Girlfriend ( Closed for susurrus )

[Ravishing]

Kaitlyn sighed even as she stood up slowly from that office desk, and tapped the monitor off. She stepped back as she pushed the chair in. She sought to collect her phone and stuff it in her bra, then keys into her hand, her favourite pen and turned a few steps to pick up her blue fringe leather bag, which had patches on it. Had been through everything with her.

Hearing footsteps she looks up to that open door. "Hey, uh Kait right?" said the blonde with a blouse and jeans on.

Kaitlyn gave a low laugh nodding. "Yeah, Kait. What's up, Jen yeah?"

The blonde nodded. "Mmhmm. Look you've been here three months and we know, we've been bitchy. So. Truce?"

Kaitlyn considered those words, and after a moment she nodded. "Alright, Truce." Then a smile.

"So," Jen began. "Us girls head to a local bar for after-work drinks. Always. Tradition. So. C'mon. Come with us. Kick your heels up, have a margarita or a whiskey or something."

Kaitlyn began moving slowly for that door. "Actually, yeah, sounds great. Water beneath the bridge, and all that."

"Exactly. that." With those words, the two fell into step casually chatting about this and that. Mostly work stuff as they caught the elevator down and she got to see the other four waiting there. "Girls, Kait is coming with us," Jen said.

A chorus of girly giggles and woohoos, actually had Kait laughing softly as she moved along with them, out of that building. Meandering down the footpath with those other females and after a block or three they seek to come up upon, The Grey Goose Bar. A tilt of her head at the name even as hands grabbed her hands and dragged her in with them.

Inside the group of adult females headed through to a booth. Five of them spilled in easily and Kait found herself still standing. As a brunette looks up at her, "You'll shout first yeah? Six.... tequila?" A perk of a brow.

Kait after a moment nodded. "And since you asked, you go next." She had a cheeky grin as she slowly turned heading to the bar and ordering not only six tequila but six amber beer chasers. A balance of the tray as she brought it back and slid in at the end slow. Pushing the tray into the middle and lifting her two out she had two mouthfuls of beer and dropped the shot into it. Laughing softly there as she lifts it watching the girls all follow suit.

But it set the scene for the night. A lot of giggles happened as they went about telling the wildest pick-up stories.

 

[susurrus]

“So, Lane, you gonna come with Rick and me after work tonight? We got some prime pussy lined up. Probably even find some

My co-workers. So erudite and sophisticated. Then again, the job we do doesn’t require a lot of education. Skill and know-how, yes. Book learning, not so much.

“Nah, Lane-boy goes home and reads comic books and shit like that,” one of the other guys joked.

It was true. My hobbies didn’t really mesh with those of the guys I worked with. They were all car nuts or built shit or went out and killed little woodland creatures. To each his own. They weren’t bad folks. They’d learned early on I wasn’t interested in a lot of the same kinds of things they were.

Originally, I’d started out in an office. College degree and everything. Nice salary, good bennies, but forty-hour work week? Hell, what’s that? After a year and a half of pulling sixty-seventy hours on a regular basis, I was ready to get the fuck out of there. There was no way to have a life other than work. Screw that.

I wasn’t against physical labor. I’d more-or-less grown up on my grandfather’s farm. While you don’t get vacation days or even weekends off, helping on the farm, there’s something different about it. It suited me. So, when I got asking around the neighborhood, one of the guys I saw walking his dog most mornings said they were looking for help on his crew. Grandpa had taught me a lot. I lived with my mom after the divorce and she spent a lot of time helping in the house at Grandpa’s.

My sister ended up with my dad, so I almost never saw her. I never did understand how the courts let that split custody thing happen, but happen it did. After the age of around eight or nine, I almost never saw Kay. We were less brother and sister than just a couple kids who saw one another once in a while.

When Kay and I got into high school, we tried to keep in touch a little more, but it was still tough. The older we got, the sparser and sparser the calls became, and the thousand miles between us might as well have been the distance between the Earth and Saturn. Eventually, it got to be I’d get a call on my birthday and Christmas, and that was about it. We knew of each other’s presence, but we knew so little of one another that we might as well have been strangers. I know, I could have tried to reach out, but it seemed futile when the few conversations we did have only lasted maybe five minutes before one of us had to run off somewhere.

My office job took me three hundred miles from home. It didn’t bother me, though, because after Grandpa was gone, Mom sold the farm, and that farm felt more like home than anywhere else ever had.

So, now I was working construction. While I still needed to use my brain, I got to use more of my body at the same time. Plus, I didn’t drink away my paychecks like so many of my co-workers seemed to, so the physicality of the job toned me up pretty damn good. I looked good, but I didn’t get out much, so I didn’t really come in contact with members of the opposite sex a lot. Oh, I’d had dates, but once they found out I wasn’t necessarily into the “manly” hobbies, most of them went looking elsewhere.

So, I had a reputation among the guys, and it wasn’t for the play-by-plays most of them had after a weekend out. I figured most of their stories were flat-out bullshit, anyhow, just trying to make themselves look like players instead of the bombed-out wrecks so many of them really were.

