My Sister's Best Friend

I am walking down the hallway to my last class of the day when my little sister, Amelia approaches me. She seems giddy, almost excited about something. I raise an eyebrow at her as I wait for her to catch her breath from basically skipping towards me. "Movie night. Tonight. Mom said so." "Okay, want me to pick up junk food on the way home?" "Yeah, grab extra. Scarlett is joining us." "That should be a given by now." I look at my phone to see the time and start walking again, in the direction of my Lib and Law class. I had thought our conversation was over, but Amelia matches my stride and continues talking. "Why don't you invite Cooper?" "He's probably busy." "Okay...I'll invite Cooper." "Why are you so insistent on him coming over? Do you like him? We agreed best friends are off limits." "Not for me. Scarlett is developing....a certain...curiosity for someone she shouldn't and I need him to be her distraction. I'm hoping they click." "Okay? Who does she like?" "Let's just say, it's someone WAY out of bounds." "She hasn't been around very much lately. Is it one of my friends? Tell me which one and I'll invite them instead." "It's....Tyler." "Tyler? He's dating Amy and he's bad news anyway. He just dates girls for a couple of weeks, gets in their pants, and dumps them." "Exactly." We stop in front of my classroom and I watch as my sister bounces off in the other direction, clearly hiding something. "No way, Scarlett likes Tyler..." I think to myself as I enter the room and sit in my usual spot. I listen to Mr. Parker drone on and on about the constitution and the freedom of speech. I take very few notes because I am clearly too distracted to give class my full attention and I barely hear what the next assignment is. When the final bell rings, I lean over to Lyla and smile slyly at her. "Hey, Lyla?" I trace a circle on her desk and look up at her through my ridiculously long lashes. "Yes, Asher?" She bites her lip while awaiting my response. "Could I borrow your notes?" "Of course!" "Thanks, I owe you one. Maybe we can catch a movie sometime?" I wink at her before grabbing the notes and getting up to leave the classroom. Cooper meets me outside the classroom and he slings an arm around my shoulder. "You've got moves, bro." "Eh, I just use my natural gifts to my advantage." "Natural gifts! Yeah, right?" "You know what?! I am...for lack of a better word...sexy. Don't you forget it." "Whatever, man. So, can I get a ride today?" "Where's your car?" "In the shop. Dad says it'll be there all week." "Well, he's the one who owns the mechanic shop, so, I'd listen to him if I were you." "Yeah, well, I don't wanna go home and deal with Dorothy, the step-monster. So, I thought I'd stay over at your place this weekend." "No problem. We've gotta stop at the store on the way to my house, though. It's movie night." "Awesome! Who's picking tonight?!" "No idea, we've still gotta draw a name from the hat." "Sorry, but I hope it's your mom. She's a total MILF and I love watching her bend down to put in the movie." I punch him in the chest and turn to unlock my car. Just before he can climb in the passenger seat, Scarlett and Amelia come running up to us and Scarlett takes the front. Amelia huffs and climbs in the back with Cooper. Smiling, I climb into the driver's seat. I look at them through the mirror, seeing the awkward expressions on their faces. "Sorry, guys. She got in first." Amelia huffs and makes some unreadable expression towards Scarlett. They seem to have a silent conversation and they're both looking out their respective windows with pouts on their faces. I shrug and turn over the engine. The car roars to a start and my music turns on. It's blaring from the ride to school. I turn it down and address my sister. "Amelia, I thought you were riding with Scarlett in her dad's car today. What happened?" "Her parents got into a fight again. He keeps leaving every time the fight is huge." Scarlett whips her head around to glare at Amelia. "You couldn't lie for the sake of not embarrassing me?! You could've said anything else!" Cooper makes a terrified face as he's instantly thrown into an argument between two 16 year old girls. I feel bad for the guy, so I calm the situation. "It was a harmless answer. No one here is judging you. Our mom has been a single parent forever and Cooper's mom is away living her life while he's stuck with the step mother from hell. So, stop yelling in my car." They instantly shut up and Amelia hugs Cooper to say sorry for hurting his eardrums. "Okay, now, what store are we stopping at?" Amelia and Scarlett both choose the local grocery store, Pa's Grocery. We go to Walmart in the next town over, sometimes and we also have a .99 store, but we prefer Pa's. We grab a