How to Liv

by Megan Keith

  His eyes drifted downward for a moment before he abruptly twisted away reaching for something on the floor. That’s when I noticed that he was already dressed. He was wearing the same cargo shorts that he wore that day at the supermarket and a black tank top that showed off his broad shoulders and his muscled, tattooed bicep. He flung something at me.

  “You better put this on. I like to eat my pancakes while they’re still hot.”

  He glared pointedly at my chest which I now realised was completely bare, the sheet having fallen when I sat up. I looked down to my hands to see what he had thrown at me and found it was a black t-shirt of his. I put it on and breathed in, it smelled like him, just divine.

  “Have you been up for a while then?” I asked as he stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me from the bed. His t-shirt hung to mid-thigh, I had no idea where my knickers were, nor did I care. I felt sexier than I had ever felt, wearing just his t-shirt and his eyes on me, full of lust. He gulped as they drifted over my body again.

  “A little while… Let’s eat, I’m starved.” He squeezed my hand and then pulled me from his room.

  We sat at adjacent sides of the four-seater square table off to the side of his kitchen. Joel had been busy. There was a stack of pancakes on a large plate in the middle of the table. He had set out the condiments, cutlery and glasses as well as two smaller plates for us to eat off. I glanced at the clock, it was half past ten. I’d slept in. I wondered how long ago Joel had gotten up.

  “Tea or coffee?” he asked, placing two pancakes on the plate in front of me and then two on his own.

  “Have you got juice?”

  “I’ve got apple juice.”

  “Perfect.”

  I watched as he stood, grabbing the juice from the fridge, then returned to the table to pour it into both of our glasses.

  “Eat.” He pointed to my plate. He didn’t have to tell me twice, I was starving. I poured some maple syrup, grabbed my knife and fork and dug in.

  “Mmm, these are delicious. So you’re a good cook, too?”

  “I cheated,” he admitted as he sat back in his chair, “they’re from one of those shaker bottle things.” He shrugged, causing me to smile. He looked so adorable, like he was embarrassed that he didn’t make them from scratch.

  “You know, I’ve never made pancakes from scratch, I’ve only ever used those.” I smiled, putting him at ease. It was funny that he thought I wouldn’t be impressed because of something like that, especially as I was super-impressed that he had made me breakfast at all. “Spanks for cooking me breakfast.”

  “You’re welcome.” He gave me a cheeky grin.

  He squeezed lemon on his pancakes and then sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top. The smell hit me and I wished I had of done that instead of choosing the maple syrup. Those thoughts must have been written all over my face as I eyed his plate, because after he took a couple of bites he held a piece out to me on his fork.

  “Want some?” he said, but the look in his eyes seemed to mean something else.

  The smug smile on his lips kicked up a notch when I licked mine. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. I pulled my chair closer to his corner of the table and opened my mouth for him. I watched him watching my mouth as it closed around his fork and he licked his own lips, slowly sliding the fork back out. Our eyes locked for a moment, the electricity in the air between us thick with desire.

  “Mmm, delicious,” I muttered which made him chuckle, his eyes finally leaving mine to look back down at his plate. He cut another piece and repeated the process. I felt the muscles at the apex of my thighs clenching with desire. I shifted restlessly in my seat. My knife and fork clattering against the plate as I moved one hand under the table onto his thigh. He fed himself another bite, his eyes only disconnecting from mine for mere seconds, and then going a little wide as my hand slowly crept higher up his leg.

  Then there was a loud thumping at the front door interrupting us.

  “You expecting someone?” I blinked myself from the fog (I liked that word).

  “No.” He got up and looked out the window. “It’s my brother. Quick, go get dressed,” he said as he ran around the lounge room collecting my clothes. He shoved them against my chest as soon as I reached him.

  I quickly raced into his bedroom, reluctantly but hastily pulled off his t-shirt and replaced it with my dress from the day before. I pulled on my knickers and then realised in my hurry that I forgotten to put on my bra. Looking around the room I also realised that Joel hadn’t given it to me. I could hear voices coming from the other room. Shit! It must still be in the lounge somewhere. I roughly ran my fingers through my hair to tidy it and left the room. My heart was racing when I spotted a brawny guy with a shaved head, flanked by Joel and a small dark-haired woman holding a child.

