“Not for long,” said Rachel. “Matt let one fly and gassed us out of the room.”
Fred threw his head back and roared. “Haw! Mushroom Cloud Matt. Denise, what ever did you feed that kid?”
We sat for a while listening to the olds discussing the quirks of each child and their sibling’s multiple failings at raising them.
When we couldn’t take it anymore, Rachel and I excused ourselves.
“They never change,” she said. “Want to go for a walk?”
~~~~
Aunt Jenny’s house had been built near the edge of town at the time. It still was—the little town hadn’t grown much in the hundred years since.
Three other tall Victorians shared the street. The rest were modern bungalows with giant front yards.
As we walked, Rachel stuck her bare hand into my leather mitten and twined her fingers in mine. I wasn’t sure how to react, but I liked it.
“Your mom said you might bring your boyfriend,” I said.
“Yeah, well, we were going to go to Mexico for Valentines. Then Uncle Fred said the house had sold and was having a final gathering. My boyfriend knew how important it was to me to come here one last time. At the last minute he insisted we go to Mexico, anyway. I said I couldn’t, he said it was either him or my family. So that was the end of it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Things were heading that way anyway. He was nice at first, then started getting all ‘alpha male’ bossy, you know?”
“Oh. I broke up with Brenda, too.”
Rachel stopped and faced me. “The one you showed me pictures of in the summer? You looked so cute together. What happened?”
I shrugged. “She never wanted to go anywhere. Not see a movie, or to a pub. Even getting her to go out for a walk was a chore.”
“So what did you do together? Video games?”
“Uh, well, we had sex. That’s all she ever wanted to do.”
“Really?” Rachel laughed. “That doesn’t sound so bad!”
“Yeah, it was great at first. But I really liked her. I wanted to go out and do things. Get to know her more. But it was like she didn’t want me to. Like fucking was a shield or something.”
Rachel squeezed my hand. “Maybe she only wanted you for your body. You’re pretty hot, you know.”
She grinned and elbowed me.
I felt my face flush. Since when did Rachel think I was hot?
“You know,” she said, “I went out with a guy like that. Closed off. Didn’t talk. Except for sex, then he was a real education.”
“What does that mean?”
“He was up for anything. Any position, toys, role play, anal, hot wax, tying each other up, pegging…”
“Okay, okay! I get it.”
“Aww. Didn’t mean to embarrass you. Anyway, maybe he was only interested in my body, too. But he was so much fun in bed. ”
“Wish Brenda was. She only allowed missionary.”
“What? All that fucking and you never did doggy style? Or her on top? Reverse cowgirl? How about blowjobs or eating her out?”
“Rachel, geez! Will you stop? No, she thought anything else was perverted.”
“Wow. Poor girl. Poor you!”
Rachel looked like she was going to say something more but stopped. We had become chilly, so we turned and headed back.
~~~~
After dinner, we climbed to the top floor.
“I’m still freezing,” Rachel said, hugging herself. “I’m taking a bath.”
It almost looked like she put an extra sway in her hips as she pulled off her hoodie and strode to the bathroom.
She was such a puzzle. Sometimes she treated me like I was still a kid, other times like her best friend, while other times it seemed she was flirting—lots of innuendo, brushing against me and talking about sex. But that had to be wishful thinking. She just liked making me blush.
I lay on my bed playing a game on my phone, listening to the echos of Rachel splashing and humming to herself. It was almost hypnotic, and I dozed.
Rachel’s shout woke me.
“Dylan! Can you get a towel? I forgot to bring one in with me.”
I fetched a bath towel from the second-floor linen closet.
Steamy air spilled from the crack in the bathroom door when I knocked. I stuck my arm inside, looking away.
“Here you go. Grab it.”
“I can’t grab it, doofus. I’m in the tub. Bring it in.”
“You’re in the tub!”
“I used bubble bath. Will you just come in here?”
More steamy air billowed out when I pushed open the door. Rachel had the overhead light off, with candles flickering all around the muggy room.
She was laying back, immersed to her neck in the water, hair pinned up in a beautiful messy pile, a red washcloth folded over her eyes.
There were no bubbles.
There must have been plenty when she first got in, but after soaking for so long, only wandering patches of froth remained.
My mouth fell open as I took in the vision of her breasts, hips, and exquisite pussy with precisely trimmed fur beneath the refracting, dappled water.
“Just hang it up,” she said, waving a hand towards the towel hooks. Her breasts swayed from the motion.
“And can you run more hot water?” she asked. “Please?”
Trapped. How could I refuse? But what if she removed her washcloth blindfold?
Down by her feet, I turned the hot water on full blast. It formed more froth, but then I had a closer view of her body. I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
Rachel sighed happily, stirring the water with her long legs.
When it was hot enough, I shut off the tap and scurried from the room.
“Thanks, Dylan,” she called. “You’re the best!”
I flung myself on my bed, resuming the game on my phone. No doubt the image of her in the bath would be fodder for fantasies for years to come, but at that moment I wasn’t turned on—I was enraptured. Stricken. She was so lovely.
But I fretted. Would she figure out she had been exposed then scream at me for not saying anything? Why did I feel like a kid stealing cookies again? It was her fault for not checking the bubble situation before inviting me in, wasn’t it?
Later, sloshes and sounds of the tub draining came from the bathroom then Rachel was at my door, wrapped in the huge towel.
“That was soooo good,” she said. “They still make tubs kind of like that, but they aren’t as comfy. Another thing I’ll miss about this place.”
She flounced onto the bed behind me, resting her chin heavily on my shoulder.
“Whatcha playing? Oh, River Rat Regatta! I wasted so much time on that. Could never get past level 20.”
“You have to go left at the sawmill, then chew through the thinnest log.”
“Oh. Of course. Should’ve figured that out. I’m an idiot.”
I tried concentrating on the game, ignoring the alluring scent of her body lotion or the heat of her pressed against my back or the fact she was naked under that towel.
“Can we watch a movie?” she said. “Tentacle Tollbooth came out on streaming yesterday. It’s supposed to completely suck.”
Another thing Rachel and I did together was watch sub-B horror movies, making snide comments while laughing ourselves silly.
She rolled onto her feet. “C’mon. Put on your jammies. We’ll watch in my room.”
Rachel sat resting against her headboard wearing loose pajama shorts and a t-shirt when I entered. She was cuing up the movie on her tablet.
It was delightfully awful. We sat side-by-side, legs tucked under the covers, laughing and cracking jokes while guessing which cliché horror trope came next.
“It’s gonna be ‘ax in the back.’ I know it.”