This was going to suck, Jake just knew it. Maybe he could get out of it after a couple months, or just one term. Everyone would be living in the dorms, but him. "Fuck," he thought. "I'm stuck living with my mom's sister and her family in my freshman of college." There'd be curfews and no loud music, ever. "How was I going to get laid?" He had to give into his parents though. They were paying for him to go away to college. He could've stayed home and gone to the local, his student loan would've covered that, but that school didn't have the courses he'd need. Podunk U he called it. This uni had what he needed for an engineering degree. He'd have to put up with his stupid cousin though, Ellen. Ellen was a year older than him, 19, and therefore always thought she could boss him around. "That wouldn't be happening this time," he thought.
The previous night he'd unpacked only his clothes. Today he'd get the rest of his stuff settled. They gave him the bonus room above the garage, a part of it anyway. At least it had a door and was sort of away from the rest of the house. They'd put a shelf unit up for him. Ellen had been in already and left tacks and tape and stuff for him to put up his posters and pictures. That was uncharacteristically nice of her. They all were nice, but damn, he wanted to be out on his own.
His mother's sister, Angela, was actually kind of cool and Jake always thought she liked him very much. His Mom and she were the closest siblings in their family. His family spent a lot of time with them camping and vacations while he was growing up. His younger brother, David, and he teased hell out of Ellen, well tried anyway. Ellen always did her best to control them since she was the eldest of the cousins. David was only 17 now. "Man, she was going to hold it over me she'd been in college for a whole year before me," Jake thought ruefully. Today was Sunday, tomorrow school would start. He'd spend the rest of the day organizing for it. If only he could avoid Ellen, he'd be happier. "Shit, this WAS going to suck."
The first week had passed since Jake had started school. Tomorrow was Saturday. It'd been hectic and exhausting, but also exciting. No more high school crap. He was making friends, one of them, Ian, was having a party at one of the dorms tomorrow night. Jake had asked Aunt Angela if he could go and she stunned him by saying yes, but how would he get home? "Don't worry, there's a designated driver. Thanks for letting me go. Mom would never have let me and would make me pay for even asking."
"Ah, no problem Jake. You know you're my favorite nephew. Shhhh," she laughed. "I want you to have fun, but I promised to take care of you too."
Tonight she and Uncle Harold were out for a movie. He was alone, but Ellen would be home shortly. What a surprise she had been since he'd moved in. She wasn't telling him what to do anymore and she'd been helpful without holding it over his head she was older. What changed? He hadn't figured it out yet.
As if right on cue, Ellen came in the door. "Jake. Are you here?"
He was in the family room which was attached to the kitchen, "Back here." He was in the middle of a movie.
She came in saying, "there you are. Have you had dinner?"
"Yeah, I had leftovers."
"Oh. I haven't eaten, mind if I fix something?
"Of course not. I'm watching a movie."
"Oh, which one?"
"Wedding Crashers. It's on right now."
"Oh, I like that. Mind if I watch it with you?"
"Not at all."
Ellen quickly fixed a salad and sat down in the big chair near him. It was only twenty minutes into the movie, she hadn't missed much of it. They sat there, watching together and soon they were laughing their asses off. After a little while, Ellen asked if he could pause it since it was on TIVO. She needed to put her dish away and had to use the bathroom. "Sure, no problem, take all the time you need."
Ellen cleaned up and ran off upstairs. When she came back down, she stopped in the kitchen, "would you like something to drink?"
"Yeah I could go for a Pepsi if there's a cold one."
"No, I was thinking of something else. Do you like vodka?" She had a mischievous look on her face.
"I don't think that would be smart. I'd like a drink, but you know." He didn't want to do something to blow it here. It would be a source of never ending crap from his mom if he screwed it up here getting caught drinking.
"Aw come on Jake. I promise we won't get in trouble. I've done it before. I just put a little water in the bottle, so the level is the same. Trust me on this."
Jake thought about it for a second. It sounded really good. He thought she knew what she was doing, so he'd go along. "As long as you cover our tracks, ok. How do we drink it? Straight?"