Cocktails, Heels & Desperate

He forced down the whirlwind of emotions he was feeling, and picked up his own drink. Shouldn't have watered it down. He needed something to smooth his nerves. "Maria? No. No, she pretty much exclusively eats carpet."

"Not just her fiance's, though, right?"

Jack smiled sheepishly, "Mostly? Fiona's the one in charge. If she's around, she sometimes gets Maria to bring other girls back to their place for some fun. If she wasn't away... Those two would be all over you."

"I don't swing that way, Jack." Krystal shook her head, "Not even a little. Your turn to ask me something. Could always dare me..."

He took another mouthful, relishing the burn in his throat and stomach, even if it was buried under a sugar rush. "Eh... What's with the get up, and candles?"

"No fair." Krystal stuck out her lip, showing her utterly beautiful scowl to him. Making him press hard up against the material of his jeans. "That comes later. Come on, something else. I have to build up to telling you... Please? That's the goal of tonight. I will tell you."

Jack nodded, "Sorry... I'm..."

"Mindblown." She said excitedly, and then stretched out one stocking'd leg and put it on the table, "Look! I'm even wearing my heels! They don't quite go with the outfit, but... This is about me. Happy I got such a reaction."

"Goddamn, you're beautiful." It slipped out.

Krystal caught her breath, and Jack clenched his eyes shut, wishing he hadn't said that. He waited for lightning to strike him, prayed for it.

He felt soft lips gently touch his cheek, "Thanks."

He opened his eyes slowly, and saw Krystal. She was close to him, but she wasn't looking at him. She was playing with her drink, and smiling to herself.

Moment seemed to have passed without incident.

"Uhm... Truth. But not too serious." He tried to focus on the game, "You ever kiss a girl, even once?"

Krystal laughed at him, "Adoi. Of course. How else do I know I really don't swing that way? Really, really. I made out with April, back in high school. She wanted to go steady, I wanted to run the other way. Totally broke her heart. Felt like a real bitch for weeks afterwards. So...?"

"So, what?"

She rolled her eyes, "You ever kiss a guy, Jack?"

"Nooope." He laughed, "I didn't need to try it, to know I wasn't into it. So... You and April, huh?"

"You kissed her, too." Krystal glared at him, "At her eighteenth."

"Just the once!" He protested.

She crossed her arms, "Really? A drop-dead sexy girl like that and you -"

"Had no intention of being her beard. She told me she only liked girls. Thought that I'd keep her secret, and wouldn't mind pretending to date her." Jack cut her off.

Krystal frowned, "Huh. You would be the right kind. You're too nice for your own good, Jack. Can't tell anyone no. That's why you end up surrounded by crazy chicks."

"Do I?"

"Maria. Fiona. April." Krystal nodded, "All of them had some serious problems. And then of course, you dated me. I'm the worst of them all."

"You're not crazy. Not even a little." Jack said, instinctively brushing her cheek. The lightning struck, blasting through his hand and straight to his heart with a painful spasm.

When he froze, hand hanging in the air, Krystal turned her head and kissed his fingers gently. Taking his hand in hers and lowering it until it was on the couch, but holding it.

She smiled at him broadly, "You really like this dress, don't you? It's okay to admit it. I'm not wearing it for you."

He blinked in surprise, "You're wearing it for me?"

"I just said I wasn't!"

He nodded, "And you're a terrible liar. Always have been. Keeping us a secret was so hard, back then."

"Wish we had." Krystal whispered sadly, and then it was her turn to freak out that she'd said something. He could feel her frantic pulse through her hand.

Jack leaned back, pretending to relax, "Is it my turn to ask you a question?"

"The dress." She rolled her eyes, and squeezed his hand, "Because... I don't want you to run when I tell you why I want to lose my virginity. Want your attention all on me. Later. Hopefully once I'm drunk and aren't a little coward anymore. So... Refill?"

"Refill." He took her glass and went back to the kitchen, "Wanna try another drink?"

"Nope. I love that one." She called to him, "My turn! I want to dare you."

Most people played the game so that the person being asked got to choose between dare or truth. Krystal and he had changed it up when they were dating. Thought it made it more fun.

For moment's like these, when you could watch someone else squirm.

"Oh, hell." He said, "What's the dare?"

"Nothing big..." Krystal giggled, "Well, kinda big. It's big. Or I think it is. Okay. So I'm tipsy... And not making sense..."

"Yup."

She looked at him from the couch, head sideways on it, "I wanna see."

"Huh?"

"Your... Dick."

