ZACK
* * * * *
I looked across the table at my girlfriend Alex and saw that she was in a good mood. A great mood. The most gorgeous woman I've ever met, smart, and funny. A deadly combination.
"You know my little sister, right?" I prompted.
"Yeah, I remember. The nerd," Alex answered.
Blunt but fair. Claire was a nerd, just like me. She was two years younger and the same bug that inspired me to get into computer science bit her, too. We were a lot alike in other ways, which made sense given the fact that we were family. Both of us had the same brown eyes and dark, unruly hair. We inherited that from Dad.
"Yes, the nerd," I confirmed.
Alex and I have been dating for almost two years but during that time, she only ever met my family once — last thanksgiving. I was the first to officially bring someone home to be inspected by the parental units, so there hadn't been a lot of time for Alex and Claire to get to know each other.
Waiting for me to go on, Alex took another bite of her sandwich.
"It turns out she's much smarter than me and just had her last finals. She's officially done with college half a year early."
"Ooomm," Alex squealed in admiration with a mouth full of ham and cheese. She gave her thumbs up.
"And what I wanted to ask was..." I took a deep breath. "How do you feel about her maybe, if you don't have a problem with it, staying here for a little bit?"
Alex raised her left eyebrow.
"Not forever or anything, it's just that she doesn't have a job or a place to live yet and really doesn't want to move back home. You know how my parents are, she'll never be treated as an adult there. And it's pretty far outside the city, too."
Alex pursed her lips. She looked at me intently with those beautiful blue eyes. She always looked at me like she saw right inside of me. It meant she was thinking hard.
"You know we only have one bathroom, right?" she replied after a minute.
"Yes. She's very neat and it wouldn't be for too long. Just until she finds a place of her own."
"We don't have a bed in the guest room."
Our apartment wasn't very big and calling it a "guest room" was very generous. It was barely bigger than a utility closet and at the moment held boxes we never got around to unpacking. There'd be just enough space there for a small bed, a table, and a chair. Officially it was a two-bedroom apartment, though the rent was more like one-and-a-half.
Other than that, it was a nice place. Just outside downtown with a view of Regal Park. The combined living room and kitchen was more than enough for two people. When we moved in nine months ago, the previous owners left behind a barely-used three-seater and all we had to get was a cheap dining table from IKEA and a nice TV.
"She said she was bringing her own air mattress."
"We won't be able to have loud sex in the kitchen anymore."
"We haven't had sex in the kitchen since a week after we moved in."
"I know, right. Why do they have to make beds so comfortable?"
"You probably won't even know she's here. Claire has always been pretty shy and she'll probably just be on her computer in her room when she's here," I said, steering the conversation back on topic.
"Do you want her here?" Alex asked.
It was my turn to think. "I really want to be the kind of brother she can count on."
"Aww," Alex cooed and pushed back her chair. She walked around the table and promptly plopped into my lap. "And that's why I love you so much," she said and kissed me.
"Is that a yes?" I asked with the memory of her warm lips making it hard to think about anything else.
"On one condition," she said with a serious face, though immediately betrayed herself by grabbing my crotch.
"What's that?"
"That we have sex in the kitchen while we still can," she said, grinned, and squeezed my dick.
* * * * *
The doorbell rang.
"Oooh, that's her," Alex said, sitting up.
Sure enough, when I opened the door, my little sister Claire stood in the hallway. Three inches shorter than me and much better dressed. I could tell she had gone all out, wearing her Sunday outfit — blouse, blazer, and a skirt that went past the knees. She had her backpack slung over one shoulder and a big duffel bag on the ground with a cardboard box containing an air mattress sitting on top.
"Hey," I said, smiling at her.
Alex squeezed between me and the doorframe to throw her arms around Claire in a tight hug. Terrified, Claire looked at me for help. I just shrugged my shoulders.
"That's a price you're going to have to pay if you want to live here," I told her.
"Please, come in," Alex said and picked up the duffel bag, handing me the box. I managed to just get out of the way before she ran me over. "You've never been here before, right?"
"No," Claire said quietly.
"Well, this is it," Alex announced, waving her free arm around the living room. "It's not much but you're free to hang out and watch TV and everything." She set the duffel bag down by the door to the spare room. "And we made some room in the fridge for your stuff."
I opened the fridge and gestured at the bottom shelf and one of the two crisper boxes, which were empty. Claire nodded.
"We only have one bathroom so we'll have to share. There should be plenty of room for your things in there. You can use Zack's space since he doesn't need it."
"I don't have a lot," Claire said.
"Then it will definitely fit," Alex said, grinning. "This door is our bedroom," she continued, pointing at the closed door. "Please knock loudly if you ever need anything, don't just barge in."
"I won't, I promise," Claire said quickly, looking at me like Alex had accused her of doing something naughty.
"Great, then let me show you your room," Alex said and opened the door to the spare room.
We'd spent the day before moving everything unnecessary out and giving it a solid clean. It had been a great opportunity to get rid of things that Alex didn't need or want anymore; now our collection of things that we didn't have a place for were just two boxes, one containing my books and another one containing her miscellaneous items. One was in our closet, the other in the living room next to the TV.
"I hope it's big enough."
The room smelled lemon-scented and a hand-operated air-pump laid on the desk. I followed the two inside and set the air mattress box down onto the table. Claire looked around, grinning.
"It's wonderful," she said, peering out the window overlooking Regent Park.
"The walls are pretty thick and the bathroom is like a buffer between our rooms, so if things get pretty loud it won't really bother us."
"I have headphones," Claire said.
"Oh yes, that is totally what I was talking about," Alex said, shooting me a sly grin.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay here," Claire said.
"No problem," I said.
"Happy to have you here," Alex added and looked like she was thinking about giving her another hug, but decided against it. "After you get settled in we can go grocery shopping. There's a couple things I need anyway."
"Okay," Claire said.
"Do you need anything right away?"
"No," Claire and shook her head.
Years of brotherly experience made it obvious that she really needed to be left alone for the moment. I grabbed the back of Alex's shirt and tugged her toward the door.