whole cart of junk food and sugary soda before heading to mine and Amelia's house. When I pull into the drive, I see a car that looks a little suspicious parked next to my mom's. We all exchange confused looks as we take the bags inside. I set my armful on the coffee table and head into the kitchen where I hear arguing. It's a male voice yelling at my mom. I turn to the others, gesturing for them to stay put as I round the corner. When I get a clear view, I see the man's hand tightly gripping my mom's arm. I'm instantly infuriated. "Let go of her!" He whips around, pulling my mom with him and just smiles at me. It's a wicked smile that chills me to the bone. "Who's this guy?!" I watch as he yells at the most important person in my life and I almost lose it. I see his grip tighten as if that's even possible and she whimpers. "Just get out of here, Asher. I'll handle it." I grab the baseball bat we keep hidden in plain sight on the livingroom side of the wall. I hold it up like I'm gonna swing it at him. "Get out!" He just stares at me, wide-eyed. "I said, GET OUT!" He lets go of her arm and slowly walks towards me, that sickening smile tugging at the corners of his lips. I swing and hit him in the shoulder. "Now! It'll be your head, next time!" He scampers out the door and I follow him until he gets in his car and drives off. When I come back inside, I lock the door behind me and rush to my mom's side. "Mom, you have a huge bruise. Are you okay?" Amelia enters the kitchen with Cooper and Scarlett. Mom lets out a shaky breath and responds. "I'm fine. He was a bounty hunter looking for your father." "Well, if he comes back, hit him with the bat." She places her hand on mine and smiles warmly at me. We all get the house ready for our epic movie night and pick our seats. I let Amelia and Scarlett have the couch with Mom and Cooper sits down next me on the floor after picking the movie. He won the prize of picking the movies all night. About halfway through the second movie, I feel small hands playing with my shaggy curls. I dare to lean my head back and see who's touching me when my head lands directly between Scarlett's legs, mere inches from her crotch. I guess I didn't notice who was sitting on the couch behind me until now. She smiles down at me and I just lift my head back up, not thinking anything of it. Cooper notices the interaction and elbows my side just before leaning over to whisper in my ear. "She definitely likes you." "Nah, she's probably just into my curls. I mean, she's most likely heard the infamous, 'no best friends' rule by now." "Whatever. She's sexy, though. Have you noticed that she's gotten bigger in certain areas?" He makes a gesture as if he's honking a pair of boobs. Then, it turns into an ass slapping gesture. "C'mon. She's my sister's best friend." "I'm your best friend, but I would go for your sister if you'd let me. Hot chicks hang out with other hot chicks." I punch him in the arm and he laughs. We watch another 3 movies and Scarlett tries to wake up Amelia so they can go to her room. I have to carry my sister up the stairs and to her bed. My mom head to her room, which is the only one downstairs and Cooper stays down there to watch one more movie. I go to my room after leaving Scarlett wide awake with my sister passed out. I'm undressing as a small knock is heard at my door. I open it after sliding on a pair of gray sweat pants. Scarlett kind of grazes her eyes over my body and pushes past me, into my room. "Do you need something?" I say as nicely as possible while trying to keep my eyes off her body. She's wearing a camisole and booty short sleep set. VERY thin fabric. Her buttcheeks are slightly uncovered by the bottom of the shorts and her midriff is showing. I see no sign of bra straps as her C-cups bounce slightly when she moves. "Yeah, but...I don't think you're allowed to help me." She slides a hand across my bed and sits down on it, moving her knees apart, ever so slightly. "What do you mean?" I audibly swallow as my body moves toward her without my permission. She separates her legs a little more as if to welcome me between them. I stare at her pale, thick thighs and almost move closer to do something I'll regret. I shake my head and grab her hand, pulling her up off my bed. She loses her balance for a second, falling forward on me. I catch her and my hand lands on her exposed lower back. "Break the rules, Ash." She whispers in my ear, her warm breath hitting me and sending shivers down my spine. "Scarlett, you know I can't. You're Amelia's best friend and I've known you since I was 5." She's visibly disappointed when I let go of her and move aside for her to leave my room. The thoughts of what could've happened immediately begin to swirl in my mind. Cooper comes