Comforting My Little Sister

"You do?"

Michelle seemed flustered like she didn't know what to do with the compliment. Or maybe she was wondering if I was lying to her to make her feel better.

"You are pretty," I continued. "If you weren't pretty, then Jared wouldn't have dated you. He's a good-looking guy and probably had his pick of girls. He picked you. If you were really plain and had a scrawny body, he wouldn't be trying so hard to get you back."

Michelle was quiet for a while and then said, "You really think I'm pretty even though I've got no tits?"

"Being small on top has its advantages. You can go braless all the time. I think braless girls are sexy as hell. Particularly when their nipples stick out."

"You do?" Michelle laughed. "Christopher, you like seeing girls' nipples?" She had said "Christopher" in a 'you-naughty-boy' tone.

"Yeah. But there's more to it than that. It's hot knowing I can see the whole girl's tit outlined against their shirt"

Michelle was quiet for a while as I stroked her back. Finally, she said, "Abusers try to destroy your self-esteem. Make you feel like nobody else will want you. Jared did that a lot. It's so obvious now, but it wasn't at the time. At first, he flattered me all the time. And then he started criticizing me. Then he criticized me more, telling me I was stupid and incompetent. It didn't help that Mom and Dad told me I was stupid too."

"They thought it wasn't a good idea for you to date Jared."

"They still told me I was stupid, particularly Dad. Dad treats me a lot the way Jared treated me. I went out with Jared because he made me feel special instead of stupid like Dad did."

"You aren't stupid. I think you're handling a challenging time very well. You enjoyed your relationship with Jared when it was good and you were smart enough to get out when it turned toxic."

"It turned toxic long ago. It took Jared slapping me to make me realize how toxic it was."

"But the important thing is that you realized how toxic it was and got out. You're not letting Jared suck you back in. You're getting a car so you'll be more independent. You're doing well at school. You're doing well at work. You'll be going to the same community college as I am come the fall. You're doing okay."

"Thanks."

Michelle got under the covers. I again stoked her hair until she fell asleep.

In ways, it was weird of Michelle to want to sleep with me. People who aren't a couple don't sleep together. It had felt strange this morning waking up with her. But I knew Michelle was really hurting. If sleeping in my bed made her feel better, then why not? It didn't bother me. The bed was big enough for both of us to sleep in it comfortably.

* * * *

The next morning was Saturday and I spent the morning looking at ads for a car. I got an idea of what the price curve was for the kind of car I was looking for and then analyzed my finances. I decided the best car I could afford was going to be about eight years old. After that, I called around to arrange to go see a few cars.

When I was about to head out, Michelle asked, "Can I come with you?"

"Sure."

I went to the first seller's home and checked out his car. As I was introducing the owner to Michelle, I realized Michelle was braless. I could see her nipples clearly through her thin shirt. I hadn't looked at her head-on that morning until now. But once I did, she was clearly braless.

When Michelle saw me realize she was braless, she smiled at me.

I knew enough about cars to know that I didn't know enough to assess if the car was in good shape mechanically. The family mechanic would do that part. I looked at the exterior and the interior to assess how good of a shape the car was in overall. I checked out the stereo. The car looked nice, a definite upgrade over what I had. I could see myself driving it.

On the way to the next car, I asked Michelle, "You decided to go braless today?"

She laughed. "I was curious if people could tell. You could tell. That owner could tell."

"He checked you out?"

"Quite a bit. I made sure he got a good look at my ass and he seemed to like it."

"There you go. I wasn't lying to you last night."

* * * *

I looked at three more cars before going to work. Work was pretty typical. A customer came in wanting to return an item without a receipt. The cashier was polite but refused to do so. When the customer demanded to see the manager, I got involved. I backed up the cashier and told the customer no refund with a receipt. "What about store credit?" "No." The customer loudly cussed me out and then stormed out of the store. The funny thing about it was that the item had been a brand we didn't carry. When I told the customer that, it didn't faze him at all. He had continued ranting and raving about how we should refund him his money.

After work, I went to the restaurant where Gina worked and ordered an appetizer. We talked whenever she had a few minutes. She worked Thursday through Monday, so we didn't have a night off together. My eating at her restaurant after work on Saturday was the closest thing we had to a night out.

