My Daughter's Best Friend (closed for nightblooming)

[Tx_Liquor]

Donald Remington was the kind of guy that everyone in the office wanted to be, or be with. Even past forty he was still in shape, had a full head of light brown hair, flawless skin and a million dollar smile. To top if off he was married to a gorgeous woman and they had the most well adjusted daughter one could hope for.

Sure the surface looked great, but the family did have their own hidden problems. Jessica had always resented getting pregnant so young and was now more focused on her career than her family, and especially her husband. Instead of sex, she was often working late into the night while Donald drank high dollar scotch and fell asleep alone.

They both loved their daughter and still encouraged her in every turn. Despite their problems, they didn't let it take away from her success. They never said no when she asked to have her best friend over and tonight was no different.

Donnie came into the house, setting down his leather document bag and went to the kitchen where Jessa was making dinner. It was one of the things she always did, if just so that her daughter could honestly say they sat down to dinner every night as a family. Kissing her on the cheek Donnie asked, "Where's the future graduate?"

"Upstairs. She's taking a break from SAT prep. Let her know that dinner is almost ready." Jessica said.

"Okay." And with that he headed for the stair in the main hall.

"Oh! Ask if her friend is staying for dinner." Jessica called out. Don just replied, "Okay." And started up the steps, loosening his tie. He could already hear the girls talking and gently knocked on the door.

"Hey, sweetie? Your mom wants to know if your friend is staying for dinner." He paused, waiting for a response.

 

[nightblooming]

"Have you?" Christy whispered.

"Not yet," Jasmine blushed. "Just with a banana. What does it taste like, anyway?"

"Salty," Christy said, and they both started giggling.

There was a knock on the door, and Christy's dad asked if Jasmine was staying for dinner. The two girls exchanged a look and quickly, silently, reached an agreement. Their SAT prep books were open on the bed between them. They really had been studying, a while ago.

"Yeah," Christy said. "We'll be right down."

A few minutes later, the two girls came down, giggling. Christy was slender, blonde, still looked very much an innocent at 18, but her best friend Jasmine was very different. With her heavy make up and skimpy outfit, it was hard to remember she was still in high school. She looked more like the sort of girl you'd find working on a pole.

Christy's mom didn't approve of the Asian girl, but Christy always had her over anyway, explaining that she was abused and neglected at home, by parents who thought a girl's only aspiration should be to be a good wife and mother. The two girls sat at the table and smiled politely.

"If two girls leave school at the same time, and one has to ride the bus downtown and the other only has to walk three blocks, who gets home first?" Christy said, and they both dissolved into giggles. Jasmine covered her mouth and blushed, glancing at Christy's father.

 

[Tx_Liquor]

The friendship between Christy and Jasmine was always a sore topic for Don and his wife, while Jessica always pointed out that Jasmine was probably a bad influence Don liked to think Christy might be a good influence. The fact that Jasmine was always nice to look at didn't hurt. A better man might have suggested she dress better when she was around, but Don was still a man. The fact that his wife and he hadn't had sex in almost a year only made him even more vulnerable to the draw of an attractive female form.

"Yes," He said knowingly, "I'll take Jasmine home after dinner." As if it wasn't assumed. Don or Jessica volunteered to do this regularly, if just to make sure the youg woman got home okay. That was, unless, Jasmine was sleeping over which they tried to avoid on School Nights like this.

As dinner was served, Don waited for Jessica to sit and opened a bottle of wine. It was red to go with the steak and lo-carb dinner. The girls would have non-alcoholic options of course. After pouring some for himself and the wife he asked, "So, Jessica. Any plans for college?" Unlike Christy he know the young girls family didn't have the money for fancy schools like the one Christy was going to, but he still had hopes for the girl. He truly believed there was so much more to her than met the eye.

 

[nightblooming]

The two girls settled down and restrained their giggles as they sat down, doing their best to shift into a more mature behavior while they ate with Christy's parents. When her dad turned to Jasmine and addressed her by his wife's name, though, Christy lost it. She was howling with laughter, and Jasmine blushed a deep red and tried to control it. She liked Mr Remington, and she didn't want to embarrass him over a simple slip of the tongue.