Like I said, I wasn’t necessarily what you normally think of when you think construction, but the guys had gotten used to me, and once you got past the crap, they were pretty decent people.

“What the fuck. Yeah, Dean, I’ll come along. Don’t know about needing the kind of woman that would go out with the likes of you, but I’ll be there to tell the real story when you’re trying to blow smoke up everybody’s ass Monday morning.”

So, here I was. It was a pretty nice place. Loud, but so many of them are these days. I was introduced to Dean and Rick’s dates and we sat at a table drinking – the other four a lot more than me – and snacking on some pretty decent nachos.

I was on my way out of the men’s room at one point when I was accosted by the guys.

“Man, Lane, my girl Alicia’s got a friend she says would be happy to meet you. Big tits and is a real slut, I’m told. Whattya say?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Rick. I wasn’t coming out to hook up, y’know?”

Dean laughed. “The fuck you weren’t. We got two girls who we’re gonna fuck till they can’t walk straight. They got a friend who’ll do the same for you. Come on.”

It was my turn to laugh. “With what you guys have had to drink, I’d be surprised if you can even get it up.”

“Fuck you,” Rick said good-naturedly. “Hey, Dean, we never thought: What if our Laney-boy likes his comic books and cartoons and spacemen better than he does pussy?” His voice darkened. “That it? Hell, do you even like girls?”

Now, I’m not homophobic, but the conversation – fueled, I was sure, by the alcohol – was turning nasty. Rick’s tone was changing and he was becoming hostile. The way he was saying this wasn’t the kind of way you do when you’re fucking with a guy, it was “I don’t like the implication of what I’m thinking, and I’m going to fuck you up because of it.”

I knew it was futile and I should just walk away, but that would probably just make things worse, so I started, “Look man, I like women just fine. You just need to calm down.”

 

[Ravishing]

After that initial round of weirdness which had seemed aimed to put me, the new girl in their group at ease. One wandered off rather fast to some wiry muscled redhead at the bar itself where we got to watch her expertise of licking his earlobe, and she was gone soon after.

The four left and I, well, I'm sure I caught enough of them eyeballing others around the joint and before the brunette could offer to buy her round she was gone. So then it was three of my co-workers and me. Now they'd moved on to random stories they'd covered. Which I sat listening to even as I watched another one tap Jen to get out passing her keys to Jen who put them in her back pocket.

Jen went getting us four another round. This time it seems she brought fruit tingles. Not only the mixed drink but the shot too. That made me laugh. Course then I ended up explaining why. The last time I'd drank that drink I was 18 and fresh in college. I was in the middle of doing this when I thought I spotted Lane.

Alright, so I'd seen the occasional photo Mum had sent Dad of his son. Why when we were growing up they didn't exchange us at times or let us kids travel. But maybe it just boiled down to being unlucky. When he had moved us, he'd taken us a good twelve hours away from Mum. So it ended up being photos and phone calls.

Then photos once I got to flee Dad and his heavier hand. Yeah, I'd hit universities up far and wide. But never exactly anything close to where Lane might have. Different interests and all. Maybe we could have worked it to run into each other. But since he was slightly older, it just never happened.

But looking at that guy sitting with those two muscle-bound men, who seemed to fastly procure dates. I was almost positive it was Lane. Dead to rights. Here. Same bar as I. Wow. It kind of blew my fucking mind. So much so...

"Hey, Kait, you've been staring at that guy for a while now, gonna go ask him out?" Jen teased lightly while sipping her fruit tingle.

My shot had gone the moment I had it in hand, the drink itself barely did anything to me and it was mostly gone too. I shook myself out of my thoughts and looked across from her, only to realise. While I'd been lost in reverie over Lane and seeing him here. The other two girls had left us all alone.

She was watching the five of them too. So when she noticed Lane get up and walk off I heard. "Now's your chance. Go."

I turned enough to notice he'd ducked into the men's restroom, which was right near the ladies anyway. So I finished my drink and stood. One hand up through more auburn red hair, which just fluffed it out more in that, I look like I've rolled around in a bed way. Yeah, I had that kind of hair. Looks good no matter what I did to it.

Smoothing my hands over my black jeans, I gave a little tug at the shirt too. One of those black singlet tops that revealed cleavage. It also perhaps was now showing hints of the black lace bra I wore under it, my phone I moved to a back pocket. As I walked I knew I drew attention. I always had. Petite in height yet with a curvy bust, D-cups had always been attention-drawing from the day I landed them in my late teens. While slightly curvy hips and a firm nice ass. In these jeans I looked good and pairing them with my three-inch heeled boots gave me enough height to be 5'3", instead of a neat 5ft. I had not gotten any height from my Father.

So ducking into the ladies I heard the start of Lane's talk with his mate. Sounded like he was trying to set him up. My thoughts ran to the little I recalled of Lane and I had to smile. Good for him. One moment later I came out to hear something that sounded downright mean. A mean drunk? Well with those muscles all three had no doubt this would turn ugly fast.

