A Christmas Competition

I've been pretty busy working some of these commission stories, and I'm very grateful for the opportunities! Feel free to contact me through the Literotica site, and please enjoy what is, perhaps, the most challenging commission I've had to work on yet!

We stepped out of the car onto the crunchy snow and splintering ice and I loved her. I say that like it was a sudden revelation brought on by Christmastime weather in northern Minnesota, but the truth is I knew I loved her from the days of our childhood when we were in grade school together. Boys are supposed to pull on girls' hair and be general brats when they like a girl at that age, but I gave her a flower for Valentine's Day. And while I'm not as sappy as I once was almost 20 years ago, I still loved her as we stood on the frozen gravel driveway and looked up at the cabin lodge together.

"Your parents aren't up here yet?" I looked back at her and closed the door. I drove, naturally. And then, moving to get our bags, I looked around again, just to make sure. I was under the impression that her parents and family would be here the entire month of December, but apparently nobody had arrived yet. The quarter mile long driveway ended at a large two-door garage on the left and a spacious house on the right, complete with stone and brickwork gardens, capped for winter of course, and a wooden deck on the left side of the house. A large, smiling, Santa head hung in the middle of the railing for the deck, so walking up the stairs you'd make eye contact with the plastic face. Outdoor lights the size of shotgun shells adorned the edges of the house and the deck, just barely starting to glow in the dim light of the early evening. It was a beautiful house, truly. But all I could think about was that I'd get to spend five days in it with Jessica. It was the highlight of every single year.

She stood up out of the car with a mitten between her teeth as she punched out a quick text on her phone. "They are probably out in town. They never tell me anything."

"So. Place to ourselves! What do you wanna get up to?" I joked with her. We had known each other the majority of each other's lives and I don't think that we were capable of taking what the other said seriously, until it was one of those rare friendship-defining moments where everything you say can't be taken anything but seriously. She yawned loudly. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "Did sitting in the car for six hours exhaust you?"

"Let's get the bags in and see what we are dealing with. Need to eat eventually." She responded quickly. Every year she and I shared a room, it was her old childhood bedroom actually. Her parents had updated it certainly, so there were no more dolls or school books. Now there were pictures of her and I with the family, a copy of her Diploma for Marketing at University of Minnesota, and, at least at the moment, an air mattress should be waiting on the floor for me. We spent the next 30 minutes unpacking our things. The house was spacious, but Jessica and I had shared a room since high school sleepover days when we would study together.

As soon as we finished, almost to the second, the front door, two floors down, opened and a loud voice called out "Anybody home?" in the way that they knew someone was definitely home.

Jessica bounded out of the room and looked down the staircase that cut through all three floors of the house, leaning over to shout down. "Kevin and I are up in my room!"

Minutes later we were gathered in the living room on the second floor. There was Jessica and I, Tim and Alex, her two dads, Tim's brother Ben and Alex's sister Toni, Jessica's younger brother Jeff and his college roommate Max. Max was the newest addition to the party and so we spent a lot of time talking to him. Turns out he was still an undecided major but he was leaning towards creative writing, a response that was met with an almost imperceptible beat of an awkward silence. Alex and Toni piped up quickly to talk about a friend from theirs back in the day who went on to become a very successful author, but they wouldn't divulge their name no matter what we tried to do. The guesses became more and more ridiculous until someone said "Stephen King" and we finally moved on. Everyone was familiar with me, but I did get to share the fun news this year that I was moving to a new position within my company, something that Jessica was actually more excited about than anyone else. I was going to be the lead of the SEO team. Search engine optimization wasn't that far off from marketing, where Jessica was deeply rooted, working at her family's granite company. The company they built from the ground up and allowed them to afford this fantastic house.

However, while Jessica and I were explaining what a big deal it was, Max let out a very loud yawn and, apologizing profusely, waved it off.. I took the cue and the conversation petered out. I changed the subject quickly. "So what's the plan until Christmas?" I asked more loudly, clapping my hands together as if bringing a meeting to order.

