Chapter One: The Invitation

Chloe slowly sipped on her mocha sweet coffee and sighed, watching as the brown of the coffee and the white of the cream danced around each other in the cup. It seemed just like Madison to set up a time to meet and then be late for her own meeting. Although, Chloe didn’t mind it all that much. She had nothing else better to do at the moment, and it allowed her to observe her surroundings, as she tended to do.

Chloe preferred to observe without drawing attention to herself. Oh, she was aware that other people "saw" her, but she made an effort to be so unremarkable that no one would notice her once they did. Also, sitting in the air-conditioned coffee shop was better than being outside in the heat.

After observing the other customers in the shop, Chloe let out another sigh. She was beginning to wonder just how long Madison would be. She pushed her finger against the biometric scanner on the back of her phone, waking it up from its slumber. Chloe pressed an icon on the screen to open her recent text messages. Yes, this was the time and place Madison had suggested. She had momentarily wondered if the delay was her fault. To be more precise, the place was correct, but it was now fifteen minutes past the suggested time.

Chloe didn’t mind meeting up with Madison. She rather enjoyed it. But Madison tended to be mischievous and unpredictable, and her text messages inviting Chloe to meet already dripped with that suggestion. Since her birthday was Saturday, Chloe thought this could be about that. And not just any birthday—her eighteenth birthday. Chloe could only wonder what Madison was cooking up in her crazy head.

Her birthday was something that had always bugged Chloe. Because it was so late in the school year, she was always one of the last in her class to have it. She was one of only a handful of seniors who went through their high school graduation still at seventeen years old. She felt she couldn’t feel the full embrace of adulthood that came with graduation like most of her peers.

This birthday only added to the annoyance. Even if there isn’t much of a physical or psychological difference between being seventeen and eighteen, the entire notion of suddenly being declared an adult was significant. As for Chloe, all of her friends had already officially passed into adulthood while she was still languishing behind. A child hanging around with the big girls. At least that is how she thought others might see it. Luckily, her friends didn’t care about the difference.

However, as much as Chloe felt like this, outwardly she tried to show that she didn't care. What type of adult, or almost adult, gets annoyed about when their birthday is anyway? But she would be lying to herself if she didn’t admit—at least to herself—that it bothered her.

Chloe got so lost in her thoughts that she jumped in surprise at the sound of the bell ringing on the coffee shop's door. She looked toward the door and saw Madison rush in.

"Sorry, I’m late! I got off work later than expected and wanted to change first,” Madison breathlessly said, clearly sweating, showing that she had hurried herself there.

Madison was most definitely the opposite of Chloe. So much so that people were amazed and confused about how they had become such good friends. Chloe was raised in a conservative household, and her style of dress was quite modest. Despite it being early June and hot outside, she was still wearing a baggy white T-shirt and blue jeans.

In stark contrast, Madison was more of a free spirit. She often sought out adventurous—although some people might describe them as reckless—things to do, just to try them. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind or do what she felt like doing in the moment, regardless of what people thought about it. Her outfit for the day reflected that. She had strolled into the shop wearing jean shorts that were almost inappropriately short, a black tank top with a quite low neckline, and an assortment of jewelry, including multiple necklaces and earrings. For as much as Chloe liked being muted and not seen, Madison was the opposite: flamboyant, loud, and eager to be the center of attention—or at least not caring if she was.

Chloe started to sink a bit in her chair in reaction to the sudden appearance of the equivalent of a bright and loud object sitting at her table. If eyes were to shift their way, she preferred that Madison be the one who caught their attention.

“Ah, just a second,” Madison added as she placed her purse down on the table before walking over to the counter to order her drink.

Chloe had always been a bit jealous of Madison. She was in excellent shape, having been a member of the high school cheerleading squad. She was tanned, her black hair reaching halfway down her back, with dyed, white mallen streaks on both sides. She also had brown eyes and D-cup breasts, which her tank top helped show off.

Meanwhile, Chloe had curly blondish-brown hair, blue eyes, and a pale complexion. She had C-cup breasts, but it was difficult to tell that given the shirt she was wearing. Madison had the assets and enjoyed showing them off. Chloe, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about her own looks, and that didn't even bring into the picture her upbringing, which taught her to be modest to begin with.