  “Liv.” Joel reached his arm out towards me as I stepped up to them. “This is Adam.”

  I shook the burly man’s hand. His blue eyes were kind, but he looked at me like he was assessing me. Studying me perhaps to figure out if I was worthy of his brother. Looking between Adam and Joel I couldn’t see any family resemblance. Adam was slightly shorter than Joel. Much rounder in the face and body and I could see that, now I was closer, he had extremely short shaved blonde hair. They looked nothing alike at all, and Adam was definitely the older of the two, by a lot. At a guess I would say he’d be early to mid-forties. I wondered if maybe they had different fathers.

  “Hello,” he said letting go of my hand and looking over his shoulder. “This is my better half Raelene and our munchkin Chelsea.”

  “Hi. Nice to meet you,” I said with a small smile at the brown haired pair that were standing just behind him. Raelene seemed really young, she was short with a friendly smile and big brown eyes.

  “How’s it goin?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye and then turned her attention to Joel. “Heya spunk!” She greeted him with a one armed hug, her other arm occupied by the cute chubby faced girl with two little pigtails high upon her head.

  “Unkoo Jojo,” the little girl squealed, her blue eyes, that matched her dad’s, going wide as she tried to wriggle out from her mother’s hold.

  “Chels, come here munchkin,” Joel cooed. Chelsea donked him in the head with a plush rabbit she tightly held in one hand as her little arms circled his neck.

  “She’s been so excited to see you,” Raelene said, untangling her arms from between the two.

  Joel hugged Chelsea fiercely, her little legs circling him. “It’s good to see you sweetheart,” he said placing a kiss on her head. “Would you like some pancakes?” He pulled back a little to look at her face.

  “Can I Mummy?” She looked back at Raelene.

  “Sure. Can Mummy have some, too?” Raelene asked Joel.

  “I’m sure that can be arranged.” Joel spoke over his shoulder as he carried Chelsea towards the kitchen, dumping her on the seat he had occupied only moments ago.

  I felt Raelene’s and Adam’s eyes on me as I watched Joel taking extra plates out of the cupboard and cutlery from the drawer. He returned to the table and put a pancake on one of the plates, placing it in front of Chelsea as he shoved his plate out the way. I watched in awe as he started to cut up the pancakes for her. It was sweet to see him so attentive toward the adorable girl. Chelsea seemed in just as much awe as I was, her head turned upward, blue eyes glued to his face and a big grin on her lips.

  “Here, let me do that Joel,” Raelene spoke, grabbing the knife and fork from his hands.

  “Sure, I’ll just cook some more.” He strolled back to the hotplate.

  “Do you want some help?” I asked, walking up beside him.

  “No,” his arm came around my back and he leaned in to whisper, “you look so sexy without your bra on, but maybe you should do another button up babe.”

  I loved that he called me babe. His eyesight wandered downward, as did mine. I gasped at just how revealing my dress was and quickly did up two buttons.

  “Because those are for
my eyes only.”

  I blushed furiously. That’s not all they were for last night. I glanced at his mouth. I distinctly remember those lips on them as well – God! What has gotten into me?

  Joel spoke a little louder, snapping me out of it, “You sit. Eat.”

  I was more than a little mortified when I turned around. Adam and Raelene were seated at the table watching us, hopefully they hadn’t copped too much of an eyeful of my tits before. And I sure hoped that they hadn’t heard Joel’s comment. Embarrassed, I sat back in my chair and silently collected my knife and fork, taking a bite of my pancake. Adam had claimed the remainder of the pancakes from the centre plate and was silently tucking in.

  “You’ve got to excuse the rudeness of these boys, they didn’t properly introduce us,” Raelene spoke. “I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Olivia,” I said, after swallowing my mouthful.

  “Tim Tam girl.” She nodded and I almost choked. I wondered what exactly she had been told about me. My head shot up in Joel’s direction and he chuckled when his eyes met mine over his shoulder.

