Party of Five

I think I owe everyone an apology, as I just recently actually read through the first two chapters that I'd uploaded, and become enlightened as to the usefulness of editing and a beta reader. I found heaps of spelling and grammar mistakes and even used the wrong name twice, which was Josh's original name. So, I'm sorry for that. But rest assured that (if anyone is still reading this) all future chapters will be thoroughly edited before being uploaded. I only wish there were an edit option on the site. Oh well; I promise it'll get better. Enjoy.

***

Once inside the safe confines of the upstairs bathroom, Josh peeled off his clothes and hopped in the shower. He adjusted the taps until the water was almost painfully hot, and let the fine cloud of vapour swirl around him soothingly. He wished instantly that the steam were thick enough to inhibit his vision, which would have prevented him from seeing his own exceedingly stiff erection. He wished, too, that the water could penetrate his skull and wash his mind clean of its sordid images; it seemed he couldn't stop picturing Jacquie's moistened breasts floating in front of his eyes.

Damn it, Josh thought. He focused all of his willpower on keeping his hands off his penis, which was no easy task. When he looked at porn websites on the Internet, Josh found that his hand usually drifted towards his crotch subconsciously. Now he had that same urge, as though it was instinctive behaviour, and not something he could easily defy.

He spent an inordinate amount of time in the shower, until finally, when the last drop of water had turned cold, he got out and started towelling himself off. The bathroom mirror was completely fogged up, despite the working fan. It took a while for the fine sheen of mist to condense, which Josh then wiped away.

He ran across the hall to his room and donned a pair of tracksuit pants and a T-shirt. After this, he found himself wandering about his room, apparently prolonging his return downstairs for as long as possible. He wondered why he was doing this, then stopped, because it made his head hurt. At length, there was a knock on the door, and Jacquie's voice came through it.

"Are you coming, Josh?" she asked. "We're all waiting."

"Uh..." said Josh, "yeah, in a minute. I just have to...er...clean up my room a bit." Josh cringed at his poor excuse.

"You're still thinking about before aren't you?"

"Of course not," Josh lied. "Totally over that. Nothing could be further from my mind."

"Open the door, will you," said Jacquie.

Josh cast his eyes around his room, as though looking for an escape route. He realised, however, that it would be both foolish and futile to leap out the window and make a break for it down the street. He crossed the room and opened the door.

Distressingly, Josh found that, following the dishwashing incident, Jacquie's breasts seemed to have grown a cup size or two. They seemed more pronounced, more conspicuous – or perhaps, Josh thought, even more distressingly, it was simply that he was noticing them a lot more. God, why won't she wear a bloody bra.

"Josh..."

"Hmmm?"

"You're staring at my breasts."

Josh almost toppled over backwards. He snapped his head up and looked instead at his sister's forehead, unable to meet her eyes.

"Oh...was I? I...didn't notice."

Jacquie furrowed her brow sceptically. "Look," she said, turning and shutting the door, then turning back to face Josh, "they're just boobs, Josh. I'm sure you've seen them before. So why are you flaking out?"

Josh felt like replying that he had never actually seen 'boobs' in real life before; but then, Jacquie had probably guessed that from the conversation they'd had that afternoon.

"I'm not flaking out," he replied instead. "Who's flaking out? Not me. I'm not flaking out."

"Josh," Jacquie said gently, leaning forward, "you're flaking out."

Josh realised this was true, and quickly resolved to stop flaking out. "Can we go downstairs now?" he asked.

"Sure," Jacquie replied, stepping aside and gesturing Josh through the door. "Mind the boobs on the way out," she said with a large grin.

"Shut up," Josh said irritably, taking the stairs two at a time and leaving Jacquie trailing behind. He walked into the living room, where Dawn, Alice and his mother were sitting on the sofas, chatting casually amongst themselves – hopefully not about him. His gaze, however, was attracted by the colourfully wrapped box-shaped items on the coffee table. He felt like a kid, and was thoroughly enjoying it.

"There you are," his mom said. "We've been waiting for you."

"Sorry," Josh said, kneeling down on the floor beside the coffee table.

"Shall we sing Happy Birthday?" Josh's mother inquired.

"No!" Josh cried.

His mother registered his adamant tone. "Well, if you don't want us to,"

"I've got a song we can sing," Dawn offered with an evil glint in her eye. She had one of the armchairs all to herself, sitting with her legs hanging over the side and curling one of the blonde tendrils of her hair around her right index finger. She looked very alluring, and yet Josh felt like smacking the Cheshire grin off her face.