Chloe could tell that a couple of older professional types in their late twenties or early thirties in the shop were whispering and grinning at each other while checking out Madison from behind. This wasn’t helped by Madison, Chloe thought probably unconsciously, wiggling her butt back and forth a bit while waiting on her order at the counter.

Chloe wasn't sure if she should be grossed out that the guys, who were probably ten years Madison's elder, were ogling her, or if she should be jealous that Madison could elicit such a reaction from them. She felt it was probably a bit of both. Either way, Chloe was relieved the eyes were on Madison and not herself.

After a couple of minutes, Madison returned to the table with some variation of iced coffee.

“So, what’s up, minor?” Madison teased, flashing a playful smile. Chloe responded with an equally annoyed look. She knew it was silly of her to be annoyed by Madison's teasing, but it didn't stop her from being annoyed by it all the same.

"Only for a couple more days,” Chloe reminded her, with a bit of relief.

“Well, that is partly what I wanted to meet up and talk about. It just so happens my parents are going off on a ‘business trip’ this weekend,” Madison said, adding finger air quotes when mentioning the “business trip.” “And I was thinking that would be a fantastic opportunity to throw you a huge birthday bash at my house! No adult supervision!” Madison jabbered excitedly. “Well, other than those of us who are already eighteen, I suppose,” she laughed.

“Really? Your parents won’t mind?” Chloe inquired, somewhat skeptical of the idea. She knew her parents would likely throw her into an actual dungeon if they discovered she had thrown a party while they were away. Then again, this was Madison’s family we were talking about. Chloe had the impression that they were quite a bit more lenient.

“I mean, there is no reason they need to know, but as long as we don’t burn the house down or something, I’m sure they won’t really care,” Madison added flippantly before taking a sip of her drink. “So, keep your family’s pentagram candles at home,” she chuckled with feigned concern and a grin.

“Ha-ha, funny,” Chloe sarcastically commented. She didn’t particularly agree with her parent’s worldview, but she still tried to respect it. Madison, on the other hand, outright disdained them for it. Not only did it lead to Chloe putting a damper on a lot of fun Madison wanted to have, but she just felt it was outright antiquated.

“I’ll definitely have the pool, hot tub, and other things ready. I’m planning on pulling out all the stops for you,” Madison continued, flashing another smirk.

Madison came from easily the wealthiest family in Chloe’s friend group. They had a huge house, an outdoor pool and hot tub, a big fenced-in yard, an RV, and a trio of expensive cars Chloe could only dream of affording. She was pretty sure some of the jewelry Madison was wearing right now cost more than anything she’d ever imagined buying. Once, while out shopping, Madison had even offered to buy her a necklace with a four-digit price tag, and Chloe adamantly refused to allow her to.

“I mean, I’m flattered, but I don’t want you to go out of your way and spend a lot of money and effort just to throw me a party,” Chloe interjected, trying to object.

“It’s all good! You’ve had to suffer the longest of all of us. We should appropriately celebrate your entry into adulthood. Spare no expense! Without the dinosaurs. Probably.”

It took Chloe a few moments to get the reference, and she let out a little chuckle when she did. Madison did sometimes have a habit of inserting whatever random reference popped into her head at the moment. Luckily Chloe had already heard or was aware of most of them already, so it didn’t take long to figure out when some reference was thrown in. It was still sometimes jarring how random it could be, though.

“So, what do you say?” Madison pressed eagerly.

“I—I suppose it will be alright. Just don’t tell my parents your parents will be gone, though, or else they will probably show up to supervise us themselves,” Chloe advised.

Madison let out a bit of a chuckle in response. She might have thought Chloe was joking, but she was serious. Her parents would have made it a point to come and supervise them if they knew they were otherwise without proper adult supervision.

Chloe always felt she was being torn between two sides: the conservative, don’t do anything unexpected or out-of-the-norm lifestyle her parents had tried to drill into her since she was little, and the more “live free or die; if it feels good, do it” attitude of her friends, of which Madison was the leader.

