Life, Love and Everything in Between Ch. 02

For our 18th birthday, I had been wrecking my brains to think of something nice to gift Sam. I had asked her what she wanted. After a moment of contemplation, she softly said, "The fact that you are in my life, I have had the best present ever already."

That had made me so warm inside. "Come on hon. please give me some idea sweetheart." I had begged her again after I had hugged her in appreciation to what she had said. "Please." I looked in her eyes, nearly begging.

She looked at me with her deep warm eyes then said something that stayed with me forever. "Hon, whenever you feel you wish to gift me something special, let it be your own creation, one of its kind so it can become truly mine." She had said it calmly and gently. "That would always be special to me just as you are." She cupped my cheek and looked at me with warm eyes and a loving grin.

Therefore, I had presented her something truly unique on our 18th. It was a half-opened oyster shell with a pearl inside, resting on a proportional wooden pedestal. On the front face of the pedestal were the words inscribed on a small plaque "you are more precious that any pearl". When she saw it first, she was perplexed. "It is beautiful. I'm sure there is more to it than meets the eye." She had smiled while inspecting it.

I explained to her how I had found the shell on a holiday in the sea. I had cleaned it and painted it with resin, and stuck inside it a single natural pearl I bought from the mall. I had made the wooden stand in our garage and hand written the plaque on it.

On hearing all this, she looked at it again, placed it gently on her table next to her bed, and then opened her arms wide and just scooped me into a tight hug. She held me like that for what seemed hours.

"I adore you so much", she whispered in my ear still hugging me.

When she came out of the hug, I saw tears welled up in her warm eyes.

"Hey baby." I took her in my arms and kissed her cheek. "Didn't you like it?" I was trying to make her smile.

"Don't be silly." She punched me jokingly on my shoulder. "I love it. It is the most wonderful gift I've ever received," she said softly. "I'm just overwhelmed by the love you show me at times."

"You did say it had to be special." I smiled.

"I know. This is very special indeed," she said softly pushing herself into my arms.

I hugged her tenderly taking her in my arms and kissing her on her neck. She had melted in my arms as we hugged for a while. All the while, I could feel her hand stroking and running through the hair on the back of my head. She loved to play with my hair as I loved to play with hers. I kissed her gently on the cheek with a soft quick kiss just before we came out of the hug. Her soft curvy torso had melted into my arms.

"I have something for you too," she said excitedly.

She handed me a wrapped box with nice ribbon and a heart sticker. Talk about putting sensual touch on something as bland as a gift box. That was my little sister.

When I opened it, there was a 100ml eau de toilette bottle. There was the letter X inscribed on it with gold coloured resin like an insignia. I just looked at her. She used to call me 'X' quite many times. It was short for Alex. When she was little, she could not pronounce my name and used to call me that. It just stayed with her like that even after she grew up.

"Go on, try it." She was waiting with baited breath.

I sprayed it on my arm, rubbed it in and let it mature. As I took a sniff, I realised it was very classy and refreshing fragrance. I could smell some citrus fruits, a small hint of flowers and a very classy after-note. It matured into a very refreshing fragrance. Clearly, it was blend of many different fragrances. It was a pleasantly complex fragrance.

"Nice." I smiled as I looked at her, inspecting the bottle and the box. "I like it; very interesting fragrance."

"Oh good." She jumped with excitement. "I was not sure if you would like it. But by now I think I have sussed your taste."

"Go on. Tell me more about it." I was curious to know. It was apparent that this was not an off-the-shelf purchase.

She smiled coyly. "Remember the trip I went last month with my friends. Well it was not quite what I made it out to be. I had visited a perfume factory. They provide factory tours and after the tour, you can make a personalised custom fragrance of your own. They usually only do 30ml bottles but I paid extra to get me a 100ml."

"So you created this perfume?" I was curious, now that I had realised what the gift was.

She nodded. "They taught us the basics of fragrance and how the perfume is made. Then they gave us about 15 minutes to make up our own collation. From what I had researched and understood there, I came up with 3 different ones and then finalised this one."

"Why this one then?" I looked at her inquisitively.

"This reminds me of you." She said softly. "We were told that perfume has individuality and personality and this is just you. When I smelled it, it made me think of you." She was very sultry and sensual in her voice.

"Thanks." I smiled and hugged her. "May be YOU should use it then rather than me," I teased her.

"Then I would be loopy all the time and won't get anything done." She blushed. She nudged my arm in a tease.

After our birthday, I felt Sam and I had begun to come closer. I realised it later but she had started to let her hair grow just because I liked long hair. She started asking me to take her shopping, just so that she could ask my opinion on the clothes she chose. She would ask me to choose her perfume for her. I used to do the same - let her choose for me. I started letting her shop my clothes for me - just because she complained that I had no taste in fashion. I had figured it was her way of suggesting that I wear her choice of clothes. She never wore anything that I had not chosen.

