note: I wrote this story long ago. I believed I had republished the edited version. As many have helpfully pointed out, I did not upload that version. So, I recently had to redo the edits and updates on this story. This is the edited and gently reworked version.

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Hey Emma!

I'm so glad I was finally able to contact you after all of these years. I can't believe you're not on social media or anything. I was starting to think I might never get to talk to my old BFF ever again. We have SO much to catch up on!

My boyfriend, Brad, and I are having a special dinner party at my house this Saturday starting at 8. It should be just couples, so you have to bring a date. I hear that won't be a problem for you since you're married and have kids now! WHAT?! Obviously, no kids, just adults - It wouldn't be appropriate to have them running around, would it? Lol.

Gah! I'm so excited that we get to see each other again. It will be just like the good ole days ;) Please let me know that you can come. I hope to see you! (My address is attached below and so is the invitation response button).

XOXOXO

Allison

Emma was staggered by the e-vite she had read on her phone. It had been 20 years since she had last seen or heard from her best friend from back in college. Now, out of nowhere, they had the ability to reconnect over dinner.

Emma had first met Allison in freshman year. She had walked into her new dorm room and was immediately impressed by Allison's fiery red hair. The two roommates hit it off right away, and they ended up living together for their final three years. The inseparable pair (at least they were back then) were infamous, really. Their minds and words were their greatest assets, though they had other prominent features in stiff competition.

Standing in her kitchen, in a loose-fitting gray cardigan and dress pants, Emma shook her head, almost trying to shake out the incoming flood of memories which reminded her of who she once was. A lot had changed in her life since then.

Emma had made a conscious life-decision to change after college. The 42-year-old woman, who now wore her dark-colored hair in a bun, met her husband, Tom, at her college graduation. He was in attendance to watch his younger cousin walk across the stage. He ended up watching Emma as well.

Emma's parents encouraged her to take the young and successful pharmaceutical salesman seriously. Unfortunately, before their first date, Tom's cousin told him of all of the sultry rumors regarding Emma, her friend, and countless men. Sensing unease, Emma dismissed the rumors as a result of her going to a large school with bored students. Tom bought it, but that close call taught Emma a lesson. If she was ever going to live the stereotypical American dream, she needed to change her ways.

Thank god.

The phone rang, interrupting her uncomfortable reminiscing. It was a welcomed distraction until Emma read the caller ID.

Tiffany

.

There were many ways to describe Emma and Tiffany's relationship. But the most commonly used term thrown around by each of them was "passive-aggressive."

Tiffany Lee had gone to school with Emma and Allison, but they ran in different circles. The great student and, as Allison liked to call her, "Little Miss Perfect," was forever judgmental of Emma and Allison's lifestyle choices. Tiffany frequently called the roommates sluts behind their backs. But due to sharing many classes and working on projects together, the three of them had to be "friends."

Helping to stoke Tiffany's air of superiority was that she was a considerably better student that Emma and Allison. She also had boobs that were just big enough to overcome her personality and earn her a well-to-do doctor for a boyfriend.

"Hey, Tiffany, how are you?" Emma started the conversation with her longtime acquaintance, who now lived just down the street (in a larger home, of course).

"I'm good, Emma. It was such a pleasure having you and Tom over for dinner last week. It was so good to hear Kyle was able to get into that state school. I'm sure you were as nervous as we were when Patrick was applying early decision to Harvard." Some things from college were still the same.

Since Emma and Tiffany both had sons the same age, they naturally lived out their not-so-friendly feud through their boys. When Kyle would get second in a hockey tournament, Patrick would win a mathlete competition. When Kyle would get a B in chemistry, Patrick got an A in AP Chemistry. When Kyle was focused on girls, Patrick was focused on mastering piano. Tiffany liked to say that she and her husband "had a better one."

This phone call from Tiffany surely was not just to chitchat.

"So anyway," Tiffany continued in her elitist tone, "I just happened to get invited to yet another party at Allison Donovan's. Do you remember her from college?" She knew Emma remembered her.

The conservative housewife retorted, "I do remember her, we were best friends. And it just so happens that I was invited as well."