Then I heard Lane try to defuse it. No, that was not perhaps going to work at all. Me, I could, however. Maybe it was all that alcohol. Or a want not to see my slightly older brother pounded into a wall in front of me. But I smoothly put those Journalist skills I'd honed to good use.

First I smoothly stepped in between. Which gave his friend my back and Lane my front. I didn't give him time to think too much, or myself really any time to think either. Before I sought to stretch up on my toes and kiss him. I couldn't even exactly tell you what my plan had been.

 

[susurrus]

Just as I thought I was going to have to duck a drunken swing, this short, incredibly stacked woman stepped between us and stretched herself as tall as she'd go as she pulled my head down to meet her lips.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. However, it felt too good, too right, to pull away. It was as if we had an instant connection, without saying anything. Of course, her big rack pressing against my chest felt pretty damn good, too.

I heard Rick babbling like a fool, something about, "Sorry, man, I didn't know." Dean was just, "Oh fuck. Wow." There was a hell of a lot of passion in this kiss. I wished to fuck I knew this woman, 'cause I liked the way she worked and wanted to get to know her better. Maybe that could happen after this kiss was over... tomorrow... or the next day...

Eventually, our lips parted. I looked down into this woman's eyes and suddenly started putting pieces together. The hair, the features. It'd been around twenty years, but I knew who this was. I didn't know why she'd done what she'd done, but I found I didn't really care. Smiling down into her face, I introduced, "Kay, this is Rick and Dean, a couple guys from work. They thought they were going to set me up with a date."

 

[Ravishing]

A kiss that went from a slow warm press of lips to lips. To lips parting and it ended up feeling like it was the best kiss I'd had in forever. That surprised me to a degree. It took a moment for us to break that kiss and when we did.

I saw the way he, Lane, looked at me. Those eyes took me in and he realised who the hell I was. His, little sister. His smile was a comfort that I had not fucked up anything by kissing him there. His smile, made me smile back up into that face which was older. Those few moments calming. Then his words sunk in.

It gave me cause to look over my shoulder back to them. It just gave them time to take in the face. Not just the assets I possessed. I knew I was more than pretty enough to be a distraction. I'd used it to lethal effect as a journalist when I needed to on the job. Right now I was still leaning into him, hands sliding from at his shoulders, down that chest and settling at his hips.

"Hey, Rick, Dean." A nod was lightly given. "I think he's okay without it." Allowing a satisfied smile to toy against my lips there. Before casually seeking to move beside him.

As I moved I could see Jen give me a sudden thumbs up, which actually made me laugh, it was more just this low-toned breathy chuckle. Before I waved to her. "I was here with workmates and noticed you." To explain it. Never mind most of the girls had found their own pick-up for the night. Jen was the one who'd asked me out, it felt right to say that since it was actually the truth.

 

[susurrus]

It felt natural to slide a hand around my sister's back and rest it on her hip. God damn, she had some incredible curves. I found myself looking down at her in wonder at the realization.

When Kay pointed out the workmates she'd come with, I waved in their direction and almost laughed when they acted like my sister had just hit the dating jackpot.

It all helped that, aside from the hair, we looked nothing like siblings. It was one of those bits where you couldn't see the resemblance until one or both of our parents were near. With them both gone now, that comparison was impossible.

When Kay told the guys I didn't need a date, I almost laughed. So it was like that, was it? I could live with that. Sure, she was my sister, but I was only one of two in the room that knew that fact. Besides, I could tell I was racking up points by the second with Rick and Dean, supposedly being with a woman as incredible as Kay. I was going to have a whole lot of 'splainin' to do come Monday morning. I sure as fuck wasn't going to tell them she was my sister.

Even though it seemed like the guys were suddenly more sober than they were when they were forty feet overhead on a job, I had no inclination to endure a whole litany of questions I was going to have to make up bullshit answers to, and I had a good suspicion Kay was the same.

"Now that my girlfriend's here, I think we're going to clear out. This music's making my head throb. I need something more than the grub they've got on the menu here, anyhow. Thanks for inviting me guys."

Turning to my sister, I asked, "You want to say your goodbyes to your friends?"

 

[Ravishing]

Following his lead was all too easy. When he said girlfriend, I ran with it. I'd started it. He'd followed. Knowing we needed time to talk and getting out of here would help that. A lot. I was sure I'd tasted like that stupid fruity drink I'd not had in forever.

"Nice meeting you both," I murmured to Rick and Dean. Before I found us drawn along towards Jen. We'd perhaps crossed half that distance. Before Jen waved us off. That made me laugh softly and simply seek to just wave back. "I think that's her way of saying, I should get out of here and have fun."

This left us to make our way out of all that music and other people. Standing there on that sidewalk his hand on my lower back and mine wrapped around him too. There was a moment to just breathe for a second. "Food?" I questioned.

I had not eaten at all before coming out with them and all those drinks. "I think we need it. Now, I've been here for about seven months. There's a taco place, or this diner two blocks away." Pointing back down the street. "I work three blocks what way, and the diner is that way. So my car is that way too."

