V2
*****
(Ryan)
"I cannot believe you married Jesse Summer," I called out.
I was visiting my dad for the holidays in Los Angeles. I planned on staying a couple weeks since it'd been a few years since we'd seen each other. I'd just gotten in that morning, and in our old habit, we went to work on my car as we caught up.
I was on my back on a mechanic creeper underneath my classic 1965 Mustang. It'd been a gift from my parents on my 16th birthday and I'd been restoring it slowly but surely over the years. It was 90% finished, with all the mechanics being done and now just needed a classic paint job. I was doing standard maintenance on the undercarriage, checking all the seals and bearings.
"What's wrong with that?" my dad asked.
I snorted, "You know damn well," I teased. "On principal alone you should've never talked to her."
"What can I say, she was too beautiful to resist and by the time I found out I was already smitten," he said.
"God save me, pretty sure even mom would give you hell for that," I said.
"Hey, even in Game of Thrones they had to make crazy alliances," he said.
Checking one last bolt I replied, "And look how well that turned out for most of them."
He chuckled, "Winter is coming."
I snorted, "Yeah, winter is coming."
"Where she'd go anyway?" I asked.
"To pick her sister up from the airport," he replied. "You'll like her, she's cute and only two years older than you. According to her sister, she's also a little... wild."
I raised an eyebrow as I rolled out from underneath the car but before I could ask further, we both heard a car pull into our driveway. My dad cocked his head.
"Ryan, come meet your new family," my dad said as he walked inside the house.
"K," I said standing up. "Just let me wash my hands."
As I walked back into the house from the garage, I stopped in our laundry room, which was the transition between the kitchen and the garage. I spent a few minutes cleaning up and checked myself in the mirror. I'd kept it simple today and was wearing sneakers, blue jeans, and a simple black t-shirt. Since I'd planned on doing some mechanical work, I didn't want to wear anything that might get ruined.
I was a little nervous since I was meeting my Dad's new wife for the first time. He was a widow during my high school years, and when I left to join the Marine Corps after I graduated, he apparently started seeing somebody. Deployments and stuff had kept me away for the last few years and I was just now coming home. They'd gotten married the past year and my dad really wanted me to get along with my new in-laws.
Truthfully, I don't know what he was worried about. My mom had died when I was in my teens, so I wasn't concerned about dad's new wife replacing her memory or anything crazy like that. Maybe I would've acted up at a younger age, who knows, but now I was just glad my dad had found someone that made him happy.
I heard the front door open as I walked into the kitchen. A few seconds later two beautiful women walked in.
The older one instantly looked at me, "Oh my god, I've been dying to meet you, I'm Jesse," she said, coming forward to give me a huge hug.
Jesse was lean, with dark hair and huge brown eyes and an easy smile. Right now, she was wearing slim jeans and a light blue blouse. Her relaxed manner and friendliness immediately put me at ease. She held the hug for a while and brought her hand to the back of my neck as she broke away.
"Your dad talks about you nonstop," she said. "I feel like I already know you. I hope we can become good friends."
I smiled and nodded my head, "I'm sure we will."
Turning, she pointed out her sister, "This is Alice."
Alice immediately took her place and gave me a hug.
"I've been wanting to meet you for a long time," she said.
We spent the next few minutes chatting and talking about what we each did. I knew from my dad most of what they were saying, but it was nice to hear it from each of them. Apparently, they were the only family they had. Their parents had died in a car accident shortly after Alice was born. Alice had been a very late surprise for them, that's why she was 20 years younger than her sister at 24.
As they talked, I studied them.
It was hard not to stare at Alice, she was taller than most girls, about a hand width shy of my own six feet. Right now, she was wearing a tight black tanktop with a Harry Potter Gryffindor emblem and denim shorts that looked a size to small. They molded to her firm ass and I could see a bit of cheek peeking out. She was beautiful, with lean muscles and a chest that filled her tanktop. He white blonde hair was in a messy ponytail that went just past her shoulders, she had that smattering of freckles across her face and chest that you get from spending a lot of time in the sun.
After a few minutes, dad motioned us out.
"You two get to know each other, Jesse and I are going to cook up some lunch," he said.