"Oh, really?? Will you and Tom be going?"

It clearly wasn't the answer that Tiffany was expecting. And Emma was excited to point out that she was on the same plane. She was curious, though, as to what Tiffany meant by "yet another party." Regardless, she smiled, "Of course we're going."

"Huh. I'm surprised she invited you, especially after all these years," Tiffany pondered. "Allison's boyfriend actually works with Choi, and Allison had never mentioned wanting to invite you before."

Emma defended, "Allison and I were best friends. Why wouldn't I go to her party when invited?"

"Well, I know that...It's just that...never mind. I just didn't know you two were still friends. Maybe these last few years I have misjudged you." Emma was confused by Tiffany's response, but she believed that Tiffany was finally starting to see her as an equal peer.

*****

"I can't go to that."

"What?" Emma was crushed. Later in the night, Tom informed her that he'd be away all weekend on a sales trip. She begged him to call in sick or take a vacation day.

"Why is this so important to you? You can meet up with her another time. You just said she only lives an hour away."

Tom neither understood nor cared about his wife's additional desires to keep up with Tiffany and to prove to her that she was fit to breathe the same air as her. If Emma failed to show up, she would never hear the end of it from her neighbor.

"Never mind, then. It's okay. If you can't go, then you can't go."

Dealing with the reality that she would have to go alone, the disappointed wife became even more disappointed when she reread the invitation. Allison explicitly said that she wanted it to be a couples' dinner, so she had to bring a date.

Maybe I can take one of Tom's friends

, Emma joked. She then seriously considered it before realizing it would make her husband too uncomfortable.

Emma checked the email on her phone again. She knew how she could go to the party. The only issue was that she was concerned about her ability to drag her potential date to the event. Talking to him recently, it was like pulling teeth.

*****

"Kyle, sweetie. Can you come down here?" Emma called for her son. It was early on Saturday afternoon after her husband left for his trip.

It had been three months since the incident - three months since Emma had walked into her son's room one day when he was at school. But when she opened his door to grab his dirty laundry, the surprised mom found out that he was not at school. He was standing in the middle of his bedroom with a horrified look on his face.

Just feet below his terrified eyes there was the back of a female classmate's head. It was moving to and fro as the accompanying brunette hair was held in place with Kyle's hands.

Emma was frozen in place as she made eye contact with her son. The poor girl was oblivious as to what was going on above her head. It was never a secret to Emma that her son was sexually active. With his short, neatly trimmed dirty blonde hair and his athletic build, he caught the eyes of many girls in his high school. But to see it right in front of her was sobering for Emma.

To make matters worse, the young woman down on her knees, pulled her mouth away to ask, "You like when I suck that big cock of yours, don't you?"

An already petrified Kyle became even more overwhelmed. Emma didn't know what to do. She didn't want to embarrass the young woman (God knows she herself was in that situation many times), and she was speechless - unable to say anything to her son. So, the stunned mom simply walked away without making a sound.

The mom and son never talked about what happened, which in retrospect was a mistake. The relationship was awkward, and Emma felt like she may have scarred her son permanently when it came to sexual relations.

Even more awkwardly, Emma could not get the scene out of her mind, and she could not figure out why. On most nights, Emma had to envision herself standing in the doorway and watching that girl's head pleasuring her son.

Now, today, she had to move beyond the small talk that they had been sticking to for the last three months. Emma hoped that it would not be too awkward. The invitation said it was a party for adults, and Kyle was technically an adult. But his best quality as a date was that he was literally the only adult she could think to take that would not make her husband uncomfortable.

I hope Allison doesn't mind the loophole.

Kyle, with a guarded nature, trudged down the stairs. "What's going on? I was playing video games with friends."

"You have friends over?" Emma noted how even though he was filling out into adulthood, he was still playing video games in his room like he did when he was growing up.

"No," he chuckled at how his less tech-savvy mom. "I'm playing with them online."

"Oh, okay. I was going to say. So...umm... Could you do me a big favor?" The tension between them was on full display.

"What is it?" Ever since the incident, Kyle was wary of his mom's impending questions as if she was still waiting to punish him.