But a birthday party at her friend’s house, even if her parents were gone? That didn’t seem that bad. Sure, her parents would object if they knew, but they would probably object to half the things she already did, most of which most people wouldn’t even consider out of the ordinary.

“Excellent!” Madison was now fully beaming. “I suppose you have no problem with inviting the rest of the crew along as well. And, of course, since we have a pool, don’t forget to bring your sexiest swimsuit along as well,” she teased with a smirk.

Chloe was relieved that Madison was planning on keeping the party small and confined to their friend group. She was sure Madison would have invited dozens of people if she felt like she could, but she still did at least respect the fact that Chloe wasn't exactly someone who was into big gatherings like that.

In regards to the sexy swimsuit, Chloe simply chuckled sadly. “Oh, please. Like my parents would even let me have a sexy swimsuit. Even exposing my shoulders while wearing one is practically a scandal.”

“Well, you have a couple of days. Go out and buy one. It’s not like you have to show it off to your parents when you get it, right? Be adventurous! Step outside your boundaries sometime!” Madison urged, trying to encourage Chloe. “After all, it is your crossing into adulthood. Start doing what you want and less of what you think your parents want you to do.

“Maybe ...” Chloe pondered. She never liked going behind her parent’s back, but Madison did have a point. She loved her parents and knew they cared for her, which engendered a lot of loyalty to them and their beliefs. But she couldn’t live under their shadow forever. “Maybe I’ll look around and see if there are any swimsuits I like, then.”

“Excellent. I’m looking forward to it. I'm sure Jason and Noah will be, too. Four girls in bikinis and two guys. I’m sure they’re going to be ogling all of us all night,” Madison excitedly exclaimed.

"Oh, please, maybe you. I doubt they will be with me,” Chloe bemused, blushing a tad.

Chloe had pretty much already decided on getting something more modest—at least by Madison’s standards—and this just reaffirmed her determination to do so. She knew she was going to be the center of attention because of the nature of the party, and she was already feeling nervous and uncomfortable about that. But Madison had a way of nudging her to get over those feelings—at least if they weren’t too strong. Chloe wasn’t going to make things worse by getting some lurid bikini. She’d leave it up to Madison to wear that.

“Oh, you don’t give yourself enough credit. I’m sure you’ll look fantastic. Maybe someday you’ll even get a boyfriend who will ogle you non-stop,” Madison continued, clearly teasing Chloe at this point.

“Oh stop ...” Chloe chided, in a half-annoyed manner, causing Madison to laugh. “Anyway, the party sounds like a lot of fun. I mean, thank you for doing it. It really means a lot. I’m looking forward to it,” she responded more seriously this time. She did genuinely appreciate the gesture.

“The least I could do for my best friend after all, right?” Madison smiled. “Oh, I guess I should start planning things out and let the others know as well,” she said, before standing up and grabbing her half-finished drink. “Just plan on it: 7 p.m. Saturday night. My house. Be there or, well, there won’t really be a point to the party, I guess.”

“Now you’ve got me worried again,” Chloe laughed. “I just have to assume you are probably up to something. I guess that is just going to have to be part of the surprise.”

“Me? Up to something? I don’t know what you're talking about,” Madison grinned before turning to leave the shop.

Chloe took a sip of her nearly finished drink. She supposed this wasn’t so bad. Madison always playfully ragged on her about her late birthday, but it was clear Madison knew how much it meant to her as well. Madison could be charming like that. At one moment, she might be joking and teasing, but the next, she would genuinely attempt to do something touching.

Chloe took one final sip of her drink, threw the now empty cup into the wastebasket, and headed out of the shop herself. Feeling the summer heat suddenly hit her further encouraged her to go shopping for a swimsuit. She almost started to regret not dressing like Madison, although she wouldn’t be caught dead in those shorts.

Chloe pulled out her phone and quickly punched in a search for local stores. Once she found a couple she thought might have what she had in mind, she made her way to her car to start her shopping trip.

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Chapter Two: The Store

Chloe stepped into the clothing store and took a brief look at the signs hanging down from the ceiling. It was your run-of-the-mill family clothing store, with sections for different customers laid out in different parts of the store. Chloe noticed the sign with "women's" printed on it in big, bold letters and started walking in that direction.

