One evening Alyssa and Audrey started talking about their dads. They recounted earliest memories and highlights along the way.

“No highlights from when you were home for the holiday?” Alyssa asked.

Audrey chuckled. “I don’t know if it’s a highlight, but one evening at dinner my dad started talking about this video he saw on Tik-Tok or somewhere. It was a guy making a teapot out of clay. My dad couldn’t get over the craftsmanship, the precision. Those were the two words he used several times. Especially precision. Then he said it made him think he should be more precise in his life. I asked him what he meant. He said like even when he brushes his teeth—just putting the cap back on the toothpaste tube. ‘I am conscious of being precise about it. Deliberately precise,’ he said. We laughed. He said, ‘No, really.’ Then he had us accompany him to the bathroom where he unscrewed the toothpaste cap and then screwed it back on. ‘See,’ he said. ‘Precision.’”

“That’s funny,” Alyssa said.

“Yeah, but the funny thing is, next time I brushed my teeth I was very conscious of being precise.”

Alyssa laughed.

“You have to try it,” Audrey said. “It really works.”

“I don’t believe this,” Alyssa said, but she accompanied Audrey to the bathroom, took the cap off the tube of toothpaste, then screwed it back on.

“You know, there’s something to it,” Alyssa admitted. “I mean, it’s not like you can screw it back on wrongly, I guess, but paying attention is kind of ... well, you know.”

“I know,” said Audrey. “So what about your dad? Anything like that happen when you were home?”

Alyssa blushed.

“What?” Audrey said.

“I can’t tell you. It’s too embarrassing.”

“You have to now.”

“It’s too...”

“Tell me!”

“Okay, but I warned you. I got up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom really bad. The bathroom door was open just a bit, and just as I was about to go in, I saw my dad was in there. In the mirror.”

“Oh dear,” Allysa said. “Was he peeing?”

“No. Worse.”

“He was, ah...”

“Worse. He was masturbating. Like jerking off over the sink. He and Mom have their own bathroom, so I don’t know why he was in there. And it was like two in the morning.”

“What did you do?”

“Basically I froze. It was kind of like if I moved, if I took a step, he’d notice me. But really I wasn’t thinking too clearly. I was just watching.”

“Did he ... cum?”

Alyssa nodded. “It took a long time. At least it seemed to. Maybe the only good thing was it distracted me from having to pee. I’d never seen a guy jerk off before. I guess it was kind of instructive.”

“How so?”

“Like the grip, the rhythm, stuff like that. Of course maybe not everyone is the same.”

“Probably not,” Audrey agreed. “Was there like a lot of cum?”

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. I don’t have anything really to compare it with. But it seemed like a lot. Like six or seven big spurts. And then he squeezed out more. When he turned the water on I snuck back to my bedroom. Then I emptied the wastebasket and peed in there. In the morning I was curious whether there’d be any sign of anything in the bathroom.”

“Was there?”

“Not that I was able to tell. And I wondered why he was doing that in there, or why he was doing that at all. I mean I think he and my mom still do it. Maybe they don’t. Anyway I’m not sure I’d call that a highlight of the holiday. Maybe a lowlight.”

“Yeah,” Audrey said. “Would you say your dad jerked off with precision?”

Alyssa laughed. “That’s so funny. You’re weird.”

“I know,” Audrey said. “Well, at least now you know how a guy does it. You’re one up on me. I’ve never even seen a girl do it.”

“A girl?”

“Well, sure.” After a bit of hesitation, Audrey said, “Girls masturbate.”

“I know but...”

Audrey said, “I bet girls do it in more different ways than guys.”

“You think so? How do you usually do it?”

“Ah different ways. Kind of hard to describe.”

“Maybe you should show me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I screwed on the toothpaste cap,” Alyssa said. “So...”

“But you really want to see?”

“Kind of. Yeah, I do.” Alyssa punctuated her statement with a curt nod.

Aubrey considered this for a moment. “Maybe I will, if you go first.”

“Or we could rock, paper, scissors for it,” Alyssa said.

“Winner goes first.”