Dad reached over and squeezed his wrist. “I’d suggest you put up with it, and pay attention. Think for a minute where you were a week or two ago, and compare that to your little girlfriend’s gift last night. That’s the sisters’ influence.”
Aunt Marie returned with Penny in tow. My shirt was a shambles. What was left of it. No collar, no sleeves, it ended a couple of inches below her breasts. They’d taken time to apply a little makeup, brushed her hair out into two pigtails, added some pink lipstick. She looked ridiculously hot and innocent at the same time. Colin was struck dumb. Dad gave her a wolf whistle.
She blushed. “Too much?”
I pushed back from the table. “Come here,” I said, patting my lap.
Half a shirt and panties looked damn good on her. She snuggled into my lap. “Any plans for later?” she asked.
Aunt Marie swatted Colin upside the head. “Close your mouth, Colin. You’re catching flies.”
Penny looked over at him, “It’s just panties, Colin. Get over it.”
Dad chuckled. “Leave the boy alone. His reaction’s perfectly natural. Baby girl’s a real heart-breaker.”
Aunt Marie ambled over, and sat in Dad’s lap. Dad pulled her into position, getting comfortable, his hand on the inside of her thigh. I think Colin was going to have a heart attack. When she gave him a little kiss, nothing much, really, a weird strangled noise escaped my cousin.
She was facing her boy. “What would you think of us moving in with your Uncle Harold and Aunt Alice full-time?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah?” he mumbled.
Mom came strolling out and stood behind him, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “What was that, ‘yeah’? You don’t like it here?”
“No, I mean, yeah, I mean, it would be great! For real?” he asked looking at his mother.
“We don’t need that big house, and Jeremy’s going to be gone. You’ll be in school most of the time. Your aunt and I have been talking about it lately. Your uncle suggested it last night. It makes sense,” Aunt Marie said.
When Mom sat in his lap, I thought we were going to lose him for sure. “Don’t you think it’d be fun? All of us together? I could be like your second Mommy,” Mom teased.
“Great. It would be great!” he squealed.
Mom laughed, and Penny slapped my hand away from slipping inside her shirt. “Behave, rotten thing,” she hissed. Didn’t stop her from wiggling her butt, driving me crazy.
“Colin thinks goin’ down on a girl is gross,” I said, tossing the verbal grenade out into the open.
“What!”
“Colin!”
“Jeremy…” he whined.
“I thought I raised you better that that!” Aunt Marie snapped.
Dad gave her a shake. “Listen to yourself, Marie. Did you ever even talk to him about it?”
“No, but I didn’t raise him to be selfish!”
Mom was pouting. “Really. You think it would be gross?”
He was obviously sweating it. He glared at me, and I chuckled. Got an elbow in the ribs from Penny.
“I… I don’t know. I never really thought about it, I guess,” Colin mumbled.
“If you want to keep your girlfriend, maybe you should,” Penny added, piling on.
“The other guys, they say it’s sissy,” he argued weakly.
Mom laughed. “What other guys? Whoever they are, they’ve probably never even had a real girlfriend. Do you think Jeremy and your uncle are sissies?”
He looked over at the two of us, “You guys…”
Dad laughed. “This ain’t normal after-lunch conversation, but yeah.”
Colin looked at me. “Hell yeah. Right, Penny?” I teased.
She blushed and nodded.
“You like it, don’t you?”
She glared at me.
“Don’t be ashamed to admit it. I don’t mind saying I love doing it with you.”
She leaned back into me, and smirked at Colin. “Lots. We do it lots. I love it.” She put her lips to my ear, and bit my earlobe, hard. “I’ll get you for embarrassing me.”
I turned my face and kissed her. “I love you, silly girl.”
She grinned. “You don’t get off that easy.” She wiggled herself to comfort, “I thought we could go for a ride, a little later.”
“I bet. Who wants to see the new wheels this time?”
She giggled. “Everyone. Come on, Jeremy. It will be fun.”
We left to get decent, while the mothers berated Colin for his misguided thinking.
* * *
We had a nice afternoon. Drove around, saw her friends. She let me drive a bit. It was so different from the Jeep, but I liked it. We stopped by the auto parts store, and we got her the steering wheel wrap she’d wanted, and picked out what she needed to wash and wax her car properly.
“It’s brand new,” she said, as I piled the material in her cart. “You think it needs waxing?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow, I’ll show you how to do it properly.”
We called home, and let them know when we’d be back. They offered to hold dinner for us. I was going to say no, when I found out Aunt Marie was going to make her chicken fried steak. Nobody, nobody, makes chicken fried steak like Aunt Marie. “The good version?” I asked. Sometimes she tried to make it ‘healthy’.
Aunt Marie got on the phone. “My best version. Using rib eyes, your mother’s country biscuits, homemade mashed. Colin’s been peeling potatoes for an hour,” she giggled.
“You trying to fatten me up?”
“Keepin’ your energy up.” Her voice dropped to barely a whisper. “Tonight’s our night, baby.”
“We’ll be there,” I said. I turned to Penny. “Aunt Marie’s chicken-fried steak. You don’t want to miss this one. She only makes it a few times a year, says we’d all be rolling instead of walking, otherwise.”
* * *
Alright. Things were getting out of control. Again. I had to add the extra leaf to the dining room table. We had a full house. I was warned to be on my best behavior from both moms.
As soon as we’d walked in, Penny had peeled away from me, and headed toward the kitchen. I looked her way, and saw the crowd. Both Moms of course, but Kelly was in there, working with them, and she smiled and waved at me. I waved back. It was only polite.
Dad and Colin were in the living room, Dad holding court, Colin hangin’ on his every word. When Colin saw me walk in, he hopped up and went to the garage, returning with a beer for me. I sat down and talked to Dad about her car.
He gave me the same old guff about polishing it, and we argued about the best waxes. Colin sat on the floor, between us, taking it in.
Kelly came skipping over, cute as a button. “Dinner in 5 minutes. Beer with dinner, Aunt Alice says.”
Aunt Alice? First time she’d even been in our house. These kids…
Dad looked over at me. “For the ladies?”
“Shiner light.” We might play with other stuff, but Shiner was the house beer. Always dedicated one shelf of the beer fridge to it. “Colin?”
“Bock,” Dad said.
I nodded. I got up and fetched the beers, 4 Lights, 1 Bock, 2 Black Lager.
At the table, I was interested in the politics of dinner. Who sat where. Dad and I had the ends, but tonight Mom was sitting next to Dad. Marie was next to her, near me. On the opposite side, Colin was bracketed by the girls, with Penny beside me. I wondered if that was intentional, keep Kelly as far from me as possible. Heck, I’d only flirted with her once.
It was a loud, raucous fun dinner, with Dad in rare form. His mood had made a 180 degree turn-around. Mom was attentive to him, and Kelly was surprisingly flirtatious. Colin appeared ecstatic. I wasn’t doing too badly, either, with Aunt Marie and Penny teasing and flirting.
There was a lot of talk about college, since it was just around the corner, and four of us were headed off for the first time. The food was perfect, and Aunt Marie was blushing from all the compliments. Someone, or someones was playing footsie with me under the table. Damn, why couldn’t life always be like that?
The guys had cleanup duty, but it was only the dinner dishes. With four girls in the kitchen, all the cookware had been taken care of. Dad only helped clear, then we chased him off, Colin and I finishing up.