"I... um... I don't know," she stammered, wishing Christy would just shut up. "I don't think my father would allow it. He expects me to marry his business partner back in Jakarta as soon as they agree on a price." She shrugs her shoulders and glances at Mrs Remington, hoping the woman would be pleased to see that her daughter's friend was a good, obedient young woman, but she looked mortified instead. The look on her mother's face was enough to set Christy off again, laughing so hard she nearly fell out of her chair.

Jasmine looked at Mr. Remington, hoping he, at least, would be pleased with her answer. She knew what they thought of her being Christy's friend, but she always hoped that one day they would see past her appearance and realize that she was a good girl. It was their own daughter who was the school slut.

 

[Tx_Liquor]

Don shrugged off a glare from his wife, with the slip of the name. He'd been trying so hard to remind himself that his wife was in the room and he should keep his eyes on a short leash that her name was just the one on the tip of his tongue. It was hard not to keep trying to look into Jasmine's eyes, which he still didn't know the color of. Were they blue? Grey? Green? Contacts?

Still trying to focus on cutting his steak he said, "You know, it amazes me that we live in the 21st Century and some cultures out there still have arranged marriages." He risked eye contact asking Jasmine, "Have you ever met this business partner?" He waited for a brief moment of eye contact and then broke their connection still no closer to knowing what color he wanted to call those gorgeous eyes.

"How old is this partner of your fathers?" Mrs. Remington asked, though her tone and intention was far more aggressive. To her the idea of arranged marriages for money was quite archaic and Don eye'd her hoping she wouldn't start insulting Jasmine or her family.

"But," He added, in an effort to defuse the situation, "If you were allowed to study anything you wanted in college, what would you want to do?" He was hoping for a good answer. Something to shut his own wife down and hopefully back off from the young woman.

 

[nightblooming]

"I've never met him," Jasmine answered Mr Remington's question, with her brown eyes turned down to her plate. It amazed her that her father expected her to marry a man she had never met. Though her family was very traditional, she had grown up in the US. She knew the lives that her friends expected to have, and how backwards her future seemed.

Mrs R's question told her she had not given the right answer. The question was reasonable enough, but her voice was full of venom.

"He's like, old, right?" Christy said, trying to take some of the sting out of her mother's tone. "Like, your age, Mom."

"Yes," Jasmine sighed. It wasn't like this perfect, modern American man could think any less of her. Not that she was so very worried about what he thought, she told herself. "He'll be forty this year."

Then Mr R asked her what she would study if she could go to college.

"If I could study anything?" she said. It was a question she asked herself often. Business, medicine, law. There were plenty of practical things she could study, and she'd told her father she would bring him more money if she could make a life for herself here in the US than she would being sold off to be a wife in Jakarta, but it was like telling him a monkey could play the piano. "I would study music."

 

[Tx_Liquor]

The idea that Jasmine's future husband was as old as he, wasn't lost on Don. He had never met this man, and already he was a bit envious. When she mentioned music Don gave Jasmine a smile of approval. "I've offered to pay for piano lessons if Christy were ever interested in learning."

Mrs. Remington grinned with slight irritation, "The average income for musicians is only $18,000 a year." The idea of her husband approving of this girl, defending her, and now smiling at her was raising her blood pressure at every moment.

Don took a breath, put his fork and knife down. "Hon, can we try to have dinner without the socioeconomics? Let's just enjoy the meal you prepared-"

"I actually have some work I have to do. Please put the plates away." Jessica snatched up her drink and the bottle before going out the dining room, through the den and to her office. Without missing a beat, Donald apologized for her actions saying, "She's got a deadline with a high value client. It's a lot of stress."

Getting up for another bottle of wine he asked, "Do you have to be home at a certain time, Jasmine?"

