He smiled, but before he could get a word out, another voice interrupted. "I could definitely eat too. Mind if I join you guys?"
I turned around to see Jill. She was folding up her cell and putting it in her purse. At first I wanted to sneer, or shoe her away, or do something to get rid of her. Then I realized, given my experiences with Malcolm, how little I trusted myself in matters regarding the opposite sex lately. I forced myself to nod. "It's cool with me," I said, forcing every word.
Rick nodded, and we headed off toward the food court. Once again, without any thought on my part, my hand drifted down into my purse. "I wish Rick would come back to Jill's with us tonight." After the flash of light, I tore my hand away from the rock. "What the hell!" I shouted. What the hell are you doing! When I looked up and noticed not only Jill and Rick's eyes on me, but also the eyes of several other mall patrons staring me down, I reacted as quickly as I could.
"Ouch," I said lamely. "Sorry," I said loudly enough for everybody to hear. "Stepped on my ankle wrong!" This seemed to divert most of the onlookers, and even Jill looked satisfied. Though I knew given the wish I'd made a little earlier, I could fall down dead and it wouldn't bother her in the slightest. Rick stopped and turned back toward me.
"You okay?" He asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"I'm fine," I told him, "Lead on."
As he continued forward, I held back just a little so I could have a whispered conversation with my sister. Despite the fact that I'd invited her along, afraid of what I might do left to my own devices, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. Part of me really wanted to be alone with him. Which is exactly why I need her here, I reminded myself.
"So, we just ate less than two hours ago," I whispered. "I know why I'm following him to the food court, but why are you?"
She grinned, "What, and miss the chance to watch my little sister flirt with an older man," she chuckled, "Besides, he's really cute, and I've just got to find out if he has a friend or a brother." She gave me a triumphant grin. I found myself starting to wonder exactly what kind of a mother Jill was. I mean, it was weird, but I felt more than a little responsibility for Chloe's well being. Mostly, I decided, because it had been my carelessness that had brought her into the world. At least in a sense.
I rolled my eyes and followed him on. Truth be told, the local mall wasn't really that impressive and there were only a few choices left to us on where to eat. Rick stopped and looked at me. He smiled a smile that would have completely melted me if it had gone on any longer.
"So," he asked, "what would you ladies like to eat.
"Honestly," I told him with a smile, "I'm not that hungry. I ate a couple of hours ago." I looked first at his crestfallen expression, and then over at the Dairy Queen. "I could go for an ice cream cone though."
He smiled, and looked at Jill. "And for you?"
"Ooh, buying for both of us. He's a keeper Nat," she whispered in my ear before answering him. "I could do a cone too."
"Coming right up," he said, and he walked toward the counter.
"Wow," Jill said, elbowing me lightly in the side, "What a total hunk. Just look at that ass."
"I know," I told her, surprised at how easily I was losing myself.
"You should totally invite him over tonight," she told me.
"What?" I asked. So, this was how the wish was going to play out, huh?
"Oh come on," she said in quiet tones, "You can't tell me you're not thinking about fucking him right now."
I'd never heard Jill utter a swearword in my life. Not only was it odd to hear her drop the "F" bomb, but the casual way that it rolled off her tongue felt so out of place. On the other hand
"Oh yeah," I whispered, surprised at myself. Shut up! It was true though. All I'd thought about as he walked away was tearing his clothes off and riding him all night long. Still, it felt a little odd to talk about it so openly. But girls do talk to each other like this, I realized. They'd like guys to think that they don't, but they get just as horny as men.
She smiled at me, "So, when he comes back, ask him if he wants to come hang out tonight. I'll have a few other friends over and we'll unwind, have some fun, and later on the two of you can sneak off to the bedroom."
"I think I might do that," I told her softly, watching him walk back toward us. He was holding three cones. He handed one to me, one to Jill, and kept the third one for himself.
"So," he said, "You two must be sisters."
I nodded, and flicked my tongue gingerly across the tip of the cone. For a moment, he looked surprised, but then he smiled. As the three of us talked, I continued to make suggestive gestures with my cone and my mouth, and every once in a while, he would shoot me a surprised but interested grin. The few times I glanced over at Jill, it was apparently all she could do not to laugh.
