It was finally time for spring break and I surely needed it. It was a rough schedule that year, the first year teaching always is. I estimated about 300 students in all my classes combined and they had run me ragged. Statistics isn't the easiest of college courses to teach anyway, but in reviewing my class averages with more experienced professors it turned out my students were right on par so I was pleased. Still, a week off from schoolwork, from grading papers and from preparing lessons was exactly what I needed.
I had just arrived home from class on that Friday, just before nightfall because I had a late class, not more than twenty minutes before when Carissa called. She is my one and only step-sister who had just started her junior year in college.
"Hey Brian," she started before I could even say hello. I popped a microwave macaroni and cheese meal in. "What are your plans for the spring break?"
"Plans?" I asked. I really hadn't thought about it more than days on end in my swimming pool out back. "Nothing really. Just planning to lazily lay around the house. You? I bet you're going off to one of them crazy beach scenes no doubt."
She laughed on the other end but it seemed a distracted, not-wholly-felt laugh. I heard a few other girls' voices in the background as well. "Well, I was."
"And you're not now? What happened?"
"Long story short. A friend who had sworn to take care of everything, the arrangements and all, turned out to be a big flop. She took most of our money and now my friends and I are all packed to go, spent all our money on getting ready, that kind of thing but we don't have anyplace to spend the week."
"Bummer," I replied, attempting to sound like a kid again. We were nearly five years apart but I had always done my best to relate to her on her level. Still, after years of studying with stuffy-shirt mathematicians in my masters program, it wasn't easy to pull off any more.
"Yeah, big time. The girls don't want to spend the week with their families and we can't be caught dead in the dorms or we'll be socially ruined so... I was thinking...," Carissa always had the tendency to never actually ask for what she was wanting but instead let others assume it. She wouldn't admit to it but I figured it was her way to save face if she was turned down.
"You want to come to my place for the week, is that it?"
"Well, if you're inviting? You're pool's big enough for like four of us, right?" I was taken back a bit. My step-sister had stayed at my place a time or two before when she just needed a place to get away from campus life for a night or whatnot. It was the nice thing about having my own house, no roommate, that type of thing. But four of them?
"Four? I thought you were talking about just yourself. There's not enough beds for you all. Hell, there's not even an extra bedroom. The other two rooms are setup for the office and workout spaces now." There was no way I was going to get any peace with five headstrong college girls running around the place.
"There're the couches, come on, Brian. Don't be a stick. Help me out here, I've already told them you'd be cool with it. Don't make me look bad, please!"
"Oh what the hell." She had always been able to manipulate me ever since our parents had gotten married when she was eleven. Though I had grown up an only child for 15 years prior, something about that petite blond-haired smiling face, with her sparkling honey eyes, just made me crazy about her. We had taken to each other like milk and cookies. Even after our parents had divorced a year later, she had easily convinced her mom to let me stay until I went off to college; my own father having run off with his secretary to South America after the affair was found out. Fortunately, I share his name so I got access to all his accounts, giving myself a decent living throughout college even before I started working.
"Oh, thank you Brian. You're the best. See you fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen? It's like two hours from your school to here."
"I always have confidence in you, bro. See you soon. Kisses," and with that she hung up the phone.
*****
I had just hung up from the local pizza delivery, putting in an order for delivery to serve five when I saw the lights of a sedan pull up in my driveway. Carissa had missed her estimate by all of three minutes. Like school kids on a field trip, the car emptied in a flood and I was only just arriving at the door when the bell rang wildly.
"Good evening ladies," I opened the door slowly, doing my best imitation of the butler from the Addam's Family which had never failed to get a giggle out of Carissa. Her friends were pretty much the same it seemed, giggling and cutting up over my little joke. They filed in the house one by one carrying a small bag each, which surprised me. I always thought girls traveled with more luggage than that.
Between words of 'you're the best, Brian', 'thanks, Mr. Baritol', and 'sweet house, Mr. Baritol' I finally got a word in edgewise over their excited chatter. "For now, put all your things in the office. I'll figure out where everybody's going to sleep and move your bags later. I've got pizza coming; best I could do on such short notice." I shot Carissa a sarcastic glance of 'thanks for the warning' but I wasn't really cross. With her there was no way I could be. My large house was usually so quiet; it would be... interesting co-living with these girls for the next week.
The pizza guy arrived by the time the girls had stored their things and returned to sprawl about the couch and two loveseats, adorning my living room with bare legs. Upon spotting all those females in my house, which he knew well to normally be nearly deserted from delivering at least three times a week, his eyes went wide as fried eggs. "Dude, suuuweet. You got like real babes, man. Hook me up!" I just smiled at him embarrassed, slipped him the money along with his tip and closed the door without a word.
"Great to have you all here," I announced to the girls as we all stood around the bar eating pepperoni pizzas. They were definitely a sight to see, Carissa's long wavy blond hair contrasting starkly against the two brunettes and black-haired Latina that were her friends. They were all relatively close in age, I guessed; somewhere around Carissa's 20 years or so and sported those college-girl petite waistlines although the Latina seemed to fill out her jeans noticeably tighter than the other three. The shoulder-length curly haired brunette had a smaller chest much like Carissa's, while the Latina was a bit fuller in that department. The other brunette on the other hand definitely carried around some weight with her pectoral protrusions which, when matched with her nearly absent caboose, made her seem like she might topple over with any wrong move.
"Thanks for having us, Brian. You're the best" Carissa responded. "This is Vanessa," she hugged the Latina's shoulders. "Ashley," she indicated to the shoulder-length hair brunette "and Rebecca," indicating the top heavy one. We shared a round of 'nice to meet you' and handshakes.
"So what are your plans for the week?" I asked the girls. "Anything you want to do in particular?" Carissa shared a glance with her friends before she answered as if she they shared a secret that she wanted to make sure was not let out.
"Just hang out with you, really. Watch movies, go swimming, have some drinks... that kind of thing."
"Well, I'm honored," I answered jokingly. "Seriously though, I've never been that much of a partier so I apologize in advance if its not as exciting around here as you might have hoped."
"Hey, all I want for my Spring Break is some good booze to drink and a hot guy for company. Looks like I got one of the two already so where's the booze at?" Rebecca asked, causing a giggle throughout the group and for me to blush heartily. Though I couldn't see how they thought so, what with my professional nerdy looks and all but the other three girls agreed with her comment which made my chest swell unconsciously with pride.
"Let's watch a movie," Carissa mentioned followed up by Ashley saying we could make some popcorn and have some beers.