 

[nightblooming]

There was no winning with Mrs R, and Christy gave Jasmine an apologetic shrug. What could they do? To her surprise, though, Mr R came to her defense, and Jasmine gave him a grateful smile when his wife stood up. He even apologized for her behavior after she was gone. Even if his excuses on her behalf were a bit flimsy - Jasmine knew most of it came from the fact that Jessica just didn't like her - it was a kind gesture.

"I understand," she said. "And she is right, of course. Musicians are very rarely successful. Even if I were allowed to go to college, it would only be to study medicine, like my father. Anything else would be a betrayal of the family. My brother wanted to go to law school and he nearly had a heart attack."

She glanced at her phone and sighed. It was already getting late.

"I should probably go soon," she said. "He usually gets home around nine and if I'm not there...."

 

[Tx_Liquor]

Donald checked the time eyes widening as he did mental calculations for how long it would take to get Jasmine home. "Dad, just go."Christy said, the urgency in her tone making him take all this much more serious, espeically when she said, "I'll take care of the dishes."

Don had no idea what kind of trouble Jasmine would be in, but the fact that his daughter was going to do dishes on her own just so her friend could get home in time was a pretty big deal. "Okay, Jasmine. I guess we should leave now."

Despite the urgency he couldn't help but glance at her ass as Jasmine got up out of the chair to leave. She was young, and her body was tight and still defying gravity in places. He tried to think of anything else, forcing him to keep his libido in check. Grabbing his keys by the front door, he motioned to the garage, "This way. It'll be easier than locking the front door."

He unlocked the doors and got into his Audi R8, which he felt suddenly self conscious about. He glanced to Jasmine for a reaction wondering if she's call him out on having a mid-life crisis car. "Buckle up." he said, reflexively and looked over at his passenger with eyes falling down the front of her blouse and lingering on her enticing cleavage. Shaking off the thoughts he started up the car, opened the garage and headed off pushing the speed limit envelope.

Since he'd dropped Jasmine off more than a few times over the years, he drove as if the route was second nature. "Sorry," he finally said, "I didn't know you had to be back at 9. I probably would have suggested dropping you off before dinner, but it's always nice to have you around. Christy really does admire you."

 

[nightblooming]

Jasmine gave Christy a quick hug and headed for the front door. Then she saw Mr R was going to the garage, and she hurried after him. She paused as she saw the big SUV Jessica drove, and then saw him walking around to a sleek little sports car.

"Wow, Mister R," she said, smiling. Christy had never really said much about her father, and this was the first time she had seen his car. She looked at him, curiously. Ir was a flashy car for a married man. She climbed in the car, the low seat making her a little self conscious about how short her skirt was, but when she glanced at Mr R, he seemed more interested in her chest. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had pulled her shoulders back to push them out and up, just a little.

Then they were rolling out of the driveway, and he was apologizing for keeping her late, as if it was his fault.

"I should have said something," she said. "But I didn't actually want to leave. It's just weird. Like, I've lived my whole life in America. It's what I'm used to, but Dad expects me to be this perfect, traditional, old world girl. Speaking of which...."

She opened her backpack and pulled out a long sleeved shirt which she pulled over her head. A headscarf followed, and then a pair of jeans. She looked at him shyly.

"Don't look, ok?"

 

[Tx_Liquor]

"Of course not." Don said, keeping his eyes on the road. He smiled, putting up a hand to keep between he and Jasmine. Though it took a great deal of effort to keep from dropping his hand to get a look at her smooth young legs sliding into the jeans. He shifted his hand, just enough to see a toned calf flex and vanish into the denim, his mind conjuring a fantasy of those ankles locked behind his back.

Feeling his manhood strain against his pants he knew he had to change his thoughts and asked, "Do you sing? I mean, wanting to study music makes me think you want to be famous. I was your age once, I know the lure of fame."

Taking his hand down he put both on the wheel and guided the car onto the freeway. He glanced at the mirrors, then Jasmine in hopes of a glimpse of her still not fully clothed, then checked his blind spot. He felt himself biting on his lip, and the lust in his pants growing more.