Jack closed his eyes briefly, "Uh... No. No, that seems like a fucking bad idea. Not happening."

"Come on! I've only seen two others." She said, "I don't want it to be weird or anything. I just... Don't have stuff to compare to. Do they all look different?"

"You're tipsy, I'm not." Jack replied.

She rolled her eyes, "Fair enough. I still think it'd be fine, though. Not like I'm going to jump you. I'm not some... Cockfiend."

He laughed nervously, "You remember we used to date, right?"

"That was before you became my brother. Even drunk I know you're off limits." She replied, "So... A little peek? For the innocent virgin?"

"Virgin, probably. Innocent? Not even a little." Jack replied, coming back over with the drink and handing it to her.

He sat back down, "Something else."

"Fine. Truth." Krystal gave a small pout, "Uhm... Ooh! Who or what are you the most ashamed to have jacked off to?"

She was trying to punish him.

"Truthfully? I dunno. Teenage boys can be horny little fucks. A smile, girl in a magazine, all that's fap material." He shrugged.

Krystal glared, "Come on, got to have something. Even something recent. Not embarrassed by anything?"

"Okay... Recent porn video." Jack said nervously.

She smiled excitedly, "Can you find it again? I wanna know what's so shameful!"

He muttered and pulled out his phone. It took him a couple minutes to find it, whilst Krystal sat there on tenterhooks.

:.:. ::: :.:. :.: :.:...:.....

She could already feel the buzz in her head. She hadn't told Jack that she'd basically stopped drinking, and now she was practically skulling whatever he was making.

It was having a weird effect on her.

On the one hand, she was starting to feel like a bit of a klutz. Hand moving after she told it to. Vision just a little bit off kilter.

On the other, it was lighting an absolute fire in her crotch. She didn't usually get drunk-horny. Drunk girl was not able to get off, usually. She might kiss and flirt like a skank, but she couldn't really get wet.

Right now, she was sure if she stood up there would be a stain on the couch.

Jack turned his phone over to her, and then tried to turtle into his jacket. Face flushed in utter embarrassment.

The girl in it was about their age, so that wasn't the embarrassing part. She was just some leggy blonde thing. Pretty enough to attract some attention.

The story was an incest one, but that's how porn always went. Cheap to make, with a hint of sexiness to it. Much easier than having to put the least bit of effort into a set up.

The guy was hot, too, which wasn't a normal porn guarantee. A bit of a silver fox. Not that old, but definitely an age gap. Krystal would totally do him, though.

"What's so embarrassing?"

"Wait for it." Jack whispered.

She raised an eyebrow, confused. Right up until the blonde suddenly put on a costume for her 'daddy'. Cat ears, and gloves and a tail that ended up inside her ass.

Krystal burst out laughing, "Catgirl! You jerked off to a catgirl!"

"Shuddup." He muttered.

She handed the phone back to him, "Well, that satisfies the question, then. Hey... Jack?"

"Yeah?" He asked nervously.

Krystal grinned at him, nose crinkling, and put her hands up like paws, "Meow?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and yanked his head halfway inside his jacket.

She laughed so hard she spilled her drink, and had to put it down. She scrambled for a cloth, taking a couple tries to pick one up and wipe the chocolate off her hand and dress. "Shit! I borrowed it. Maria is going to be piiiissed."

Jack jumped up, and headed to the kitchen, "Toss it into the laundry. Just grabbing some vinegar. You got something else to wear?"

She didn't want to wear something else.

She wanted him to keep staring at her. Keep stealing hungry looks that made her pussy purr hungrily like the kitten he had masturbated over.

"Nothing good." She muttered, grabbing a simple sweater dress from her suitcase before she got changed, dumping the red dress on the floor of the laundry.

Jack went in after her, and she went to pout on the couch. Before she could, the doorbell rang and made her heart leap into her mouth.

It was just the pizza.

She'd managed to get tipsy even before their food arrived, because of course she had. She was about to tell him all her secrets and that was scaring the utter shit out of her.

She paid the bored delivery guy, who took a nosey look at the candles, but didn't even seem to see her.

Krystal was crestfallen and moping on the couch when Jack came back. "I think I've got most of it. We'll see in the morning. Ooh, food."

She rolled her eyes as he dug in, and glanced at his drink. Only halfway through his first. Obviously pacing himself, scared of losing control or something.

She gave a brief smile and put aside her second crust, "Your turn to embarrass me. Meow."

"Oh god, what I have done?" He squeezed his eyes shut, "I... I don't find it that sexy, Krys."

