Three Days at the Lake House Pt. 01

"And then Stephen called me and said something about that lawyer he's working for has got him doing research on this fuc— uh, I mean this case...and so he's not gonna...be here 'til maybe tomorrow...and why exactly are you here?...Stephen said you guys never come up here during the week...only the weekends...so I'm just wondering..."

While he was still in the middle of nervously working to explain their presence to her, Victoria had stepped right up to the buzzed anxious young man, and placed her hand over his mouth.

"Okay guys, why don't we take this inside? Devin, I've got a suitcase in my trunk. Would you be kind enough to bring it in for me, sweetie?"

"Sure, Mrs. Beaumont."

*****

Sitting around the kitchen table, Victoria asked the boys again what had brought them to the lake house.

"I guess, at first, it was because of Stephen's girlfriend breaking up with him, but then it turned into we just wanted to take a few days to chill. And like Stephen told us, we didn't think either you or Mr. Beaumont would be showing up. We're sorry if we're not supposed to be here. Do you want us to leave?"

She had seriously thought about it when first arriving. The whole reason for the drive up was to try and get away from it all for just a few days. And if she felt like it, to get as drunk as she could without anyone bothering her about it. And, of course, the other thing she needed to do was plan. But the pitiful look on the boys' faces when they asked if she wanted them to head out, only pulled on her heartstrings.

"Let me ask this, guys...are you wanting to leave, now that I'm here?"

Posing the question, she looked to each of them when she asked it. But noticing Vince's devoted expression, gave her more than an inkling of a suspicion that he very much wanted her there.

"Aw hell, Mrs. Beaumont, if it's okay with you, I'd rather stay."

"Okay, Vince. Now, Devin, how about you?"

As she looked into his glassy eyes, as he sat across the table from her, Victoria had no doubt that it probably hadn't been more than a half hour before, that Devin and Vince had been smoking reefer. But she wasn't sure if she should say anything about it to them.

"Well, it did take me a few hours to get here. And since it's starting to get dark, I don't think it'd be a good idea to leave this late. So I guess I should..."

"Fine, so you'll both be staying. And you say Stephen's going to come up in a day or so?"

They both nodded to her question. That's when she could see their eyes fixed on her breasts again, and also to her darker, more appealing-looking hair that she had dyed earlier that day.

"Boys, y'know it isn't polite to stare."

That's when Devin spoke up for the both of them. "We're sorry. I guess there's something about you that just seems different, Mrs. Beaumont. And I'm just glad you didn't hear what we were talking about before you showed up."

That's when she noticed an unhappy glare coming from his friend, not wanting him to bring up the subject about the Hollywood actress.

Suddenly remembering another important item she'd brought up with her, she decided to ask either of the boys to get it for her.

"Hey guys, there's one more thing I need brought in. It's behind the driver's seat, covered with a blanket. And oh, if you would, bring the blanket in with you, too.

After about a minute, she saw Vince lugging in the gallon jug of whiskey, cradling it carefully in his arm. And with a broad beaming smile on his face he asked her...

"Is this what you're talking about, Mrs. Beaumont?"

"It sure the hell is!! And even though I think you guys have already started partying without me, I'd still like to offer you to have a little drink with me. But, before we do that, I guess I need to check. You both are twenty-one now, right?"

Vince answered for both of them.

"Yep, I turned twenty-one three months ago. And Devin's birthday was in May, two months back."

"Oh yeah, I remember Stephen telling me the three of you were going out to celebrate that. I hope you guys didn't go anyplace too naughty."

Noting their guilty smiles and the sheepish look they both gave her, she reached into the cabinet and pulled out what they'd need to drink the spirits, while Vince set the whiskey onto the kitchen table. And then Victoria directed him to break the seal open to the gallon-size container of booze.

"Alright sweetie, be ginger with it, but if you would, pour us each some in these shot glasses."

As the three of them took the next few moments after the first one, to down two more shots each, Victoria felt the burning in her belly, as the effects of the alcohol began loosening her up. Asking him to pour each of them another ounce and a half of the firewater, she could feel it influencing her to let go of her self-control, having a devil-may-care attitude to the words that might come out of her mouth.

"Wow, holy hell, guys, this shit's got a bang to it!! Or am I the only one feeling it?"

"Oh fuck yeah, Mrs. Beaumont, it's definitely kicking my ass, too!!"

Immediately regretting the strong profanity he'd accidentally let loose in front of his friend's mother, Vince's eyes mortifyingly darted in her direction and braced himself to be sharply rebuked for his verbal faux pas.

"Michael Vincent Holland, I should wash your mouth out with soap!! Or would you rather I turn you over my knee and spank your ass?"

"Oh wow, Mrs. Beaumont, I didn't mean to...ooh, I'm sorry..."

With her feeling the full effects of the whiskey, Victoria let loose with her own naughty words.

