“It’s so good to have you home with us, Jenn,” she said as she approached the oven.
“I’m so glad to be here. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be for Christmas.” It was true. Not that I didn’t enjoy spending Christmas with my mom; in fact, it was great—sunny weather, nothing like the miserable cold that NYC offered in the winter months. But there was no Tyler in California, which just made the sunny weather not worth it for me. I’d take snow and cold days in NYC over the warmest, brightest day in California.
“Glad to hear that,” Lauren said.
“I don’t mean I don’t like California, don’t get me wrong.”
“Oh, no, of course not. Your mom is fun, and I’m sure you have a great time with her.”
I smiled, still trying to explain myself to wash away the guilty feeling I had about insulting my mom. “You know what I mean, right? I just like being with you guys, too, and sometimes, it’s so hard to decide where to go.” The first part was true; I liked being with them, but the second part of my story was a lie. It was never hard deciding where to stay; my heart lay where Tyler was, and given the chance, I’d spend all my free days and nights with him.
“Yes, darling, I know what you mean. I do feel privileged that you’re spending the holiday with us. You know what?”
“What?” I asked, having no idea what she wanted to say next.
“Tyler loves your company. He might hassle you sometimes, but trust me, when you are not around, he mopes like a dog. I didn’t realize how lonely he felt as an only child until you came along.”
I nodded, her words making a lot of sense to me. I was technically the older child for my mom. Yes, she just had a new baby with my new stepdad, but I feel more like a mom to my baby sister than a sister because we are eighteen years apart. Tyler definitely made my life better and did a good job of taking that only child loneliness away from me.
“Yes, I miss him when I’m not here, too,” I admitted, but I kept the rest of my thoughts to myself. I missed him, not just like a brother, but also like someone I had a crush on, but this was something I could never let anyone find out, not our parents and certainly not Tyler.
TYLER
I left the kitchen eating the piece of sausage Jenn had cooked. I loved to watch her cook, but I noticed that my presence had a surprising effect on her. Not something I had anticipated or planned, but one I was pleased about.
I got to my room and stood in front of the mirror. I was not one to gloat or admire myself, but I could see that my many months of working out furiously to make sure I was in top shape when Jenn came back for the winter had paid off. I could see muscles I didn’t know existed peeking out from my torso. Maybe it was time I stopped walking around without a shirt on. Jenn was so delicate and na?ve. I couldn’t bear it if she wanted to escape my company by making her uncomfortable around me. I could tell this morning had made her uneasy.
I closed my door and ran the shower water, my mind still on Jenn. That day when I had gone to pick her up from the airport had been the most exciting day for me since the last time I had seen her. I remembered waiting patiently and watching her approach me. Instead of the young, lanky girl that had left for California the summer before, I had watched a full-grown woman with a nice set of tits scanning the room for me. Yes, I did notice the tits. Not that I’m a tits guy, but having known Jenn for so long and used to her chest being a little on the flat side, the breasts took me by surprise. I did all I could not to reach out and hold them or squeeze them. And she hadn’t even noticed how much I stared at them. I wanted nothing more than to peel that big shirt she was wearing off her and take her into my arms, take those babies in my hands and squeeze them until she begged me to kiss and lick them.
I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts. I was going overboard thinking about Jenn. It was one thing thinking about her legs that stretched for miles, but now I was thinking of her boobs and how to get my hands on them, something big brothers shouldn’t think of. I needed to quit before I tried to make my thoughts a reality. I sighed and got into the shower, thinking that the hot water was not going to do me and my raging hard-on any good, so I turned nozzle to cold—that was what I needed to wash Jenn and all thoughts of her boobs and legs from my mind.
JENN
The next morning, I woke up to a knock on my door. It was Tyler.
“Hey, did I wake you?” He opened the door and walked into my room, the same way he had always walked in back in the day. Except that there was only one problem: I was barely clothed.
“What do you think?” I said, yawning and doing my best not to stretch so I didn’t expose the fact that I had been so hot and bothered about Tyler that I had slept naked, shamefully touching myself for relief throughout the night.
“Well, sorry, just wanted to get the day started,” he said.