UPHEAVALS (Chapter 86)

Sophia and Warren, in between rejuvenating their relationship, still found time to spend time with their friends. In early August, they ended up in Sophia's room with Jessie, Crash, Kate, and Dave. They were the only people in the house.

"So, Jessie," Warren said, "I hear you're joining us at the University of Wisconsin."

"Yeah, Prep Stud, but the Milwaukee campus. Just about an hour away from Evanston, IL."

"Yeah, it's not quite going to the same school," Crash said, "but it's a hell of a lot closer than Amherst."

"Get your tickets now," Warren quipped, "the National Championships are in Milwaukee this year."

"Really? Cool!" Jessie said.

"So, Dave, being as your going to be a senior, you started thinking yet?"

"Yup. Got a nice little list."

"Northeastern, BU, etc. I'm going to be burning up Route One going to Boston," Kate giggled.

"All Boston schools?" Crash asked him.

"Well……" Dave stammered, "not exactly."

"Where else?" Warren asked.

"Yeah, where else, Dave?" Kate echoed in surprise.

"Um, guys, Kate and I have not talked about this…." Dave said.

"So talk," Kate told him.

"Fine. I'm planning on applying to Maine, Connecticut, and Rochester Tech. Possibly Seton Hall, too."

Kate looked at him. "I thought you weren't going to go any further than Boston?"

"I changed my mind."

Kate couldn't disguise the hurt in her eyes. "David……why?"

Just then, the slam of the front door could be heard. "KATE? WHERE ARE YOU?" Dan was bellowing.

Kate hit the intercom. "I'm down here, with Sophia and Warren."

"Kate," Dan said into the intercom, "I thought I told you that I didn't want that boyfriend of yours in this house when we're not here!"

"Dad, there's six people in this room. What do you think we're doing, having an orgy?"

"I wouldn't put it past you, especially if Sophia is involved."

"And now you know why I'm considering Maine, or Connecticut, or New York, and I might even consider Kazakhstan if they have a fucking university," Dave spat out.

"What?" Kate said. "You're leaving……because of my Dad?"

"I'm considering it," Dave said. "I can't take much more of this."

"How do you think I feel?" Kate cried.

The intercom sounded again. "Kate! I want you to get your ass up here right this minute! And tell that boyfriend of yours to go out the downstairs door."

"Dad," Kate started out reasonably, "We’re just talking. Jessie and Jason are here, too. We're just chatting. We were going to play some cards."

"Kate, I said right now! And I meant it! I don't want you down there, especially with that boyfriend!"

Kate looked at Dave, and then at Sophia, and then at the intercom panel. She hit the intercom. "Dad? Go fuck yourself." Everyone in the room looked at her in complete shock, especially Dave. "Did you hear me, Dad? Let me repeat. Go fuck yourself." She sat down

"Jesus Christ, is that door locked?" Jessie asked with a giggle.

"Yup!" Warren confirmed. It was a good thing, as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and then pounding on the door. "KATE! Open this door up RIGHT NOW!!"

"It ain't Kate's room," Sophia said, "It's mine. No admittance unless I invite you. I didn't invite you. Go away."

"Sophia, open this door," Dan said.

"What is going on down here?" they heard from the other side of the door. It was Ellen.

"My daughter just told me to go fuck myself, now your daughter won't open the door!"

"Dan. Go upstairs."

"Dammit, Ellen……"

"Go upstairs. I want to talk to them calmly before you go off in a huff. Now GO." There was a wait of a couple of minutes, while the six people in the room looked at each other in amazement. Then, "Sophia, it's just me. Please open up."

Sophia walked to the door and opened it. True to her word, only Ellen entered. "All right, what happened?"

"He…..I……he said……oh shit…" Kate started, then began to cry.

"He went off again, what else is new?" Sophia said. "He saw Dave's car out front, found out we were down here and told Kate to get upstairs and to get Dave out of here, even though Kate told him that there were six people down here and we were just chatting."

"Yeah, and when Kate sarcastically asked him if he thought we were having an orgy or something, he made a disparaging remark about Sophia," Warren added.

"So, Kate, after trying reasonableness, finally told him to go fuck himself," Jessie finished.

"You really said that?" Ellen asked. Kate just nodded.

"She was a little upset. I had just told her that I was considering out of state colleges," Dave informed her.

"Really?" Ellen asked. "I thought you were going to stay in Boston. I thought you and Kate had had this all worked out--that's what Kate told me, anyway."

"We did," Dave sighed, "but I don't know how much longer I can deal with my girlfriend's father thinking I'm the devil incarnate."

"Your girlfriend's father thinks that your girlfriend is the devil incarnate," Kate spat out through her tears.

"Really? Shit, I thought it was me," Sophia giggled.

"Only cause he doesn't know me well enough," Jessie supplied.

"It's the eeeeeee-vil room! Crash, you forgot to set up the pentagram!" Warren joked.

"I thought we were going to do that after the orgy," Crash deadpanned.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

"And before the virgin sacrifice," Crash continued.

"Where? Ain't no virgins in this room," Jessie pointed out. By this time, everyone in the room was chuckling, even Kate.

"You guys are too much," Ellen said. "I need to go talk to Dan." She left the room and went upstairs.

