Lockdown Christmas Miracle Ch. 02

Chapter 2

Thanksgiving ended up being much less horrible than any of them had imagined. They laid out mom's letter and took turns picking which items they'd cook, after picking a draft order by playing rock paper scissors. Eric ended up going last and so eventually got stuck with the turkey when everything else had gotten taken. The girls knew more about cooking than Eric did, but the instructions were pretty straightforward and Eric seemed far less grossed out by the need to remove the extra parts stored in the body cavity and rinsing off the bird than one of the girls might have been.

Their recipes had come with a chart showing when they should start making each dish, based on all of them being ready at the same time, so of course the turkey was the first item to get prepared. The girls helped Eric find the ingredients he needed and the proper cookware to use for roasting the turkey. Ellie had the Thanksgiving Day parade going on the living room TV and even though there were no crowds this year, they still watched it, and joked about how lame and cheesy most of the entries were, not to mention the hosts.

As they were getting around to the last few dishes on the chart, one of Cassie's recipes called for a dash of white wine in the sauce and there was note to look at the back of the vegetable drawer in the fridge. Sliding the drawer all the way out, and emptying the other contents, Cassie discovered an unopened bottle of chardonnay, buried at the bottom of the drawer, with a smiley face drawn on the label, just like their mom had put on their lunches and snacks growing up.

When they'd come home from school they'd sometimes find their mother had baked something, and the house rule was, if it had a smiley face post it on it, the kids were free to help themselves. It made sure that they didn't accidentally dig into something she'd prepared for one of her women's groups, a bake sale, or a pot luck. Even when she made something for one of those reasons, she almost always made a little extra and set it to one side, covered in cellophane and bearing the tell-tale smiley face sticker. You had to beat Ellie to the plate if you wanted to make sure you got some, as she was notorious for eating everyone else' if she got there first, but the smiley face had always been the sign for something special their mom had set aside, just for them.

Cassie turned to show it to Eric and Ellie with a look of mixture of surprise and sentimentality washing over her face. While none of them was legally able to drink yet, and their mother was normally the least likely person on the planet to encourage them to do something wrong, it seemed like she had bent the rules, and secretly surprised them, once again.

Ellie wasn't the least bit emotional about it and started digging through the kitchen drawers to find a corkscrew, but Cassie and Eric convinced her that they should at least hold off until the food was ready, so they could enjoy it with dinner, the way mom had likely intended. Ellie wasn't too happy with the decision, but she was outvoted and didn't seem ready to break the truce, especially when there was still something to look forward to.

The parade gave way to football games before the food was ready and with about a half hour to go, Ellie surprised them by suggesting that they all change into something a little more dressy to enjoy dinner, even if it was just the three of them. With a look of mild surprise Cassie agreed and they took turns going upstairs to change while the other two watched the food.

Eric went first to put on a button down shirt, along with a sport coat, a pair of khakis and some loafers. He didn't feel like wearing a tie and over the last few years he learned that he could get away without one, even going somewhere with his folks. He went downstairs and Cassie had a break in the timing of her dishes, so she dashed upstairs to change next.

When Cassie came back into the kitchen, both Ellie and Eric were floored at the transformation. Cassie had pulled her hair up and fastened it with a clip, applied makeup for what seemed like the first time since they'd been home together and was wearing a fitted, knee length, black cocktail dress, complete with heels and what looked like their mother's pearls. Cassie blushed at their reaction and explained that she'd been invited to the faculty Christmas party that year, in honor of being accepted into the grad program, and had bought the dress to try and look more grown up. After the initial shock wore off, Ellie squinted deviously for a moment, set her chin and whispered, "It's so on!" dramatically at Cassie, right before she dashed upstairs.

Cassie set the table while Eric looked after the resting turkey and read through carving instructions on his phone. He looked over toward Cassie as she came in and out of the kitchen and watched her as she pulled various dishes to take to the table. Eric couldn't help notice how her high heels made Cassie almost as tall as he was, along with the effect they had on shaping her legs and butt as she walked from the room each time. While he had never really been a "leg" man, he was surprised at how much the shape of her calves and butt affected him as she walked from the kitchen each time. The dress was cut to accentuate the curves of Cassie's long body and the deep plunge in the back revealed a large area of exposed smooth skin, as well as the toned lines of her lovely back. Her neck was so much longer than Eric had remembered, and the way her hair was pulled up accentuated how graceful and ladylike she appeared.

