The bustle of life on the college campus always peaked just after finals. Students who had spent their last couple of weeks locked away in their dorm rooms or the library and stuffing all the knowledge of a semester into their heads at once finally emerged to face the sunlight and celebrate another successful term.
Sherry was just another student on her way to pack up her things and head home for the summer to work on the family ranch. She was slim, almost bony, with honey-blonde hair that hung down in straight strands to frame her pale face. She wore no makeup and tended to walk with her eyes down, which caused her to constantly push her glasses up when they slid down the bridge of her nose. She leaned forward against the weight of her backpack filled with textbooks and shuffled as she walked.
A couple of senior boys were laughing and walking toward her. She stepped to the side as they approached, but the arm of one bumped her shoulder and spun her. The boy glanced at her as she faced him. His eyes were brilliant green and bright, but his glance was indifferent, as though he had bumped against a parked car. He turned back to his friend without breaking stride and they continued on their way. She rubbed her shoulder as she turned and headed toward her dorm.
Boys had never shown any interest in her. She was lanky and plain. Her only memory of any boy paying attention to her was when Cindy Parnell had lifted her shirt in gym her junior year of high school and exposed her chest to the basketball team. Cindy was very popular with the boys, always flirting and bouncing against them. But Sherry's breasts hadn't developed much at that point, and the only response her plain white sports bra brought from the boys were a couple of laughs and some looks of pity. That hurt the worst – those looks that said "Never in a million years," that the boys threw her way in that brief moment. She had hidden her chest ever since, even when her breasts grew large and firm her senior year. She even bought padded bras to hide her long nipples so that they wouldn't poke out and draw attention.
At the memory, she pushed her glasses up and hooked her thumbs in the straps of her backpack to keep her breasts from squeezing together as she hunched forward and walked.
Once in her dorm room, she quickly dialed her parents using her phone card and waited for them to answer.
"Hullo?"
The voice wasn't familiar – a young woman's voice with a hint of southern drawl.
"Um," Sherry faltered. "I'm sorry. I think I have the wrong number."
"Sherry?" the voice asked.
She quickly put the phone back to her ear. "Yeah. This is Sherry. Who's this?"
"Oh my gawsh! You sound so much older! This is Brenda. I'm going to work with you on the ranch this summer! Isn't that great?"
Sherry grinned, "Brenda! I didn't think I had misdialed. It's been forever!"
Brenda was Sherry's cousin, or half-cousin. Her father's brother had married Brenda's mother. She was the only girl who had ever treated Sherry as a friend, and the one or two times they got together each year growing up had always been some of her favorite memories.
"I just answered because your dad's outside somewhere and your mother is fixing up your room."
"Fixing up my room?"
Brenda giggled, "With bunk beds! Won't that be fun? We can stay up all night talking and I won't have to sleep on the floor."
As kids, they had stayed in the same room whenever she visited, but Brenda had always insisted on sleeping on the floor when Sherry had offered to trade.
Sherry smiled. "Where'd you get the accent?"
"Lil' ol' me? Shucks, my pa's done gone and got another job down south."
Sherry laughed.
"Naw, really. It's hard not to pick up a little of the southern charm when you get around people who use it. I have so much to tell you! When are you driving up?"
"I should be there tomorrow by noon, if I don't break down."
"You're still driving that old piece of crap? Couldn't you use one of your student loans to get something better?"
"I would, except I have to use every penny on the tuition. My daddy's not rich like yours."
Brenda chuckled and then whispered, "I'll share my allowance with you over the summer. He's giving me a lot and there isn't much around here to spend it on."
Sherry laughed and they continued their conversation with memories for only a little while longer before they said their goodbyes.
When she finally hung up, Sherry thought it was going to be a lot better summer than she had expected before the phone call.
She finished packing, grabbed a quick last dinner at the school cafeteria and went to bed. In the morning, she started the long drive.
She tapped the horn as she turned off the car and by the time she had rounded the car to open the dented hatch-back, the front door opened and her mom, dad, and Brenda walked out to greet her.
Sherry stared at Brenda. Her cousin had changed a lot in the last three years. She was wearing a tank top and jean shorts that were pretty tight. She was really tan and had on a little more makeup than Sherry expected. She was quite stunning, really - beautiful, in fact, with her long auburn hair full and bouncy as she stepped lightly down the stairs.
Her brother Mark and a handsome guy walked out on the porch. They stared blatantly at Brenda's bottom as she trounced down the steps to hug her. Mark opened his mouth a little and his friend nudged him with a chiding smile.
As she and Brenda embraced, Sherry glanced at her parents briefly and caught her father's eyes straying to soak in the tanned legs and short shorts of the young woman she hugged.
Brenda stepped back, holding her cousin's shoulders. "Sherry! You haven't changed a bit! I've missed you so much, and we really have to get you settled in so that we can talk about what we are going to do this summer."
"You won't have much time," Sherry's father said firmly with a twinkle in his eye as he stepped up and replaced Brenda's embrace with one of his own. "How is my little bookworm, Sherry? We've really missed you these last months and you haven't called as much."
She hugged him close, smelling his aftershave that always reminded her of home. "I've missed you too, Dad," she whispered, almost choking on the joy she felt.
"Make room, you lug," her mother admonished and took Sherry in her arms. "Oh, my dear – you're so thin! You need to take more time eating and less time studying. Give the other kids a chance to catch up."
"I love you, Mom," she said, squeezing a tear out of her eye as she held her mother close.
Mark cleared his throat. "Hi-ya, Sis! Missed you." He hugged her briefly and stepped away. "Glad you're home."
Sherry smiled at her brother, and caught Brenda checking him out as she turned to face his friend.
"This is my friend, Rich," her brother reported. "He and I are going to work at the county feed lot this summer. He's mostly sales and auctions, but we both could use the experience." He stepped past her to pull a bag from the trunk.
Sherry smiled at Rich, briefly meeting his eyes. She felt a little part of herself melt as she looked into them, but his gaze was brief and quickly fell to the side to memorize Brenda's toned legs.
