*** This is not only my first effort at literotica, but also my first effort at writing fiction. I'm sincerely interested in your thoughtful feedback.***
My sister Melody is four years older than I. We had an excellent rapport, somehow a combination of fraternal and paternal, but without the judgments that often sour so many family relations. Though her suggestions, advice, offers for rides, help with picking clothes, she made my transitions as a teenager so much easier. She helped me to become a well-balanced kid, and that made for a pretty smooth relationship with my parents.
Melody was pretty, average in height, and with an average physique. She was active in sports but not committed to anything the way gymnasts or swimmers sometimes are. She still wears her dark hair long, and with her big brown eyes and big eye lashes she always makes a good first impression. My friend Steve commented on her looks often, but otherwise I didn't think of her that way.
When Melody went off to college I was just fourteen, so her homecomings were always something to which I looked forward. While my parents supported her, she was responsible and ambitious, and always seemed to have both a waiting/bartender job and a career-relevant internship underway. So when she visited, she always seemed to be ready to spoil me.
I've seen how parents of opposite-sex siblings allow for contention, perhaps to eliminate any mutual interest. I suppose if we had been closer in age, my parents might have been concerned about our relationships; but because we were in separate stages of adolescence and adulthood, I don't think anyone (including Melody or I), had any concern.
Because of an out-of-country scholarship program, I didn't get to see much of Mary during the 2001-2002 scholastic, the year in which she and I graduated from Uni and high school, respectively. But in the late summer of 2002, Melody came back to town looking for a flat as she prepared for the start of a new job in September. I had a deferment from an American university for a year, and with my parents encouragement, I was looking forward to an apprenticeship in a robotics company in the western outskirts of the city.
Of course I had matured a lot during that year she was away, and her surprise in seeing me was genuine. And I suppose I picked up on the change in her disposition toward me because I noticed her differently too. In the evening of her arrival she asked me to join her for a morning run, and we set a time. My parents were thrilled by her arrival and eager to hear her stories. I stayed up as long as I could, but Melody herself told me to get off to bad after nodding off during one of her stories.
I had become a proficient runner thanks to an encouraging cross-country coach. He was authoritative in his knowledge of adolescent development and rarely let us accumulate more than five kilometers of sustained running in one practice. Over the summer after graduation, I had ventured further, sometimes up to ten kilometers at a time. Accordingly, when my sister announced her regular distances were between nine and 15 kilometers, I was somewhat concerned of my abilities. But she set a comfortable pace that allowed us to keep a continued conversation for almost 90 minutes, and I was very pleased to calculate that we had gone over 16 kilometers.
When we returned our parents had already gone off to work, and a note from our mother suggested a planned evening together. Melody and I agreed to get showered, enjoy a quick breakfast, and then I'd accompany her to look at a few apartments. I felt great in the shower, probably enjoying an increased rush of endorphins from the extended distance of our run. I didn't have a care in the world.
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The first set of garden apartments we visited were pleasant, with a modest pool. My sister did not intend to look for an apartment mate, and I could tell that she was particular in her search, perhaps because of the role this residence would play in her adult identity. I was both envious and fascinated with her. And as we looked through some of the apartments throughout the morning, I became conscious of the stream of images flashing in my mind. I imagined her preparing to bath, preparing to dress, and sleeping in the bedrooms we inspected. Of course I had noticed the fit of her running clothes, and the bounce of her jog bra, and perhaps it was all just being processed differently than I had experienced before.
Late in the morning we encountered a landlady who seemed to be particularly impressed by Melody. The landlady introduced herself as Gloria, and she expressed an affinity for Melody that was both sisterly and motherly. It did not seem uncomfortable for Melody, and I suppose that while it was noteworthy to me, I was otherwise unbothered. Gloria had advertised a second floor apartment with a pleasant view. Our small city featured a few larger buildings along the centre avenue, but otherwise it was uncommon for a building to be more than a few stories high. Melody seemed increasingly charmed by both Gloria and the apartment, and occasionally I saw a look between them that suggested something that I could only describe as a shared kindred spirit between my 23 year-old sister and Gloria, who was likely in her late 40's. I began to feel a sort of jealousy, and I realized I had never felt I had to share my sister before. Only then did I realize I had never known my sister to have a boyfriend, and I became totally preoccupied with the range of explanations for the feelings swirling in my head.