Chloe wasn’t all that nervous. Getting a swimsuit wasn’t that big of a deal, after all. However, she preferred being left alone during her swimsuit shopping, as she felt anyone around her might judge her selections. She had a vision of her mother suddenly popping in and being scandalized by her even looking at two-piece swimsuits. Chloe unconsciously let out a bit of a nervous laugh.

However, before Chloe could barely take a few steps, a voice rang out, startling her.

“Can I help you?” A woman dressed in the store's uniform inquired with a slight smile.

Chloe jumped a bit, having just thought about what might happen if her mother caught her there. The store worker, apparently, also noticed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” she slightly laughed.

Chloe blushed due to the embarrassment of having been jump-scared by a store employee. “It’s—it’s alright. Uh, I think I know where I’m going …” Chloe stated, vaguely motioning in the direction she intended to head.

“Well, if you need any assistance, just come and find me, okay?” the worker added.

“Okay … yeah …” Chloe muttered in a reluctant tone, adding a little head nod to double-confirm she acknowledged what the store worker said. She then awkwardly turned away and briskly walked towards the women’s section.

Once there, Chloe looked around. She initially searched for the changing rooms, knowing she would need them, and found them pretty quickly. She then looked for the swimsuit section nearby.

She had to stop herself from instinctively going straight to the one-piece suits and instead focused on the two-piece selections. She initially thought it wouldn’t be difficult to pick one she liked, but she found herself being very picky. Seeing a few of them made her heart flutter, knowing that Madison would rave over them, but also knowing that her parents would probably ground her for a month if they ever caught it in her possession, much less wearing it. No; she knew she would end up getting something more modest.

Too small. Too flashy. Don’t like the design. Don’t like the pattern. Those were some of the thoughts going through her head as she kept browsing through the options.

Other shoppers occasionally passed by the section on their way to other parts of the store. Chloe instinctively slid behind some racks in an attempt to obscure herself from view as much as possible. She wasn’t entirely sure why. It felt like some sort of automatic response to protect herself from being judged. She laughed a little bit at herself for the reaction and continued browsing.

Finally, she pulled out three possibilities that might work. She took a quick look around to see if anyone was in the immediate vicinity before heading to the changing room. Again, she wasn’t entirely sure why she did this. It’s not like anyone would care that she was trying on swimsuits. But it was still a habit of hers to check out the area if she was doing anything that could be considered “questionable.”

Chloe slipped into the changing room and locked the door. It was a pretty standard changing room, with a mirror on one wall, a seat to sit down on, and a hook to hang clothes up on.

She hung up the three swimsuits and then started taking her clothes off. She first pulled her shirt over her head, placed it on the seat, then pushed her jeans down and stepped out of them. She then unhooked her bra and slid her panties down, leaving her utterly naked.

Her heart started to beat a bit faster. She always had this image of someone bursting into the changing room right when she was taking her clothes off, catching her like this. It both scared and intrigued her. Then another thought pushed itself into her head. What if she just sprinted out of the changing room, letting the entire store see her in all her glory without a care?

“No,” Chloe spoke sternly to herself, shaking her head. What a preposterous idea to even leap into her head. Also, she’d probably get arrested for doing that! Imagine what her parents would say, having to bail her out from jail for sprinting through the store naked! How had the thought even entered her head?

The thought didn't stop her from turning and looking at herself in the mirror, however, first straight on, then from the side. “I suppose it’s not too bad,” she commented about herself.

Madison had told her to admire herself in the mirror like this occasionally to remind herself that her body wasn’t something to be ashamed of. Chloe still got occasional pangs of guilt from doing so, but for now, she admired what she saw. She thought she should be lucky to have the figure she did, but she was nowhere near wanting to flaunt it like Madison.

Chloe grabbed the first swimsuit from the hook and put it on. She liked how this one looked on the rack, but that was only half the story. She tried to gauge how it felt on her body. After all, even if she liked how they looked, it was no good if it felt weird to wear. She turned to look in the mirror to see how it looked now that she was wearing it.

