Aunt Stacy was a bit taken aback, not just by Natalie asking her how the date went, but by the confidence and evenness of the question. She stood, still shaking almost imperceptibility, and glared at Natalie.
"It was... ," Aunt Stacy started saying without any thought to how the rest of the sentence would turn out. She looked down at the floor and seemed to be trying to formulate a thought.
"Why do I think that you already know what happened?" She had gathered some confidence and composure and started walking slowly toward Natalie, who was leaning nonchalantly against the kitchen counter.
Natalie straightened up, sensing a coming confrontation. She had always excelled when the pressure was on her, and I was watching her entire being move into 'win the argument' mode.
"You wanted help, right?" Natalie began. "You wanted to spend time with, have a date with, have sex with, our mom. I, we, " she looked at me, involving me in her scheme, "did exactly that. "
I, on the other hand, was in my normal 'avoid confrontation' mode and found ample amounts of things to do besides becoming involved in a bubbling conversation/argument. And, to be fair, I DID have someplace to be.
They both started talking, loudly, at the same time. Accusations flew, arms were moved wildly, and I could have sworn at one point Natalie winked at me. Dammit she still had a plan! But I wanted to get out of there before one or both of them burst into flames. I couldn't help but notice how alike they were as they argued. Sparks were flying and I even found myself watching their bodies as they became more agitated. Similar in their tight toned bodies, firm asses, hips that curved just the right way to their waists. Where I got mom's body, Natalie got Aunt Stacy's. A button opened on Aunt Stacy's top, exposing just a little bit of skin. It was then I noticed my mouth was wide open. I really needed to get out of there.
"I am supposed to meet Brianna, I'll be back later." I blurted out while opening the door. I had on my running gear and if needs be, I could have sprinted down the stairs and away from them. See, smart.
Neither one of them payed much attention to me, which was fantastic, and continued to focus on their perceived faults and intentions. Much too much drama for me. Besides, I was going running with Brianna, and that promised to be far more fun. Hell, I had been thinking about what she would look like in running shorts since we had talked about it.
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Twenty minutes later I met up with Brianna and was not disappointed. She wore black running tights, with white lettering down the calves, a small, almost half shirt, which exposed just enough of her smooth (I looked) skin to keep my eyes prying. Her ponytail was perfect and made mine look absurd. At least I thought so.
"Hi Alison," she chirped at me, "your hair looks so cute. I'm such a mess." I hated her wonderful innocence and sincerity. Couldn't' she just be mean and nasty and conniving and sexy when I looked like hell. . . like Natalie?
"Thanks, you look like a model," I gushed, a little too eagerly, "Ready to go?"
With a nod she began running and damn if I wasn't having a hard time keeping up with her. In school I could almost outrun everyone, fairly easily. And here she was bouncing, BOUNCING, out in front of me with such ease I swear that for a good 50 yards her feet never actually touched the ground. I, on the other hand, felt like I was trying to make cracks in the asphalt while I ran. Brianna and gravity were teaming up to make me look foolish. I was trying to think of reasons to make myself feel better. "She doesn't have these big boobs" I reasoned. "Also, my hips are wider and therefore it takes my legs longer to move forward. It's science!" No, I didn't convince myself.
And I might have been running in a bit of a daze focusing on the movements of her well toned tight little ass. Well, I will only take that for so long. And my opportunity to no longer take it came up in the form of a corner bakery that had fresh bear claws on display. With as much grace as I could, I ducked into the bakery while a laughing Brianna ran blissfully around the corner.
Moments later a visibly confused Brianna rounded the corner and spotted me sitting at an outside table for the bakery, sipping a cappuccino and trying to convince myself that I really SHOULD eat the last half of my bear claw.
"There you are," Brianna said, all cheery and wonderful, "I was about half a mile down the street when I turned and you were gone." She laughed.
"Hard to turn down a bear claw when they're warm. Want one?"
We sat in the unusually warm morning sun and chatted away. Every now and again she'd ask something that she thought might be off limits, but which I didn't really care about.
"How long have. . .," she paused, her eyes downward as she made a show of chewing on a bear claw, "you and Natalie been together. . .as a couple, I guess."
"Not long as girlfriends," Brianna reacted ever so slightly to me saying 'girlfriends'. This was all quite new to her. "But we've known each other since we were kids. Grew up together."
"Grew up together?" Brianna frowned in confusion, as if she was trying to figure out a particularly difficult brain teaser. I could see in her face that she was trying to piece things together and now was the time to come up with a rock solid lie to tell her.
"Yeah, we grew up on the same street." she didn't need to know we grew up in the same house, same room, and that I once stole her rain boots when she was stuck in the mud and told mom that she was outside in the rain in her socks. "She's a year older, but we went to the same school and all that." Note to self: Tell Natalie that this is the story we're going with.
Brianna smiled and tilted her head to the side, her eyes dancing as her ponytail fell on her left shoulder.
"So, you didn't, um, do ...well, I mean, you two didn't. . . never," She stammered a little, unable to form the question she really wanted to ask.
"No, we never did anything." I laughed a little laugh, to assure her that it was ok. "I had never even kissed another girl, you know, that I liked, until last year when I came to visit her." I popped another piece of pastry into my mouth.
"So you never kissed anyone until last year??" Brianna leaned forward. She was cute.
I laughed again and explained it to her. Yes, I kissed guys before. Had boyfriends. Even had sex with them. She blushed when I told her that. I guess it was somewhat amazing for her to hear me casually talk about sex out in the open, with pastries and coffee. And she was somewhat surprised by me saying that I had sex with guys. She just assumed that I liked girls, therefore never would have done anything with a guy. Oh, Brianna, it's so much more complicated than that.
We continued to chat about school, life, weather. Just normal things. I didn't mention how her running made me feel like I was dipped in concrete. No need to build her up THAT much.
I watched her cute face closely as we talked. She was so genuine and cute I kind of let my mind wander.
"What's up?" Brianna was looking at me, having noticed my glassy stare.