"How about you open your presents now," Alice interrupted, ever the diplomat.

"Sounds good," Josh said, picking up a cube-shaped package wrapped in shiny purple paper.

"That's mine," said Jacquie.

Josh held it up to his ear and gave it a good rattle. Hearing no telltale sounds from within, he commenced ripping the paper off. Inside was a new Discman, or rather, a box containing a new Discman.

"Wow, thanks, Jacquie."

"No problem."

Josh was busily admiring the Discman, when Alice bounced up and handed him a red-wrapped present, saying, "Mine next."

Alice had bought him a boxed set of Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. Aside from herself, Josh was the only other person in the house who appreciated a good book. Unless you counted that bosom-heaving drivel his mother read, which he didn't. "Thanks, Al," he repeated no less than three times.

"You're welcome," Alice replied politely. A strange tingle ran along Josh's spine. He thought she looked irresistibly cute sitting on the couch with her legs folded beneath her and her hair pulled up into a simple ponytail. He was beginning to think there might be some truth to what Dawn had said; but then that was preposterous, and merited no further consideration. Still, she did look awfully pretty.

"Here you go, Josh," his mother said, handing him her present and leaning over to kiss him on the head. He tolerated it only by refusing to look at Dawn, who would undoubtedly be making smooching faces in his direction.

Laura's gift turned out to be a package containing a shaving razor and shaving cream, a can of deodorant, a bottle of aftershave and an auburn coloured bottle of cologne, all bearing strange French names and logos that Josh didn't recognise, but were obviously very upper-class. "Thanks, mom," he said.

"My little boy's all grown up," Laura said, wiping her nose with a tissue.

Behind her, Dawn managed to roll her eyes, lean forward and hand Josh a large flat package all at the same time. "Here's mine," she said, in that way she spoke that made everything sound like an insult. Indeed, she was wearing a sly smile on her lips as she handed her brother the gift, which was arguably her favourite expression. Perhaps, Josh pondered, she simply didn't know how to behave nicely and employed that sarcastic smirk as her all-occasions expression.

He pulled off the red bow, which was the only decoration on the otherwise plain white box, and opened the gift. It was clothes, of course, but they were very fine, very expensive looking clothes. Josh pulled out the black shirt on top to examine it, and found that there was also a pair of grey pants underneath.

"Oh my God!" he heard Jacquie say behind him. "You got him D&G?"

Dawn was still smiling her mischievous little smile, though it appeared to have widened slightly. "It thought he could use some proper clothes," she said.

Josh narrowed his eyes at her over the shirt, which he had to admit was a very attractive garment. "Thank you, Dawn," he said a little stiffly.

"You're welcome, sweetie," she returned with exaggerated congeniality.

Josh narrowed his eyes further at the moniker. If there was one thing he hated about living in a house with four women (and there wasn't just one; there were many) it was the extravagant amount of nicknames he received, which never actually stuck, but changed with the whim of the supplier. He had to admit though, that being called "sweetie" and "darling" and "dude" by three gorgeous women did make him feel kind of warm inside.

"Well," Laura said, clapping her hands together, "how about I go make a cake." She stood and walked into the kitchen.

"Chocolate, please," Josh called after her.

"No," Dawn protested. "Banana."

Alice and Jacquie both shouted "Chocolate" and laughed at Dawn's unhappy look. Jacquie asked Josh if she could look at the clothes Dawn had bought for him, and spread them out on the sofa once he had handed them to her. Alice reached for The Iliad and asked Josh if she could borrow it after he had finished with it, to which he was happy to acquiesce. Dawn had joined Jacquie in examining the clothes. She paused after showing Jacquie the fine stitching and said to Josh, "You might even get someone to sleep with you if you wear these."

Dawn dissolved into peals of laughter, Jacquie slapped Dawn's knee and said, "Don't," and Alice looked from one girl to the other with a small smile on her face saying, "What?"

Jacquie said to Alice, "It's nothing. Dawn just found out Josh is still a virgin and she's giving him shit about it."

Alice began to giggle as Josh bellowed, "Does the whole world have to know?"

"Oh, sorry, Josh," Jacquie said, patting his head.

"I think it's cute," Alice said.