"Ha-ha relax, Vince, don't shit your pants over it!! Are we having a fucking party right now...or aren't we??"

When she'd mockingly answered him, Victoria daringly stood only a few inches away from underneath Vince's eyesight. And with her standing there so close to him, she saw his eyes just about bug out, intently staring at her breasts again.

And that's about when the fourth shot of whiskey that she'd drunk kicked in high gear.

"Or maybe you'd rather I strip you naked first, before spanking your ass, huh, Vince?"

All that the startled young man could do when she'd hit him with her provocative proposal was to drunkenly stare blankly at her. And seeing how flummoxed he was, in her half-drunken state, Victoria wondered how her next inquiry would affect him at the same time, while enticingly shaking her breasts in his face.

"Hmmm, I've got an idea, Vincent. Maybe I should have you give me a smooch to make amends for using the naughty word you did? Does that sound like a proper penance for your misbehavior?"

She saw by the look on his face that her naughty dare was bringing out an anxiousness that she didn't think she'd ever seen before.

"Uhhh, Mrs. Beaumont...what would Mr. Beaumont say about that? After all, you are his wife."

"Mr. Beaumont isn't here right now, is he? And as far as me being anything to him...maybe while we're up here together, it can be like I'm your wife."

"Oh shit, I don't know what to say. Are you...are you sure? Would you do something like that?"

"Evidently, you don't think I look as much like Hedy Lamarr as you said I did, Vincent!!"

As she saw his face take on what could've been considered a pained and sickly expression, Vince was struggling to respond to what she'd just told him.

"You know about that? You heard, you heard what I said? But you were outside when...oh fuck, Mrs. Beaumont...I think I'm gonna heave!!!"

Right about then, Vince grabbed his stomach while his face took on the pallor of a semi-green skin tone, as he ran as fast as he could towards the bathroom.

"What's the matter with Vince, Mrs. Beaumont?"

"Looks to me like he can't handle his liquor, Devin. Either that, or the two of you smoked too much weed before I got here. Which one do you think it is, honey?"

"Whaaat, we weren't..."

"Cut the shit, Devin. I was smoking pot long before any of your dad's jizz ever latched onto an egg in your mom's ovaries. So don't think I don't know what's going on. I know how people act when they're high and they've got a buzz. And you, young man, definitely had a buzz going on when I got here!!

As Vince could be heard distressfully vomiting behind the closed bathroom door, they called to him, letting him know they were there to help if he needed it.

"Just give me a few minutes, please. Oh my God, I think I'm gonna puke up my socks next!! Ohhh shiiiit!!"

**********

Highly embarrassed, but recovered enough to bring himself out of the bathroom, Vince sauntered back over to the kitchen table where he took a seat along with Devin and the lady of the house. Sitting to his right, Victoria extended her hand over, placing it softly on his cheek and told him...

"Hey sweetie, looks like somebody's needing to go easy on the corn syrup, okay?"

"Yeah, I don't have a lot of experience drinking the hard stuff. I'm sorry that it kicked my ass like that."

"No worries there. Would you like me to fix something bland for you to eat, honey? I think we've got some eggs and bread in the fridge. So they should still be edible. I might even call some of my neighbors and see if I can locate any bananas. What do you say?"

"Oh yeah, that'd be great, Mrs. Beaumont!"

After she had fixed his food for him, and she could tell he wasn't any worse for the wear, Victoria decided to address what she hoped wouldn't be a touchy subject of the guys bringing marijuana with them to the lake house.

"So I hope you don't mind me bringing this up, but how long have the two of you been smoking pot?"

Vince was the first to answer.

"Huh, what are you talking about, Mrs. Beaumont? Why would you think we were doing that?"

"Too late Vince, she's already busted me while you were in the john inspecting the toilet bowl for cracks. I guess you couldn't hear us because you were doing all that singing while you were in there."

"Guys, I'm not trying to bust anybody. What I am trying to do is let you know how much I care about you. I don't think I've been a second mom to either of you for nothing. Believe it or not, there was a time when I could get as fucked up as the next person smoking dope. But then I'd do something totally stupid and get in my car and drive somewhere, risking my life, as well as somebody else's."

"Shit, Mrs. Beaumont. You mean to tell me that you used to smoke weed, too?"

"Big ole fat frickin' doobies, Vince!! If somebody rolled it, I was always more than happy to help them get rid of the evidence. It's been a few years since I've done it, and I'm not saying it's wrong, but only under the right conditions. I don't want to sound like I'm being a meddlesome mom, but if I do, it's only because I've learned a few things since then."

"Just so you know, I didn't smoke anything before my drive up here. And I don't think Devin did, either. So we get it about not driving while being high."

Because the subject of pot had been brought up, Victoria decided to ask a question that she'd been curious about for a while.

"So how much is that stuff costing these days? I mean, in my day, it was about thirty dollars a bag, or I guess you could say an ounce. But I don't have any idea what they're charging now."