"I know." She laughed and shrugged, "Still fun. Meow."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Fine. Let me embarrass you the same way. What's your shameful fap material? And don't tell me you don't have any."

Her stomach dropped like a stone, and she swallowed nervously, "Uh... I tell you... You're going to hate me."

"Me?" He asked in surprise, "Seriously? I thought I was untouchable. That's what you were saying when you wanted an innocent virgin peek, earlier."

"Fantasy ain't untouchable." She shrugged sheepishly, and then found that her mouth wasn't stopping there. Moving by itself, with sounds coming out, as she screamed at herself to shut up. "I was kinda in the middle of it, this morning. When you called me. And then, well, because I had been thinking about you... I kinda just... Kept going. You asked me if I was crying when I was looking at my own cum... And god fuck, why can't I shut up?"

Jack stared at her silently.

Krystal grabbed the blanket off the edge of the couch and went under it. "Fuck, fuck. Can you pretend you didn't hear any of that?"

"I think you're chilled enough to tell me what this is all about." He suggested gently.

She took a deep breath, not coming out from under her blanket. "It... Has absolutely nothing to do with you, for once. I uh... For my nineteenth... Frank and I... Decided to go all the way."

"Is that your ex?"

"Aha." She blinked as she found tears rolling down her cheeks. Surprised that she was crying, if not by why. "Frank... Basically threw up when he saw me."

"What the fuck!?" Jack exploded, "You're gorgeous, Krys. I think you've demonstrated that tonight."

"No, I'm not!" She snapped, tossing aside the blanket and nearly hitting a lit candle. She sniffled, and stood up. "Maybe in the right light. Maybe if I'd just had candlelight. I'm nothing, Jack. Just an average girl."

"No way." He rejected reality.

Then she grasped the bottom of her dress in both hands, and took a deep breath, "Don't... Run."

"Krystal? What are you doing?"

She pulled it up, and he shut his eyes. She kicked one of her heels off and into his shin, "Look at me! I'm not trying to fuck you, Jack! Just look!"

He opened one eye cautiously, and then the other. He stared at her, swallowing nervously. "Not... You really are a virgin, right?"

"Yeah." She said angrily, "What does that have to -"

"So it isn't a Cesarean scar. What happened to you?" He asked, voice full of sympathy. No outrage. No horror. Just... Pain.

Krystal dropped the dress, and sat down onto the couch, taking off her other heel. She sniffled, wiping her cheeks, "My dad happened. After we happened."

"What?"

She bit her lip, "He... Hit me. When he told me he wished I'd never been born, and that I was just a piece of shit that had clawed its way out of mum's cheating vadge. He hit me."

"Fuck, Krys." He scooted closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I hate myself." Her throat choked, "I hate what I look like. I hate that I look like your dad. I hate that... Nobody can look at me and see me. Just my scars."

She was fully pulled into his embrace. So tight he was hurting her shoulders, but she didn't care. She cried into Jack's chest, as he held her.

As he saw her.

He hadn't seen her as a mess of mental or physical scars. He saw the person they were growing on. Saw her, and wished that he could protect her.

"Next time I see Frank, he's ending up upside down in a bin." Jack said quietly.

She scoffed, "No need. He's already putting his dick in Erica. Psycho backstabbing bitch. He's going to regret it."

"Erica? He went from you... To Erica? The man has no taste."

Krystal smiled sadly, "I really wasn't trying to fuck you. Or fuck with you. I just... I needed you to see it. Needed someone who wouldn't throw up."

"I wanted to kiss it better. As embarrassing as that sounds."

"Its a scar. They don't get kissed better." Krystal replied, and snuggled into his chest, "I... I wanna go to bed now. I'm exhausted, and I'm going to have a hangover. And... And I don't have nightmares."

"You're a terrible liar."

"So I don't want a teddy bear."

Jack picked her up in his arms, holding her gently as he walked her down to the bedroom. He tucked her under the blanket and kissed her forehead, stroking her cheek like he always did. "Just need to blow out the candles. I'm not going far."

She collapsed into the warmth, only vaguely awake when she felt an arm go around her later.

.......:.....

"Yeah, the stain is pretty bad, I'm sorry." Jack spoke into the phone as he held up the dress.

Maria sounded annoyed, "Did you have to blow your load on it, Jack? I loved that dress!"

"You and I have very different ideas of what happened last night." He replied, "The stain was from her drink. Chocolate. And I really am sorry, I tried vinegar."

"Yeah, yeah." Maria said tiredly, "You can keep it... Also, are you fucking stupid?"

"Come again?"