Josh's mind was suddenly struck by the though of Alice's virginity. Unlike his other sisters, he was sure he'd never seen Alice bring home any boys; and really, she didn't strike him as the type to have a lot of sex, even during her rebellious teenage years. He wondered if she had slept with a guy before, and then who it might have been, then scratched that line of thought because it led to dangerous waters. But he supposed that her remark, as well as the fact that he'd never heard Dawn teasing her (which was definitely a clincher) meant she had, in fact, had sex. He felt the sudden urge to whistle and say, Go, Alice – but he didn't.

He was snapped out of his trance by Dawn's cruel voice, saying, "I think 'pathetic' is a better word than 'cute'."

"Dawn..." Alice entreated.

"Come on, Dawn," Jacquie interjected, "Josh hasn't been blabbing about your secret."

Oh my God, Josh thought. I forgot. Got you now, bitch.

"What secret?" Alice asked with trepidation. Josh didn't blame her; Dawn's secrets were usually juicy ones. That was why it was his duty – no, his responsibility – to tell anyone and everyone he could about it.

"Dawn sl—" he began, before feeling Dawn's perfectly manicured hand clap over his mouth, throwing him into the same predicament Jacquie had been in earlier. Dawn though, was standing much closer to Josh than Josh had to Jacquie, her breasts pushing into his back and her other arm wrapped around his neck. He instantly hoped he hadn't been pushing his crotch against Jacquie's ass when he had silenced her earlier.

Josh tried prying her hand off his mouth, but to no avail. He was sucking air in through his nose greedily, hoping it was enough to keep him alive. He thought about stepping on Dawn's foot, or elbowing her in the ribs, but he knew that would be a very bad idea; Dawn would completely overreact to physical violence and either talk his ears off for days about what a little wimp he was, or get him back with some highly extravagant prank, which would no doubt culminate with Josh being humiliated in front of the entire school/neighbourhood/general public. He had no desire to try that again.

And then inspiration struck, and he remembered what Jacquie had done to get out of the same situation. Grinning to himself – as best he could – he stuck out his tongue and vigorously licked Dawn's palm. Much to his dismay, she didn't yank it away, or even move it at all. She simply laughed and said, "Hey, he's licking me."

Alice was doubled over on the floor, clutching her stomach – a very un-Alice way to laugh. Jacquie was somewhere out of Josh's view, laughing also, from the sound of her. Josh felt absolutely powerless to repel Dawn's bony little hand.

"Ooh, it tickles," said Dawn.

That's it, thought Josh. He took his hands away from his mouth and looped them behind him and underneath Dawn's ass. He leant forward and hoisted her onto his back. She shrieked, but kept her hand over his mouth. Unsure of what to do now, Josh staggered over to the empty sofa, turned around, grinned at Dawn's squeal of realisation, and fell backwards as heavily as possible.

Josh regained his feet immediately, his mouth no longer concealed. He shouted in victory and looked down at the crippled form of his sister. She didn't look too injured, but what was most surprising was that her top had ridden halfway up her belly, exposing the washboard abs beneath; all of the skin was covered by a lovely tan – the product of regular sunbathing sessions.

Dawn sat up and shook her head from side to side. Her eyes cleared slowly, then swivelled sideways and fixed menacingly on Josh.

"You little pratt!" she screamed. She reached out and smacked Josh in the stomach, causing him to expel his breath violently and throw his arms around his midsection.

"Bitch!" he said.

"Wanker," Dawn replied.

"Tramp."

"Git."

"Slut."

"What's going on in here?" It was Laura, wearing an apron and holding a carton of eggs in her hand. "What are you doing?"

"Um...we, uh..." Josh stuttered.

"Josh and I were just wrestling," Dawn put in. "Just for fun." She shot Josh a cheeky smirk.

"Alright," Laura said, "but watch the furniture. You don't want to break something." She returned to the kitchen, egg carton in hand.

Josh stood, massaging his stomach. He looked up and saw Dawn mouth, "No sex for Joshy." Infuriated, he lunged at her, but was stopped by Jacquie's placating hand. She clutched his own tightly and dragged him from the room.

"Come on, tough guy," she said, as Josh shot Dawn the meanest, cruellest, most evil look he could.

Once they reached the stairs, Jacquie released her grip on her brother's arm, and started up. She was clutching the Discman under her arm.

"Come on," she said, "let's go see if this works."

Josh followed reluctantly, doing his best to avoid staring at Jacquie's butt as she ascended the steps. She led the way to Josh's bedroom, walked in and sat down cross-legged on the bed. She opened the box and extracted the contents. Josh shut the door and sat opposite his sister on the bed, the Discman between them.

