by Amanda Wals
"Territory? I'm part of a turf war now?"
"Shut up, jackass. You know what I mean."
"When we get home, I'll give you all the reassurance in the world, beautiful."
"Mmm... I'm gonna hold you to that."
Feeling a little more confident that I'd navigated the minefield for now, I slid the phone back in my pocket and tried to warm my hands in my coat pockets. I walked for another quarter mile or so, then made the trek back to the house. Instead of going back to hang out around the fire pit, I went to the basement and curled up on the sofa, listening to some music. I'm not sure when I dozed off.
I felt a pair of soft lips touch mine. At first, my mind thought it was a dream about Amy, except the lips didn't feel like hers. But dreams are like that, I thought. Things are always a little off. Except I tasted mango lip gloss. I don't remember ever tasting anything in a dream. Do dreams allow you to taste flavors? I thought about that for a moment, then realized that I couldn't be dreaming because I was laying at an uncomfortable angle. I was laying at an uncomfortable angle in a dark basement on a sofa, with lips that tasted like mango lip gloss on mine. I opened my eyes just as the lips moved from my own and Kayla's face came into view.
"Wha..?" I started, a little too loudly.
"Shhh" She interrupted as quietly as possible, holding two fingers to my lips.
The fuck? My brain lurched into full motion again, the fog of sleep gone. I realized my whole debate about taste had taken only a second. That weird way that your subconscious mind bends the concept of time when you are not awake. Why the hell was she kissing me?
"Follow me." She whispered almost imperceptibly, smiling as she beckoned me to follow her with her hand.
I looked around the room and saw the other cousins sleeping on various furniture around the basement. Right at that moment, the air mattress across the room squeaked as my second cousin, James, rolled over. The poor bastard must have drawn the short straw on bed assignments.
I didn't want to follow her, but I didn't want to wake everyone up when I ended this nonsense. Jesus, this chick couldn't take a fucking hint. Part of me couldn't believe I was this annoyed, considering how much I wanted to be with her on previous trips here. But now, she was complicating my already complicated life and I didn't want that at all. This was one of those times when I was certain that if there was a deity above, they definitely had a sick sense of humor and considered me to be a favorite toy. I rolled off of the sofa and walked behind her, not bothering to pull my shoes on.
She led me back to the deck, although no one was in the room anymore and the fire pit was all but extinguished.
"You didn't come back earlier, so I thought I'd come down and find you." She smiled as she went to put an arm around my neck. I back peddled and she paused in reaction, giving me a perplexed look.
"What is this?" I asked, staying out of her reach.
"I'm just trying to get closer to you. You've always acted like you wanted me to." She replied, trying to sound as sweet as she could.
"Why now? You barely gave me the time of day before." I cocked an eyebrow. No way was I going to get into something with her, but I was still curious why the sudden interest. I suspected I didn't have all the pieces to this particular puzzle.
"I don't know. You looked cute earlier. I liked your drawings. I thought you wanted me." She suddenly looked shy and uncertain. She was playing up the cute angle with me, but I was immune to her charms.
"If this had been last year, you would have had me around your finger, Kayla. And I really don't want to hurt your feelings. But I'm seeing someone back home. This can't happen. I'm sorry."
"Well, that's back home, right? You're still here for a few days. We can have a lot of fun in with a few days." She grinned, stepping forward to put a hand on my chest and tried to move closer to me.
"Sorry, Kayla. That's not me. I'm can't do that to someone I care about." I backed away again, not smiling.
"Okay, if that what you really want. It's your loss." She shrugged. I saw the bitter look in her eyes. It was obvious that she wasn't used to rejection.
"Look, it's not your fault. You're a very beautiful girl. If I were single, this would be a very different conversation. I'm sorry." I continued to work my way back toward the door. She stayed were she was this time, looking at my chest, not meeting my eyes. I hoped that I hadn't hurt her feelings, although I was more than a little annoyed that she thought I was the kind to cheat on someone. That wasn't in my nature, and sure as hell wasn't in my nature when it came to Amy.