As we continued to look around, Gloria suddenly put on the brakes, and said she wanted to show Melody another apartment on the top floor. As we climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor, Gloria apologized for the lack of an elevator, but then offered a flattering comment about Melody's fitness, and then suggested that with a brother like me, "there'd be plenty of brawn to help with moving." Gloria was herself very fit, and seemed to bound up the stairs with excess energy as her black ponytail bounced from side to side across the back of her shoulders. She said the apartment was being repainted, and that she had considered living their herself when her husband passed two years earlier. Contextual clues suggested he was much older, and Gloria said that money he left her allowed for her to splurge on the adjacent property with wonderful gardens and a pool.
I was skeptical of what might be worth four stories of stairs several times a day, but Melody and I were both pleasantly surprised. Whereas the other floors had three units each, the top floor had only a single apartment. The apartment took up approximately a third of the fourth floor, and the rear doors opened out to a rooftop patio that took up another third. Although there were potted plants everywhere, the real marvel was the "green rooftop" that made up the remaining third of this top floor. It would be a penthouse apartment if it weren't only four stories up. When Gloria saw Melody's reaction to the combination of the view, the privacy, the breeze, and what looked to be an otherwise wonderful living space, she gently reached out to embrace my sister and said, "For your sweetie, I will offer this at the same price as the second floor apartment. Melody responded with a much more enthusiastic and affectionate embrace that seemed natural, but what caught my notice was the way they both remained embraced, pulled their necks back and looked into each others eyes. They then both suddenly looked toward me as my sister said, "What do you think?" Perhaps unsure of what she was asking, I fumbled briefly before blurting out, "It's awesome!"
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Melody was on a high. She announced she didn't want to go home, and instead wanted to just wander around and talk. I was both amused and in some ways overcome by the aura of my sister. I had never seen her like this before. We stopped at a shopping mall and walked inside and the cool air felt wonderful. After just a few steps Melody grabbed my hand and we walked that way for more than 30 minutes. She talked about everything ranging from her job to our parents, to our run, and of course the apartment and Gloria. Even when she'd stop to look at something, pick it up to inspect it, she automatically grabbed for my hand. Even while enjoying our coffees sitting in a cafe, she seemed to be in constant touch. I couldn't get enough. I loved my sister, everything about her, but I had never felt like this about her.
It was during some comment about Gloria that I realized Melody saw much more in her than I did. For the first time I saw part of the world through Melody's perspective. Melody was so central to my formative life experiences, but I never realized that she had no such person in her world. While Melody enjoyed a terrific relationship with our parents, there was no one like my Melody to guide and facilitate her the way she did for me. I suppose that Gloria touched some unmet need for my sister. I listened attentively, because I'll also admit that Gloria's attractiveness may have planted unfounded ideas in my perception of the day's events.
When we finally returned home, I held the door for Melody and once inside she spun around and gave me the biggest, warmest hug I can remember. She then planted a firm and briefly sustained kiss on my lips before saying, "Thank you Jon, thank you, thank you for being with me today. I'm not sure that the events would have unfolded the same without you there with me."
The kiss surprised me, but it was not provocative enough to plant any confusion, and I comfortably managed to reply, "I enjoyed every minute, and I love seeing you this way."
With that, Melody seemed to bounce on her toes and again squeezed me and delivered a similarly firm kiss and then let go. I didn't let go quite as quickly but it was not awkward. Melody however, continued to look into my eyes a few seconds after, and then shared a big smile as she pivoted and walked away.
"I'm going to check my mail and then maybe go out by the pool," she announced.
"I suppose I will too then," I said, "but I need to send a message to my new supervisor, so I might be a short while."