I motioned her in front of me as we moved over to the living room, my dad had the Christmas tree set up near the fireplace and was angled so that all the furniture faced it. He must have bought new furniture recently, because none of it was what I remembered, a sofa, loveseat and recliner all in dark suede fabric that was velvety soft to the touch. I went to the recliner and Alice took a seat opposite me on the couch.
"I'm curious, is that shirt just a shirt or are you a Harry Potter fan?" I asked.
"Gryffindor all the way baby," she cried out, raising her fist in the air.
I snorted.
"What, you got a problem with Gryffindor?" she asked.
"Slytherin rules," I teased.
She looked at me with mock outrage, "How can you say that? All the good guys are from Gryffindor."
"You mean all the losers," I replied, giving her an exaggerated "whatever" look.
"Are you kidding me right now?" she asked, her bright blue eyes flashing. "Please tell me you're joking, please say I'm not going to have to beat you up the first day we meet."
"Aren't we feisty?" I grinned.
"Keep dissing my house and I'll show you how feisty I can get," she taunted.
I held up my hands in a placating gesture, "Look, all I'm saying is the Gryffindor house was made for losers."
Her eyes narrowed, "You better explain yourself real fast buddy."
"Okay, Ravenclaw has all the smart people, right?" I asked.
She nodded.
"And Hufflepuff has all the hard workers," I continued.
"Yes," she agreed.
"And we all know Slytherin is willing to do what needs to be done," I said.
"Uh huh," she grunted.
"So you've creating a school with four qualities, you got hard workers, smart people, people that with do what it takes to get ahead, then you got the last group," I said, giving a condescending look. "I guess we'll call you guys 'brave' and give you your own house. Because that'll get you far in life."
I gave as much sarcasm as I could muster when I made air quotes as I said brave.
Her jaw dropped.
"I mean, have you ever put brave on a job application, or even a college application?" I asked playfully. "Cause of course, that's what all schools want, a brave applicant."
"Not smart, not hard working, not willing to sacrifice to get ahead, but brave," I said mockingly, rolling my eyes and giving her a thumbs up.
"But they're the heroes of the story," she snapped.
"Yeah, and a year later, what will that get them?" I replied. "Face it, anybody from Gryffindor is a loser."
She stayed still for a minute, eyes locked to mine, "I may have to kick your ass."
I laughed.
"You know, I felt bad about taking your room while I stayed here, now, not so much," she said.
My laughter stopped, "Wait, what?"
Suddenly she grinned and held up a hand to her mouth, "Oh, you didn't know that did you?"
With a false tone of sweetness, she said, "Yeah, I'm sorry, your dad said I can stay in your room and you can sleep on the couch while I'm here."
I narrowed my eyes and frowned.
"Guess house Gryffindor gets the perks and Slytherin has to rough it," she sighed with fake sincerity. "I mean, you guys are willing to do whatever it takes."
At that point my dad called us for lunch and we went into the kitchen.
"I can't believe you gave her my room," I said as we all took a seat at the kitchen island to eat.
My dad looked up confused, "Huh?"
"My room," I stated. "You gave it away."
"Oh yeah, well we can't have a guest sleep on the couch, besides you're a Marine, you're used to roughing it," he said.
I glared at Alice who was smirking with a raised eyebrow, she had a bite of food on her fork and right before she brought it to her lips she mouthed, "Gryffindor rules."
*****
(Ryan)
My eyes snapped open. For a moment I lay on the couch, blinking the sleep away and mentally clearing the cobwebs. I glanced at the window and could see by the lightening sky that it was predawn. I pulled the blanket off my body and shifted to a sitting position. Glancing around I saw that I was alone so I stood and went to my duffel bag and grabbed some clothes. I only wore sport briefs to sleep so I put on some red knee length running shorts and a black tank top. I stretched my body for a few minutes and then grabbed my sneakers and socks.
Heading outside I went for a light jog. I lost myself in the early morning, focusing on my breathing and the quiet sounds of the waking world. I ran a five-mile circle and stopped on my front porch sweating. By now the sun had fully risen and I caught my breath while admiring the view of the nearby mountains. After a few minutes I started stretching my muscles as I cooled down. Once I finished, I headed inside.
I went to the kitchen to get some water and found Alice there. She was bent over with her forearms on the kitchen island and holding a cup of coffee in both hands while looking at her iPhone. She looked up and smiled as I walked by her to the refrigerator, opening it up and grabbing a bottled water.