"Sometimes I think the rest of this family's testosterone went into Dawn," Jacquie said, her head bent over the contents of the box. "You two fight like animals when you get angry."

"She started it," said Josh childishly.

"You have to learn to ignore her," Jacquie replied.

Josh decided to let it go.

"So you're sure you don't want to go out tonight?" Jacquie asked. "We could go to a nightclub; or a bar; or how 'bout a strip club?" She smiled.

Josh brushed off the obvious attempt to cheer him up. He had already explained to Jacquie that he had no desire to party or get drunk or go crazy, even if it was his eighteenth birthday. He just wasn't that type of person. And besides, his acne still hadn't cleared up and that made it hard for him to socialise properly. Still, it was looking promising.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Josh answered.

Jacquie gave a disappointed groan. "I was looking forward to going to a strip club."

"Why would you want to go to a strip club?" Josh asked.

Jacquie shrugged. "Nice atmosphere," she said. "Chatty people, cheap drinks. Plus," she added, looking up from the Discman, "I really want to see you squirm when you're surrounded by so many naked breasts." She chuckled.

Josh flushed scarlet and grabbed the headphones to untie them.

"Oh, come on," said Jacquie, slapping her brother gently on the arm, "I'm just messing with you."

Josh concentrated on the headphones and said nothing. Jacquie seemed to take his silence as the humiliation kind. She lowered her head and looked up through her hair to her brother's sullen face. Josh found that this, coupled with the fact that she was sitting cross-legged, afforded him a generous view of her cleavage, confirming that his sister apparently still harboured a phobia of bras.

"Did I upset you?" she asked. Josh shook his head. Jacquie leaned back again (thankfully), glanced at the door, then back at the Discman, then at the door again, before finally standing up. She crossed the room, locked the door and then returned to the bed.

"What are you doing?" Josh asked.

"I want to show you something," Jacquie said. She reached out and took both of her brother's hands in hers. "Promise me you won't freak, OK?"

"Uh...OK," Josh said, unsure of why he was promising any such thing when he had no idea what she was going to do.

He watched on, filled with curiosity, as Jacquie withdrew her hands, and then, filled with horror, as she clasped the hem of her top and pulled it up towards her head. Josh gasped and looked reflexively at the door.

"What the hell are you doing?" he shrieked, too shocked to be embarrassed that he had actually shrieked.

Jacquie lowered her arms, her top stopping precariously under her breasts. "You promised you wouldn't freak out," she said.

"I didn't know you were going to do this," cried Josh, gesturing towards her still covered breasts with his hands.

"Well, then you should have asked," Jacquie replied with a sly smile. "Look," she said, more seriously, "just stop panicking and calm down, OK."

Josh took a few very deep breaths. He paused, took a few more, then paused again. "I really don't think you should be doing this," he said in a measured tone.

"Josh," said Jacquie, "you're obviously really disturbed about what happened, or, possibly, really excited – I'm not sure – but I think if I just show you them, it'll be like...closure. OK?"

Josh goggled at his sister. "Are you crazy?" he demanded.

Jacquie rolled her eyes. "No, Josh. Look...just sit there and be quiet, OK."

Josh sat and kept quiet, not because Jacquie had told him to, but because he was too stunned to move or speak. He watched, again with horror and curiosity, as his sister's top continued its journey north and finally lifted over her head. And there they were – perfectly round, perfectly natural and just plain perfect. Josh had to stop himself from falling face first into them, which took so much energy and willpower that he had none to spare for the effort of keeping his cock limp. It sprang to life faster than he could've said "Oh my God, I'm looking at my sister's tits."

He had often wondered what the two giant orbs would look like when they were free, whether they would sag or not, or whether they had tan lines. He could see now, that they didn't sag as much as he'd thought they would, and displayed only faint tan lines, which looked very sexy, he thought. They didn't look as large either, though they were still considerably bigger than average. He gawked at them in silence, too astounded to speak, too captivated to even begin to describe the beauty of what he was seeing.

On the other side of the bed, Jacquie was attempting to keep calm as her brother sat staring at her breasts like a little boy looking through the window of a candy store. She felt somewhat insecure, desperate to put her top back on. And yet, at the same time, she couldn't deny the taboo excitement she felt at what she was doing. It was so unlike her. Josh was obviously very pleased with her body, which made her feel exceedingly grateful towards him.