Finally, after all those words just seemed to tumble out of me, I laughed a little. It sounded so much more joyful than I usually was about standing outside with someone. Lane. God, I was finally standing beside someone I trusted, I knew. It was a relief.

 

[susurrus]

Kay's friend just seemed happy she was supposedly getting laid. We'd probably both have a novel's worth of bullshit to put together to satisfy all the questions we were going to get, but we were both smart people. I at least knew that about my sister. Don't let the cup size fool you. We had all weekend to get our stories straight.

Outside, I could still hear what passed for music in that place strobing in my brain. it took a couple minutes before it didn't feel like my entire head was pulsing. When Kay suggested a couple places we could grab real food, I didn't let on I knew of other places, too. I'd been here longer than she had, apparently. Long enough for me to realize my chosen major meant a lifetime of work with no down time, along with a complete change of gears on the career track. Still, I couldn't have cared less where we ended up.

Fuck. Kay. My Kaitlyn. A sister who I hadn't seen in, shit, almost twenty years. Sonofabitch. How the hell does that happen?

Without a word, I motioned for Kay to show me the way. I got in the car and we made the couple blocks to the taco place.

 

[Ravishing]

Hopping into his car as we drove to the closest. The Taco place. Once he pulled over I got out and put my bag over my shoulder, ran a hand through my hair a moment just to try and sort it out. I could tell by the way it tickled my ears it didn't alter its messy look at all.

Glancing to Lane. Yes. Lane. He was certainly taller and bigger, and when was the last time something had felt so perfect? I was probably staring blankly at him for a second before I offered a more sheepish smile. Then went in with him. Picking out a side booth in the joint and sliding in one side. Allowing him to choose where to sit. Beside me or the other side of me.

Hand up to flag someone over while I collected up a menu I didn't read a word of it. I stared intently at it, then peeked over it to find out his decision. As she turned up there, "Glass of raspberry easy on the ice. Uh, two soft tacos loaded thanks." I knew needed food. Something to soak up some of that alcohol I'd spent a few hours consuming.

Just what was running through his mind? Or was he stuck on the fact here we were after all these years sitting across from each other, as much as I was?

 

[susurrus]

Kay had been here before. That was obvious. Of course, I had been, too. I knew of a better place, with a more varied menu, more authentic. Moreover, more Mexicans frequented that place more often than they did here, but you could definitely do worse than where we were right now.

I let Kay pick the booth. Don't think I didn't notice that she pulled in far enough that I could have slid in beside her. The urge was strong to do just that.

It had been so long... I hadn't thought I'd ever see my sister again. She looked a knockout and a half. I felt pride, love, frustration and more than a tinge of horniness at the vision of feminine beauty before me.

While I wanted to sidle in next to her, feel her warmth, her curves next to me, I decided if we were going to talk - and I had an idea there was going to be some - that facing her was a better bet. Besides, from the other side of the table I'd be able to admire the gorgeous woman she'd become.

Once we were seated, I let Kay order for us both - there wasn't a bad choice on the menu - then we just sat for a minute or so just staring at one another. I found I could do that for an almost infinite length of time. It was like we were infatuated lovers instead of brother and sister.

"So..." I started. "You've definitely grown up. The couple picture I've seen over the years didn't show such an impressive display of... accoutrements, so to speak. I bet you just embarrassed the fuck out of dad." I then realized I was speaking like I was talking to my co-workers."

"Sorry. Language. I'm not talking with the guys right now. Habits. Please forgive me."

 

[Ravishing]

Since Lane seemed to be doing a lot of, me watching, I let him while I ordered him one of everything. A Hard taco which was more meat with spicy salad choices and such. A soft taco like mine. And a Tamale. After a moment I added a second tamale for myself and got him a Coke. That way we could switch if necessary. I'd drink either if I was honest with myself. But I'd always had an unhealthy obsession with raspberry. Even way back then.

I shook my head as he apologised for swearing. "I don't think I ever properly explained that straight out of Uni, I did correspondence work. Travelled the world going into difficult, hard places. Reporting. I used to swear worse than I ever let on in those calls. But. That's why..."

I stopped as our drinks were brought over to us, working out with Lane which drink he wanted and then lifting the other one for a decent mouthful. "..why my calls were so spotty. Couldn't always get a signal." A shrug and wave of a hand. "...and somewhere in the middle of it, he died. He, I reckon he had to regret which one he got. I gave that man hell, till I went to Uni. I left and never looked back."

Pausing again as though brought out our food. Thanking the server and then looking over at my Brother. "When he went I should have reached out more. But. She wasn't really open to talking to me by then. Was like whatever he did for them to split, I was just tainted with that brush because he got me."

I shrugged a little finally lifting up a tamale and taking a bite from it chewing slowly. Then realising how hungry I was, I fairly much just devoured it. Wiping kissable lips with a napkin then looked into Lane's eyes again. "Anyway. I'm .... here. Been here for seven months. Where I was before here was too small a town and I couldn't get used to that level of quiet. Here, it's much better. My accolades won for articles, for all those months spent here and there. I got a decent column."

