I was sitting in the back seat of the car, watching trees passing by. My parents were up front, talking about our relatives and the things they remembered about them. They were driving me to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousin for two weeks. They had called and said that they wanted to see me before I went away to college in the fall. Plus, it would be a good time for Karen and I to catch up on things.
I sat back and stared out the window of the car remembering my cousin Karen. She was the same age as me and always found a way to annoy me. The last time I saw her was at our family reunion four summers ago. We were both fourteen at the time and puberty hadn’t been that kind to her. She was overweight and had pimples all over her face. She also wore these thick glasses. The only time she wasn’t bothering me was when our older cousins were picking her on and I was defending her. I guess irking me was Karen’s way of showing appreciation for that. I wondered if being eighteen had changed her any.
I snapped out of my daze as we pulled into my relatives’ driveway. I got my bags out of the trunk and followed my parents up to the door. As soon as my mom rang the bell, I could hear my aunt yelling inside the house. My aunt and uncle opened the door and squealed in delight at the three of us standing there. I walked into the house, enduring the hugs and kisses from my aunt, and the questions from my uncle. Through the commotion, I heard my mom ask where Karen was.
“Oh, she’s upstairs,” my aunt replied. “Karen, get down here and say hi to your cousin.”
“Coming,” I heard a voice reply. The sound of footsteps could then be heard coming down the stairs. As Karen appeared, time seemed to slow down. She was no longer the overweight cousin I remembered. Karen had lost some of the weight and was quite voluptuous. Her thighs were a nice thickness and her butt had a little jiggle. Although she was wearing a sweat suit, you could clearly see that her breasts had grown to a nice size, too. Karen was also no longer wearing glasses, and her chocolate colored skin looked smooth and clear. Her dark brown hair hung around her shoulders and bounced as she came down the steps.
“Girl, look at you!” my mom said as she embraced Karen.
“She started taking better care of herself once she got interested in boys,” my aunt said.