 

[nightblooming]

As she pulled her jeans up, she arched her body, lifting her hips off the seat. The movement made her skirt hike up high on her hips, and her plain white panties were exposed for just a moment. The exact moment, naturally, that she noticed Mr R steal a glance. She blushed, embarrassed, but not because he shouldn't have seen her underwear, but because her underwear was so plain. Her friends wore lacy, silky, skimpy things, but she only had the dullest underwear imaginable.

"Sorry," she mumbled as her jeans covered them again, and then she wondered why she was apologizing to him. She slid her skirt down, over her jeans, and then sat back down to slip it off her feet and stuff it in her bag.

"Yes," she said, when he asked about her singing. "I sing a little. Mostly I play the piano. I mean, I know I'm not good enough to ever be famous, but...," she shrugged her shoulders. "It's just a dream. Father never let me perform anyway, even when he is the one who insisted I take lessons."

She looked out the window of the car and saw the lights of the suburbs flashing by.

 

[Tx_Liquor]

Don's eyes fell to those white panties, his hand wanting to slip in and massage the ripe flower. Her apology snapped him out of his daydream and reminded him that he was still driving. It also helped for him to focus on driving and talking. "I would like to hear you play, actually. I bet you good enough to play background music at dinners and parties."

He worried he would touch on a nerve so he just asked, "Tell me about your family. Do they expect you to move back… well, it's not really 'home', is it."

 

[nightblooming]

"My teacher says I'm one of her best students," Jasmine says, buttoning her jeans and straightening her clothes so she looked as proper and modest as her father could want her to. "I'd love to play at parties. Maybe I'll be able to back in Jakarta. I expect that's where I'll end up. Of course, I won't have any say in the matter."

 

[Tx_Liquor]

So much about this girl made Don want to just reach over and wrap his arms around her. He wanted to protect her from her fate. He wanted to tell her that the world wasn't this cruel and dark place. He wanted to be her knight in shining armor who slew her demons in exchange for a simple kiss.

"Can I ask you a personal question? Have you ever… had sex?" Realizing how that sounds he explained, "I'm not implying anything. I'm sorry if that makes you nervous. Don't answer. Forget I asked. My point was that, if you hadn't then I assume it's because you're such a good girl that you wouldn’t do anything to violate traditions. If you were born in America that makes you an American. If that's the case your first time shouldn't be with someone you don't know just because you're supposed to be with them. Husbands can rape their wives. It should be up to you who give your body to and when."

Don pulled off the freeway getting closer to her stop. He was torn between slowing down to prolong the ride home and speeding up to get home and avoid Jasmine getting in trouble.

 

[nightblooming]

She stared at him, her brown eyes wide and her lips trembling while he spoke. For a moment, there was silence, and then she let out a sharp giggle and covered her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she said, quickly. "It's just... no. I never had sex." She blushed red and bit her lip. She hoped she hadn't offended him. "I just didn't expect you to... you know, ask me that." She gave him a shy smile, wondering what he thought of her. Most American girls were not virgins by the time they were 18, she thought, but most didn't have her father to deal with.

"I may be too traditional, still," she said. "But how can a husband rape his wife? I mean, when you're married, she belongs to him, right? Isn't it her duty to serve him? You wouldn't stay with Mrs R if she didn't put out would you?" The last question made her look away again. Thinking of him fucking Mrs R sent such a strange knot of emotion through her that she couldn't look him in the eye. On the one side, it was exciting to talk to him, a man, about these things, but on the other.... She frowned. Was it possible for her to be jealous of her friend's dad's wife?

 

[Tx_Liquor]

Don laughed a bit, then nodded. "Yes. Trust me. In this country a woman can be married and never have sex with her husband." He shook his head and gave a sigh. "I've honestly forgotten the last time my wife and I were intimate."

He glanced, seeing her looking away and wondering what she was thinking. The idea of her letting some older man have his way with her was both horrifying and exiting at the same time. I didn't like the idea of another man abusing this innocent flower, but he was turned on by the idea of making her a real woman.