The suit was pretty conservative. About as conservative as you could get and still call it a bikini. It was blue with a pink flower pattern. The top had ties around the back and neck, as well as frills covering the chest to obscure both the bust size and any cleavage. The bottoms were a high-rise cut. Chloe liked the design but wondered if it was a bit too conservative. After all, it’s not like she had to worry about what her parents thought. They would object to any of these choices, so their opinion didn’t matter that much to her.

She tried to pretend Madison’s opinion also didn’t matter, but she knew it would. She knew Madison would rag on her for wearing something this conservative, so even though Chloe liked it, she knew this probably wasn’t going to be the one she would ultimately go with. Chloe slipped the first suit off and put it back on its hangar, setting it aside on the seat.

She quickly glanced over the next option hanging on the hook before grabbing it. As Chloe was putting this suit on, however, she could already tell that she didn’t even have to look in the mirror to know how unsure she was about it. The bottoms had a mid-rise cut, which was fine, and the top had shoulder and back straps that were almost like a bra, which was also fine. However, the cut on the top was rather aggressive, displaying a considerable amount of cleavage, in stark contrast to the modesty of the rest of the swimsuit.

Chloe let out a little chuckle once she did turn to look at herself in the mirror. Madison would likely even find this suit to be overly modest. But while Chloe was ready to try a bikini, she wasn’t sure she was ready to be quite that aggressive with it. She found she liked the rest of the design: the thicker straps and the frills on the top were all things she liked. But that cut. She was afraid this would have to go into the reject pile. This felt like trying on Goldilocks’ bikini: find something she was comfortable with while also not being so conservative that Madison would rag on her about it too much.

She could feel a voice in the back of her head telling her, “C’mon! It’ll be fine!” But she pushed the thought away as she placed the second suit back on the hanger and set it alongside the first.

Finally, Chloe glanced up at the last suit she had picked. Just by looking at it, she hoped that this would end up being the best choice. She grabbed it and started putting it on.

This suit seemed like a mix between the two previous options. It had ties around the back and neck like the first swimsuit, but unlike that suit, it showed at least some skin. The straps were also thicker, like the second suit, but the cut on the top wasn't nearly as aggressive. Ironically, these bottoms were probably the most conservative: they were more like short shorts than a bikini cut bottom, but Chloe was fine with that. This suit had a mixed black, blue, and pink flower design, which she also liked.

“Yeah …” she thought as she looked in the mirror, convincing herself that this was the best choice. She felt growing confidence looking at herself wearing this swimsuit. Madison may complain about it, but she’d just have to live with it. She was already going out on a limb by getting a two-piece to begin with.

“Okay, well, I guess that’s it,” she mumbled to herself before taking the suit off and hanging it up. She then took one last look at herself in the mirror while naked, this time turning around and trying to get a look at her butt. Her butt wasn’t something she thought much about, but she wondered whether it looked good or not. She didn’t really know. She thought it looked fine, though. She would hear guys mentioning whether they liked a girl’s butt or not, but she could never really tell whether any particular type of butt was favored or not.

With that, she started slipping her clothes back on, in the reverse order she had removed them. Once her shirt was back on, she checked herself in the mirror to make sure everything looked okay and shook her hair a bit to make sure it also looked the way she wanted.

She then returned the two rejected suits to where she had found them and headed toward the store's front register. Only when Chloe approached the register did she notice how cute the boy staffing it was.

“Will that be all for you today?” he asked with a smile.

“Ah, yes, please,” Chloe acknowledged. She handed him the swimsuit, feeling a flutter in her stomach as she wondered if the boy might see the suit and imagine her wearing it. She was a little conflicted about what she felt, as she imagined him doing that. Should she be flattered? Annoyed? She wasn’t sure how she should feel. Not that any of this was relevant, but the idea of her somehow having shown her suit off to him in the store to see what he thought kind of tickled her a little bit.

She felt like she might start blushing if she pondered on the idea too much longer, so she tried to put it out of her mind. For his part, the boy didn’t seem to act particularly strange. He did typical register things: scanning the item, removing some sort of theft protection feature, putting the bikini in a small bag, and giving Chloe her total. Flashing one final slight smile, Chloe paid the amount, took her bag, and left the store.