Tim and Alex smiled and responded. "Skiing tomorrow, ice skating the day after, figure you'll be pretty good at that Jeffrey," Max nudged Jeff when they said this, smirking at him. I wondered if Max knew how good Jessica and Jeff were at skating. "Then Christmas Eve we need to bake, Christmas Day we have our meal, open presents, and then watch movies until we pass out in the den, how's that sound?" Alex put his hand on Tim's shoulder and grinned happily, as though he were revealing a grand plan.

"Sounds great to me guys!" Max piped up and said, perhaps a hair too enthusiastically.

That evening was both somehow relaxing and draining at the same time. After a while of chit chat people started to excuse themselves to their rooms. Alex and Tim obviously had one room; it was the master bedroom on the third floor. Jessica and I were facing the sunset on the third floor as well. Max and Jeff were in his bedroom, which was on the second floor beneath his parents, and Ben and Toni each claimed a small guest room on the main floor. Each floor had a bathroom as well, the kitchen and dining room were on the first floor, as well as a nice den. The second floor also contained a large living room with the house's main television and seating area. It was in that room that we all eventually met back again and Ben and Toni led us all in Pictionary before we retired to our rooms for the evening.

On my way back to Jessica's room, where she had retreated several minutes earlier (she and I had a years old agreement that she would go first and I would follow after 10 minutes to give her time to get changed) I was stopped by Max, however.

"Hey, Kevin, right? Can I talk to you a minute?" he got up quickly as I left the room and followed me to the stairs.

"Sure, what's up kid?" I turned around and smiled down at him. He put a hand on his chest and looked at me, with mild offense on his face.

"My name is Max, actually. I'm 19, not 10." He said this in a bit of an unusual way. He did not sound angry, more like it was just a strict correction and there was no real discussion about it. It was a fact. It was also a fact that I immediately thought he was a dick. I lifted my hands to start to apologize but he shook his hands to dismiss this quite adamantly. "I wanted to talk to you about Jessica. You've been her friend for a long time, yes? Can you give me any pointers?"

Time stopped. My stomach fell. I wasn't sure if I was hearing this. It sounded ridiculous. Someone had intentions on Jessica. My Jessica. My best friend, the woman I loved, the woman I trusted. After staring an unnaturally long time, I finally answered. "Yea, we've been friends a long time. But. Uh. That's a bit unco-"

He cut me off and started talking again. "Her dads mentioned you two had known each other since grade school. If you were interested, I figured you'd have made a move by now - so I'm asking for any tricks you know. All in love is fair, after all, yes?"

"You two just met today. How do you know you could even love her?" I responded, a bit more pathetically than I intended to. He looked at me like I had grown two heads.

"You're kidding right? Have you seen that body?"

Truth be told, I didn't think about Jessica in reference to her body very much. It was her soul that I knew and her mind that I loved. "Her body?"

"Yes, Kevin. Her body. She's a 10 any part of this country. What she is doing without a guy in her bed this time of year is beyond me." The little shit just wanted to sleep with her! And he said it all so deadpan, as though I were the insane one for not noticing what he pointed out.

"I'm going to just pretend this conversation didn't happen, alright? That's what I'll do for you." I turned and walked away. I could see as I rounded the stairs that Max was at the bottom, arms outstretched and palms upraised, like the world's douchiest shrug made flesh.

I opened the door and saw her in her bed, reading by light on her nightstand. She smiled warmly at me and I settled down onto my air mattress for a while, pulling out my own book. I was reading The Witcher books. I figured the show was good, so I should go back and read these books. But I stared at the same page for a disturbingly long amount of time. Why did I never tell Jessica how I felt? I assumed if she was interested she would just tell me. I didn't want to scare her off with dramatic declarations of love. I thought about this until the oblivion of sleep took me.

I woke up with a jolt, my face on the book, bending a page. It was still dark out the window and the room was pitch black. I looked up onto the bed, expecting to see Jessica asleep, but instead I heard soft moans and saw Max on top of Jessica, her legs wrapped around him, heels digging into his muscular naked ass. She was yelping softly with each thrust they made against each other. He was pumping fast and her body was shaking. She pulled him down to kiss him and I could hear the wet sounds of his cock in my best friend's wet pussy. I watched on in shocked horror as the scene unfolded, until finally Max gripped her arms and shoulder tightly and started to cum. I could see it perfectly, his cock was balls deep inside of her perfectly shaven pussy, his balls were tensing and pulsing, releasing cum into her body, filling her perfect body. Their bodies contorted in pleasure and he turned to me and winked as Jessica laid back, panting to catch her breath.