Emma sighed. "Your father is out of town, and I have to go to a dinner party tonight. Can you go with me?"

Kyle's face indicated that he was less than thrilled. "Why do I have to go?"

His mom spared him the details. "Because your father is gone, the invitation requires me to bring a guest, and nobody else can go. And I already told people I was going, so I'm locked in. Please do this for me." She could still see her son's deep-set hazel eyes that he was not convinced. "I'll even buy you the video game of your choice."

Though he was not psyched about spending the evening listening to his mom's friends talk about politics over dinner, he recognized that doing this favor for his mom was a way to ensure that he was in the clear for playing hooky with his classmate. Plus, he wanted the video game. "Ok, I'll go."

"Great! Dress nicely. The party is at 8, so be ready to leave at 7."

*****

Stressed out about the fact that she would be the only person there without her actual partner as well as the evening in general, Emma tapped her foot as she waited for Kyle to meet her downstairs so they could leave.

Emma felt pressure to dress remarkably conservatively. She wanted to show Allison that she had changed since they last saw each other. And she wanted to erase Tiffany's mental image of what she and Allison used to be like when they were together.

Wearing her dark hair in a bun, along with a wool skirt that went to her shins, black heels, and her loose red sweater which was accented by the white collar of her blouse, Emma was nearly out-of-period conservative. The only makeup she wore was mascara and blush.

As Kyle came downstairs, he showed his mom a questioning look. He was used to seeing his mom dress on the less-revealing side, but today she went an extra step. However, the look he gave her was nothing compared to the look she gave him.

"You're wearing that?!"

Kyle looked down at his sky blue polo, dark blue jeans, and brown casual dress shoes. "Yeah, why?" He knew there was a disparity with how they dressed.

A frustrated Emma glanced at her phone screen. It's frickin' 7:05.

There's no time for him to change.

"God damn it, Kyle," she groaned. "Well, it's going to be your embarrassment when you're there underdressed."

*****

They arrived at the party a tad late.

Allison and Brad lived on a quiet, wooded street. Their house was sided with wood and evoked a woodsy feel. A handwritten note on the door instructed guests to walk right in.

A bit nervous to see her friend again, and not sure how her old friend would take her showing up with Kyle, Emma opened the door. The first notable sensation was the house's rustic smell. There was almost a hippie-ish vibe. The burning incense gave it an earthy flavor that matched the outside aesthetic.

Nobody was there to greet them at the door, but Emma heard talking in the back. She walked towards the voices - Kyle following her without much enthusiasm. They soon found themselves at one threshold to the kitchen, which was full of party guests talking.

Ah, shit.

Emma instantly felt out of place.

Kyle whispered a smart-aleck comment, "You said

I'm

the one who would be embarrassed?"

Examining the room, all of the dozen or so guests were dressed less formally. As people noticed the mom and son, they shot them an odd look, and then hesitantly came up and introduced themselves.

There were Evan and Sarah, who were a married couple in their forties. They were dressed nicely but casually. Gary and his wife Melinda, who were in their late thirties, had a punk vibe to them. Melinda had on a tight black v-neck and jeans. John and Caroline were older but still in good shape for their age. Austin and Jessica were both dressed more formally but in a more modern, form-fitted way. Austin was in a nice collared shirt, and Jessica was a brunette in a shapely red cocktail dress and red lipstick. There was also RJ and Denise, a couple in their early thirties. RJ had a polo stretching around his round stomach. And his wife Denise donned a tight white dress that one would normally wear to a club, which accented her dark skin nicely.

It was a wide selection of people of different backgrounds, and Emma wondered how they all knew Allison. For some reason, likely because of Tiffany being invited as well, Emma had assumed that the party would be mostly former classmates. Emma didn't know if the strangers were giving her odd looks for her attire or because she was there with her son.

It's probably both.

Emma noticed Kyle's mood was improving. But then she saw why, as he was clearly staring at Denise's apple bottom butt in her tight white cashmere dress as she walked away. The understanding mother avoided her instinct to nudge her son back to reality, figuring she had already made things awkward enough between them by catching him in a sexualized activity. Then suddenly, Denise turned her head around and caught Kyle staring at her. Emma fretted that her decision to ignore her son's gazing had backfired. But Denise played it cool, just smiling back at him before turning away.