I made my way back down to the basement and sat in the far corner of the sofa. I wiped my mouth a few times with my thumb. I'd always hated the taste of mango, and this was no exception. Christ, I was ready for this trip to be over. I didn't sleep much that night, too unnerved by the events that evening.
* *
The next day was spent snowboarding with Brad. After spending the early part of the morning locked in heavy debate with myself, I decided to come clean with Amy about the incident from the night before. I sent her a long text message while Brad drove us to the park, explaining the course of events. Amy was wicked pissed at Kayla's boldness, but seemed to have calmed down after a while and thanked me for telling her what had transpired. I reassured her that she had nothing to worry about and hoped that it would be the end of it.
In the evening, worn out from a long day spent snowboarding on zero sleep, I sat in front of the fire pit and stretched.
"It's cold out here." Amy said as she flopped down next to me with a throw blanket. She spread the blanket across both of us and snuggled up next to me in a mostly innocent manner. For appearances sake, I kept my arms above the blanket. One of her hands rested lightly on my thigh under the blanket, hidden by my arm. She gripped my thigh tightly for a moment and whispered. "I still want to hurt the bitch, but thanks for not trying to hide it from me."
"This week needs to be over, I've had enough of this shit." I muttered quietly, hearing footsteps approaching.
"Mmhmm." She nodded in agreement as Courtney flopped down on the bench across from us.
"You look tired, Adam." Courtney smiled.
"It was worth it. Even if I wound up with my face in the snow more than usual." I chuckled. "But yeah, I wore myself out."
"Gotta be better than asphalt." said Amy. "I remember seeing you land face first on that more than once."
"Definitely better than asphalt." I agreed.
Brad and Brenda turned up with a few extra beers to pass around to those of us who were empty.
Brad looked over at me and commented "My ass is kicked, dude."
"Yep. Same here." I nodded.
Brad and I compared notes on our various snowboarding mishaps from earlier in the day. At some point, a short while later, Amy laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep. I was amused at her move to stay close to me, while not being overt and arouse suspicion. As least that was what I thought she was up to until I heard her softly begin to snore. Brad left to drive Brenda home, leaving me with Courtney and a sleeping sister.
"Looks like you're trapped." Courtney said to me with a grin, nodding toward Amy.
"Yeah, I was just noticing that." I replied, cutting my eyes down at my sleeping sister.
"You really pissed Kayla off last night, from what I hear." Courtney said with a grin.
"Really? I was trying not to hurt her feelings." I sighed.
"You're fine. She just isn't used to rejection. I love her to death, but I have to admit it's pretty funny to see her trying to figure out how to deal with someone actually telling her no." She chuckled.
"Hmm?" Amy stirred and wrinkled her nose adorably.
"I was just telling your brother how Kayla was pretty mad that he shot her down last night." Courtney replied.
"Good for her." She mumbled, cracking open one eye.
"She's just pissed? I didn't hurt her feelings?" I asked, only mildly concerned.
"She's fine. Don't sweat it. She needed to co
me down a peg or two anyway. You probably did her a favor." Courtney chuckled.
Amy grumbled something unintelligible and closed her eyes again. I thought I made out the word "whore" in there somewhere, but I didn't want to ask for clarification.
A couple of minutes later I heard Amy start snoring softly again.
I looked over at Amy and shifted my shoulder. "Wake up, brat. Time for bed."
"What?" she groaned.
"I said time to get up and go to bed."
"Don't wanna." She mumbled.
"Courtney, go grab me a handful of snow, would ya?" I asked. Courtney started snickering.
"Nooooo." Amy cried softly and draped an arm across me. I moved her arm back to her side and shrugged a little more forcefully.
"Last chance, kid. Snow's coming." I warned.
"But I'm tired." She whined, dragging the last word out. She cracked open one eye and stared up at me pouting. "Carry me?"