She was everything his wife wasn't. She was loyal. Traditional. Docile. Innocent and Pure. She was so willing and so young with a body that he couldn't help but want to run his hands over.

"I just don't want you to think you have to do anything you don't want to do. This idea of an arranged marriage to a man you might not even be attracted to is just… wrong. Your first time should be with someone who cares about you, not who thinks they own you. That's all I'm trying to say."

 

[nightblooming]

Jasmine stared at him in shock. She knew Mrs R didn't like her much, but she had never really thought about it much, beyond thinking the older woman saw Jasmine as a bad influence on her daughter. Now, she was wondering what could be wrong with the woman.

"But... what is your marriage, then?" she said. She froze as soon as the words left her mouth, and she blushed. "I'm sorry, Mr R, I didn't mean anything by it. I just always thought she was so lucky." After a long moment, she shook her head. "I knew American girls spread their legs for anyone until they get married. I always thought they would keep doing it for their husbands after. It doesn't make any more sense than letting my father decide who I'll spend my life with."

She looked at him, puzzled. "So what do you do? All the boys at school act like it's the end of the world if they don't get laid. Do you have a mistress?" She asked the question in a perfectly matter-of-fact way, with no judgement at all. To her, it was Mrs R who had failed him, and he had every right to find someone who would take care of him.

 

[Tx_Liquor]

"No, no. Don't apologize. I can see the flawed logic in it, and yes, I think in our culture women have learned to use their sexuality to their advantage. Honestly, there is a joke in this country that marriage is what kills your sex life. She doesn't have to keep opening her legs anymore so she doesn't. Honestly, the reason I got married was because I liked spending time with Jessica. Now, I hardly see her anymore. Everything just changed."

He tried to clear his through, not wanting to sound wounded or needy around this young girl. The facade of a strong man with a good marriage and all the answers. The reality was so far from it, and now Jasmine was asking questions that made perfect sense. They were, in fact, the same ones he'd asked himself but dismissed out of duty and obligation.

Duty and obligation. Perhaps Don and Jasmine weren't so different after all? Both doing what was expected of them, and not what they wanted. Her mistress question came at the perfect moment of his catharsis. "No, I don't have a mistress. Sure, it would make sense and it would probably solve a lot of problems but it's not something we do. The idea that you have to seek physical love and affection outside of the marriage is forbidden regardless of the circumstances. So, when a women gets married she knows the husband is essentially trapped."

He probably would have gone into the concept more but they had arrived at her house. "Sorry to end on such a downer note." He parked and turned to face Jasmine, "Listen, I know you're a smart girl and I think you're actually the positive influence on my daughter. Her mom put her on birth control and I told her to tell me when to buy her more condoms. We did this when we realized she was sexually active because we couldn't stop her. Hell, when I get home she'll probably be hiding a boy in her closet. I..." Don realized he was rambling, and shook his head. "Sorry. Too much information there. Look, here's my card." he pulled one from the case he still had in his pocket then turned it over to write a number on the back. "This is my cellphone. If you need anything or Christy is in trouble I want you to know you can trust me. Okay?"

 

[nightblooming]

Jasmine frowned as she listened to his explanation, and then she gave a bitter laugh.

"That's just ... backwards," she said, shaking her head. "Most people... most Americans, anyway, think my culture is backwards because of arranged marriages, but at least we know what a marriage is. This... marrying and drifting apart, not having sex, being trapped and buying your children condoms, this is supposed to be progress?" She winced. She sounded like her father, talking about how vile America is, how she should be thankful she would live her adult life in a civilized country.

"It's none of my business," she said. "I know I'm just a kid, but doesn't Mrs R need sex, too? If she's pulling away, so you hardly ever see her.... You know, women have desires, too." She said it as if it was a revelation. It would have been, to her father. At the same time, she knew she had gone far beyond what was acceptable. Then again, the whole conversation had veered into things a man should not talk about with a woman, particularly not an unmarried girl. Or maybe that was how things worked here.