"So, is Kate coming up?" Dan asked when Ellen got upstairs.

"No. Look, everybody is clothed, there's six people in that room, there's nothing going on."

"I don't care. I told Kate not to have Dave in this house if we're not here."

"No you did not," Ellen said. "You told her not to have Dave in this house if she was alone. And I told her to ignore that rule, anyway, but I don't think she does. She wasn't alone in the house, she and Dave are down there with them. And she's not feeling particularly good right now, because Dave just told her he is considering out of state colleges. Because of you."

"Good. The further away the better."

Ellen just looked at him. "You know what? The minute that girl graduates from high school and can be on her own, she is never going to speak to you again. And I won't blame her."

"You know, I'm tired of not getting support from you on this," Dan said to her.

"You can just be tired of it, then. You treat your daughter like shit, and she's the nicest, most wonderful, most interesting kid in the world. You treat her boyfriend like shit, and he's just as nice and wonderful. And you're not particularly nice to my daughter, either. Dan, Kate's having sex with her boyfriend. You can either pout about it like a fucking child, or you can grow up. And until you decide to grow up, you can sleep on the couch."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me." She stood up. "I'm going back downstairs."

"So, what happened?' Kate asked her when she came back in the room.

"Oh, I told him that I was sick of him treating you like shit, and treating Dave like shit, and until he grows up, he has to sleep on the couch."

Sophia practically choked on her root beer. "You didn't!"

"I did," Ellen said with a smile.

"You are the coolest," Jessie said with admiration.

"Thanks, Ellen," Kate said

"Yes, thank you," Dave echoed.

"Ellen, could you come up here for a minute, please?" Dan asked into the intercom.

She went up. She was surprised to see Dan carrying a suitcase. "What?" she asked.

"I can't sleep on couches. I'm going to a hotel. I need time to think. I'll be in touch. I'm leaving Kate here, if that's all right."

"Of course that's all right," Ellen told him. "What do you mean, you'll be in touch? How long are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "As long as it takes for me to decide whether or not I can live with you anymore, considering what you just said to me."

"Dan, I know I was harsh, but you are really out of control when it comes to Kate."

"Yeah, I know. Wanting to preserve my daughter's virtue is so out of control."

"No, what's out of control is thinking that you can retrieve your daughter's virtue as you define it, and not accepting the fact that it is gone, never to return, and still managing to love and respect your daughter for all the good things about her, which are many, by the way. Like I said, Kate is a delightful young lady. She's a delightful young lady who happens to be sexually active. And you can't see the delightful part because you're obsessed with the sexually active part. What a pity."

She turned away from him, and walked into the kitchen. He watched her go, and walked out the door. She went downstairs to break the news to Kate.

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A couple of days later, Kate asked Ellen, "Do you know where Daddy's staying?"

"Yes. The Holiday Inn on Route One."

"I think it's time Dad and I had a little talk."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Kate sighed. "It's never going to get any better until we do. And your marriage shouldn't have to suffer over this."

She got in the car and drove to the hotel. Dan was surprised that there was a knock on the door.

"Kate?"

"Hi, Dad. Can I come in?"

"Sure." He stepped aside and let her in. She walked over to a chair and sat down.

"Dad, are you coming home?"

"I don't know." He looked at her. "I think you'd be glad I was out of your hair."

"Dad, if you think I'm glad to be causing problems between you and Ellen, you don't know me very well."

"I used to think I did," he said sadly.

"You do. And that's what drives me nuts, you know? One thing about me has changed--and it was an inevitable change, and a natural one--and you act as if your darling daughter was hauled off by aliens and replaced by an evil pod person." She sighed. "We used to get along so well. It kills me that falling in love and having sex has changed all that."

"Look, when I was growing up, girls your age did not have sex unless they were pressured into it."

"Oh, sure they did, they just had to play the game," Kate told him. "Ask Ellen. You acted like you were pressured into it so nobody called you a slut. Of course, some girls were pressured. That happens nowadays--Sophia being an example. But you can't assume that all girls think that way, or did. Did your girlfriends?"

"I didn't have that many. The first one, well, she had a reputation."

"But you did her anyway." Kate grinned at him.

Dan grinned back, sheepishly. "Well………I wouldn't want a daughter to have that kind of reputation, though."

"I don't, and you know it. Everybody at school thinks I'm an artsy-fartsy freak, not a sex goddess. And the ones that even know I have a boyfriend think that all we can think to do with each other is draw and paint."

Dan smiled. "Well, you do do that." His smile faded. "In fact, I went in your room recently to put some of your stuff in it, and you had left your closet door open."

"Ooops."

"I got to admit, Dave has talent. And that picture was tastefully done. For a nude drawing of my daughter, that is." Kate giggled. "I don't suppose I have to ask if you posed for that, or if it was just his imagination?"

"No, you don't have to ask!"

Dan looked at his daughter. "Do you love Dave?"

"Yeah. I really do. We didn't jump into this, you know."

"I know."

There was a long pause. "Dad," Kate began, "if you can treat Dave civilly, and not have a nutty every time you find him in the house……..I'd really like for you to come home."

"Let me call Ellen up and ask her to lunch tomorrow, and we'll talk. OK?"

"OK."

Dan moved back in the next evening.

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