It was 11:30 when I got home. Michelle was normally asleep when I got home on Saturdays. I was curious to see if she would be asleep in her bed or mine. When I came into my bedroom, I didn't turn on the light. There was enough light for me to see the lump in my bed. I got a pair of running shorts - my usual nighttime wear - and left my room. I went through Michelle's bedroom to our mutual bathroom and got ready for bed. I slipped into my bedroom and got into bed.

As I was organizing my pillows, Michelle said, "How was work?"

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay. I wanted to talk."

I stroked Michelle's back as I told her about the irate customer and then going to see Gina. "How was your day?"

"Okay. I decided to check Facebook for the first time in a while. I was curious to see how Jared's friends were reacting to our breaking up. They were all supportive of Jared, telling him it was great that he had finally dumped the stupid bitch. Jared had posted a lot of nude pictures of me with the naughty parts blacked out and his friends had a lot of fun mocking my body, particularly my tiny tits."

"You have small tits, not tiny. Don't use loaded language."

"Whatever."

"Jared has lots of nude pictures of you?"

"Some. Too many. I don't want to discuss them. He has a lot of normal pictures of me. He liked to take pictures of me and I liked having my picture taken."

"Okay."

"There was one picture of my chest when I was wearing a t-shirt with the caption, 'Is this the chest of a boy or a girl?' I replied that I least I had a nice ass. Jared replied that I had a bony ass. Then he posted a picture of my ass labeled 'bony ass'."

"You have a great ass."

Michelle sighed. "After reading for a while, I got tired of the bullshit and defriended everyone on Facebook. Jared had made me defriend everyone he didn't approve of. I even defriended everyone in my family. Thank God for that now or they would have seen a lot of pictures I wouldn't want them to see."

What a fucking asshole. Why couldn't Jared just move on? Why did he have to make life miserable for Michelle? It drove me nuts. It made me furious. I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what. I swore I'd get revenge on Jared somehow.

I said, "I'm so sorry."

Michelle said in a resigned tone, "Lesson learned. I had considered most of those people my friends. Now, I know better. I sent friend requests to a few people from work and a few people from school. Time to start rebuilding my life without Jared."

I bent over and hugged Michelle the best I could. Then I sat back up, leaned against the pillow triangle, and resumed stroking her back.

Michelle asked, "Are you sure I have a great ass?"

The way she said it, she needed more than me just saying once again that she had a great ass. I had an idea. I leaned forward until my right hand could reach her ass. "Let me see," I said as I put my hand on her far ass cheek. My hand was on top of her nightshirt, which was on top of her panties. "Feels nice to me," I said lightly. I ran my hand down a little way. "I feel no bones." Michelle giggled. I ran my hand back up and then over to her other ass cheek. "Nice and firm." Michelle giggled some more. "Very small. Nice shape." I straightened up and leaned back into my pillow triangle. "Feels like a great ass to me."

Michelle giggled again. "Who has the better ass, me or Gina?"

"I like Gina's body better because I get to enjoy hers."

"You like her body better because she has bigger tits than me."

"Tits aren't everything." I shook my head. "If I had a magic wand and could give Gina your body, I would."

"You would?" Michelle seemed genuinely touched by my statement. "Thanks."

"I'm just telling the truth."

Michelle got under the covers. The crisis of the evening had passed. I started running my fingers through her hair. Soon, we were both asleep.

* * * *

The next morning when Michelle and I woke up, I said, "I hope you weren't offended by my touching your ass last night."

Michelle laughed lightly. "No. It was fine. You were being silly and it was what I wanted to hear. Don't think anything of it."

I spent Sunday morning doing yard work and other chores. Michelle helped me out. She went braless while working with me. I spent the afternoon looking at more cars. I narrowed my choices down to two and arranged for the owners to take them to our family mechanic on Monday.

Monday morning, I went to school. I told my manager that I might be in late. While I was fucking Gina, the mechanic called and left a message about which car he thought was best. I went over to the owner's house and paid him for the car. I picked up Michelle at school and took her to the DMV to transfer the title of my new car into my name and to transfer my old car into her name. From the DMV, we went to our insurance agent where we squared away the car insurance. Finally, Michelle drove me over to pick up my new car and off I went to work.