Pain ran through my leg suddenly. I kicked out in my dream and slammed the side of my leg against Jessica's bed, the iron and wooden frame leaving a definite dent in my shinbone. I winced as Jessica sat up. Her hair was a complete mess, her shirt, although shifted enough to almost reveal one of her breasts, was still definitely on and her panties, also having shifted just enough to show off her lovely ass, were also not discarded by Max. I leaned back as Jessica blinked at me through bleary eyes. It was a nightmare.

"Kev?" She responded, sleepily, blinking at me several times - she obviously was very deeply asleep.

"Go back to sleep Jess. It's ok. Just a bad dream." She plopped back down and I looked up at her. I stared at her hand dangling off the side of the mattress and up at her.

I yawned and said softly. "Love you, Jess. Sleep well." She was already asleep. She didn't answer. I mumbled softer. "I've been in love with you forever." She didn't hear that either.

I felt like home again, back on this skill hill. Jessica and I never went skiing together, but I was finally back in my element. I always had trouble going back to sleep after nightmares woke me up. Last night was no exception. I tossed and turned until about five, my usual time for waking up for work, and then decided I'd get up and go read elsewhere in the house. The rest of the family eventually got up, and after breakfast we all went to the nearby ski hill. Growing up, I practically spent every winter on skis in school, and I had been to this hill many times. For a while the family stuck together and would greet each other at the top of every hill, but eventually the family split off. I spent more time on some hills with Jessica's fathers, while her and her brother and Max spent time on the easier hills. I was a bit uncomfortable with Max and Jessica together, but what kind of douchebaggery could he get up to on a public ski hill in the middle of winter?

Two hours later, I found out. I got tired enough to break off from the harder hills and head back towards the chalet. As I skied back down the western side of the hill, coming around towards the chalet entrance, I saw Jessica and Max getting back onto a chair together. Jeff was nowhere to be seen, and Max put his arm around Jessica and pulled her close to take a selfie together. Apparently, they had shared some quality time. I frowned and moved into the chalet on my ski boots, stomping heel first on the heavy plastic.

I rounded into a lounge area and saw Jeff there. "Hey Jeff, what the hell, I thought you were with Max and Jess today?" I stood in front of him, arms crossed in my bulky jacket. He looked up at me innocently.

"Try again, Kev" he warned. He wasn't wrong, I came off overly aggressive and made an apologetic gesture. "Max said he wanted to spend some alone time with Jess today," he had just pried off his rental ski boot. "Got tired of spending time with them anyway." He was packing up his things for the day, even though it was still two more hours until we were supposed to pile into vans and head back.

"The guy has the hots for your sister, man." I finally said, frustrated at Jeff's nonchalance. Why was he not taking this like the serious issue that it was? Jeff looked up at me incredulously for a moment and lifted his hand up, starting to count his fingers off.

"So do you," he counted one off. "She's my sister, not my responsibility," another one. "She's 7 years older than me," still another one, "and she can make her own choices." He put his hand down. "It's absolutely not my problem. If you want to protect her virtue, you go ahead." He looked down and continued packing up his things, having peeled off his second heavy boot, setting it down with a loud thump. I stared at him for a long minute as he finished up and finally, I spoke up.

"You're right Jeff, I"m sorry. I didn't mean to put that on you." I reached my hand down to pick up his boots, as a gesture of good intention. "Let me help you out." He stood up, thanked me, and we went to the rental shop together to return our gear.

Jeff and I spent the afternoon in the chalet together alternating between scrolling on our phone and sharing the funniest videos we could think of, him showing me an app that he stored all his Magic the Gathering cards on, or just people watching. I kept watching out the windows to see Max and Jessica but I didn't see them again. Finally I asked him, "You said earlier that I have the hots for Jessica. How did you know?"

