"How did the date with Renee go last night?" Lance glared at me from behind thick, plastic-rimmed glasses.
I set a case of DVDs down on the floor. I'd dreaded this moment.
Lance and I had been best friends since pre-school. We had gotten our first jobs at the Video Hut when we were sixteen. Over the past eight years we'd been through high school, college, and various attempts at full-time careers but somehow we always ended up back here. He had always taken the job a little more seriously, so it was no surprise that he had been promoted to manager. Having your best friend for a boss was pretty decent, the pay was still microscopic but the hours were flexible enough to never interfere with my academic endeavors, which at the moment consisted of studying for a teaching degree.
"Come on man, don't hold out on me. You look like a guy who got some pussy, spare no details."
My friend was not one to mince words. "Sorry to disappoint Lance-a-lot, but things didn't work out." I sliced through some packing tape and unsealed the case of movies. Fifty copies of some cheesy horror remake, if the theaters couldn't sell this garbage how did the regional offices expect us to.
"The girl you've been in love with your entire adult life wants to get back together with you, and you're telling me things didn't work out. You're going to die a virgin."
"Renee and I, we just don't click anymore."
"You don't have to click, Rick." He seemed amused by his rhyme. "You just have to take your clothes off and hop in bed. There are some excellent pamphlets I could recommend on the subject." Now I was the one amused. "For a guy who struck out with his old flame last night you sure are in a good mood."
How could I not be in a good mood after waking up in the arms of the woman I love. I wished I could tell him but since that woman happened to be my little sister, I couldn't. I felt like I needed to tell someone, anyone, everyone, but my life would be over if anyone ever found out. Even my best friend.
"Well at least you have options. You have that hot Erin girl whose nuts for you, I'm sure if you wanted some tension relieved you could always hook up with her."
"I don't think so," I said. "She and Julie had a falling out."
"Julie wouldn't have to know. I would be more than happy to keep your sister occupied." Lance grinned.
My temperature rose. I knew that my best friend had the hots for Julie, he had made that abundantly clear in the past several years. The ironic thing was that I always found the idea of Lance and my little sister together to be taboo, it had always been out of the question but now it was for different reasons.
"Wow, I've never seen that shade of red on you before," Lance said. "I was only kidding about Julie." He hit my back. "I wouldn't have sex with her, but if she wanted to do some topless housework at my apartment..."
"Oh, shut up." I shoved Lance playfully.
The sun had just set when I pulled into the driveway. I called to my family but received no reply. I peeked in the garage window, the convertible was under tarp but the sedan was gone. I went into the kitchen and found a note from my parents, they had a conference in Fresno and would be gone until Tuesday. That piece of news certainly brought up some possibilities.
I had just stepped out of the shower when I heard my discarded pants beep. I fished my cell phone out of the pocket and pressed receive.
"Hello," I said, as I rubbed my hair with a bath towel.
"Hi Rick," a feminine voice, sweet as honey, spoke. "My parents are out of town for the weekend, I've got the whole place to myself. I was wondering if you'd like to come over for some dinner and a movie. I could use the company."
Julie wanted to pretend like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I wondered if we were.
"I would love to. I just have to ditch my bratty little sister first." Her pretty laugh warmed me through the phone. I glanced at the time on my cell phone display it read 8:07. "I'll be over around 8:10"
I slapped on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and combed my hair. I padded barefoot down the stairs. The smell of cheese and oregano wafted into my nostrils. Smelled like Julie ordered pizzas, the empty boxes in the kitchen confirmed.
Julie was in the family room, sitting on the loveseat watching TV, her legs demurely crossed. She was casually attired, with a pair of denim capris and a peach tank top with spaghetti straps. The top framed her breasts beautifully. I took a deep breath so she would notice me.
She turned to smile at me. Her makeup was so light, I wondered if it were even there. "You're early," she said.
"Are you mad?"
"No." Her green eyes sparkled. "That's just more time I get to spend with you." I felt the heat of a blush creep over my cheeks. "Come on things are getting cold."
"No they're not," I said, sitting beside her. My body crushed the worn cushions of the loveseat. The backs of my fingers caressed her arms, leaving trails of goosebumps in their wake. I kissed her almost bare left shoulder, she shuddered.
