Josh experienced a rather turbulent night's sleep that evening. He was incurably restless, tossing and turning, then turning and tossing, then falling out of bed completely. One moment he was freezing cold, the next he was burning beneath his blankets. He was exceedingly relieved in the morning when he woke up without a fever.
Sunday
, he thought, plodding into the bathroom and taking a long shower. He let the water run over his face and shoulders, soaped his body and then shampooed and conditioned his hair. He always omitted the last fact when he spoke to other people about his bathroom activities, which wasn't very often really. Even his mother and sister's had no idea he not only used their shampoo, but their conditioner also. He figured, what was the point of living in a house full of women if you didn't pick up a few beauty tips. Plus his hair always felt so soft afterwards; he was sure some girl would appreciate that one day.
When Josh stepped out of the shower, he threw a towel over his head and dried off his hair. He moved on to his face, then his chest and legs, and finally his back. That was when he caught sight of his face in the mirror and dropped the towel. He leaned closer, wiped away some of the steam that had condensed on the surface of the mirror and stared at himself and his own flabbergasted expression.
It was almost all gone! His acne, which had tormented him for close to four years now, was finally vanishing. The front of his face was entirely clear, and only a few red bumps remained along his jaw line. He smiled at himself, then grinned at himself, then told himself he was a "sexy beast". He wrapped his towel hurriedly around his waist and ran down the hall to his room. Once there, he threw open his closet doors and donned his best pair of jeans and a long-sleeved charcoal-coloured top. He was ecstatic – close to bouncing off the walls and shooting through the neighbour's attic window. It took him a while to compose himself before he was ready to go downstairs.
He took the stairs three at a time, landed deftly at the bottom and then strolled to the laundry and slam-dunked his towel and pyjamas into the hamper. After that, he made his way into the kitchen and paused in the doorway, flashing Alice, Dawn and his mother a winning smile.
"Good morning," he said cheerfully.
Dawn looked up from her grapefruit. "What are you so happy about?"
Josh shrugged. "Just a beautiful morning, isn't it?"
Dawn wrinkled her nose at him and returned to peeling her grapefruit. Josh's mother returned his smile. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you say good morning without grunting it."
Josh had an inkling that Alice alone knew what he was so happy about. She was beaming him a warm smile that seemed to be saying "Congratulations." Josh sat himself around the circular kitchen table, facing both of his sisters.
He quickly remembered, however, that he didn't have any breakfast, and so returned to the table a minute later with a bowl overflowing with cereal. He took big mouthfuls and thought it tasted a lot better than it usually did.
Dawn looked up at him again. "I think I preferred it when you were moody and depressed."
"Dawn," Josh said, flashing a genuine smile at her, "not even
you
can upset me today."
Alice muffled a giggle and went back to her toast. Josh looked at her surreptitiously and thought that she looked positively divine this morning. Her hair, arranged into pigtails, looked particularly adorable. Normally, he would have said nothing, but today was such a fine day.
"I like your hair," he said between mouthfuls.
Alice looked up, beaming. "Thanks," she said.
Josh noticed Dawn's eyes flicking back and forth between himself and Alice; she wore an expression of revulsion.
"I like yours, too," Alice said to Josh. Lately he had been growing it longer, letting it hang as it would rather than saturating it with gel and trying to get it to stick up in the air. The colour was a mixture between the three girls – light like Alice's, and yet darker like Dawn's and Jacquie's. He warmed with the compliment.
"Would you two get a room," said Dawn.
"Don't," Alice said, nudging her sister. "Leave him alone."
Dawn pursed her lips at Josh. "I think his hair looks messy."
"It's the 'in' look," said Alice. "
I
think it looks cute."
Josh grinned at her. Dawn rolled her eyes. "
You
would."
Both Alice and Josh chose to ignore this, and continued eating their breakfast. When Josh was finished, he took his bowl to the sink and added it to the pile of dishes his mother was washing.
"Where's Jacquie?" he asked her.