Then I seemed to realise I was just chatting about myself and I blushed a little. Lifting the drink to down more of it, then motioning to him. "You? Tell me... about what you do?"

 

[susurrus]

I just sat there and listened to Kay go on about some of what she'd been doing most recently, primarily as an explanation why I hadn't heard from her but a few times in the last several years. We sat and ate whlie she talked, and damn, if I didn't enjoy just being with this woman. Christ, it was like we were long lost lovers or something. While I listened to my sister's voice, the mariachi music blaring through the sound system just seemed to go away. All I could hear was her.

When she stopped, the sound of guitars and trumpets crashed back into my consciousness. It was a jarring experience. I realized she was looking at me significantly, and vagely remembered hearing something about what did I do.

I took a sip of the Coke and started, "Me? Well, when Grandpa died and Mom sold the farm, I'd already been at college two years. When she died just before graduation, I took the first good job that met my major. After that, it was a lot like the movie "Office Space," just, minus the whole place being burned to the ground, y'know? I've been working construction the last two years. Grandpa taught me everything he knew about keeping things running and how to make stuff. For a guy with only a sixth grade education, he knew a lot of shit. Now, I'm that legacy. My only regret was that I couldn't find you. With Mom and Dad gone, all we've got left is us, since I know I've never heard a peep from Aunt Pam, and probably wouldn't know her if I tripped over her in an empty parking lot.

"As far as anything else, I'm kind of a geek. The guys give me shit for not being into killing things or souping up my wheels, but while they didn't get it at first, they've finally gotten used to the fact that I'm not quite like they are. Especially where the toxic testosterone comes in. Oh, I'm man enough, I just don't feel like I have to prove it 24/7 like some of them do."

The food was nearly gone. I'd been hungrier than I really thought. When the waitress showed up again to check on us, I ordered us a fried ice cream and two spoons.

"So, you're here for the duration now, then? I don't see myself going anywhere anytime soon."

 

[Ravishing]

A subtle blink then as I also realised the only set of grandparents we'd been told about were fully dead. Then I listened to him finishing off my food and feeling a little more sober. As he spoke about Aunt Pam I cocked my head a little feeling red hair drift over a shoulder as it was won't to do.

When he spoke about his work mates I realised he'd probably been here in this city a lot longer than me. "I came across something about Aunty Pam in his stuff. When I was going through it and selling it all. Something about she's out of the country and happy and never wanted to run into his ass again."

Meaning Dad. He'd been less fun after the reason for the divorce left him for someone else. Never really got over it. Part of why we fought so much. I grew into someone who reminded him about women.

As the dessert arrived I took a little and tried it. And finally figured I should answer him. "Yeah. No want to go back into being Miss correspondence journalist extraordinare. I'd just got back from a long time away on assignment. Landed in hospital really sick, while they were sorting that they discovered why I'd always been sick, once a month. So no chance for kids here, ever. They had to take everything. When I recovered from that news and all. Well.."

I paused a moment swiping at my teary lashes. "Fuck." Said much quieter so not to draw the attention of everyone.

"That's when I went for a smaller experience. Except too many years out there it was too small. Yanno?" Said as I took up the last scoop of fried ice cream then after a pause offered it to him. From my spoon.

"So I used my experience to land where I did. Here. I haven't even bought a place to live yet. Between Dad, and my own lucrative career moves. I've been living in a four star hotel for seven months everything in storage. I really should change that."

 

[susurrus]

The only dad I'd known was the guy who liked taking us on canoe trips when we vacationed up north, a guy who, while not uber macho, still believed there were wife jobs and husband jobs. It was why it was surprising when he fought for custody after he and mom were through. Even more surprising was the split custody, and which of us he ended up with. I was pretty sure he wished he'd have ended up with me, or at least that Kay had been a flat-chested tomboy. That the daughter he got was a curvy knockout had to have been particularly tough.

Kaitlyn's story about her being sick every month and them having had to take "everything" took a moment for me to piece together, but I put the puzzle together. Her cold reaction to it told me of the frustration and rage and sorrow that lay behind that frigid iron wall. The only indication that her feelings for it were anything but neutral was the way her eyes welled up, with a single tear escaping.

I didn't know what to say, do I just reached out and squeezed the hand that wasn't wiping her eyes dry, for which I received a rueful smile of thanks.

There was no brotherly protest when she grabbed the last bit of ice cream from the dish. I wasn't going to begrudge her anything that small. I was a little surprised when she brought the spoon to her lips but stopped short of actually eating it. When she turned the spoon my direction, I couldn't help the fact this felt more like a date than a reunion. Still, I leaned forward and only half cleaned the spoon.

As I sat back, I told her, "For a long time, Mom was obsessed with two things: me, and grandpa. We spent mosf of our time over at the farm. I'd help do what I could - which was more and more the older I got - while Mom did a lot of the daily house stuff. I don't know how she managed to keep two households going, but she did. I remember asking a couple times why we didn't just move in with Grandpa, but the answer was something to the effect of, 'Because I'm his daughter, not his wife,' even though most of what she was doing was traditionally the kind of thing a wife would do.

