It was exactly 10:26pm on Friday in June when my life took an unexpected turn that began with a frantic knock on the door. I'd been sitting on my couch, sipping a celebration drink, as I'd finally broken away from the first job that I'd taken after graduating college; I'd been a mechanical engineer for a small firm about 65 miles north of Seattle, and after two solid years of grinding through the bureaucratic bullshit, and commuting for 3 hours a day, I finally had given in my notice to pursue some other opportunities.
Actually, I had no opportunities available to me at the moment; I was taking a vacation from life. I'd been through several years of college, graduated near the top of my class, and less than a week after the ceremonial doings, I was a full time employee. This was fantastic at first, but early on I realized that I was just a scapegoat for any failings that the firm had. I was treated as a punching bag, berated, bruised, and broken, for the most part. My life, once seeming so wonderful, had collapsed into a dismal pile of waste, with me being angry, upset, and downcast more often than not. The money was good, but the cost didn't equal the value.
I'd come from a long line of engineers, so it was expected that I'd make it work, but I decided that the professional life wasn't for me, and I up and quit. It wasn't my usual style to give up on something that I'd worked so hard for, but now that the time had come, and I was free, I couldn't help but feel like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders. My family, on the other hand, didn't understand, and my phone was constantly ringing, with various members of my network telling me that my newfound desire for freedom was a waste of my potential. I hated how they felt that they knew better than I did, and I despised the fact that they were unwilling to see my side of the story.
Since early that afternoon, my phone had been shut off. I had no interest in listening to another chastisement from Grandpa, Mom, or anybody else that had a 'better understanding' of my life. This is why the knock on my door was a surprise; I'd never given the family my new address, and since they couldn't call me, I had figured I was free from the constant advice column.
I looked at the clock, and when I saw the hour, I knew only bad things would be coming from the other side of the door. However, even though I'd just quit my only means of sustaining my life, and had no interest in really getting into another discussion about it with anybody, I was preprogrammed to always man up to a given situation. The frantic knocking on my apartment door was one of those things I couldn't just ignore, as much as I wanted to.
I set my drink down on my favorite coaster, some local brewery that had an amazing seasonal beer that I liked to enjoy on a nightly basis, and got up to answer the door. I quickly looked around the room to make sure that it was decent for company, although, as always, the room was immaculate; I prided myself on cleanliness, and the ability to leave at a moment's notice in the event that there was some sort of emergency.
The knocking continued, and although it had only been a few seconds since that first knock, my stomach was tightening into a knot. This wasn't a good sign, and it was most likely not coincidental that it was occurring on my last day of work/first day of freedom. I sincerely hoped it wasn't my boss, as I knew that he'd drink the rest of my beers, and then make me feel like an ass for not having more, and then somehow talk me back into work for a few more days, under some guise of it being "my duty to finish the projects I'd started, and it's only a few more days".
Reluctantly, I still walked over to the door and looked out the peephole. The peephole was of no use, because I had just remembered that I was supposed to change the bulb, so there was only blackness outside, and I still had no idea who it might be banging on my door. With a deep sigh, I turned the deadbolt, and pulled the door open to address the person interrupting my relaxation.
"Thank GOD you're home!" she said, and pushed through the door, knocking me back and out of the way. The girl who'd just pushed me out of the way dropped all of her bags on the ground right inside my apartment, and walked straight to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
Had I been thinking clearly, I would have realized what just happened, but my mind was in shock. This amazingly hot girl had just burst into my apartment and run straight to my bathroom without so much as a "Hi, hello, my name is ..."
My mind began to spin quickly, trying to place the voice, the face, or anything else that might give away who this stranger was in my house. I came up with nothing, though, and I decided to patiently wait until she returned before I really gave it any more thought. This was my standby thinking process- if I didn't see an answer straightaway, I took a momentary pause to reassess the situation and wait for more information.
I'd expected her to come right back out of the bathroom, but to my surprise, the shower started up and I could hear the girl muttering something through the door. I wasn't a doormat by any means, but I couldn't believe that a random strange girl would burst into my apartment, leave her things all over my floor, and then head into my bathroom to shower without so much as a word other than the exclamation that I was home. Therefore, logic dictated that I must know her, somehow.
Not wanting to be a perv, I decided that a sexy girl in my bathroom wasn't a threat, and I resumed my seat on the couch with my beer. I didn't know how this was going to play out, but I wasn't going to stress too heavily about it. I mean, I had just quit my job, had no real plan of attack for my life, no real friends nearby, and my family was on my shit list, so I thought I'd just wait to see how it all played out. Besides, the brief encounter I'd had with her left me focusing on other aspects of her; rather than who she was, it was more how she looked. She'd been really attractive, I thought, but it was only a momentary glance.
