I was fruitlessly looking at hotels on my tablet when the text message came in. When I heard the alert, I grabbed the phone and saw the message was from my sister.
"Mom wants 2 know when ur coming home?" the message read.
"Not sure. I'm trying to figure a couple of things out," I typed in response. A moment after I hit send, my phone started ringing. It was my sister again. She didn't even give me a chance to say anything.
"You text too slow," Holly teased.
"Pardon me for spelling, Sissy."
I could almost see her rolling her eyes when she groaned. "What do you mean you're not sure? Classes are out for Christmas. You get in the car and drive. If you don't remember the way, use the GPS on your phone."
"Ha, ha. I'm trying to find a hotel or a friend I can crash with."
"I thought you were going to stay at the house?"
"That's what
Mom
expected me to do. I really don't want to be stuck there with everybody. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Ellie, our cousins... A day, maybe two — fine. I'd lose my mind if I had to stay there a week."
"Good point," Holly admitted. "There's no way you're finding a hotel last minute like this."
"Yeah, I've come to that conclusion," I said, and then sighed.
"Well, easy enough. You come stay with me."
I'd almost forgotten that she'd moved into a mobile home with a friend a couple of months earlier. "Sleeping on a couch for a week doesn't sound any better."
"You wouldn't be on the couch. Gawd. There was a full size bed in the front bedroom when we moved in. We both have our own beds, so we moved that one to the room in the middle. It takes up most of the room, and we'll have to clean the boxes off it, but it's a bed."
Technically, that solved my problem. It presented a whole host of new ones, though. "You just moved—"
"Nope. No excuses. You're staying here, and that's final."
I broke out into an evil smile and said, "Wow. Aren't you a little young to be doing a perfect imitation of Mom?"
"Fuck you."
"Yeah,
that
definitely didn't sound like Mom."
Holly asked, "So, can I let Mom know you're on the way, and that you're staying here?"
It was my best option, as fraught with potential disaster as it was. I blew out a long, slow breath and then answered, "I'll throw some stuff in a bag and head that way."
"I'll text you directions once I get off the phone with Mom. See you soon. Bye."
"Bye," I said, and then ended the call. After that, I muttered, "Oh boy," and turned my attention to packing.
****
I was surprised when I pulled up in front of the place. It's a mobile home. The first thing you think is
trailer trash
. It looked fairly nice from curbside. The walk and stairs were shoveled. There were flowers in the windows. If I didn't know it was a double-wide trailer, I might not have guessed that it was. I recognized my sister's car, so I knew I was at the right place.
Bag in hand, I headed down the walk between the snow banks, and then up the stairs. Before I could knock, my sister opened the door.
"Come on in," she said, stepping out of the way and gesturing grandly.
My little sister was growing up. She had her brunette hair done up, and she was wearing makeup even though she was sitting around the house. Her redheaded roommate Jemma grinned as I stepped in the door.
Jemma was the first of those
fraught with peril
things I was worried about. She was gorgeous, had great tits, and it was general knowledge that she was very much bisexual.
What was also general knowledge — even though they had never openly stated it — was that she was sleeping with my sister.
Though I'd seen pictures of her and knew of her in general, we'd never actually been introduced, so Holly took care of that.
"Jay-Jay, this is my brother, Doug. Doug, Jemma Jolley."
The redhead and I both offered a wave and said, "Hi," almost simultaneously.
Holly then grabbed my arm and said, "Come on. I'll show you where your room is so you can drop your bag."
As we walked, I told her, "I really need to hit the can."
"It's right there," she said, pointing at the bathroom door as we passed it. She stopped once she passed the next door, and said, "Here you go. I wrote the wi-fi password on that notepad."
The room was small, barely large enough to contain the full-size bed with room to walk around it. All I really needed was a bed while I was in town, so it would work fine.
I tossed my bag on the bed, turned to Holly, and said, "Be right out."
"There's spray on the back of the toilet," she informed me as I walked down the hall to the bathroom.
That should have been fairly obvious, but when I walked into the bathroom, I discovered that the information was more valuable than I anticipated. Two women living together and sharing a bathroom meant that almost every available surface was covered in one product or another. The shower caddy looked almost dangerous, considering how many bottles were jammed into it.
I took a leak, wisely saved myself a tongue-lashing by putting the seat back down afterwards, and then headed for the front room.
Holly was holding her phone out, facing me, when I walked in the room. The text message from our mother was hardly surprising. I hadn't expected to have any time to settle in before I was summoned, even though I'd been home only a month before for Thanksgiving.
"Well, I guess I'm out," I said, and rolled my eyes.
The girls both laughed. Holly picked up a key from the table and handed it to me. "The front door," she explained. "Just in case Mom doesn't let you out of there until she passes out."
I knew that was a distinct possibility.
****
As it happened, Mom had to turn in early because she was picking up my grandparents from the airport in the morning. That let me pull up at Holly's place around eight, full of home cooking, and drowsy.
The last thing I expected to see when I let myself in was Jemma and my sister drinking beer. From the looks of them, they'd had a couple, too.
Holly pointed toward the kitchen and said, "Still some in the fridge if you want." She must have recognized the surprise in my demeanor, because she said, "Come on. It's not as if you weren't drinking when you were eighteen."
"Just caught me off-guard," I said, and chuckled. She was offering, so I headed to the fridge and grabbed myself a bottle. There were only three bottles left in the 12-pack. Not my brand, but beggars can't be choosers.
Holly scooted over closer to the redhead and patted the couch cushion next to her. "How was it?" she asked.
I sat down heavily and opened my beer. "Not as bad as I expected. Mom made dumplings."
Holly made the strangest — and cutest — face. It was a combination of a pout and a scowl. "Shoot. I should have gone with you."
Jemma laughed and said, "Glad you didn't. I'd have had to listen to you hyperventilate about getting fat."
My sister playfully smacked her roomie, but then admitted, "You're right."
"That explains the lite beer," I said, and took another drink. Then I stole a joke and said, "Like making love in a canoe."
Both girls stared at me in confusion.
I delivered the punch line, "It's fucking close to water."
Holly groaned, but Jemma busted out into laughter.
"Well, you could always buy what you like tomorrow, and we'll give it a try," Holly said.
"You're trying to get me to buy you beer," I said, figuring out where she was headed.
Holly replied, "Guilty," and finished the last of her bottle. "Are you going to want another one?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Between the driving and dinner, I'm about to pass out as it is. Sure you need another one?"