"I need you to take me shopping," was her code for asking me indirectly to choose for her. When I realised that, I started selecting her clothes and she would try them for me.

She had a lovely figure, just a little shorter than me and although she was not athletic, she kept her figure in a good shape. She had curves all at the right places, and as she was not skinny, I loved cuddling her in bear hugs. I felt her soft torso melt in my arms every time. She had long thick straight light brown hair that she kept letting grow. She did not have a fringe, just because I did not like it. Instead, she parted her hair sometimes in the middle, and sometimes on the side, and let the bangs flow past her ears. Her sweet oval face looked good with a nice forehead. She never wore makeup just because I always encouraged and complimented her natural beauty. She even used the mascara sparingly. However, she always smelled lovely. One whiff of her fragrance as she strolled past me or hugged me would get me sighing.

Her fragrance is what I could never forget. "You chose it remember?" She used to remind me always. It was the second reason I kept finding excuses to get close to her always, apart from the fact that she was a very tactile person. She had magic in her fingertips and her touch was sensual yet electric - it used to raise goose bumps in me all the time. Yet she did it so casually and without any real intention. I could feel the love in her heart through her touch just as much as she would melt mine with her warm piercing gaze every time she looked at me.

She loved me to hold her tenderly at her waist. When we were home alone, she would love to feel my arms wrapped around her tummy holding her from behind. I would snake my arms around her tummy from the back and she would place her hands over mine. I would pull her in my hug, and she would press into my arms. I would nuzzle my face over her shoulder and press my cheek on her cheek. That made her feel very warm and loved inside. She would place her hands on mine and stay in the hug for a long while. At times, she would turn and press herself face to face and let me give her one of my bear hugs, squeezing her at her waist, while she wrapped her arms around my neck. She would always press herself deep in my hug, our torsos pressed against each other.

I could tell when she wanted to feel my hand around her as she used to get close and gently nudge me or wrap my arm around her back as she pushed herself into me. It used to be so natural and innocent that no one really took notice. She loved taking my arm when we walked together. She used to put her arm around mine and hold my hand at times.

No matter what favours she asked me, I could never say no to her. Whenever she asked me for a favour, all I could say is "and in return..." teasingly. Every time her 'compensation' is what I used to look forward for doing her favours. Just as she did me favours, I used to return in kind.

As she was very feminine and artistic, her hobbies and interests would not really interest a guy. Nonetheless, I used to either tag along or ferry her about for it when she needed me to give her company because never once did she turn down an opportunity to spend time with me, no matter what I was planning on doing.

Theatre, symphonies and movies were her thing. I loved movies too. So there we had something in common. The choices were where the favours would usually start. I liked action, thriller and murder mystery. She preferred romance, comedy and chic-flicks. We both loved sci-fi and drama. Nonetheless, we always had a lovely time after the movie discussing it over dinner. That was the part I loved the most. After watching a good thoughtful movie, even she used to get into the discussion. We used to spend long hours critically analysing some good ones we had seen over the years. As she was creative and artistic, she used to interpret things very differently which always made me smile at her lateral outlook in life. It also taught me the subtle wisdom that I had come to appreciate from her so much.

Our sense of humour was quiet compatible. Although she thought I would die of starvation if I ever decided to be a stand-up comedian, I did manage to make her roll in laughter at times. Once you started Sam giggling on something, it would take a while for her to stop giggling, and I would giggle just looking at her. Mom and Dad used to roll their eyes and just leave us be, "oh here they go again."

Sam jack-jumped in conversations a lot - where I was logical and would hold a conversation for some time, she used to go off on a tangent very quickly and then make a comment where I used be like "huh? Where did that come from?" and then we used to laugh. It used to be interesting to figure out how she had landed on that topic from what was in discussion at the time.

I did not drink alcohol in our family that much, just because I never enjoyed the taste for it. Sam used to enjoy white wine and sometimes rosé. Our parents had not encouraged drinking wine at home as a habit. Although they had some, Sam was allowed only a glass occasionally; she and I enjoyed good food. Mom was an excellent cook and homemaker. She took care of us with all the love in the world.

Although we were raised with reasonable amount of discipline, we had open-minded parents who encouraged us to think big and beyond. That was also the reason why they rarely frowned on the closeness me and Sam shared between us. In their minds, we were close because we were twins and fencing it with rules would had just aggravated the situation.

I remember one afternoon, Sam and mom had spent hours in the kitchen cooking something. Apparently, it was a surprise for me that Sam was learning to make. Sam had discussed with mom what she wanted to cook and mom had asked her to create a list of ingredients.

"X, could you get me some stuff from the store please?" Sam yelled out from bottom end of the stairs in the lounge.

"What do you need?" I popped my head on the landing.

"Here's the list," she smiled as usual. "I need it soon." Those eyes, that smile, those looks. I had died.

