The Sister, Part Eighteen
Part Eighteen
“There you are!” Jessica exclaimed, “Took you long enough. Did you sunscreen up here or something?”
‘Act normal, act normal, act normal.’
Hopefully the slight dimness of the upstairs hallway would mask the fact that my cheeks were still a little bit flushed from both my activity with Natalie as well as the way I had just been rushing to get dressed. “Just taking care of a little unpacking,” I lied. While she had unintentionally handed me a possible excuse, it’s not like I could affirm something like that and then start putting on lotion outside right afterwards. “And I wanted to reply to a few messages so I can officially ignore my computer for the rest of the break.” Just casually lying to my girlfriend’s face. No big deal. Now I just had to keep her out of my room for a while, because I hadn’t even started taking things out of my suitcase beyond my swimwear.
“Well, that’s boring,” she winked. Teasing, of course; we both knew full well that she was super organized and always on top of her assignments, especially compared to me. “Some of us have already done the sunscreen thing, and the boat’s ready to go. I just need a strong man to haul the cooler out, and to take care of my back.”
About as much flirting as she would risk now that her sister was here. I was the only one between us that knew that Natalie probably wasn’t within earshot. Then again, she could be. Her adventure on the roof could take her anywhere; for all I knew, she could have just moved one room over, or she could be climbing down the side of the house totally naked. “A strong man? Wait, did Natalie invite her boyfriend or something?” Trying to get back into the teasing rhythm we had before her sister showed up, I tried to return my attention to Jessica’s bare back that she had just offered, rather than the image of a bare Natalie shinnying down a tree or a drainpipe.
“Shut up,” Jessica giggled. She rolled her eyes and playfully hit my arm. “Come on, let’s go. Where is Natalie, anyway? I didn’t see her downstairs.”
The brat’s name alone was enough to make me nervous all over again, and I prayed that Jess didn’t catch a glimpse of anything on my face. Although her sister had given me something to say, I had to frame it in a way that would make sense out loud. “Getting something from her car?” I said, with an innocent uptick, “I don’t know; she yelled something through the door a couple minutes ago. Couldn’t quite hear everything.”
Jessica scoffed. “Because she didn’t actually stop at the door to say it, I bet. Nat does that from one floor away, too. One of these days, she’ll learn that it’s important to get someone’s attention before launching into the rest.”
Oh, Natalie definitely got my attention.
And she still low key had it; even with Jessica right here, it was difficult to get the girl off my mind. Not because I wanted more of her or anything. It’s that we just hooked up, and talking about her wasn’t helping when I was trying to play it cool and keep my girlfriend from suspecting anything. There were a lot of things I’d confess to Jessica just to get them out in the open, including if literally any other girl made a pass at me, but this was a secret I would take to the grave.
I changed the subject as quickly as I was able while still keeping it natural and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she led the way back towards the stairs. Away from my room, and all the things that could poke holes in the story of my recent absence. With Natalie here, I assumed that the three of us would be hanging out in the more public rooms to avoid the raised eyebrows and suggestive comments that Jessica wasn’t fond of. On the off chance that we’d be upstairs at any point today, however, I would need to steal away before then to put my room together.
Trying my hardest to focus on Jessica and put the recent taboo events out of my mind, I followed my girlfriend into the kitchen to help with the cooler. Once again, she made a comment about her sister, as apparently Jess had expected her to load the thing up with ice and drinks. Since Natalie and I had been otherwise occupied, however, the job hadn’t even been started. It was easy to tell that there wasn’t any animosity between them whatsoever. Jessica seemed to like her sister, but also still saw her as a teenager with some immature and irresponsible tendencies. No wonder Natalie was shameless about flirting and flaunting herself whenever Jessica looked away; it was so easy for Natalie to put on the ‘innocent little sister’ act, while showing me a completely different side of herself when it was just the two of us.
I definitely wasn’t ready for the three of us to be together on the boat, or ready for Natalie to reappear in that bikini in general, but I couldn’t exactly suggest ditching her here. A big part of this trip was getting to know Jessica’s family, including her younger sister. Jessica had even mentioned that there was a silver lining to Natalie being here a few days early; it would be nice for all of us to hang out before their parents arrived and shifted the dynamic a little. Theoretically, a good idea. Until Natalie and I started the weekend by getting to know each other way too well behind Jessica’s back.
Since Jess was clueless to all of that, however, it was my job to pretend that Natalie and I had only interacted a little bit so far.
Since there wasn’t a good way to suggest anything except the current plan, I kept myself busy with lining up a collection of drinks and snacks on the counter while Jessica filled the cooler with ice. We had stopped by the nearest store on the way and gotten enough groceries for the weekend, and brought some alcohol from campus as well. Apparently Jessica was cool with Natalie drinking. Not exactly a point in the ‘innocent’ column for the eighteen year old flirt, although it’s not like the girl was going out of her way to paint herself in that light at every turn. That’s just how it felt based on how she acted around myself and her sister all the way up until she smirked and declared her sexual intentions to me.
As for drinking, plenty of people did that before college, myself and Jessica included. Plus this was technically with ‘family supervision,’ albeit with a sibling who also wasn’t of legal drinking age yet. Whatever. The current plan was to swing by the local recycling place and dump all the empty cans and bottles the morning Jessica’s parents were making the drive up. Anything we didn’t finish would be stashed away for the following weekend, when we would have the place all to ourselves.
In terms of my own consumption, I would need to be careful. Considering what Natalie pulled off when I was stone cold sober, I definitely didn’t trust myself around the girl while I was a few drinks deep.
There I went, planning things around Natalie, even when she wasn’t within sight.