I learned that he was twenty, and had graduated from high school two years ago. He was going to the local technical college now, trying to get a bachelor's in computer programming. He had his own place, something he made a major point of telling us, and apparently he was also a writer. I told him well, what little I'd gleamed about myself from today's experiences. He didn't seem at all bothered by my age, or the fact that I was still in high school. I know that should have bothered me, but he was so damn sexy.
Jill chimed in at a few key points, i.e. points where I was on the verge of making a total fool of myself, and told him about Chloe, and her job at a local department store.
About twenty minutes later, we'd finished our cones, and we all stood up. It was now or never, I supposed. Never! my rational mind shouted. Tell him it was nice meeting him, get Jill to take you back home, and most importantly, get rid of that damn rock! Part of me wanted to listen. Part of me wondered why I was so easily seduced. If my apparent behavior was any indication, I was easier now than I had been before I'd made my initial wish, and I'd been a guy at that point!
I looked at Jill, who nodded encouragingly, and back at Rick who was wearing a hopeful expression. I knew he only wanted one thing, knew that the responsible thing would be to end this now. I fought as hard as I could against my body's urges, and against the rock induced lack of inhibition.
Finally, knowing what I had to do I looked up at Rick, smiled and said, "Maybe you'd like to come hang out with us tonight? I'm staying at my sister's and we're going to have a few other people over." Way to be responsible! "Shut up me," I whispered under my breath.
He nodded. "I'd like that. I was actually waiting for a buddy to pick me up here, but maybe I could just catch a ride with you two?"
"Absolutely," Jill said with a smile.
"Great, let me go call him and let him know," Rick turned and walked toward the payphone.
Jill smiled widely at me, "Way to go Nat." She patted me on the shoulder. I turned to look at her, a goofy grin crossing my lips. "I talked to mom, by the way," she said, "and she said its fine, but you'd better damn well make it to school tomorrow." She did her best to sound stern, attempting to channel our mother.
"I thought you were gonna see if he had a friend," I said conversationally.
She wrinkled her nose a little and smiled softly. "Nah, tonight's your night Nat. Besides, I can get laid whenever I want."
"Wow," I told her in a deadpan tone of voice, "vain much?"
"Just confident," she said as Rick came back. She looked at him. "My sister and I are gonna use the ladies room before we go," she took my arm and started pulling me in that direction.
"I'll wait here," he told us eagerly.
"He's practically eating out of my hand," I whispered with a smirk, as we made our way into the bathroom. I shook my head slowly, imagining what the two of us might do tonight, and all the ways I could use the rock to make it even better.
"Play your cards right," Jill said slyly, "and that's not the only thing he'll be eating out of tonight."
I laughed softly, feeling a sudden warmth between my legs. She pulled me aside, a wide grin on her face. "You've got to check this out," she said, unbuttoning the top few buttons on her shirt. At first I didn't know what I was looking for, but then I saw the extremely lacy, extremely skimpy red bra that almost completely failed to cover her chest. I looked at it. It wasn't that I found my sister sexy in it, or anything sick like that. It was just sexy in and of itself. It looked so soft.
"How much did that cost?" I asked as she buttoned her shirt back up.
"Didn't cost me a dime," she said with a sly grin. It took me a moment to comprehend what she was telling me.
"You stole it?" I asked.
"Um, yeah," she said indignantly, and I got the sudden intuition that this wasn't the first time we'd had this little dance. I also gathered that I was usually more impressed.
"Cool," I told her. "Very sexy."
"I know," she told me, her smile returning.
My sister the klepto, I thought with a grimace. Exactly how much damage had I done?
"By the way," she said with another annoying smile, "The way you were blowing your ice cream cone out there... nice touch." She laughed softly. "Anyway, we should probably get going," she said as she made her way out of the bathroom. I was just glad there hadn't been anybody else in here with us. Jill was definitely not the same girl I'd grown up with. On some level it bothered me, but less and less as time went on, and I knew I didn't like that one bit.
Before I followed her out, I reached down into my purse one more time, "I wish "