"Thank you for bringing me home, Mr R," she said, taking his card. She hesitated. There were so many things she wanted to say, but she knew she was going to be in trouble if she was late, so she slipped it in her pocket and opened the door. Then she turned back to him.

"You deserve to be happy, Mr R," she said. "If your wife will not please you, somebody should." She blushed and then she got out of the car. She closed the door and was halfway up the walk when the door opened and her father stood there, glowering at her. She sighed and went inside.

 

[Tx_Liquor]

Donald could do nothing to help the girl the moment that door opened, so he drove off the moment he saw Jasmine's father. He kept turning things over and over in his mind, and the look on her father's face made him more and more angry. Finally he was back on the freeway and punching the roof of his car in anger.

A phone call came in just past the halfway point, he was well out of downtown but he didn't recognize the number. With a spur of hope he answered the phone. "Hello?" It was Jasmine, and he felt relieved for a moment but that moment vanished when it sounded like she was upset. "Jasmine? What's wrong?"

 

[nightblooming]

"You have to come get me!" she said, practically sobbing into the phone. "I'm down the street from my house at the corner of Maple. Do not turn down my street. My dad's going out of his mind!"

She had walked in and he had immediately started asking who had driven her home. Why had she been alone with a strange man? What had they been doing? Where was Cristy? It went from there, until he was calling her a whore and dragging her to his office to beat her with his belt. That was when she broke free and ran for the door.

"Don't come back!" her father screamed. "Tell your boyfriend if I see him, I will kill him!"

 

[Tx_Liquor]

Don, without thinking, got off the freeway at the next exit and gunned it back into downtown. He had no care about how late he was going to be, he didn't dare call home to explain what was going on. He also knew he could take Jasmine back home or Jessica would just call her father.

None of that mattered right now.

It was an agonizing 10 minutes before Don found Jasmine, right where she said she would be. He slowed the car down and checked the windows for anyone or a sign of trouble. "Hey. You okay?" He unlocked the doors instead of getting out. They would both be safer in the car.

When she was ready he started driving away, turning down a shady looking alley to avoid going past her street and then snaked back to the freeway. "I'm so sorry, Jasmine. I had no idea that would have happened. Did you explain that I was Christy's father?" This whole thing was just insane to him.

"Did you bring anything with you? Do you have a change of clothes or anything?" He checked the time, if they had to they could still go to a Department store or Supermart to get her things she needed and now that he was thinking in terms of travel arrangement he had an idea of where she could stay.

"I can't take you home tonight, but I do have a place you can stay for tonight at least."

 

[nightblooming]

She got in the car and didn't stop shaking until they were four blocks away. She told him what had happened, what her father had said, and then she told him the worst.

"I couldn't take anything. I just ran, but I left my backpack. He will see my mini skirt, and he will think... He will think I am your slut," she whimpered. "He doesn't care if you're Christy's Dad. You don't understand. You're an American, he thinks you're all monsters. I am so sorry. I don't have anything but what I'm wearing. He was going to beat me." She sobbed and hid her face in her hands.

Then he said he had a plcace for her to stay, and she sniffled. She wiped her face.

"Thank you, Mister R," she said. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come."

 

[Tx_Liquor]

"Please, just call me Donnie or Don. DR if you really have to be formal." He drove in silence thinking and after a few minutes outlined his plan. "Okay, we can swing by the mall. There is a department store you can go into. I'll give you the Store Credit card but only buy 2 changes of clothes and the... essentials." He blushed thinking of her buying panties and bras.

"I'll come back and pick you up after I get a toothbrush, hairbrush and so on. Then we'll go to the Hotel where my office keeps VIPs. There is always a room available. You can stay there for tonight, at least and we'll figure out what to do in the morning. Right now I just want to make sure you're safe and not living on the street."

He continued on and stopped at the mall giving her the store charge card and saying, "Don't worry. If you keep is simple my wife will assume these were things bought for Christy. And it will be weeks before she has a chance to notice the charges anyway. We'll be fine."