"I bought mine a few days ago, Mrs. Beaumont, and it cost me a total of a hundred and eighty dollars. And that wasn't the choicest weed they had, but it was no way the worst, either."

"You gotta be kidding me, Vince!! That much?"

"Yeah, but that was two-ounces' worth. Because I wanted to make sure there'd be enough while we were up here."

"Uh-huh, wow, with the price of that stuff, if somebody did it every day they'd go broke in no time. I hope that's not what you guys are doing...smoking it every day?"

"Ah hell no, Mrs. Beaumont. I want to have some brain cells left for when I'm older."

"Devin, I hope you don't think me nosy, but what Vince is telling me, is that about how much it cost you, too?"

"Umm, yeah. That's about the going rate right now...seventy bucks an ounce. But I didn't get near as much as Vince did."

"And Vince, you say you brought enough to last while you'd be up here?"

"Yep, I don't think there'll be a problem running out."

"And you promise that neither of you will drive after you've lit one up, at least for a couple of hours afterward, right?"

"Yeah, that's not something Devin or I do anyway. It takes a real special kind of idiot to get yourself messed up on weed and then get behind the wheel, a real stupid dumbass!!"

"Okay then, I'm going to tell you guys something, and this better stay right here, since I don't want this to be repeated. Because if it does, I'm gonna say you're both goddamn liars!! But while you're here, if you want to spark up a doobie, I'm not going to pitch a fit about it. But, I'm going to ask that you don't do it in front of anybody else. And I think you know that means; not in front of any of the kids that every now and then walk up and down the road out front of here. Okay?"

*****

Around nine o'clock that night, Victoria had begun feeling restless. There were things not only at the back of her mind that had been unsettling to her, as in her husband's adultery with his secretary, but also other things, too.

And one of those things feeding her restiveness was when she'd been at the gas station earlier that day, and the few moments she'd spent with Louis the attendant. Could it have been that easy, she wondered, for her to have taken him up on his offer for a 'date' that night? But as far as that interaction was concerned, that wasn't the only thing that was troublesome to her.

Even before puberty, she had battled with the helpless feeling of inferiority. Being the middle child of her parents' three daughters, she'd often felt neglected and left to her own while growing up. Not angry at her mother for doting on her baby sister Vicky, or the attention that the oldest child, her sister, Tess, got from her parents, she had often wondered where she could properly fit in, in her family, and life, in general.

While Victoria was well aware that she wasn't the worst-looking woman out there, she still often struggled with the inner need to be appealing to the opposite sex. But with what had happened at the gas station, with all the men staring at her, and also there at the lake house with Vince and Devin, with their eyes glued to her body— she was trying to make sense of it all.

She knew down through the years, being married to Max, she'd tried to be a good companion to him. But with him running around the last month or so with his sexy, younger, and maybe-even-better-looking secretary, she felt perplexed and just about incapable of being a good wife for him anymore.

The fact she had tried to hide, even from herself, was that she loved getting attention, and especially from men. Maybe she thought it was due to her not getting it when she was younger while she lived at home, with her parents and two sisters. But there wasn't any doubt in her mind, she longed, and even craved, to be doted on and indulged by the opposite sex.

And that's probably why, when her son's friends offered earlier that day to leave, that when push came to shove, she couldn't have allowed that to happen. The fact was, she wanted them to stay. She needed them to be there, so she could bask in the attention that she was hoping that she'd receive from them.

She...could it be even possible...wanted them to succumb to the natural urges men have when they're infatuated with a member of the opposite sex.

Even with what she'd overheard when she arrived earlier, it wasn't enough to appease her curiosity if Devin, or particularly Vince, wanted her like she was hoping they did.

'Oh Jesus, can I really be that fucked up?' she thought to herself.

It was a battle she'd been waging for many years. And there'd been that situation when she'd visited her son and his wife not that far in the past that she still was trying to come to terms with.

But also with the sad, recent events of her husband straying with his secretary, it was helping things come to a head as far as her struggle was concerned.

Trying to figure out the best way to escape the temptation of falling prey to her inferiority fears, Victoria wondered if it wouldn't be more fun to give in to something else? Something she had loved doing in her past as a party girl, when she'd first met Max; drinking, smoking weed, and having an inordinate amount of attention from an assortment of men being paid to her.

But when she became a wife, and then a mother, those fun things from her past Victoria reluctantly said goodbye to, trying to be the best for her family, rather than being with her good-time-party friends and doing what she took pleasure in.

And with recent events being what they were, even how she'd stripped for her son Stephen only a few weeks in the past, the temptation to temporarily relive her old life became too great to fight off any longer. Considering the two young men spending at least one night with her, there at the lake house, she wondered what harm could it be to just let it all go for a while and reacquaint herself with Puff the Magic Dragon for, at least, the next few hours?

End of part one