As if there was not enough stress already, like clockwork, Tiffany rounded the corner at the other kitchen entrance. Tiffany, blinking and giving her neighbor the strangest look she had gotten yet, approached Emma. Though, it was expected that Tiffany would have the most judgmental reaction to Emma's decision. "I see you brought Kyle tonight."

In an attempt to explain away her adversary's facial expression, Emma oversold, "Well, Tom had an important business meeting. Sometimes the company just can't function without him. So my son is my date for the evening."

What ticked off Emma even more than Tiffany's judgmental eyes was that Kyle was now checking out Tiffany, too. Emma, though, couldn't blame her son too much. Ironically, Tiffany, who had criticized Emma and Allison for dressing like sluts in college, was in a tight, black leather dress that showed off a lot of leg. It was a lot different from her wardrobe at her dinner parties when she and Tom came over. Then again, Allison was always less formal.

Tiffany shot another look at Emma, and shrugged, "And you continue to surprise me... Well, you always had interesting standards when it came to guys you took on dates. I guess if he has nothing better to do on a Saturday night, and you think he can behave himself in front of the adults, I guess it's harmless to bring him - just interesting."

Kyle was too distracted to realize the insult to his character. Emma, though, was pissed off at the comments. She knew it was a faux pas to bring a highschooler to a dinner party, but Tiffany was going too far by suggesting her son was incapable of behaving himself in social situations.

Finally, like an oasis in the desert, Emma spotted Allison. The two long-lost friends were giddy to see each other and practically ran into each other's arms. As they hugged, they asked each other a thousand questions, as Kyle stood there bored out of his mind.

When she was ready to introduce Allison and Kyle, Emma, once again, caught her son peeking at another female. This time she noticed Kyle locking eyes with Allison's breasts, which were jiggling in an apricot dress. It was a bit more cleavage than one would expect for a get-together, but this was Allison.

Checking with her hand to make sure her bun was still holding together, Emma asked Allison politely, "Wow, there are a lot of new people here. I was under the impression that this was going to be a college reunion type thing. But I guess I'll get to meet some new people tonight."

Allison laughed, "Haha. Well, I don't think I know enough people from college like that to invite them to our parties."

"Yeah, I don't know many people from college anymore either. I mean, we aren't as close of friends as we used to be, but I'm so glad we can catch up now. I had no clue you were living only an hour away."

"Well, I had no clue until a few days ago. I can't believe we fell out of touch! It's mainly my fault for moving to Seattle for a while. Tiffany and her husband I reconnected with through Brad. And Tiffany actually

wanted

to come to our last few parties when Brad asked Choi. People do change." Allison displayed a shocked face. Emma, though, almost laughed because it seemed that Allison had not changed. "And I actually got your email address from a friend of mine working in alumni relations. I have been scouring the Internet trying to find you! I've been asking Tiffany at all my parties if she knew how to reach you, but she said she had no clue how. I even checked my usual sites hoping you'd pop up there, ha-ha."

Emma bit her lip at the bitchy lie Tiffany had told Allison, but she chose not to open a can of worms. "Yeah, I really need to be on networking sites more often. My kids always tell me how lame I am for not being on them."

After a puzzled expression, Allison laughed off Emma's response. She turned her attention to the young man standing beside her friend. "So, who is this young stud you have with you?"

Grinning proudly at how at least Allison believed Kyle was a fitting replacement for Tom, the married woman answered, "This handsome young man is my son, Kyle. I hope it's okay that I brought him. My husband had to work, so I had him step in."

Allison's eyes went wide.

Emma swiftly justified, "It's okay I brought him, right? You said no kids, but he's 18, so technically he is an adult, ha-ha."

A wicked smile swept across Allison's face. "It is definitely okay that you brought your son. I was expecting a husband or boyfriend, so it's just very unexpected. It's just nice to see that a son is comfortable going to a party with his mom."