"She was down to screw your brains out last night! Maybe you are gay. Or at least blind."

Jack rolled his eyes, "She cried herself to sleep. It was absolutely not a date."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So... You find out her story?"

He took a sharp breath in, "Yeah. I'm not going to talk about it. Makes me want to hit a few people, including her ex-boyfriend, but luckily I live in another city."

"Oh. So... What's she up to, now? She's going to need you, Jack. This is when you get to fix it, if you can."

He shrugged, dropping the stained dress back onto the ironing board, "She's still in bed, asleep. I was going to make her waffles for breakfast."

"Go for the stomach. Keen move." Maria approved, "Well... As much as I do want to ferret the deets, you should be spending all your attention on her. I'll let the supervisor know you've got a family emergency."

He blinked, "Oh, crap. We were supposed to -"

"Family emergency." Maria repeated.

Jack smiled, "Thanks. You're the best."

"That's what Fiona tells me. Catch you later, Jack."

He put the phone in his pocket and went to take a quick look into the bedroom. Krystal was still lying in bed, snuggled tightly into a ball where he'd left her. Hair only half in the coils from last night, half sticking up like she'd touched a van de Graaf generator.

She looked fragile.

He had been wrong on so many levels. She hadn't come to his house to try and lose her virginity in the city. That might have been the excuse, but it wasn't the reason.

She'd come looking for someone who would love her. Unconditionally. Someone who would help her see that she was still beautiful. Someone who would take away the fact she'd been betrayed by every male figure in her life.

Her father had hit her bad enough that she'd needed surgery, and no one had told him. Jack had suffered, depressed, but it had to have been so much worse for her.

He remembered Krystal briefly reaching out to him in those early days, and him pushing her away.

He couldn't fix what he had done, then.

But he could change their future.

:.......::...:..: :.

"How are you up so early?" Krystal moaned, dragging herself over to sit on a stool at the counter, wrapped in the blanket. She glared through the light at him.

He laughed softly, "Hangover? Well, at least you're still cute. If looking like a furball."

"Meow." She shot back before reaching up to her hair to try and fix it.

He groaned, "Of all the things for you to remember. How did you not forget that one?"

"Don't you have uni, today?" She slumped onto the counter, "So I get peace and quiet and no friggin' loud voices?"

The toaster popped and he put a waffle onto a plate and scooted it in front of her, "Was going to wake you up with breakfast in bed. Eat up, you'll feel better."

"My head disagrees. Some jerk is playing a drum solo." She muttered, and bit into the dry waffle without bothering with any of the condiments he had got out.

Jack smiled at her sadly, "Not going into uni, today. So I get to annoy you all day. Lucky you."

"Lucky me." She said sarcastically, and then looked up, "Wait. Lucky me? Are you trying to be all overprotective? I'm fine. I'm not dipping my toes back into the dating pool, just yet. Thinking about going home."

"You could stay here for a few days. Nobody knows you, here. No one to say stupid shit." Jack said quietly, "Well, except me."

Krystal lay her head down on her arm, "That sounds... Nice. Sorry. About me and everything... Oh, and the weirdo's dress. She sounded pissed."

"She was. She got over it."

The woman broke off another piece of waffle and chewed it slowly, "Jack... You ever wonder what would have happened? If we just took off? Never found out about your dad?"

"All the time. Mostly with nightmares about babies, bloodtests, and me in handcuffs at the end." He replied.

She smiled sadly, "Eh. Probably right... No need to worry about that, now."

"Nope. Your my perfect little sister, now."

Krystal let out a sob, and he saw she was crying. Jack raced around the counter to hug her again, "Oh, shit. What did I say?"

.......:.....

She held onto his arms as they went around her, the blanket slipping from her. His head going to her shoulder, as she cried quietly. "I'm such a mess."

"Everyone is, in the mornings."

She turned her head and kissed his cheek, laughing as she left a snot trail between them. He grabbed the tissue box, wiped it off, and then he wiped her nose for her. "Blow."

She struggled not to laugh at the imagery.

Then she came crashing back down to earth. "The... Scar. Didn't tell you what it was for."

"Didn't ask, either."

Krystal took a deep breath, "I can... Lose my virginity, Jack. But I can't... Have kids. That's what... Made it hurt the worst. When Frank threw up."

Jack picked her up suddenly, as if she didn't weigh anything. She grabbed for his neck to keep her balance, as he hugged her, and took her back to the bedroom.

He sat her in his lap, hugging her on the edge of the bed, "I'm going to go get the blanket. Cocoon you. And you're going to have a day in bed, with me serving your every whim."