"Carry you? What are you, a five year old?" I laughed. Had we been at home, I would have done it in a heartbeat. "Not happening, brat. Get your ass up and go to bed."
"Fine." She stuck her tongue out at me as she shuffled out of the room with the blanket hanging off of her shoulders.
* *
Thanksgiving morning, I woke up early and hit the shower. I dried off and got dressed. I unlocked the bathroom door and the door handle turned in my hand, startling the hell out of me. I stepped back from the door, expecting it to fly open in my face. Instead, it opened slowly about a third of the way, and Amy slid into the bathroom looking over her shoulder as she did. She closed the door and locked it again, then spun and nearly ran into my arms. I can't say I wasn't relieved that it wasn't Kayla.
I broke our embrace with one arm just enough to turn on the water in the sink.
"You're out of your mind." I whispered to her, hoping the water would mask our voices to anyone who may pass in the hall. With at least a dozen people in the house who knew us, this felt like an incredible risk.
"I know. I just wanted a few seconds alone." She replied, planting her lips on my neck. I didn't notice until that moment that she was holding her travel kit with her. To anyone who wasn't standing right at the door, she was simply going to the bathroom as soon as I left. The overlap would only be apparent to someone who saw her enter or me leave. She could be a clever little shit, when she wanted.
I gave her a deep, lingering kiss, allowing one of my hands to cup her ass for emphasis. She melted into me immediately, a soft moan escaping her lips.
"I gotta go, baby." I whispered, letting my reluctance to leave her side show in my voice. She nodded, smiling.
"I just needed a quick kiss." Her eyes skipped down to the tent in my pants. "And to remind myself that I could do that to you."
I walked to the door, turned and walked right back up to her. I gave her another passionate kiss, this time groping her tits a moment before sliding my hand into her pajama pants and running my fingers over her slit, allowing the middle one to part her slightly. She melted again, groaning into the kiss. I pulled my hand away and slid my finger into my mouth, tasting her. She took a sharp breath and leaned up to kiss me again, but I slipped away to the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" She pouted.
"I gotta go," I repeated with an evil grin. "I just wanted to remind myself that I could do that to you."
"Goddamned tease." She replied, but she was smirking. She looked a little shaky as she leaned against the counter.
I laughed quietly and slipped from the room. I made it about five feet down the hall before I turned back toward the door. I heard the lock click into place.
"Damn it," I mumbled. I could have knocked, but I knew it was best I didn't. We'd already pushed our luck enough for one morning. I sighed and went to find breakfast.
The rest of Thanksgiving day went mostly without incident. Thankfully, Kayla had gone home the night before to spend the day with her own family. Amy and I felt continually trapped by our circumstances after that incident in the bathroom. We maintained a careful distance from each other, very much against our desires. We still stole glances at each other periodically throughout the day, both of us wanting this week to be over. Eventually, she got roped into helping out in the kitchen by Courtney while I shot pool in the game room with Brad.
When everyone sat down for dinner, Amy sat across from me. She made sure that she dipped over several times while passing serving dishes around, allowing me plenty of opportunities to see down her blouse. It wasn't long into the meal before I felt a bare foot sliding up between my legs. I shot her a dirty look, but kept my composure. She was absently listening to our mother chattering away with Aunt Linda, chewing happily on a piece of turkey, while her toes rubbed my cock to an erection under the table. I casually dropped my hand below the table and pushed her foot away.
The amount of food on the table was daunting. All of it looked absolutely incredible. I had overdosed on seasoned potatoes with turkey gravy, and was currently working my way through a pile of steamed broccoli, when I saw the mischievous smirk cross my baby sister's face. Uh oh, I thought. Conversations from the family surrounding us was just as abundant as the food. Maybe five minutes passed, and the foot returned, rubbing itself along my cock.
I reached for my phone and fired off a text message. "Cut the shit, damn it."
Understandably, for appearances sake, she waited a minute or two to reach for her phone. I had long since slid mine back in my pocket. Her lips curled upward in a grin when she saw the text, and I felt her toes make another determined stroke across the length of my dick. Really? I thought. The little brat was asking for it.