She shook her head as she got to her car. What was she thinking? What was that whole train of thought about the boy at the register imagining her in the bikini about? He was just some random boy staffing the register in the store! He probably saw 100 people go in and out of the store during his shift. He likely didn’t have the time or energy to fantasize about his customers. And what was she doing thinking about showing off to a stranger anyway?! And also the previous thought she had gotten about just bursting out into the store naked? Like she could or would ever!

She got into her car and started it. All that mattered was that she liked the outfit. And she thought it might at least be enough to placate Madison, but that was yet to be seen. Now she just needed to make sure she could get the suit up to her room without anyone in her house asking too many questions.

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Chapter Three: The Complication

Chloe was relieved when she saw that her parents hadn’t gotten home yet when she pulled into the driveway, so getting her new swimsuit up to her room wouldn’t be a problem. Whether they were paranoid or just curious, her parents had a bad habit of wanting her to show them the things she brought home from shopping. Chloe was relieved that she didn’t have to come up with some excuse as to why she couldn’t this time.

She slid out of the car, grabbed her bag, and let herself inside the house. It was a pretty simple two-story house. The furniture was pretty traditional. Her parents inherited a significant portion of the furniture from her grandparents, and they carefully selected the new pieces to complement the existing pieces. If Chloe hadn't been so used to it, she would probably say it had the feel of a house you might see in the 1970s or 1980s.

She climbed the stairs to her room, closed the door behind her, and tossed the shopping bag onto her bed. Her room was perhaps the one place in the house where she felt she could be herself, at least a little bit. However, even that was somewhat limited as anything that might upset her parents had to be put away out of sight whenever it wasn’t in use. Luckily for her, her parents weren’t quite so bad as to go through her dresser and closet, or else she would have already gotten in trouble long ago.

Chloe did have a mirror in her room, and she glanced at the bag on her bed. She then quickly took off her clothes and put on her new swimsuit again, admiring it once more and getting more comfortable with it, this time outside of a changing room setting. However, she barely had time to start checking herself out when she heard the front door open.

“Chloe, we’re home!” she heard her mother call out from downstairs. In a panic, Chloe pulled off her swimsuit, threw it in the bag, and then tossed the bag into her closet. As she did this, she could hear footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Shit!” Chloe whispered to herself as she rushed to pull her panties back on, then her jeans.

There was a knock on her door. “Are you in there, Chloe?” her mother asked through the door.

“Yes! Just a second, and I’ll be right there!” Chloe responded while hooking the back of her bra before grabbing her shirt and throwing it back on before going to answer the door.

“Yeah?” Chloe inquired, trying to appear normal.

“Your father and I have something to talk to you about. Can you come downstairs for a moment?” Her mother remarked.

“Yeah? Oh, that reminds me; I also have something I wanted to tell you about. Chloe replied, stepping out of her room and almost pulling her door closed but not completely shut.

“Oh? Well, I guess we can talk about both things together, then,” her mother replied, waiting for Chloe to head down the stairs first.

Chloe stepped down the steps and into the kitchen, where her father was busy putting groceries away in the refrigerator and pantry. She took a seat at the kitchen table, wondering what this might be about.

“You wanted to speak to me about something?” she asked in the more proper and respectful tone of voice she reflexively used around her parents. At this point, it wasn’t even something she had to remind herself to do.

“Ah, yes. It is about your birthday,” he remarked after putting a couple of boxes of rice into a cupboard and then turning around to face her. “Since this is your eighteenth birthday, we wanted to take you out and do something special on Saturday night,” her father added.

Chloe suddenly got a sinking feeling. Of course, her parents would want to celebrate her birthday on Saturday, and it would make sense to schedule it for Saturday night, which would naturally conflict with the party Madison had been planning for her. She could also tell just by looking at her father that it was something that he was looking forward to doing as well. She immediately knew there was a problem, but hoped that maybe by poking around for information, she could find some way to work around it.

“Oh, Saturday. Yes, of course. What did you have planned?”

“We were hoping to take you out for a nice dinner and perhaps spend a nice family evening at home, letting you open your presents. We want to keep more of the specifics a surprise though,” he explained.