"Still sleeping," she answered. "Must be tired; it's not like her to sleep in."
Josh was instantly and guiltily reminded of the previous day's events. Surely she hadn't been kept up half the night, too. And even so, if Josh had managed to wake up after so little sleep, certainly Jacquie could. She had always been an early riser; it came with the job of looking after the house.
Josh thought for a moment. "I'll go and see if she's up," he said, and started up the stairs.
"Don't wake her if she is," his mother called up after him. "And
don't
shoot her in the face with the hairdryer like you did last time."
Josh smiled to himself, remembering the memory fondly.
Josh, you fucking little shit, I'm gonna rip your nuts off.
Good times.
Jacquie's bedroom door was ajar, which in itself was strange. She usually shut it while she slept. During the day though, she had an open-door policy, especially for Josh, who used to come to her with his homework problems.
Josh pushed the door open and stepped inside. Jacquie was, in fact, still in bed. She was buried beneath her rather thick coverlet, with only a tangle of dark hair and a thin, bare arm protruding. Josh knew from experience than Jacquie wore singlets to bed, along with a pair of shorts or pants, depending on the weather. He also knew from experience that her singlets did little to contain her bust, and, given recent circumstances, was not the kind of sight Josh should be seeing right now. Her bare arm, however, was enough to make the back of his neck prickle. She slept inelegantly, unlike Alice and Dawn, but in Josh's eyes it was far more endearing.
He turned slowly and reached for the door.
"Good morning to you too," said a muffled voice. Josh jumped.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to wake you."
Jacquie sat up and ran the back of her hand across her eyes. "It's OK," she mumbled, "I was awake anyway."
Josh nodded, stupidly, and wrung his hands together behind his back. He felt strangely out of place. He looked down at the floor, at his feet, at the foot of the bed – anywhere but at his sister and her voluptuous bosom.
"So you're not looking at me again?" Jacquie inquired.
Josh looked up, and wished that he hadn't. "I am," he said clumsily, as though his words had tripped over Jacquie's breasts on their way to her ears. "I am looking at you," he repeated.
"Right," Jacquie replied dubiously. She pulled the covers off herself and swung her legs out of bed.
Shorts
, Josh realised with a wince. He looked up, saw her breasts, looked down again, saw her legs, then tried to do both at once and ended up looking at her crotch.
"I'm just gonna take a shower," Jacquie said. "Would you like to join me?"
"Mm-hmm," Josh said distractedly.
Jacquie smiled a sympathetic smile. "Go downstairs, Josh," she suggested.
"Yeah," Josh said, nodding far more vigorously than was necessary. "I think I will." He turned and walked downstairs like a zombie. Only Dawn was left in the kitchen, sitting at the table peeling another grapefruit. She looked up when Josh entered.
"Wake up your bosom buddy?" she asked. Josh almost lost his footing. He straightened up and was about to unload a torrent of explanations and/or excuses when he realised that Dawn was simply referring to how much time Jacquie and he usually spent together. After all, she had called Jacquie that before. Jacquie herself had used the nickname a few times, though usually in a more benevolent context, as in "Me and my bosom buddy are staying home today," which would usually be followed by Jacquie putting her arm around Josh's shoulders and giving him a sisterly shake. He cooled his nerves and reassembled the scattered threads of his dignity – he usually needed it when facing Dawn.
"She was already awake," Josh replied, unable to think of a witty answer, though he did say it nastily.
"Aw, so you didn't get to kiss sleeping beauty awake?"
Calm down
, Josh told himself,
this is still traditional Dawn territory. Don't panic; she doesn't know a thing.
"As opposed to what you do," Josh replied, "which is
have sex
with any sleeping guy you come across?"
"Josh," Dawn said with a mock sigh, "you've called me a slut so many times it's lost all meaning."
"Maybe you should look it up then," Josh retorted. "Finally figure out what it means."
Dawn assumed one of her many tactical looks, each of which was sexy and alluring. She pursed her lips, creased her brow and tilted her head to the side.