"How soon?" I was in the middle of a game.

"Now." She exclaimed. "Mom and I need it now so we can cook it."

"Talk about last minute preparation." I exclaimed and got changed and came downstairs.

"Ok. Where's the list?" I said.

As she handed me the list, she started elaborating me the amounts and varieties as substitutes if they did not have her sort of ingredients.

I just looked at mom totally confused. She just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"Why don't you just come with me?" I looked at Sam with one of our visual cues. "That would make it so much easier."

Sam looked at mom. "Can I?"

"Might as well. If he cocks up the list, it will take twice as long to fix it. Anyway, until you get these things, we can't make a head start." Mom looked at her nonchalantly.

"Ok. Give me one minute." Sam ran upstairs and got changed. When she came down, my eyes lit up. She had changed into a casual sleeveless shirt with a discreet yet seductive V-neckline, which hugged her waist and was tucked inside a slender, figure-hugging pair of jeans. She had done her hair in one of her unique styles. She put on boots and she looked gorgeous. She smelled heavenly and she had a smile that lit up like sunshine.

"Come on then." She took my arm and we headed out.

"Bye mom. See you soon." I flew her a kiss.

"Don't be late. I have dinner to sort too." Mom warned us.

"Don't worry." Sam shouted her confirmation as we stepped out.

Sam never gave up an opportunity to spend time with me, staying in or going out, and neither did I.

That night when we were enjoying our dinner, dad made a comment about the fine dessert. "What's the occasion?"

"Sam made it for Alex because he likes it." Mom said to dad with a sly smile.

Sam just looked at me coyly while eating the chocolate cake she had made that evening along with the piña colada cocktail. She had made a special 'virgin' batch for me, as I liked the non-alcoholic cocktails better.

"What about the icing? That's the best part," dad exclaimed while enjoying the cake.

"Alex doesn't like icing." Sam said.

"So? We do." Dad looked at mom then her.

"Next time." Sam agreed.

Dad just looked at me then Sam, then mom, then smiled, shook his head and finished his dessert.

"I thought it wouldn't taste nice. It doesn't look as good as it should." Sam said while gently stroking my thigh under the table. She always sat scooted up next to me. She was trying to be humble about her cooking.

"It tastes lovely." I looked up and looked at our parents and then her, trying to be encouraging. "It's meant to be eaten not looked at. And it tastes heavenly." I tried to be complimentary.

"Thanks hon." She was glad that I had loved it. "You are always an easy pleaser."

Dad cleared his throat.

"And both of you too." She giggled. We all just laughed.

My closeness with Sam was developing steadily and consistently. We used to spend quite some time playing our video games on our console in her room. The cabinet was just next to the door and in front of the bed, against the wall. At times, we used to sit in the bed. She used to recline on my chest and sometimes she used to sit between my legs. We had gotten a beanbag and a large soft cushion that we usually used, to make it comfy to sit on the wooden floor at other times. Then Sam suggested we could make things interesting.

She suggested that we play the game in single-player mode but each one of us would use only one side of game pad. She would sit in my lap on the cushion, between my crossed legs, with her back pressed on my chest. I would cuddle her slightly in my arms and one of us would use their left hand to use the left controls while the other used their right hand to use the right controls on the game pad. When we tried it the first time, all we did was giggle and fall about laughing, seeing just how confusing the whole thing had gotten.

Once mom came up to see what the whole racket was about. When we explained her what we were doing, she just shook her head, smiled and told us to keep it down.

This new way of playing games was rather sensual. It meant that we had to place our other hand somewhere as it was not being used. I usually hugged her around her tummy and she placed her hand on my thigh.

When that way got boring, we decided to turn it into a 2-player mode. Now, each one of us used alternate sides on the two pads. Therefore, within the two of us and two pairs of hands, no single person controlled one game pad fully. Sam would use the left controls on one and right on the other. I would use exactly the opposite. We used to laugh our asses off at times while playing games like these. We called them 'mixed singles' and 'mixed doubles' in our coded way.

This new way also meant that we had increased the closeness even when playing games on our consoles. It provided me with a warm glow inside and I loved to play like that. We used to share the beanbag and the cushion at times. She used to press herself back on to my chest and I used to cuddle her deep in my arms. Our cheeks would brush at times depending on how we sat and then I would plant kisses on her cheek. She used to have her hair in a loose bun or in a rubber band so it would not cover her cheeks. We loved pressing our cheeks together and she would caress her palm on my cheek sometimes. She used to run her fingertips over and under my thighs gently. It sent shivers through my body. When I quivered, she used to giggle with laughter.

"Stop it. You are doing this just to tease me." I used to nudge her without much intention for her to stop. She used to turn her head and plant soft kisses on my cheek occasionally, or raise her palm and gently place it on my cheek. That used to be a cue for me to know when she wanted me to turn my face and kiss her cheek.