I just don't believe this!
The one day Tammy wanted to have all to herself... and her big brother had to get the call from his job that they didn't need him at work today!
The twenty-two year old couldn't keep the dark scowl from her face as she relaxed on the plastic sun lounger in her corner of the pool deck; her skin glistening from a coating of sunscreen, with her amber eyes shaded by her thirty-dollar sunglasses as she attempted to read the girl's mag draped across her bikini-clad lap. However, she couldn't help her gaze from returning to the broad form in the aquamarine waters before her; her brother Dirk, swimming laps with long, smooth strokes of his nut-brown arms.
Damn it!
she snarled inwardly.
Why did Dork have to get cut from work today? It just wasn't fair!
Shaking her head briefly, she had planned to have a girl's day at home, since their father had a business call that required him to leave town and stay overnight in a city some twelve hours away. Tammy rarely got the house to herself since Dirk's afternoon job at the auto shop and her father's morning work always made it so that either of the two males in her life were at home.
So, it was a bit of a sour shock to the trim, russet-haired woman, after she stepped out of her bedroom after her morning shower -- white string top and boy-short bottoms on, and all of her tanning essentials in hand -- only to find her nineteen-year old brother in the kitchen, talking on the cordless handset as he got the news.
"...if it's what you want, Boss, then I'm cool with it!" Dirk's face was filled with an easy, dimpled smile as he listened for a moment more, then he said his good-bye before hanging up. Dirk turned and spied his sister, and dropped the bombshell on her then.
"Do you have to spend your day off, at home???" Tammy tried every possible persuasion she could think of off-hand, but Dirk would not be swayed.
"Geez, don't get your panties in a knot, Sis," he said in that easy-going, rich voice of his. "I'm not going to get under your dainty feet! Trust me, you'll never even know that I'm here."
However, even as Tammy went about her preparations to catch some mid-morning sunshine, she couldn't keep her brain from seething over the presence of her younger brother.
Cripes! I just want a day all to myself! Is that too much to ask for?
Earlier, as she put on her sun blocker while standing on the deck, she continued to grumble about her sour lot this day. She was a hard-working student at the local community college, working towards getting her degree in teaching, as well as a dedicated worker at the hair salon in town. She put in a lot of hours -- in both job hours and her studies -- so she cherished every free hour she could get, as if it was solid gold.
Now, however, here she was stretched out in the hot sun, while her eyes shot icy daggers at her younger brother while he continued to swim in the pool before her.
Damn it! It's just not fair!
she told herself in disgust.
Just then, Dirk's head and shoulders popped up above the concrete rim of the pool; his wet arms draping over the edge as he reached up to slick some of his brown locks out of his eyes. "Hey," he said, his mellow voice pitched just slightly higher than it's normal low tenor as he looked at Tammy. When she didn't respond, he called again, "Hey, Sis?"
Scowling, Tammy turned her head to the left and sighed gustily. "What do you want?"
"Listen," Dirk said, "I'm not pickin' on you... but, you don't have to keep staring at me with all the ice cubes, hm?"
Tammy winced inwardly. Her brother may have been younger than her, but Dirk had an uncanny way of picking up on people's emotions. "Am I being that cold to you?" she asked with a snort.
"Well, if it gets any colder in here," Dirk offered with another of his smiles, "I'll have to join a polar bear club."
Tammy usually could be cutting and snippy when she was in a foul mood, but she never could deny that she could not help but smile, whenever Dirk cracked a joke or said something humorous. Feeling the corners of her plump lips tug upwards, she kept her head turned away as she replied, "It's that chilly, hm?"
Dirk gave her a low chuckle, before he hefted his beefy body out of the water, planting himself on the pool rim wetly as he continued to stare at her. "Brrr, it's cold out here, bay-beh!" he said in a falsetto, cartoon character voice.
Now the smile blossomed fully on her face, as Tammy felt her mood shift from sour to a little more sweet with his impression. "Okay, okay!" she groused in a good-natured way. "I'll switch off the freeze-ray! Just knock off with that lame voice, 'kay?"
"Deal, Sis!" Dirk grinned. For a moment, he continued to stare at her... then, in a more serious tone, he asked, "Did I really mess things up today?"
Tammy couldn't stop the sigh from escaping, as she pulled herself upright and stared at him. "No... not really," she admitted at length. "I just was looking forward to having the house to myself today, is all. I didn't mean to act so... so...."
"Bitchy?"
Tammy reached up and tugged her sunglasses down to peer at him. "Do you always have to be do damned literal?"
Dirk gave her a disarming smile. "Sorry, Sis. I just call 'em like I see it." Pulling one long leg out of the water, he propped it on the concrete next to him and put one arm on top of his knee. "I can understand how you feel. It's not every day that I get a free day to myself, either."
"You're practically knocking yourself out at the garage," Tammy observed. Which was pretty true; Dirk wanted to follow in his older sister's footsteps and make his way into college, and he was sacrificing a lot of personal time and other needs to make the funds he needed to start out.
Hell, for as much as he's been working, he'll be able to start his first semester in the fall!
"Well, getting into college isn't going to be cheap," Dirk replied. "I just want to make the transition as easily as possible."