Cassie had put on a bright red lipstick, and with the more dramatic accent of her eye make-up. Eric struggled to think of who it was she reminded him of, until he realized that it was the actress who had played Catwoman, in that Batman movie where Bane had taken over the city. He couldn't remember the actresses' name, but his sister's full lips, accentuated by the shade of her lipstick, and the way her make-up highlighted her large brown eyes, in that dress, made her a dead ringer for how the actress had appeared in one of the party scenes from the movie.

At one point it dawned on Eric that Cassie couldn't be wearing a bra with that dress and a large lump formed in his throat. He made an effort to help carry things out to the table to help her, and did his best to conceal the fact that every time she bent forward, his eyes darted to the neckline of her dress to try to catch a glimpse of her cleavage as she did. A few times he had been treated to a peek at the swell of her pale breasts, as the fabric scooped down and she leaned over, and through the thumping of his own heartbeat echoing in his ears, Eric tried not to be too disappointed that he hadn't quite been able to see all the way down to her nipple each time. With as tall Cassie stood in heels, he decided that he'd have to be standing right next to her, or have her bend way over, before he would be able to get the right angle.

Eric found himself reluctant to pull away from helping her, when the timer sounded from the kitchen, and he had to go begin carving the turkey. Pulling up the instructions on his phone, Eric moved the turkey over to the center island in the kitchen, to give himself more room to maneuver, and began to take the turkey apart, step by step. He was carefully slicing the breast meat when Ellie came into the room with a flourish, and practically made him jump by exclaiming "Ta-daaaa!" in her characteristically overly loud voice. Eric looked up just as Cassie came in from the dining room, to ogle at Ellie, decked out in a shimmering green mini-dress that she had worn to prom a few years earlier. Eric remembered the arguments that Ellie had endured with their mom, to get permission to buy and wear it, and in that moment, he finally understood why.

The skirt rode well up Ellie's shapely thighs, and the form fitting dress must have had some sort of elastic property, because it looked like her curves had been poured into the fabric. Ellie had put on a pair of high heels of the type that his friends had always teased him that strippers wore, and her bust looked absolutely huge, as it threatened to spill out over the top of the strapless top. Like Cassie, Ellie had also applied make-up and pulled her hair up. But rather than simple pearls, Ellie had put on the oversized earrings, necklace and bracelets that she'd worn originally with the dress to prom. She had applied green eye makeup, that seemed to sparkle a little as she blinked, a shimmering hot pink lipstick and was doing her best to make a kissing pout and cock her hips as she posed for her siblings.

"Can you believe it still fits!?!" she squealed as she bounced and clapped for herself in delight. She made a quick spin, as gracefully as her dangerously high heels would allow, and exclaimed, "I never thought I'd get to wear this outfit again! I feel like mermaid princess!" She brought a single finger deliberately to her lips and squinted her eyes thoughtfully, "Do you think a tiara would be too much?" before breaking into a delighted giggle and asking, "Can we finally open the wine?"

"Okay, but I want to get a quick picture in front of the table for mom and dad before we do." Cassie insisted. "I don't know if dad knows about the wine and I don't want it in the picture". They had called their parents earlier to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving, but now that they were dressed up and had the table set, Cassie thought it would cheer their mom up to see them all enjoying the holiday. Ellie never needed an excuse to take "selfies" and as Eric had the longest arms, and had the newest phone, they had him hold the camera for the pictures, trying to capture all three of them with the table in the background. Eric tried a couple different angles high and low to get everything in and they finally chose one that looked the most appropriate to text to their parents.

"Can you text me all of those, Eric?" Ellie smiled over at him once the text was sent. "My boobs look awesome in the others and it would be a shame to waste them. I can post them later and tag you guys!" She winked, and ran in tiny high-heeled steps into the kitchen to finish opening the wine. Eric decided she looked less like a mermaid, and more like an 'R' rated Tinkerbell, as he watched her curvy butt and voluptuous thighs, as she bounced away from him in the sparkling green fabric that hugged every curve.

