Going to her bedroom door, she leaned out and yelled for Emily to come there this instant.

“Shit,” Emily said, throwing the ice into the sink that she had been using to try to get the hickey to go away like the woman told her it would. She grabbed the dishtowel and rushed to her room to try to cover the mark as best as she could. “I can’t right now, I’m busy Mom,” Emily answered back.

“I said now, Emily Lynn! Don’t you dare make me come up there, because I am not in the mood. Now get your ass back here and on the double.”

She knew it wasn’t a very good cover up job but it was the best she could do. She knew she didn’t dare take any more time with the tone of voice her Mom was using on her, and the mood she seemed to be in today.

Walking through the bedroom door, Emily was relieved to see that her Mother had the shades down and the curtains closed so it was pretty dark in there. She thought she just might get away with it after all.

“Sit down young lady and I do mean young,” Abby said matter-of-factly. She didn’t feel like dealing with this right now, but she knew with the way Emily acted it was inevitable that she talk about it.”

Emily plopped down on the corner of the bed waiting for her mother to bitch at her for one thing or the other. She knew there was no way she knew about the hickey, cause she didn’t even tell Alayna, knowing that she would just use it against her.

“I will ask you once and only once and you will not, I repeat, NOT, lie to me. Do you understand me young lady?” And without waiting for Emily to answer her back she went on, “There seems to be something on your neck that doesn’t belong there so you better start speaking.”

Emily ran her hand up to her neck to cover the spot that was still cold from the ice. “It’s really nothing,” she began, but seeing the look on Abby’s face and the anger that crossed her eyes, she decided it was a lost cause to lie about it. She knew that she was busted. “I got it yesterday at the zoo,” she finally said, “but it’s really no big deal Mother. I’m going to be sixteen soon and what’s such a big deal about a little hickey anyway? I met a boy and we made out a bit is all.”

“Well it is a big deal when you get a hickey from some damn boy you just met,” Abby said, growing madder at her daughter’s nonchalant attitude. “Emily, you do not just make-out with a boy when you first meet him. Have I not taught you better than that?” she asked feeling defeated once again, as she often did when Emily confronted her.

“Yes, you’ve taught me better than to just make-out Mom, but I didn’t have a whip or handcuffs with me at the time. I don’t think he would have wanted to pour candle wax all over my private parts and make me beg him for more. And why not make out with them or let them do things to me when I first meet them? You do it all the time. You bring someone home and do them the first day, just like you did Johnnie. So, you’re not one to talk, maybe it just runs in the family or something.” She knew the minute she said it that she wished she could take it back, because it was the wrong thing to say.

“I will tell you this only once,” Abby managed to get out through a tightly clenched mouth, “I am an adult, and what I choose to do, with whom I chose to do it is none of your concern young lady. You are my daughter, not my keeper. Once you are eighteen and out of this house then you can live your life as you see fit, the same as I do.”

“I’m so tired of the ‘when I’m eighteen’ speech that you always give out to us when you don’t want us to do something that you didn’t pick for us to do,” Emily shot back.

“You just don’t know when to shut your mouth do you missy? I can only hope for your sake little lady that you don’t have such a judgmental daughter that you have to try and keep in line all the time like the one I do.” When Emily blew out her exasperated breath and rolled her eyes at her mother as she always did, Abby decided she had had enough.

“Since you’re tired of listening and I’m tired of talking, until further notice you’re on restriction from everything, and I do mean everything. There will be no phone or no going anywhere except to Leslie’s house. You can also take that belly ring out and the extra earrings as well, and they will not go back in until further notice, and the way you’re going it will be indefinitely. Oh, and let’s not forget the big birthday bash you wanted, it is, as of now, officially cancelled, and I will let them know myself. You will stay at Leslie’s while Alayna has her party and friends over.”

“You are mean and hateful and I hate you, I truly do!” Emily screamed. “It isn’t fair to take my sixteenth birthday party away from me. It isn’t like we ever get a decent gift from you anyway. You spend all your tip money on those nasty, kinky sex toys.”