* * * *

Tuesday night when I got home, I could tell that Michelle was upset. I talked to Mom and Dad about my day and went up to my room. Michelle came into my room right away and sat down on the bed.

"Jared came to my work today. He waited in my line. When he gave his order, he kept changing things. When I gave him his order, he said very loudly that I had screwed it up and demanded a refund. My manager gave him a refund. I was so embarrassed. I felt terrible the rest of the shift. My manager must think I'm an idiot. I wouldn't be surprised if she fired me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. First off, asshole customers that you can't satisfy come in stores all the time. Having a tough time with one of them isn't going to affect your manager's opinion of you. The only reason she probably gave him the refund was to shut him up and to get him out of the store. I've done it many times before."

"Okay."

"Now what was a problem was that you let Jared get you down for the rest of your shift. That will hurt your manager's opinion of you."

"He upsets me. I can't calm down right away."

"You need to talk to your manager. She's seen Jared around being an asshole to you. Tell her Jared is an abusive ex-boyfriend and come up with a plan so you don't have to deal with him."

Michelle was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Okay."

"You're on time to work, you show up every day, you're there to work and not have fun with your co-workers. Not a lot of people your age are like that. Not a lot of people my age are like that. I've seen enough of them to know. Your manager values you. Don't worry about it."

After that, we talked for a while - how school went for each of us, how work was; the usual stuff. When Michelle went to her room to change into her nightshirt, I changed into my running shorts. She came back into my room and lay down on the bed. We talked for a little more as I gave her backstrokes. She got under the covers and I ran my fingers through her hair until she was asleep.

* * * *

Thursday night when I got home, I could tell Michelle was happy about something. She gave me a big smile when I came in and went up to her room. I talked to Mom and Dad the minimum I could and went upstairs.

"What's up?" I asked as I entered Michelle's room.

"Well, I did talk to my manager on Wednesday like you suggested and we did come up with a plan. Tonight, Jared came in. I told my manager when I saw him. He waited in my line even though the other line was shorter. When I was taking the order for the customer before him, my manager opened a register and said to Jared, 'Sir, I'll take your order.' Jared said, 'I'll wait for her." I took my time filling my customer's order. My manager said to Jared, 'I'll take your order now." Jared said nastily, 'I'll wait for her." My manager said, 'Sir, if you don't want to place an order, I suggest you leave.' Jared said, "If that scrawny ass bitch doesn't want to take my order, I'll go somewhere else.' and left."

"Sweet!" I gave Michelle a high five.

"My manager said after he left, 'Good riddance. We don't need people looking to make trouble coming in here.'"

We talked for a while and then I went to my room to change into running shorts. I met Michelle in the bathroom and she came into my room when we were done there. I stroked her back as we talked a bit more. As we were winding down, she asked, "Do I still have a great ass?" while rolling back and forth.

I laughed. "Yes."

"I think you better check."

I laughed again. "Okay. If you want."

I ran my hand over her ass for a few seconds while Michelle wiggled back and forth.

"Still a great ass."

"Thanks."

Michelle got under the covers and I was soon running my fingers through her hair.

* * * *

That was how things went for the next month. Every night, Michelle would come into my bedroom as I was going to bed. She'd lie down on the covers and we would talk for a while as I stroked her back. When we were talked out, she'd wiggle her body and I'd do a Great Ass check. She'd get under the covers and I'd run my fingers through her hair until she fell asleep. Finally, I'd knock my triangle down and go to sleep facing her. During the day if I did stuff around the house or I was doing something without Gina, Michelle would do it with me. She always went braless when it was only her and me, but wore a bra otherwise.

Michelle and I were a lot closer now. She was a lot of fun to be with. I had gotten used to her sleeping with me and now liked it. I did worry about Mom and Dad catching us. Even though it was harmless, it would be hard to explain. As for Michelle not wearing a bra around me, it was something I had also learned to accept. It was publicly acceptable for girls with tits as small as Michelle's to not wear a bra in public. Hell, I saw girls with tits much bigger than hers braless at school every day. I had been the one who had convinced her she was sexy when she needed to be convinced she was sexy. The Great Ass checks and her going braless were harmless things we did to rebuild her self-esteem. It was easy to not take those things seriously as I had Gina.