Dinner was surprisingly good, even if everything didn't taste exactly like mom made it. The wine certainly helped, and for a few hours, it was like they all forgot how messed up everything had gotten in their lives.

"Guys, is there any way we can just do this from now on?" Cassie asked as they sat around the table, still piled with food, after they had all eaten their fill.

"Like...make Thanksgiving dinner every day?" Eric joked.

"No, I mean, stop being the little kids we were growing up, and just be like, I dunno, roommates or something for as long as this lasts?" She stumbled to get the idea out.

"So nobody's in charge then?" Ellie asked as she drank some more wine.

"Right," Cassie nodded. "We split the chores, the cooking, the..."

"Allowance?" Ellie suggested.

"Even the allowance," Cassie sighed. "I'm just tired of fighting."

"But you have to chip in for food," Eric emphasized. "You can't spend your part on whatever you want and then just eat the stuff we buy with our part."

Ellie looked like she wanted to be offended, but broke into a guilty grin and relented, "Okay, deal." They all laughed.

"Well these leftovers will keep us for the rest of the weekend if we get them put away, and that will put us a little ahead on finances for this week, if we don't buy any more food." Cassie raised her glass in a little toast to the others. "I'll figure the split later tonight."

Ellie emptied the rest of the wine into her glass and frowned at the small dribble that collected as a result. She eyed the glasses of Eric and Cassie as if she was scheming how to get them to share the last of what they had. Finally she slumped her shoulders in resignation and mumbled, "Guess this party's over before it ever got started" and drained the last swallow of wine in her glass.

"What about that bottle in the box above the fridge," Eric asked.

"What bottle?" Ellie looked over at him in hopeful confusion.

Eric got up and went into the kitchen. He pulled over a chair from the breakfast table and climbed up, to open the cabinet doors above the fridge, as the girls came out into the kitchen. He moved aside a punch bowl and reached behind a cake pedestal to retrieve a tall box from the back corner of the cupboard. Stepping down he held up the dusty box like it was buried treasure.

They read the label and saw that it was an aged cognac that had to be at least ten years older than the age on the box, as it had already been up there for as long as Eric could remember. There was a small card taped to the top if the box and the note said, "Happy Holidays, Frank" inside.

"Must be something dad got at work one year," Cassie mused as she looked at how dusty the box was. Their father would have a glass of wine on the holidays at dinner, and a sip of champagne at New Year's, but they otherwise never saw him have a drink, especially of hard liquor. They had never really even had beer in the house growing up, and never realized until they were older, how different their father was in that regard, compared to their friend's parents. Their mother was the one who made sure they had wine on the holidays and there were a few times that she'd come home from one of her groups a little tipsy, when another of her friends drove, but as a rule, their parents almost never drank at home.

"I don't even know if he remembers that it's still there," Eric shrugged. If he does, I'm pretty sure he'll never drink it.

"What is 'cog-nack' anyways?," Ellie pronounced it phonetically.

"It's a kind of brandy, I think," Cassie suggested. "Something old people drink after dinner while they smoke pipes and cigars or something." She came alongside Eric to get a closer look at the proof printed on the box. "It's stronger than wine, but not quite as strong as whiskey or vodka." With all of the girl's attention on the label, Eric couldn't help take a sidelong peek down Cassie's dress to see if he could catch a better look down her dress. Although it was the best look he'd gotten, her nipples still remained frustratingly just out of view.

Eric could practically see as much of Ellie's tits as he had Cassie's, given how much her dress pushed them up, but as often as Ellie had needed to pull up on her dress throughout the evening, they never quite managed to pop out, much to Eric's disappointment. If he was ever going to get a peek, Eric figured the girls would need to get a lot more careless than they were at the moment, and a little more alcohol was only bound to help his chances. Without waiting for their approval, he opened the top of the box and broke the foil seal over the cork with a thumbnail.

"Wait Eric, do you really think we should?" Cassie protested.

