Unfaithful

4

"Is she down yet?" Mark paced across the front hall in his best suit, looking amazing if I did say so myself. I was trying to straighten my tie but it did not seem to want to cooperate with me. He stopped in front of me, frowned a bit and gave it a few tugs. Miraculously it listened to him and flattened out nicely.

"No, she was talking on her phone to someone a minute ago though, so she must be close to done." I replied. I tried glancing in the reflection off one of the pictures in the front hall to see my tie. He sighed in frustration and yelled up the staircase.

"Kelly! Come on! They will start arriving any minute now!" He calmed when my mother appeared at the top of the stairs, looking perfect of course. She was good at that part at least. He held out a hand to her when she got most of the way down and she took it with a sly smile. He wrapped her arm around his and took her to the doorway to the ballroom to await the guests and make last minute decisions.

"The place looks great, William." I smiled at the butler and he bowed slightly to me with a wink. It really did look amazing though. There was real pine and cedar boughs strung up everywhere with bright red berries and glimmering silver candlesticks. A huge crystal punch bowl took up an entire end of the table and the rest was covered in hors d'oeuvres and desserts.

Well dressed people began filing in, greeting my mother and Mark before going into the room to mingle. They came in groups of four or six, and milled about the entryway talking before making their way into the main room. A few older women looked like they were going to pinch my cheeks until I stared them down with a cool smile.

A few comments about how much I looked like my mother rankled a bit. I didn't look anything like her except my colouring. We both had dark chocolate locks and ice blue eyes. I was much paler than her though, with my mother's preference to tanning and using bronzers to make her eyes stand out. She did look quite young with the way she curled her hair and wore skimpy clothes.

One old man asked if I was her brother and my mother was over the moon for a good hour. She was eating up all the attention. I wanted to go hide in my room. If I did then there would be no one to keep Mark company while my mother played with her friends. I could tell that she had invited more of her own than his on purpose. She hated not being number one.

"What has you looking so peeved." The man himself asked me as another group of his friends left the party late into the evening. I glanced at him and remembered he liked hearing the truth. Oh well, here goes nothing.

"She is banging her new assistant. Didn't take her long." I said nonchalantly. He lowered his brows and glanced over at where she was standing. She was laughing with an older couple while the man in question hovered in the background.

"What do you mean? She isn't even paying any attention to him." Mark said confidently. I shrugged.

"I could be wrong. I am not usually though. I find it more suspicious that she is ignoring him. Look at him instead, doesn't he look angry and desperate? Like someone being ignored after she had f*cked them, I would say." I took a sip of my non-alcoholic punch and watched as realisation dawned on Mark's face. He looked at me consideringly.

"Well. Now I really know why she doesn't like having you around. You sniff out all her secrets, don't you? How many other men have you exposed her playing ways to?" He sounded a little bitter and I couldn't blame him.

"I'm sorry. I thought you preferred the truth." I said gently. He scratched his head, mussing his hair artfully really, and nodded.

"No, you are right. I am sorry. It is not you I am angry with. I know you will always tell me the truth. I am just... a little disappointed." He admitted. I nodded. I cleared my throat after a minute of comfortable silence.

"So, how long are we expected to stick around this lame party? Can we make an excuse and duck out?" I asked bravely. He looked unsure for a second, then made a decision.

"Give me a second." He sauntered over to his wife and put a hand at her waist to get her attention. Then he whispered in her ear, smiling at the older couple and doing a great job at making her look good. She waved a hand at him and he gave her a quick kiss before making his way back over to me. "Alright kiddo, we can split."

"How did you manage that? I can't usually get her to let me go until at least after one am." I whispered in awe as he guided me out the door. He grinned at me.

"If I tell you then you might get mad at me." He followed me up the main staircase to the second floor and I looked at him with curiosity. "Ok, I told her it was past your bedtime and I had some work to do."

I glared at him as he laughed at me. Really? He pulled the whole 'he's too young to stay up' card and my mother bought it? I sniffed at him but it just seemed to make him laugh harder. I punched him on the shoulder and called him an idiot. He was trying to calm down now, and it was really hard to stay looking mad when I was watching his mirth.

"Alright, alright... Daddy." I said sarcastically and then turned on my heel to go to my own room. I was smiling by the time I got there and glanced back at his smiling face before I slipped in the door. I wasn't going to bed just yet. There was no way. Instead, I got undressed and turned on my system to shoot some aliens for a while in my pajamas. I wasn't a kid, after all.