"The pizza is getting cold," she breathed.
"I like cold pizza." I kissed her neck then her ear and her cheek. Julie turned her head to face me. She looked like she was going to speak but instead closed her eyes and offered me her lips. I kissed them, unconcerned about the smears her light pink lipstick made on my mouth.
When were younger we used to sit together in this very loveseat and watch old monster movies. My parents thought it was cute, the way she begged me to hold her during the scary parts. I wondered what they would say about the way I held her now.
"Rick." She pulled away from my mouth. "I paid for those pizzas out of my savings and I would get pretty pissed off if they went to waste." She had quit her job at the mall last year and hadn't looked for another since. A year of living off of savings had turned my little sister into a bit of a cheapskate.
"Alright," I conceded, releasing her voluptuous figure. "I am getting a little hungry. A man can't live on your lips alone."
"Veggie for me and Canadian bacon for my handsome brother." She handed me a huge plate, the crust was scarred and burnt, the cheese was dry. "What's the matter, don't tell me you have something against Pizza Sub."
Anyone with taste buds had something against Pizza Sub. Pizza Submarine was a local place that, despite it's name, did not sell submarine sandwiches and the claim that it sold pizza was dubious at best.
"Let me guess," I said, "Dina delivered." Dina was one of her high school friends. A sweet girl that, unfortunately for me, was quick to share her Pizza Sub employee discount.
I took a bite, it was pretty awful, my face must have said as much.
"Don't be such a drama queen," Julie said, "so it's not Wolfgang Puck."
"Wolfgang Puck? This isn't even Chuck E. Cheese. I'm not so sure it's even food."
"Who cares, as long as it's free."
"Free?!" I spit my second bite into a paper napkin. "Julie I swear to God, if this pizza was dropped on the floor or something---"
Julie laughed at my little outburst. "Relax, it wasn't dropped." I took another bite. "It's just a little old." I scrambled for that napkin again as Julie giggled uncontrollably.
After spitting, I turned my attentions to my sister. "Alright you little tightwad, you think that's funny? Wait till I get my hands on you." She climbed off of the loveseat and tried to run. I caught a smooth, partially covered calf and pulled her to my lap. I kissed her, tasting the sauce on her lips. Even Pizza Sub tasted good on her. "We should watch the movie before you have your way with me." Julie reached under the loveseat and pulled out a DVD case with a cheap, generic cover. It was Invasion of America the sci-fi picture I had seen just last night. "Don't tell me you already saw it," she said. I nodded. "Oh great! You could have told me before I spent half the day downloading and burning this thing." She hit me in the chest with the slipcase.
"Renee and I saw it," I confessed. "She remembered how much I like sci-fi and I didn't think you would ever speak to me again."
"Renee, huh?" Julie huffed, folding her arms as she locked eyes with me. "Just what else did you two do last night?"
Yikes, it didn't take my sister long to settle into the jealous girlfriend role. "We saw the movie, then we ate at some Italian place, it was expensive, you would have hated it." I smiled, she didn't. "Then we went back to her place."
"Her place?!" Julie bounced up from the loveseat. Agitation jiggled her body in a most fascinating way. "Richard Henderson Martin, what did you let that slut do to you? When we had sex last night, had 'it' already been inside her?"
"No. No! There's only been you, Julie. Renee wanted to go farther, I had to literally yank my dick out of her mouth and come straight home."
She didn't look very comforted by my confession.
"I would never betray you. I love you too much." That last part just kind of slipped out. I'd thought about telling her I loved her earlier, but wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it. I know when I was nineteen it wasn't something I was looking for in a relationship. Heck, I'm twenty-four and it's never been at the top of my agenda.
A smile spread across Julie's smeared lips. She sat down close to me. "I love you Rick." A soft caress of my face with her petite hand followed her confession. "I think I've loved you since the day I was born." My mouth opened, I tried to speak but her fingers hushed my lips. "Even when I was a little girl I knew you were for me." Julie leaned forward and our lips made contact. We kissed for over a minute, eventually my lungs needed more air than my nostrils could supply.