"When Grandpa died, one of her reasons for living went away. And by that time, I was old enough I didn't really need so much of a mother's care as I did when I was younger. She started to fade not long after the farm sold. And when I say 'fade,' it was almost like she began to become less well defined until the physical world couldn't hold her together anymore. I wanted to tell you, to talk to you, to let me know the feelings I had were okay, to make the pain go away. But the one number I had for you no longer worked, and nothing I tried to find a way to track you down yielded any results. I broke a lot of stuff for a awhile, and if I was a big drinker, I'd have probably crawled into a bottle or twelve and not come out for a long time.

"Graduation with no one to share it with was possibly one of the loneliest times of my life. What made things lonelier still was the fact that my new job was a couple hundred miles from everything I knew. So I left my old life and tried to reinvent myself, with a completely new place and the necessity to meet an entirely new cast of people. Then I learned the office job wasn't everything I'd been promised it'd be and I had to re-cast all over again.

"I know Mom would be upset that my college education was 'going to waste,' but the thing she wouldn't be able to see is the satisfaction that I can leave work behind me when I leave for the day, and don't have to worry about it again until the next morning. Also, I can travel around here for about a fifty mile radius and point out projects I had a hand in. And somewhere in each one of them is my name. Oh, it might be on the bottom of a sill plate or between two boards over a doorway, but it's a way, however small and unknown, to make a mark."

I'd spoken a lot. There were probably little details Kay would want to know along the way, and I'd supply what I could if she asked, but I was done talking for a while.

My sister had been living in a hotel all this time? Fuck. There are doubtless pluses and minuses to that, but I'm not sure I'd ever call something like that home. It was probably the dumbest thing I'd ever said, especially since we'd only just met for the first time after a majority of our lives away, but contrary to my contention I was done talking, I opened my mouth and these words fell out:

"If you want to get out of the hotel, I've got plenty of room. And there's a storage shed out back you could probably put your stuff in. That is, of course, assuming you aren't talking about truckloads."

 

[Ravishing]

The hand he took and squeezed. I didn't let go of it. Even after that bit of ice cream was halved by him. I ate the half he'd left there while listening to him talk about Mum and his life. Learning she died before he graduated. Meant Dad had been alive. Did it mean Dad had never left a number? I found as I kept listening, I simply did not want to ask.

I'd made peace with Dad dying while I was off in some god-forsaken country doing what I had done best. Learning that I'd never even been told by him of Mother's passing. Hurt. Sure there were things I did want to ask. But here and now wasn't the place to ask it. As he seemed to wind down on what he was telling me. I found myself smiling over the idea Lane's name was immortalised in places he'd worked on.

Then he spoke about the choice I'd never decided about. Living anywhere but a hotel. I suppose he must have thought it was just weird I hadn't bothered. I just didn't want to admit right then that since leaving Dad all those years ago, I'd never actually made the effort to put down roots. Buy a home. Rent an apartment. I'd been bouncing in and out of Hotels, Motels, and a tent if I was lucky in the middle of nowhere. It just hadn't sunk into me yet that I should.

His expression cleared that up for me. And so, "Maybe it's time I do. I mean. It might half-fill that shed. There's Dad's antique desk and chair and then just my boxes. About 13 boxes. Maybe?" Listening to myself as I said it all, I realised how it might sound.

"I couldn't see a point early on getting a place when I was here in the States for like 2 weeks, then back overseas somewhere. Then here and gone yet again. When I was in that smaller town. They provided me with an actual apartment there, and it was furnished. When I came here, I figured I'd get around to it, but weeks kept drifting by." I found myself explaining. To me, with what I knew I'd done for all that time it was understandable.

Looking into his eyes, "..Not maybe. I'd love to take you up on your offer. So. We leave here, collect my stuff from the hotel. Which is two suitcases worth of stuff, and the rest we can worry about sometime soon? If, you are okay with that?"

 

[susurrus]

Kay's reasoning for not getting a permanent place while she was off doing the reporter bit was sound, but seven months in a hotel? I couldn't see it. Then again, my life had been a lot different than my sister's had.

At first, I expected my offer to be turned down. I mean, it had only been an hour or so since we'd met.

...Since we'd met. Shit. That's really the way it was. We'd really only met for the first time in that bar. The last time we'd seen each other in person, neither of us was anywhere close even to high school yet. Aside from the familial tie, we were essentially strangers. The thought choked me up a little, and I straightened in my chair, holding my open hand out.

"Hi, Kaitlyn. It's nice to meet you. I'm Lane."

 

[Ravishing]

At some point during it all we'd stopped holding hands. I happened to notice the time and realise just one hour had passed.

