The Frustrated Teenager and the Embarrassing Parent

Alice goes skinny dipping again

Alice was thrilled as Pieter pressed his body against her.  Then she saw his face in the moonlight glinting off the sea.  He looked kind, excited and very handsome but suddenly she felt terrible dread.  “No, no, no!” she screamed pushing him away and scrabbling to the other sun bed to grab her impossibly short dress, leaving her tights, bra and shoes behind. 

“Alice,” said Pieter, “if you don’t want to that’s fine.”

Alice ignoring what he had said started running naked down the beach calling back to him, “Sorry, there’s someone else.”

Pieter was baffled.  He hadn’t been trying to force her and he made no attempt to run after her.  He felt disappointed, confused and very frustrated.  Alice continued running until she was out of breath afraid that Pieter would catch her at any second and then looked around to see that she was completely alone on the beach with no one in sight.  It was an eerie experience, a moment of calm after the storm and for a few seconds she forgot that she was cold and naked.  She put her dress back on which barely covered her bottom and clung to her wet body.  Without her bra and tights she felt almost as naked as she’d been before.  The streets were deserted but as she slunk back to the hotel she felt as if there were a thousand pairs of eyes watching her and a thousand voices whispering “We know what you’ve been doing you teasing slut.”

When she reached the room she knocked frantically on the door, “Mum, Mum let me in.” she said as loudly as she dared.

“OK, OK,” came Maggie’s sleepy voice, “keep your hair on.”

She was shocked to see Alice come staggering in and flop down on her bed.   The tears that she’d predicted started to flow and Maggie nearly started crying herself to see her daughter in such a state.

“Alice, what happened?”

“Please just leave me alone,” said Alice.

“But are you alright?” her mother asked fearing the worst.

“As much as a shitty little tease can be.  I went all the way with him until the last second and then ran away.  What if I see him tomorrow?  I’m going to die a virgin,” and she buried her head in her pillow weeping uncontrollably.

“No you’re not,” said Maggie stroking her head.  “Come on.  Get yourself in shower and you’ll feel better in the morning.”

Alice still looked shell shocked when they went out for breakfast in the morning.   She insisted that they sat inside the café in case Jan and Pieter came by but it didn’t do any good because just when Alice was feeling that she’d got away with it she looked up from spreading honey on her toast to se Jan and Pieter standing in front of them.  “I think you lost these,” said Pieter giving her a plastic carrier bag.  Inside clean and dry were her, shoes, tights, bra and even her panties that Pieter had miraculously recovered from the dark sea.

Alice cast down her head unable to look him in the eye. “Thanks,” she said.

“Alice,” said Pieter, “can we just have a little talk outside for a moment?”

Alice looked at her mother who just looked back and shrugged.  She looked back at Pieter and then at the door as if planning an escape and then like a naughty school girl called to the principle’s office she reluctantly followed Pieter outside.

“You upset me last night,” said Pieter.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“You know what upset me most?”

“No.”

“It was because you didn’t trust me.  You only had to say no.  You didn’t have to run away as if I’d had a knife at your throat,” he said.