- X -

“Kari, I think you’ve had enough.”

Max. Of course it was Max. Max the compulsive ruiner of fun. He didn’t seem to get that this was my house and I’d been living here for eighteen years compared to his two. If I wanted to have a few drinks with my friends out on the deck before we headed into town then I could do just that. I rolled my eyes, ignored him and poured myself another glass.

“I said that’s enough.” Suddenly he was right up in my face, snatching the glass and bottle from my hands before taking them back inside.

“Jesus Kari, your Dad is kind of a dick,” said Andre.

“He’s not my Dad. He’s not even... I don’t know what he is. Whatever. Let’s get out of here.”

Sometimes I didn’t know what Mom saw in Max. I mean he wasn’t ugly or anything, in fact he was pretty hot considering how old he was. However, he could be so annoying. He always acted like he had an enormous stick up his ass, especially around me and especially when Mom was out of town.

Sometimes, when he was all strict, I got butterflies in my stomach. Good butterflies. I’m not sure what that was all about, maybe it was just because it was something I never had growing up. I never knew my Dad and my Mom was all over the place and never really set any boundaries. I think I turned out OK though. Well mostly OK. A lot of people seem to think I’m a bit of a spoiled brat and I do get into trouble a lot, but Max treats me like I’m a child.

And even if I sometimes got a little thrill out of Max scolding me, I didn’t like it when he did it in front of my friends. When he bossed me around or told me off it was humiliating, and more than a little embarrassing. Especially as most of my friends were getting on with their lives, going to college, starting jobs even starting families. But I was still at home sponging off my mom and yeah, acting like a child I guess. Maybe he had a point. Although I’d never give him the satisfaction of admitting that.

I grabbed my jacket and passed Max in the hall. He caught my eye and tapped his watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Midnight. After a couple of minor indiscretions, one of which had involved local law enforcement, Max had suggested a curfew and my mother had agreed. I didn’t really get a say in the matter and when he rolled out the “living under our roof” line I just kind of gave up. I mean it wasn’t like he could do anything if I broke it.

- X -

It was around two when I tried to sneak into the house. I wasn’t in the best of moods. It was fun making out with Andre and everything was getting pretty interesting when I just kind of flaked out on him. He accused me of being a tease and we yelled at each other for a bit before I got one of my girlfriends to call me a cab.

I could see why he thought I was a tease. Most of my friends were fucking around all the time now, but for some reason I was reluctant. No one seemed to make a big deal out of the fact that I was still a virgin, but then again I didn’t go out of my way to remind them.

I couldn’t really explain why I hadn’t done it yet. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had the opportunity and plenty of boys had tried to get in my pants, but none of them really did it for me. I guess I was waiting for the one that did. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about love and marriage and all that. I just thought my first time should be with someone who really knew what they were doing. And that someone wasn’t Andre.

Of course my reluctance to go all the way often left me pretty damn horny and I was feeling it tonight. I kept a little something in my bedside drawer for this kind of situation and that was all I was really thinking about as I crept across the lounge room in the dark.

And then the light came on and he was just sitting there in an armchair like some kind of super villain. All he needed was one of those hairless cats and he’d be all set.

“Fuck. What the fuck Max? You scared the fuck out of me.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. Just stared at me. He did that a lot. Just watched, like he was waiting for me to screw up. It made me uncomfortable.

“First of all you need to watch that attitude and that mouth young lady. I’m not kidding. You might have got away with a lot in the past but things are changing and you’re going to have to shape up.”

Young lady? Seriously?

“And secondly, it’s now well past your curfew. You understand that there are going to be consequences right?”

Consequences? It was taking a lot of willpower to stop my eyes from rolling right on out of my head.

“And finally I don’t think you should call me Max. It’s a little too familiar and disrespectful.”

“Yeah, whatever you say Max. Thanks for waiting up in the dark for me you uptight douchebag. I’m going to bed.”