Then I watched his expression and realised he's likely totally on the ball with that too. Having more or less the same ... WOW moment I am in his head. Sliding my hand into his, a warm soft squeeze of it. A total admire of the man, my Brother, sitting across from him. That actually just reminds me. We kissed, and it was good. So very good.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lane." And like one of those cheesy movies I like when I'm sad. "Wanna get out of here?" Even as I use my other hand to call for the check, and pass cash over to pay for it all as she arrives.

Looking into his eyes again, I seek to stand. Which prompts one of those hands up over my head fingers to the ceiling, up on the toes stretches. Because I'm feeling more sober, and we've just been sitting for an hour when I'd previously been sitting for a few hours. Of course, those kinds of stretches just point out and empathise with all those curves I have. It's not something most women might realise when they're doing it. I, however, find I blush for a moment as it clicks in my head and hastily I relax back down and seek to get the heck out of there with Lane.

Moving towards his car, and waiting for him to unlock it.

 

[susurrus]

To my surprise and relief, Kay didn't find my introduction at all weird. Whether she truly understood what was blasting through my brain at that point or not, she simply went with it.

When she mentioned "getting out of here," I merely nodded. I wasn't sure where we were going to go or what we were going to do, but I needed to get my head together, and while Kay was the reason for the sudden turmoil pounding through me, I wanted in no way to let her out of my sight. I think there was some part of me that was afraid if she left my view, she'd be gone another twenty years.

When she stood, it prompted a stretch. I was pretty sure it was from all the sitting. Especially now that I was in a more physical career, my body disliked being static for too long. I suspected Kay had been relatively inactive for quite a while, for the illusion was that she grew a couple inches. Of course, that wasn't the only observation I made. Those curves she'd gained since I'd seen her last were displayed unashamedly before me.

The view caused all sorts of unbrotherly thoughts to flit through my mind, and stirrings began inside. She'd kissed me. My sister had kissed me in a manner sisters don't use for their siblings. What did it mean? Did it mean anything?

After several delightful, confusing seconds, Kay realized what she was doing and her arms came down, the show over... sort of. There was no way to turn off how she looked completely. Lucky me.

We left the restaurant and Kay headed back for my vehicle. I pulled gently on her hand and said, "It's not even midnight yet. Let's go for a walk."

I wasn't sure what was going on inside me. One part screamed that she was my sister, but there was the kiss. There was the body. There was the fact of twenty years and the fact of her barrenness. Again, what did all that mean? Did I actually want my sister in that way?

I started down the street, holding Kay's hand as if she was going to fade away like my mom had. We ended up beside a little creek that ran through a nearby park.

I straddled a low, backless bench and looked up at my sister. If anything, she was even more stunning in the moonlight.

"Why the kiss?" I asked without preamble. It had been in the back of my mind since I'd recognized her, back in the bar.

 

[Ravishing]

When he suggested a walk, I went with him. Moving from city blocks into a park and to a backless bench beside a stream without anything really said between us.

I had no idea what he was thinking as we walked. Or even what was going on as I sat opposite him, astride it because I was in jeans and I could take advantage of it. My knees are a breath of air away from impacting his there. As I looked at him there.

Then he spoke. Bringing up to voice ... the Kiss.

"So when I first saw you with them, you were all sitting down talking. Then you went up and off to the men's toilets. Something in me worked out, you were you. I couldn't believe it. At all. There you were right here in the same place as me." A pause and a tuck of red hair behind an ear.

"My work friend noticed and she thought you looked good. I'd already admitted that much to myself before I realised you were you. After you were you, well, that was still a fact. You grew up, really nice.." A bit of a wry smile there.

"I went to the ladies and caught part of the conversation between you and Rick. It initially then seemed fine. But when I came out... that tone, his stance. I didn't really think. I just kind of was drawn into it. To you. I didn't realise I was going to kiss you, till my lips were on yours. Then it, felt, good, maybe because way way down I knew, knew you'd not hurt me." Cheeks flushing with colour at that moment.

Then I waited to hear what you'd think about what I said. What potentially it could lead to. Were you about to prove me wrong and swear and demand I get the fuck away from you?

 

[susurrus]

I listened to Kay's explanation about the kiss. She kissed me even though she knew it was me. Sure, there was the whole "pretending to be my girlfriend" bit, to defuse the situation, but she'd known it was me all along. All she'd have had to do was to come up, grab my arm and drag me away. Yet...

"Even if I hadn't put together who you were, I'd never have hurt you. And it had nothing to do with the kiss. Even if Rick had taken a swing at me, I could have ducked it. He was too drunk to do anything serious. He'd have probably hurt himself more than me.

"But you kissed me. A real kiss. You knew and you still did it. Don't get me wrong, I liked it. I liked it a lot. If I hadn't worked out who you were, I'd have tried to get you out of there, and not for food. Even so, I've been glad it was you. Jesus Christ, you don't know how glad I am it's you."

Tears came to my eyes and I fought back the weeping spell that threatened to sweep over me. I couldn't get it out of my voice, though, when I said, "I thought I'd never find you again."

 

[Ravishing]

Every word he said my emotions kept seeing. Back and forth. The way he said some of it made me want to look away. But. Just like all those other times, I faced the one talking to me. Even if, this time, it was my Brother. Geez, it really truly was him. Found.