"Yes!" Ellie reached over to grab Cassie's outstretched hand by the wrist. "We should! If mom or dad ever bother to ask, we'll all just pretend like we never saw it!" She nodded enthusiastically as Eric twisted at the cork by hand and the bottle opened.

"Too late now," Eric beamed. He walked over to the cupboard by the sink and pulled down three glasses onto the counter. He poured an inch or so into each one and turned to offer glasses to each of his sisters. He picked up his glass and raised it up. "What should we drink to?"

"To our new roommates!" Ellie squealed before clinking each of their glasses in turn and then throwing back her glass like a shot to drink most of the contents.

Eric and Cassie each took a smaller drink from theirs and Eric tried not to make a face at the strong alcohol taste. He hadn't had much opportunity to drink, other than an occasional beer in the woods with friends over the years, that had been snuck out of one of their dad's garage refrigerators.

Cassie handled her sip of it much more elegantly and gave a small shrug of approval after considering the taste. She took a slightly larger sip and savored it a bit on the way down.

Ellie had already finished hers and was pouring another dollop in her glass when Cassie suggested, "Can we clean up the leftovers before we have another? There's money involved if the food doesn't go bad and I don't want to get sloshed before it gets put away properly."

Ellie squinted and wrinkled her nose, but took another quick drink from her glass and said, "Okay but let's hurry! I don't want to waste my buzz!" She set her glass down and scooted out toward the dining room. Cassie and Eric laughed, drained their glasses and joined her.

Sitting in the living room a half hour later, Eric had taken off his sportcoat, and rolled up his sleeves, rinsing dishes and then settled into the large arm chair that his dad usually filled. The girls had both long since kicked off their shoes. They each had a fresh drink and Eric was feeling pretty numb from the wine and the previous drink of brandy, but didn't want to admit that this was as much as he'd ever had to drink in front of his sisters. Ellie was chattering away, wondering how cognac might taste mix with orange juice, sitting on the floor on the other side of the coffee table and Cassie was simply calm and smiling as she sat legs crossed on the sofa, sipping her drink.

"How are we ever going to top this for Christmas," Cassie pondered at last. "It's going to take a miracle." She looked up and smiled at each of them.

"Ooh, we should wish for Christmas miracles!" Ellie interjected. "Maybe they'll actually come true after how crappy this year's been!"

"If we don't have much money to spend on presents this year, miracles might be the only thing that saves Christmas," Eric laughed.

"Maybe we should try to make them happen for each other," Cassie said thoughtfully. "Like dad said. Let's make the best of what we have."

"Huh?" Ellie looked over quizzically at her sister and Eric casually wondered how much further Ellie's dress would have to slip down before one, or both, of her tits might pop out. He felt his dick pulsing a little at the sight of his well-endowed sister, leaning over the coffee table on her elbows, and at that point was too drunk to beat himself up, for wishing he could get one good look at her tits popping out of her dress, to jack off to, later that night.

"Well, I'm not sure how it would work, but what if we each wrote down three wishes and the other two tried to come up with a way to make one of them happen by Christmas?" Cassie paused. "I mean, we wouldn't be able to spend any real money on them, but we could use our imagination and see what we could come up with." She looked from Eric to Ellie in turn. "At least it would give us something to do for the next few weeks, and keep us from having nothing to do but fight in our spare time."

"But what kind of things should we wish for?" Eric asked. "What are the limits?"

"I have no idea." Cassie shrugged. "But why not ask for what we really want most and see what happens." She stood up and walked over to the cabinet where they kept all of their board games, pulled out the box for Scrabble, removed three pencils and tore off three score sheets. "Okay", she passed out supplies to the other two. "Write the first three things that come to mind that you'd want by Christmas and we'll pass to the left when we're done."

Eric leaned forward to reach the coffee table, shrugged and quickly wrote, "Go on a date with a college girl. Go to a college party. Go to a strip club." He looked at the list and thought about changing the one about the strip club for a moment, in case it made his sisters think that he was a total pervert, but shrugged and realized he was feeling too drunk to care. If it was supposed to be the three things he wanted most, then it was as truthful a list as he could come up with. He passed his list to Ellie and waited for Cassie to finish.