“Oh, I see.” Chloe’s voice betrayed that clearly, she had mixed feelings about the news. She wasn’t sure whether there was even a point in bringing up Madison’s party now. She might have had to convince them to let her go to the party in the first place, and now there was this. How could she say no to her parents over her best friend? She could already hear Madison's disappointed protests in her head.

“Is there a problem?” her father inquired, having been met with a lot less enthusiasm than he was expecting.

“Well…” Chloe started, hesitating. "Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about a party that some of my friends wanted to throw for me." It would just be us at one of their houses. They wanted to do it Saturday night as well. But if you already made plans for then ... then I guess I can let them know and we can schedule it for another time.”

Chloe didn't want to mention that Madison was throwing it. Her parents barely tolerated her hanging around Madison as it was. She didn’t want to disclose any more information about the party than she needed to.

However, she was a bit surprised when her mother gently put her hand on her shoulder and started talking. “I see. That is what you wanted to speak to us about. I realize this is a special birthday for you, and everyone wants to celebrate it with you. How about this? Let your father and I discuss it. I’m sure we can come up with something that can satisfy everyone, alright, honey?”

Chloe nodded and glanced down at the table. She hated inconveniencing her parents, but if they were going to talk about it, then she wasn’t going to complain. She was sure her father had some grand plan in his head, if not already arranged. He was often like that, so she was glad that her mother was the one taking the initiative.

“That was all we wanted to talk about for now,” her mother remarked again, patting her on the shoulder a couple of times, perhaps sensing that Chloe was feeling awkward about the situation.

“Oh…okay, thanks.” Chloe got up and gave her mother a peck on the cheek, who returned the gesture in kind and then nodded towards her father in an acknowledgment that she still appreciated what he was doing. She then slowly walked back up the stairs to her room, sat down on her bed, and pulled out her phone.

“Parents planned something Saturday night already. We may need to call off.” Chloe typed into her phone. It only took moments for a response to pop up on her screen.

“NO! >:(” read the text from Madison. Chloe sighed. She could probably imagine what was going through Madison’s head right now: Chloe’s parents were, once again, going to ruin some plan of hers to try to get Chloe to have some fun.

“Mom said she would talk to Dad about it, but you know how he can get about these things,” Chloe typed.

Once again, the response took mere seconds. “C’mon, Chloe’s mom! Work your magic!” The text appeared, accompanied by an emoji of a magic wand.

Chloe laughed. This wouldn’t be the first time her mother had tried to smooth things out between her father’s grand planning and the rest of Chloe’s life. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. It mostly depended on just how dedicated her father was to that particular plan. It was sometimes difficult to gauge just how invested he was in any particular one.

She laid down on her bed and continued texting Madison and a few other friends for a while. As time went on, she could feel a knot growing in her stomach. Now and then, she would try to listen to the conversation taking place in the kitchen. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, her parents usually refrained from raising their voices, making it difficult for her to hear anything from her room. Texting with her friends also kept her calmer than she would otherwise have been.

After what felt like forever to Chloe, but in reality, was only about ten minutes, she heard another knock on her door. She got up and opened the door to find her mother standing there again.

"I believe we have devised a solution." Your father decided it was okay if we took you out and did lunch instead of dinner, and you opened your presents in the afternoon and let you be with your friends in the evening. Does that work for you?”

A huge smile flashed across Chloe’s face. “Yes! Perfect! Thank you, Mom!” she gleefully replied before giving her mother a big hug.

“Anything for my Chloe, you know. Your father was a bit disappointed he couldn’t spend the whole day with you, but I reminded him that you are an adult now. You have other people than just us that I’m sure you want to be with,” she responded with a smile.

Chloe pulled away from the hug and smiled back. “Thanks. I mean it.”

“Dinner will be ready soon,” her mother responded with a smile before turning back around to head downstairs.

Chloe excitedly hopped back on her bed.

“Family stuff is in the afternoon. Plans are still on!” Chloe punched into her phone.

“WOOOOOOO,” the response came. Another text followed shortly. “Chloe’s mom has got it going on!”

Chloe gave herself a little facepalm. “No. Just… no,” she typed back.

“>:)” Madison responded.

Chloe sighed in relief and let out a small laugh. It seemed like things were going to work out after all.