  “Raelene is my ‘connection.’ She’s the one who got the-”

  “Giant pack.” I concluded, turning back to Raelene. “Thank you.”

  “No drama. So you spent the night, huh?” Raelene asked and I was taken aback.

  “Raelene!” Joel yelled.

  Adam laughed.

  “What? It’s kinda obvious,” she shrugged, lifting her arm from under the table. She had my bra dangling from her fingers. If I thought I was mortified before, I obviously had no idea what mortification truly was until that moment. I gasped, my face redder than a beetroot.

  “It’s about bloody time you got some!” she hollered to Joel, who immediately bit back.

  “God woman, learn to filter!”

  Raelene’s response to that was to throw my bra across the room hitting Joel in the face. He laughed and tucked it into the pocket of his cargo shorts. He looked at me apologetically.

  “Please excuse my wife Olivia. She really is trailer trash. She doesn’t understand boundaries whatsoever,” Adam piped up. He was speaking seriously but with a twinkle in his eyes. Then he lost it, laughing uncontrollably as he threw his head back and his hands thumped the table, causing me to jump. He had a great laugh.

  Chelsea, who was silently eating her maple syruped soaked pancake beside me, looked up then and smiled at her dad before focusing back on her food, oblivious to everything else around her.

  Raelene leaned closer to me giving a playful punch in the arm and a wink. The friendly smile on her face made me relax.

  “It’s just a bra.” I shrugged trying to play off my absolute mortification.

  “That’s the spirit! I think we’re gonna get along just fine,” Raelene said, sitting up straight again and yelling to Joel, “Now where’s my pancakes?”

  “Yeah, yeah, they’re coming.”

  Joel left the stove to open the glass sliding door letting Ruby in. She greeted everyone excitedly with a sniff and her front paws in each lap. Chelsea giggled wildly when it was her turn. Then Ruby came to me tickling my bare legs with her wet nose. I bent down and gave her a pat and then she curled up under the table at my feet, resting her chin on my foot. It felt lovely, to be accepted by her like that.

  “Rooby like you.” Chelsea giggled. “She squishying your foot.”

  “She is, isn’t she?” I replied to the sweet girl with the big blue eyes. She was quite possibly the most adorable little girl I had ever seen. “How you liking your pancakes?”

  “They is very yum!” She smiled at me, showing her dimples before taking another bite.

  Joel placed a plate stacked high with pancakes on the centre of the table. Adam and Raelene immediately helped themselves. Joel put his hand on Chelsea’s head and then squatted beside her to whisper in her ear, loud enough for us all to hear.

  “Chels do you think maybe we could share that chair?” All four seats were occupied.

  “Okay Unkoo Jojo,” she said as she got off the chair, pulling the toy rabbit from her lap. “Bah whah about Bunny?”

  “Can Bunny sit with me?” I asked her, realising that there would only be so much room between Joel, Chelsea and the table. The girl eyed me suspiciously then looked back at Joel for reassurance. “I promise I will look after her,” I said.

  “You can trust Liv,” Joel said nodding.

  “Okay then Wiv,” Chelsea said with a shrug and handed me her Bunny. I placed the toy carefully on my legs.

  Joel sat and pulled Chelsea up onto his lap. He cut into his pancake and started munching away. Chelsea did the same. They both looked extremely comfortable sitting together like that, as if this was a regular occurrence for them. He was so much at ease with her that it was obvious they had spent a lot of time together. Seeing the way he interacted with Chelsea, and Ruby for that matter, it was easy to imagine that he would make a great father. Joel noticed me watching them and he gave me a wink followed by a sexy smirk, the exchange was not missed by the other adults sitting at the table. I blushed with embarrassment as Adam and Raelene exchanged looks with each other.

  They had called into Joel’s on the way to Raelene’s parents’ house. Chelsea was very excited about going to swim in their pool today. It was going to be another hot one and as Joel’s house started to heat up I began wishing I was going with them. Other than the initial embarrassment that Raelene had bestowed upon me I found that she really was a lovely person. She liked to tell it like it is and didn’t care much for the consequences. I liked it, she was refreshing and fun.

