Celeste Rowan woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of moans in the distance. Her eyes creaked apart and through the open doorway of her bedroom, she could see a faint light coming from her parents' room. The young girl knew what they were up to and sighed. She had already determined that her mom and dad must have forgotten to close their door once again. Celeste groaned and rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head to block out the cacophony of her parents' lovemaking.
She had overheard them many times before because they often forgot to shut the door, particularly when it was late at night. While Celeste's mom and dad held fairly progressive views on sex, they never did it in her presence, and furthermore she had little interest in getting a live education on it, anyway-least of all from her own parents.
Still, as the muffled grunts sifted through the downy feathers of her pillow, she began to pick up on an unfamiliar tenor. The higher- pitched moans began to crystalize into words and Celeste soon realized that there was a third participant involved in their sexual reverie. "Oh, fuck, Emilia, your husband is a machine," the voice quavered. It was Isla, her mom's friend, and sometimes her babysitter.
She could hear her mother say something but couldn't make out the words.
Celeste was startled to hear Isla's familiar voice in the house this late at night. She hadn't been there when Celeste had gone to bed. The young girl pushed the pillow away and picked her head up off the bed to listen to the sounds and dirty talk. She almost dared not to breathe.
Isla cried out again, her staccato voice hinting at the speed of her father's rhythmic pounding, "Fuck, Adrian, fuck me with that steel rod of yours."
Celeste's heart pounded in her chest and she wondered why she was reacting like this. Between her legs, she felt a kind of lubrication squeeze out from her vagina. She didn't quite know why, and the urge confused her, but on the whole she was feeling a bit odd. A little turned on, she reluctantly admitted to herself.
Previously, her parents' all too common mistake of having sex with the door open provided no interest to her, but perhaps the involvement of her mom's junior co-worker and friend was what was piquing her interest. She had seen threesomes on the internet, but assumed it was something that was just in porn. She never suspected that her parents might have an appetite for the practice. She pressed her hips into the bed and the sensation felt good between her legs.
Isla's groans and swearing became louder and Adrian's own rhythmic grunts built into its own crescendo before both of them could be heard gibbering incoherently at once.
From there it quickly died down into long, satisfied sighs and eventually giggles. Celeste found herself oddly disappointed that the fun was over already. The talk grew quiet and the young girl even crept out from between her sheets and padded to the doorway of her room, trying to hear where the conversation was going. She could only make out the odd word here and there until she heard Isla exclaim: "Oh fuck! Did we leave the door open?"
Celeste couldn't make out the response and she craned her head out into the hallway. Suddenly she heard her mom's concerned voice at the entrance of their bedroom. "I'll go check on her to make sure she's still asleep."
Celeste bolted back to her bed and slid in as quietly as possible. She snapped her eyes shut tightly.
Moments later she heard the floorboards in her bedroom creek beneath the carpet. Her mother's whisper slipped through the darkness. "Celeste, honey, are you awake?"
Celeste dared not move a muscle in response except to breathe heavily to feign a deep slumber. She could sense her mother move in closer, which terrified her with thoughts of being caught spying. She could feel her mom's presence within reach, then kneeling over her. She twitched as Emilia brushed a few strands of hair off her face, then tucked it behind her ear. Then she felt her mother lean in and kiss her lightly on the forehead. She breathed in her mother's familiar scent, but it was tinged with a musky tanginess that she didn't recognize.
All the while the poor girl's nerves were in fight-or-flight mode, but she fought both instincts and remained dead-still. She didn't want to be caught listening in on them, not because she had a sense that it was wrong to eavesdrop on her parents' sexual adventures. It was instead because she hoped they would make the mistake again of leaving their door open in the future. With Isla present, she might start to learn more about this suddenly fascinating new world of sex.
At last, Emilia stood up and Celeste allowed herself to open her eyes a crack. They followed her mother to the door and, as Emilia went to leave, suddenly Isla appeared, popping her head around the jamb. Her whispers cut through the air: "Is she asleep?"
"Yes, but what are you doing here?" Emilia whispered sternly in reply.
Isla giggled mischievously, "Adrian's already asleep!"
"No, I mean why are you naked? Go put some clothes on!"
"Oh, I knew she was already asleep," Isla said sardonically, "It's so late. Kids her age will sleep through anything."
Celeste found herself offended that Isla had referred to her as a kid, and she almost broke her cover to correct her, but common sense took over and she remained quiet. Both women left the room and Celeste could at last breathe a sigh of relief.
She rolled over, ready to return to sleep, but still curious to learn more about some of the new feelings happening inside her body.