The words I thought would be last had an effect on me. Then I saw the tears threatening to fall, heard the emotion in his voice and I could feel the echo of those words within me. I'd kept telling myself I made peace with the idea it was almost impossible to find him. Him. My older brother. Apparently, it wasn't impossible all I had to do was walk into a bar.

But I found myself scooting and draping one leg up over his knee just so I could get closer to him. Not to kiss him. No. But to wrap both arms around him and hug the stuffing out of him. Like perhaps I really should have done. Choosing what I had all those years ago, and what's more being told I was fucking excellent at it, and that they needed my youthful ass to travel where the real true gut-wrenching stories were. Had not done me any favours in being findable.

Burying my face into that shoulder, knowing as I hugged him tighter I was hauled up tight against him in some ways. But how we were sitting stopped it being the kind of close hug that I'd always found really let someone know I'd missed them, known them and might not see them again. No, my mind wasn't on sex. But those men and women who'd kept me safe. I pulled away a moment then moved the other leg up over his. Just to scoot in as close as I could and hug him again. As I emotionally whispered. "It's impossible sitting down to give you the .... the kind of hug I gave others ... w.. when I knew I'd never ever see them again. That kind of hug which I always thought said, every----thing I couldn't put in words." I heard the cracks in my voice as I tried to say it to him, and then well I wasn't talking it was more sobbing into his shoulder and just squeezing the fuck out of him.

 

[susurrus]

I didn't wonder what Kay was doing when she threw her leg on top of mine. It brought her physically closer. That was enough. Then she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed with everything the position would allow. After a bit, she put her other leg up, which allowed me to bring her in closer yet. It wasn't the most comfortable of ways to hug a person, but at the moment, I had no intention of letting this woman go. When I'd seen her last, she was a little girl and I was just a little boy. We'd missed out on seeing the other grow up.

"Then maybe it's best that this is the hug you're giving me, because I have no intention of letting you out of my sight ever again."

The emotion of our reunion finally overwhelmed us both. When Kay began crying uncontrollably into my shoulder, I gave up trying to be stoic and let the tears fall. They were tears of joy and relief at finally having found one another again. They were equally tears of the grief of having missed so much of not only each other's life, but the lives of our parents and grandfather.

I'd brought us to this place because it was away from an audience, in case something like this came about. I also chose it because I didn't want a scene like this to be the first thing that happened when I brought Kay to my home, the one I hoped she would make hers as well.

 

[Ravishing]

It took me a while of sobbing into his shoulder to control it. About almost as long as it took Lane to control himself. When finally those tears began going away. I sniffled a lot and pulled away.

"I've made such a mess there, your shoulder's soaked." I gave it a half-hearted pat. then used my thumbs to wipe my eyelids and wiped those on my pants. Then, the uncomfortableness sunk in. Managing to sort one leg off his and such. "Lemme up and I'll sit sideways on the bench."

With his help, or without it! I did end up shifting about and sitting beside him there. Half turned to look at him. "I don't think you're going to be getting rid of me easily. I've been away from you for too long. too long adrift and aimless and just lost as hell... I need this... you."

 

[susurrus]

"You can cry on my shoulder any time," I told my sister as I wiped my eyes. "You're something of a mess, too. Sorry."

I didn't want Kay to change position. I liked her straddling my body, even without there being anything sexual about it. Still, I let her move and pretty soon, she sat on one the side of the bench facing the creek. Standing, I flung my leg over so I could sit beside her, being sure I touched as much of her as I could.

This whole time, my cock had been dormant. It knew this was my sister, even though there'd been a tension between us since this whole deal began. The way she said, "...I need this... you," it apparently forgot who she was, and I felt a twitch. As with so much tonight, I wasn't sure what to make of that, but I didn't dwell on it.

"I need you, too. I've been here the whole time, but something's been missing. I've dated quite a bit, but nobody stuck around. They didn't feel right, anyhow. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think I might have been waiting for you."

 

[Ravishing]

At his words, a glance at my shoulder and yeah, it looked damp. As he moved to sit beside me I noticed how we both sought to scoot so we touched. Knees, thighs, hip and shoulder. That soothed a lot in me. All those times I'd needed this, now I finally had it. Lane. I had him.

Listening to him those words resonated, a lot. I found myself nodding at the end, and saying. "Me too, I think." To his, 'I might have been waiting for you'.

"When I was in university. I.." A pause as my cheeks flushed with colour. "..saw a lot of men."

I shrugged a little. "After university, well, My four years travelling all over the globe. Did me no favours. I might have found someone, right now, not someone, for always, almost everywhere I went." A wry smile.

"After my scare and loss..." A small shudder through my shoulders then. "... Every time I tried ... long term.. the moment they found out that... I couldn't have kids... I got left in the dust.." My shoulders dropped some there as I shook my head. "I stopped trying .. for more... a handful of that happening and I was ... so fucking over being hurt..." Voice in that moment broke as I leaned into him.