  Adam was a bricklayer and worked for himself. He was an overly joyous and loud man. There must have been about twenty year’s difference in age between Adam and Raelene. You could clearly see he loved his wife so much in every gesture he made. He was also a great father to Chelsea continuously making the girl laugh and say ‘daaaAAaaad’ while rolling her eyes. It was very entertaining to watch the two of them.

  Raelene worked at a deli in an industrial estate, making smoko and lunch for all the workers of the area, that’s how she was able to get the caterer’s size Tim Tam pack. She had reduced her hours to only two days a week, since having Chelsea, but had worked there for years.

  Once the last of the pancakes had been eaten and Chelsea had left the table to play with Ruby and Bunny, I started stacking the plates to take them to the sink. Joel’s hand stilled mine.

  “You cooked, let me wash up,” I said, standing beside him and pulling my hand away to collect the plates.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Raelene spoke as she stood up from her chair. “The boys can wash up, us girls can go outside. Come on Chels, Ruby…”

  She looped her arm through mine and pulled me in the direction of the back door. I offered Joel a shrug and he smiled at me before giving Raelene a warning look. Chelsea and Ruby ran on ahead and were already out the door.

  Raelene and I sat down on the lounge chairs Joel had placed in the backyard and watched Chelsea and Ruby chase each other around on the grass. It was hot out but the backyard was mainly sheltered from the sun, shadowed by trees and the side of the house.

  “That dog is just great with kids,” Raelene eventually spoke.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “How old is Chelsea?”

  “She’s two and a half,” she replied before turning to me with a smile. “So what is your intention with my boy?”

  “Seriously?” I laughed. Her smile vanished.

  “I’m serious. I may be a lot younger than you but Joel is my family and I’ll always look out for him. So?” She spoke harshly and it stunned me.

  “Um, I- I don’t know what to say… I really like him?” I stuttered, suddenly a bit shell-shocked at the conversation.

  “Relax. I’m just fucking with ya.” Raelene’s smile returned. She placed a hand on my knee. “I was only half-serious. I can see that you really like him. I’ve been watching the way the two of you interact. It’s obvious you are both really into this.”<
br />
  It is? I suppose it is.

  “To be honest with you I was kinda shocked to find you here this morning though, Joel hasn’t- NO CHELS, PUT THAT STICK DOWN!" Chelsea did so immediately, Raelene’s motherly tone was a little scary, even Ruby looked stunned for a moment.

  “You were saying?” I prompted Raelene to continue.

  “Huh?” She looked away from Chelsea and back to me.

  “About Joel?”

  “Yes, what were you saying about me?” Joel spoke as he leant down over Raelene’s shoulder.

  “I was saying you should mow your grass.”

  I looked out across the yard that did not need mowing.

  “Yeah right, there’s nothing wrong with the length of my… grass.” Joel snickered making his words sound dirty.

  “Well I wouldn’t know about that and I don’t want to know about it either!” Raelene laughed and jumped away from the chair. “Come on Chels, let’s go to Nanna and Poppy’s!”

  “Yay!” Chelsea squealed and ran back inside with Ruby hot on her heels.

  I got up from my chair and followed her inside.

  “Dad, Dad, we go swimming now?” Chelsea chattered excitedly as Adam lifted her into his arms in the lounge room.

  “Sure thing munchkin!” Then he turned to me, “It was nice to meet you Liv.”

  “You too, Adam.”

  “Catch ya next time.” He smiled and then headed out the door with Chelsea.

  I noticed Raelene and Joel whispering in the kitchen, but they stopped when I turned in their direction. They both smiled at me, making me think I was the topic of their conversation. Well I probably was.

  “We were talking about you, not to you!” Raelene teased me, confirming my thoughts. She turned to give Joel a hug. “See ya, spunk!” She then walked over to me and surprised me by pulling me into a hug too. I hugged her back. “We only said good things I promise,” she whispered. “I’m so glad to have met you.” It felt like she really meant what she was saying.