in minutes later and surprises me as I'm sitting on the edge of my bed, trying to process things. He looks me up and down before shrugging and beginning to undress. Before long, he's standing in front of me in just boxers. "You okay?" "Uh, yeah. Just thinking." "About the sexiest thing to leave your room late at night?" He points his right thumb over his shoulder towards the door. "Yeah. She came in here wanting to do God knows what. I'm physically attracted to her, but I had to say no. I'd break the rule and my sister's heart all at the same time if I'd acted on her invitation." He nods and plops onto the pallet I made for him on the floor. "Next time, take the invitation. Your sister will forgive you." I turn off the light and climb in bed with a curiosity burning through my dreams. The entire time I'm asleep, I dream of what could be. Not just sexually, but relationship wise. Her playing with my hair whenever she wants, standing on her tip toes to kiss me. Celebrating life events together. Damn the stupid rule! I wake up to Amelia banging on my door. "Hey, asshole! Wake the hell up!" Cooper beats me to the door and he's barely clothed. He stops Amelia dead her tracks as her face turns as red as Rudolph's nose. "I'm not the asshole you're referring to, but I'll be whatever you want me to be, cutie." I facepalm as he ends the flirtation with a smirk that I don't even need to see to know it happened. "What do you want, Amelia?" I groan as I stand up and stretch before walking to the door. "What did you say to Scarlett?" "Nothing." "She's been crying uncontrollably since 5am." "Why do you automatically think I had something to do with it?" I roll my eyes because it's way too early for this s**t. "Because..." Her eyes graze over Cooper one more time before making eye contact with me. "...the only words she could get out were, "Ash" and "jerk". Care to explain?" "She came in here last night acting as if she had a thing for me and I turned her down. You made the damn rule about best friends, so that's on you. It also APPLIES to you, "Ms. I think Cooper's attractive". So, take it up with yourself." She just gets mad at me and raises her voice. "Fix it, now!" "How the hell do you suppose I do that?! I can't time travel, dumb f**k!" Soon, we're in the middle of a screaming match and our mom has to break it up. She separates us and all four of us do different things throughout the day. By dinner time, we've completely gone back to normal and the rest of the night goes by smoothly. Until, I get caught in the kitchen alone with Scarlett at 11pm. She walks over to me as I'm getting a drink of water and takes the glass from my hand, placing it on the counter. "What do you want?" "That's easy, to apologize." "For what? Your reaction to my coldness was expected." "For all of it." "I don't regret seeing you show me how you feel and what you want. You shouldn't regret doing it." She steps closer to me, her head tilted up to look at me and my head bent down to look at her eyes. "An apology doesn't always symbolize regret." "That's true. But, why apologize if you don't regret it?" Her body gets closer and closer to mine and my breath hitches. "It's what I felt like needed to be done." She stands on her tip toes and brings my face down to meet hers, our lips meeting with gentle softness. I deepen the kiss and lift her up, setting her on the counter. I move between her legs and she grants me entry into her mouth. I suck on her tongue and she bites down on my bottom lip, pulling away slowly. Her teeth leave my lip after a few seconds and we're both breathing hard. My hands are on her exposed thighs and hers are in my hair. She plays with it and smiles at me. I close my eyes, enjoying the calming sensation. "Ash?" "Hmm." She stills her hand so I'll open my eyes. I squeeze her thighs and look into her beautiful hazel orbs. I focus on the little flecks of gold and green. "What is it?" "I want this so badly. To stay in this moment forever, but we can't." I sigh, heavily. "I know." I begin to slide out from between her legs when she pulls my hair. "Can we stay like this for a few more seconds?" I move back into the warm bubble of comfort and she kisses me a few more times. I kiss her jaw gently and plant tiny kisses on her forehead. We hear footsteps descending the stairs and I quickly move her off the counter, moving to grab my water and chugging what's left. "Hey, Scarlett, you coming to bed?" She touches her lips before turning to Amelia and responding. "Yeah, just had a heart to heart with Ash. We're all good, now." The next day goes so well, I begin to wonder if I imagined the interaction in the kitchen. We don't talk for more than a few minutes for the next two weeks and I finally convince myself that I did imagine it.