My Cookie-Baking Sister

I published this story on 3/26/18. The interesting part of writing this story was imagining what it'd be like to be a full-time author who was not a big name. You don't make a lot of money selling books, so I came up with all these different ways the father could make money as an author beyond selling books. Also, I love Disney World and really enjoyed using it as a major setting.

I took this and all my other stories down in January 2023. I've done some cleanup before republishing it.

There was a knock on my apartment door on a Wednesday night in mid-April. I looked through the peephole and was surprised to see my sister Kate carrying something. "Hey, Kate!" I said as I opened the door.

"Hey, Justin."

My parents lived in Farragut, Tennessee, which was a suburb of Knoxville and close to the University of Tennessee's main campus. I lived in an apartment just off campus with a fellow junior, Travis. As Kate lived so close to me, it wasn't unusual for her to drop by to visit. We enjoyed spending time together.

I said, "Pleasant surprise. What have you got?"

Kate held out a tray. She was, as usual, dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and shorts which was mostly covered by the sweatshirt. Her thick brown hair came down to her shoulder blades.

"Some cookies for Travis. Is he here?" There was a mixture of emotions on my sister's face; worry, anticipation, and embarrassment.

I sighed. "Travis is out on a date tonight." Kate's face fell. "Some girl named Angela. He's been flirting with her for a while now. He asked her out yesterday."

"But he..." Kate stopped.

"I know you two have flirted in the past, but Travis always said it was never serious."

"He said that! Oh God!" Kate's eyes suddenly glistened. "Here!" She shoved the platter of cookies at me before running to the door and leaving.

Fuck! I hated to see Kate hurt. Had she taken too seriously a friendly chit-chat she had had with Travis while she visited with me? I thought back to the last time she had visited, recalling what Kate and Travis had said. Being the protective older brother, I always paid discrete attention to their conversation. Nothing that should have made Kate think Travis was seriously interested in her.

I took the cookies into the kitchen; probably two dozen, freshly baked. I decided to hold off on eating them.

* * * *

When Travis got home, I went to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. I asked Travis, "How'd the date go?"

"Didn't get laid," Travis said mildly disappointed. I guessed that he'd gotten far enough along that he'd got out with her again. If he didn't get laid on that date, he'd drop her.

I took the cookies and a glass of milk to our dining table.

Travis asked, "What are those?"

"Cookies Kate baked." I ate one. "Chocolate chip. Really good."

Travis reached for one.

"Kate said the cookies were for me and me alone." Travis withdrew his hand. "She seemed upset when I told her you were out on a date." I looked at Travis' face for some sign that'd explain why Kate was upset about him being out on a date but saw nothing. Still, as Travis was always sweet-talking women, I suspected something had happened that I had missed. "Women. You never know what they'll say or do." I ate another cookie. "mmmm, mmmm, mmmm"

"I can have some, right? Kate will never know."

"No," I said firmly. "She's going ask if you had any. She can read me like a book and will know if I'm lying to her. I don't want to piss her off." Watching me eat them was a little punishment for hurting Kate even if it was unintentional. Now that Kate had some revenge, time to change topics. "So what did you and Angel do tonight?"

"Angela. We went out for dinner and a movie before finally going to her dorm room. Her roommate was there and Angela told her to give us thirty minutes."

I thought it sounded like a fun date, but no sex meant not Travis a bad date. I hated Travis' attitude towards women, but I didn't let it bother me; it was none of my business. I needed to get along with my roommate and, in general, Travis was easy to get along with. We had already agreed to be roommates next year.

Travis' face suddenly lit up. "While we were out, I saw a BMW i8 Roadster. It was fucking incredible."

Travis raved on and on about the beamer as I continued eating the cookies. Travis planned on buying a BMW as soon as he got his first paycheck after graduating. The cookies were good but not great, but I tried my best to act like they were the best cookies in the world. I kept Travis talking until I ate them all, then I cleaned up and went to bed.

* * * *

The next evening, I went into my bedroom and called Kate.

"He watched me eat every single cookie," I said. "His eyes followed them from the platter to my mouth." I chuckled at the memory. "I don't know what's going on between you two, but I didn't like that he had hurt your feelings."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Her voice was low and soft "I feel so stupid."

Kate was good-looking but also bookish, shy, and spent a lot of time reading romance novels. She was a lot like Belle from Disney's animated The Beauty and The Beast. The scene where Belle enthusiastically reads her romance novel to a sheep was quintessential Kate. Consequently, I worried that she wasn't up to the rigors of dating, that she'd fall for a line and not realize the guy wasn't interested in her as a person until he had taken advantage of her and broken her heart. I knew my parents worried about the same thing. Still, I was confused - I didn't think anything was going on between Kate and Travis, so her bringing cookies had taken me completely by surprise.

I said, "Don't. Don't beat yourself up over him."