My beer quickly was consumed, as I mulled over the possibilities of what was to occur when the girl returned from my bathroom. I got up, and grabbed another, enjoying the taste of my favorite beverage, when the shower shut off. I knew every sound in my apartment, so I knew that the shower curtain was pulled back, one of the clean towels had been removed from the squeaky Ikea towel rack, and the door was opening. The door was opening?
I knew immediately that this girl was only coming out in a towel, and I thought maybe that this might be some sort of present from a friend, or maybe my boss, although both were unlikely. I wasn't the type to pick up random girls, and I never EVER hired working girls. Regardless, this situation was reaching a point where I wasn't so sure I wanted this girl in my house anymore, even if she was hot.
I decided to approach her when she walked out, so as I took a swig of my beer, I turned to face the bathroom door as it swung inward. There she was, wrapped in a towel, legs still glistening from the hot water that had been cascading down her naked body moments before. The towel was loosely draped, so seeing a figure through that was rather difficult, but I assessed that she had an amazing rack hidden behind that thick piece of cloth. My eyes had started at her feet, and worked their way up, finally resting on her face. In the span of the 10 seconds I was watching her, she hadn't moved, and was just looking back at me.
Realization dawned on me as the face became familiar. It was Katie, my step sister. I hadn't seen her in years; she hadn't come to my graduation due to the divorce that had occurred when I was in the middle of college. Katie had been a Senior in high school, and my mom, even though I loved her, decided to take a few new lovers while my stepdad was away on business. This spiraled out of control, leaving Katie in a broken family, again, with me being off at college, safe.
I wasn't sure how she'd found me, why she was here, or what she wanted, but she was the one person in the world that I was genuinely glad to see; my thoughts of her rack and sexy body long gone. I wasn't one for incest, and even though there was no blood relation, she was off limits, always had been, and always would be. I loved her like my own little sister, and that was the end of my feelings for her. Given, I hadn't seen her in years, and my body still tried to react. A tiny lurch in my pants called for some extreme willpower, and as a master of my own mind, I managed to shut the boner down before it had a chance to really gain strength.
"You got another one of those Ben?" she asked, indicating the beer in my hand.
Without waiting for a response, she walked over to my fridge, and pulled another can from the acquired six pack that I enjoyed so much. She cracked the beer and started chugging right in the kitchen, not waiting for the fridge to even close before the can was hitting her lips.
I had to say, a sexy woman, in a towel, still damp from the shower, drinking a beer in my kitchen, was one of the most erotic things I'd ever seen in my 24 years of life. I was speechless as I watched her drain the can in less than a minute, toss the can into the sink, and grabbed another one. She didn't chug the second one, but walked back over to the couch where I'd been sitting and plopped down, cracking the beer in a smooth motion with one hand and then setting it on my one and only coaster.
I was still just standing in the middle of the room, beer in hand, speechless. This had to be one of the most odd experiences I'd ever been a part of, and I didn't quite know how to react.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, I realized I still hadn't even said hello to her, much less asked her what she was doing in my apartment.
"Hey Kate. What's up?" I asked, not quite sure what else to say. She was my sister, after all. Pleasantries could be ignored with family, I'd always said, so I wasn't going to give her the interrogation that I'd previously planned on when I didn't know that it was her.
"Oh you know, the same shit as always. What's new with you?" She replied, not really giving me anything to work with.
I shrugged, and sat next to her, drinking my beer, waiting for her to speak again.
I waited a long time.
We sat silently, sipping our beers together side by side, and waiting for the other to start the conversation. My curiosity finally got the best of me, and I opened my mouth to ask why she was here, how she had found me, and basically, wondered what she wanted.
Before I could speak, she started talking. "Ben, I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Can I use your room?" Without waiting for an answer, again, she set her can down on the table, stood up, grabbed her bags, and walked into my room, shutting my bedroom door behind her.
I was stunned. She'd been in my house for about an hour, and basically acted as is she lived here. I shrugged to myself, though, because, after all, she was my sister, and if she was here, at least she wasn't out somewhere unsafe. I'd always tried to take care of her, but I had a feeling that she wasn't the kind that needed taking care of anymore. As a matter of fact, she seemed like she was more confident than anybody I knew.
I looked at the clock again, but the battery had died. The analog display was still showing 10:26pm. I thought that to be a bit ominous, but decided that it could wait until the morning. I'd already had a couple of beers before Katie had shown up, so decided to call it a night. Since my bedroom was occupied, I started to get blankets out of my linen cupboard to keep me warm throughout the night on the couch.