I picked up my dining knife, glancing about to make sure no one had their eyes on me, and dropped my hands below the table. She cocked an eyebrow at me, unsure what I was planning to do. Grabbing her foot before she had a chance to retreat, I spun the blade around backwards. I drug the back of the knife very lightly and slowly down the arch of her foot, tickling her foot in the process. Amy suddenly coughed and straightened, making a show of having swallowed something wrong to mask how hard she was fighting off laughter. She struggled to pull her foot away, while straining to not be obvious about it. Considering my point made, I released her foot, which retreated rapidly back to where it belonged. I pretended to show concern that she'd not hurt herself with her choking act and then settled back into enjoying my meal.
She stuck her lower lip out in an adorable little pout for a tiny moment, which made me chuckle to myself. Her foot ventured back to my turf under the table, but she confined it to rubbing my lower leg affectionately. This was acceptable to me as it was substantially less risky. I kept my dining knife resting on my thigh in case I needed it again.
She wisely kept her damned foot to herself for the remainder of the meal. That didn't keep her from going out of her way to be as cute as possible and giving me seductive looks every chance she got. At one point, I thought I saw Brenda giving Amy a strange look and then glancing at me, but she said nothing. That kept me slightly nervous for the rest of the day.
We didn't see one another much at all on Friday, as she took off with most of the family on a shopping trip while I remained behind on babysitting duty. This was my curse every year. I didn't want to do much shopping, because I hated crowds, so I would stay behind with the younger kids who didn't want to wait around in long lines all day. Kayla had returned to join Courtney for the shopping trip. She shot daggers at me with her eyes whenever I happened to be in the same room with her for a bit, but I did my best to ignore them.
Early Saturday morning, we loaded everything back in the SUV, said our goodbyes to everyone, and Uncle Dennis drove us back down to the airport. About fifteen minutes into the drive, Amy laid down across the backseat and rode with her head in my lap. She made a show of saying how tired she was, but we both knew it was just because she wanted to be close to me. After making sure my hand and her face were sufficiently out of sight of our parents, I spent most
of the drive with my hand on her cheek or gently stroking her hair affectionately. She reveled in my loving touch. She tapped my wrist lightly at one point, and when I looked down at her, her mouth formed the words "I love you" soundlessly. I smiled down at her warmly and looked back out at the passing snow.
We were almost done with this trip. In some ways it felt much longer than the two weeks she had spent in Rome. Probably because I could see her the entire time and she was just out of my reach, so to speak. I had to admit gaining a little satisfaction from knowing that her week had been spent in a similar hell.
* *
Finally home. I dropped my bags on the bed, fired up my laptop and selected an early Aphex Twin album to listen to while I unpacked. My bedroom door was open and I saw my sister walk by on her way to her bedroom. She gave me a quick, tired smile as she passed. The flight had been delayed, cramped, and uncomfortable. There wasn't anyone willing to switch seats this time either. We were all tired and cranky by the time we got home. I finished unpacking my stuff and flopped down on the bed with my laptop, intending to check my emails and screw around on the internet for a few minutes. I fell asleep in no time.
It was dark outside when I woke up. I glanced at the clock and saw it was just after eleven. Christ, I'd been asleep for hours. I guess a week spent trying to sleep on an unfamiliar sofa listening to distant relatives snoring around the room will do that to you. Stretching, I caught a whiff of myself and realized I was in need of a shower.
The house was quiet. I guess no one was awake. I padded down the hall to the bathroom, noticing Amy's door was closed and there was no light under it. She wouldn't mind me going in and waking her up, but I was a little self conscious of my body odor. It had been hot in the plane while take off was delayed. I guess my deodorant had lost the war.
I'd been in the shower all of five minutes before I heard the bathroom door click open. I peaked over the top of the shower just in time to see Amy slip out of her bathrobe and drop it on the laundry hamper. She joined me under the water's spray a moment later.