His response was simple enough. "Was it a secret? Man, anyone can tell if they've been around you for longer than 10 minutes."

"Do you think she knows?" I asked again, my voice softer now.

"If she has, she's never told me. Are you in high school? Go ask her yourself." He shook his head at me.

When we eventually all came back together, people piled into the vans again and we started the drive back to the cabin. It frustrated me that Max and Jessica sat together, talking friendly the entire drive back. But Jeff was right. Jessica was her own person. And I couldn't just wait around for her to decide that I was the right person to date. I had to actually show her that myself. I had to finally show Jessica that I had feelings for her, for most of our lives.               If Max wanted to compete with me, I would show him that he couldn't stand a chance.

That night, that's exactly what I tried to do.

"Hey Jess. You got a minute?" I mumbled quietly as I walked into our shared room. But I had to swallow my words quickly. Max was there. They were standing looking at Jessica's bookshelf and bulletin board. She was showing him pictures that she had in small frames, pictures of vacations, parties, special friends, even some friends that she and I both had who had passed away. She was walking him through her life, and he looked up when I walked in.

"Hey Kev. Jessica was literally just telling me about some of the vacations you've been on in college," he smiled at me and grabbed a picture of a New Year's Eve party. I winced a bit. That was a party I was supposed to kiss Jessica at, but she got too drunk and kissed a mutual friend of ours in college, I couldn't even remember her name now. Abi or Erin or Alicia, something - it started with a vowel. I turned the wince into a smile and walked over.

"Yea, I've been her best friend since," I paused for a moment "oh, longer than you've been alive actually." I'd show him and put him in his place. Jess smiled up at me and nodded in response.

Max interrupted quickly though. "Yea, it sounds like you two are practically brother and sister by this point!" I bit my tongue a bit, I'm sure that I couldn't hide the derision on my face at that comment.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," I said. Jessica laughed at the same time though, drowning out my minor objection. She moved to hug me and turned her face to Max.

"Well he's the best brother I could ever have!" she said. She might not even be thinking about how her words cut deep in that moment. How it looked like Max was 'winning' this competition by a mile. It looked like the mission I was on when I came into the room was gone, vanishing like smoke in the wind now. My heart fell and I tried to hide my feelings. I've been told I wear my feelings on my sleeve, I needed to hide them - quickly. I swallowed it and looked up.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to get some fresh air or something." She looked like I just asked to borrow money.

"Fresh air? Like we got all day on the ski hill?" Max asked, saying what I was pretty sure Jessica was thinking. I curled my top lip and bit it, screwing up my face for a moment as I thought.

"Yea. But I'm pretty warm after dinner. The oven going this afternoon got it pretty warm. Just for a bit." I nodded to the door. Jessica smiled and set the frame in her hand down.

"Sure."

"I know, the family can be a bit much," Jessica said as soon as we stepped outside, the snow crunching under our feet. "And I didn't know Jeff would be bringing a friend either."

I turned back to her. She thought I needed to retreat outside from all the socialization? So be it, I'll go with that.

"It's just more than what I'm used to these days. I've worked at home for a while now, and it's just been -" I hesitated. "It's been a while since I've seen you and I just miss hanging out with you like we used to back in the college days, you know?"

She smiled and put an arm around me and gave me a half hug. "Well I appreciate you being here. It's Christmas, after all. We should be with the people we care about."

"And Max too?" I responded, trying to undermine him just a little. She laughed.

"And Max too," she got out through the laughs. "He's ok. He's just a young kid. Remember when we were that young? All carefree and confident?"

"Yea. Before we became adults and the real world slaps you around." I sighed. We talked for a while longer about college memories, the past, our jobs. Finally it started to get cold out and I asked.

"Jess, how come you never settled down?" I blurted out, the words became a mist in the cold night air.

Jess was quiet for several long seconds, almost long enough for me to repeat the question or ask if she heard me, then she looked over at me. "No guy ever seemed to measure up to be worth anything longer than just a fling." It was true; the longest I ever knew her to date someone was about three to four months. I opened my mouth to speak when a voice called from the house. They were calling our names. I chuckled, uneasily.