Then Gina dumped me. On Thursday, I went over to her place after classes like I always did. When I knocked on the door, Gina opened the door a few inches instead of letting me in. She said, "I'm breaking up with you."

"What?"

"I'm breaking up with you." A chill ran down my spine. "Sunday, my roommate and I went to a party and I saw an old boyfriend there. I had a good time talking with him. Last night, we went out and I had a great time. I'm going to be going out with him from now on." The door closed and I heard her lock it.

That was it. I was dumped.

I wandered back to my car in shock. I hadn't seen that coming at all. It hadn't been great between Gina and me and I had never thought for a moment that we'd get married or anything. I was planning on breaking up with her at the end of the summer when I went off to college. But I had thought we would stay together until then.

I drove back home. When Michelle came home from school, I told her the news. She was very sympathetic. She hugged me. I talked about Gina for a while. The worst thing about it was the timing. My life for the last nine months had been school, Gina, and work. Most of my other friendships had fallen by the wayside. I was going to be taking a class each summer session, but I'd still have more free time than I did now. I had planned to spend that free time with Gina, but not anymore.

I changed the subject. "You haven't mentioned Jared in a while. Has he stopped harassing you?"

Michelle shrugged. "Somewhat. He's stopped calling and texting me. I've got him and his friends blocked off on Facebook. I can't really stop him from harassing me on Twitter. I have his main account blocked, but he can create a new one and tweet at me with it. And I don't want to change my email so he can send me emails. I have them go directly into a special folder I only look at occasionally."

"So he hasn't moved on."

"He has somewhat. He has a new girlfriend. He loves to tell me about her. She has big tits. He's tweeted pictures of her chest and said something like 'I'm so glad to be dating a real woman now.' He'll send out tweets like 'Glad to have a girlfriend who's not terrible in bed' and 'Glad to have a girlfriend who's not frigid'."

I said, "Don't take it seriously. It's the way abusers are." I had done quite a bit of reading about abusive relationships by this time. I wished all abusers would rot in Hell. "He's lying to hurt you and to make himself feel better. No one's going to take him seriously. No one's going to believe you're terrible in bed or frigid. If you were really as awful as Jared claims, he would have dumped you before you dumped him."

"I know. He's annoying now, but at least he's not saying threatening things anymore. And thank god he never attacked me. I was scared when I first broke up with him. I had read some articles about abusers who killed the woman who tried to end the relationship. That's why I started sleeping with you - I was scared to sleep in my bed in case Jared somehow snuck into the house."

I asked lightly, "So you can go back to sleeping in your bed?"

Michelle smiled. "I'm used to sleeping with you now. It really comforts me. I wouldn't sleep as well in my bed."

I smiled back at her. "I'm used to you sleeping with me now as well."

We talked about other things for a while, and then Michelle said, "Do you want to know one thing about Jared that still scares me?"

"What?"

"From what I've read, women who have been in an abusive relationship are very likely to have another abusive relationship. A couple of guys have expressed interest in me, but I'm terrified of getting into another abusive relationship. They don't seem like Jared, but I didn't think Jared would be like Jared. I don't trust my judgment when it comes to guys."

"What are you going to do? You can't not date guys for the rest of your life."

"I don't know. Go slow. Now that you and Gina are no more, I'll hang with you for the summer if you don't mind."

I shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Then I'll worry about it once you go off to college."

* * * *

After talking to Michelle, I drove to work. I was glum the whole shift. When something interesting happened at work, I'd think "I'll have to tell Gina...Oh yeah." When I got home, I told Mom and Dad that Gina had dumped me. They said the usual platitudes. I went up to my room and played games on my computer until it was bedtime.

When Michelle joined me in bed, I didn't feel like talking so we were quiet as I stroked her back. She finally gave me her wiggle, I did a Great Ass check and she got under the covers. I ran my fingers through her hair as usual. Once she fell asleep, I knocked down my triangle, put a pillow under my head, and held one in my arms as usual. As I lay there going to sleep, sadness swept over me. I wouldn't be going to Gina's tomorrow. Or any other day. Her dumping me created a huge void in my life. I felt stupid holding a pillow instead of Gina.