"It's that...One time when I was over and you went to use the bathroom, Travis asked for my cell number."

My jaw fell.

"He's been calling me regularly."

Bastard!

"He called me Tuesday and we talked for a half-hour. And I thought..." Kate paused for a moment. "I thought he was very close to wanting me as his girlfriend."

"And you thought some homemade cookies would convince him?"

Kate said, "Yeah. He seemed so interested in me!" She paused and groaned. "He told me that he enjoyed talking to me, and I was easy to talk to. He was very impressed by my social media work for Dad. He made me feel special."

I was furious. Calm down! Being angry isn't going to solve anything! I took a deep breath. I had been raised to not get angry; that acting when angry just made things worse.

I said, "You are easy to talk to, your social media work for Dad is amazing and you are special, but Travis was saying those things because it was what he thought you wanted to hear." I was still pissed, but focusing on Kate was helping me control it. "Look, Travis is the type of guy who works super hard to convince girls to go out with him. He's great at figuring out what girls want to be told. But once he gets them in bed, he loses interest and stops trying. Consequently, he goes through girlfriends pretty fast. I've heard the same story from several ex-girlfriends."

"Really?" Kate sounded stunned. I imagined that as she was going to UT in the fall, she had been thinking she had been about to start a long-term relationship. "Why would he do that? Why wouldn't he work just as hard once she's his girlfriend as he did before they started dating?"

A metaphor popped into my head that'd have resonance with Kate. "He's like Gaston from Beauty and The Beast." When Kate was a little girl, she loved The Beauty and The Beast and had watched it at least three million times. I still knew every line of dialog and every lyric. "He's a master of the hunt and catching the girl is what's fun for him; the challenge of figuring out what to say to win the girl's heart enough to get her into bed. But once he's caught her, he's ready to move on to the next hunt."

Kate said, "That makes sense, and I wish that it didn't."

I was glad picturing Travis as Gaston had worked. Beauty and The Beast was such a touchstone for Kate and was still her favorite movie. To me, Kate physically resembled Belle. Whenever I had mentioned the resemblance to Kate, she'd retort she had blue eyes instead of Belle's hazel.

I said, "I would have warned you about this but I didn't think he'd make a move on my little sister."

Despite trying to keep my anger in check, I was still hot. In the past, I had considered whatever happened between Travis and the girl he was dating to be between the two of them. Even if I didn't approve of what Travis did, it wasn't my fight to fight. But his messing with Kate was something completely different. I thought about confronting Travis when he got home, maybe punching his lights out. But I still had to live with Travis for another month. We had three final projects to do together. If I was going to get back at him, I'd have to do it subtly so as to not damage our working relationship.

Kate said, "It's my fault for not telling you Travis and I were talking a lot. He said he felt you wouldn't approve of him talking to me because I'm so young, but he could tell I was mature for my age." She paused for a moment, and when she continued, her voice was lower. "Or at least, that's what he said."

"Asshole. He knew I'd warn you off if I had any idea he was hitting on you. Man, I'd love to do something to teach him a lesson." I thought for a moment. "I'll warn Angela about him." Then I had an inspiration. "Wait! No, not that. I'll casually mention to Callie - one of Travis' ex-girlfriends - that he's dating a new girl. Callie lives in this apartment complex and I see her regularly on the morning bus to UT. Callie will go ballistic. I'll casually let Callie know how to contact Angela and let her warn Angela off." That'd be some sweet revenge without an ugly confrontation. Back to Kate. "Don't be angry with yourself - consider it a good lesson. And thanks for the cookies."

Kate laughed. "Did you enjoy them?"

"I did. And I really enjoyed eating them in front of Travis."

* * * *

The next day Friday, I caught the bus in the morning with Callie. I purposely didn't take one bus so I'd be there when she showed up for the next one. We chatted for a bit and then I mentioned that Travis had had his first date with a new girl. Callie pumped me for everything I knew about her. When we said goodbye at UT, Callie told me she was going to track Angela down and give her a heads-up.

* * * *

The following Wednesday, Kate called me around four. "Is Travis going to be home this evening?"

"Should be. I have sad news to tell you; Angela dumped him. Seems that somebody told her about how he treated his prior girlfriends."

Kate chuckled. "Wonderful! I'm going to bring over some cookies this evening, probably around seven. Just for you, though. No sharing with Travis."

"Okay. That'd be great."

* * * *

At seven, Kate showed up with two dozen fresh-baked cookies, and the smell was intoxicating.

"Oatmeal raisin!" I said as I let her in. "My favorite."

Kate said, "I know things are crazy for you with term papers and getting ready for finals. I thought I'd bring by something to cheer you up. They're just for you."

"A break right now is exactly what I need. I was about to go cross-eyed."

"Hey, Travis!" Kate said as she walked over to him "How you doin'?"

Kate normally wore baggy tops, but tonight she was wearing a tight T-shirt that really showed off that she was well-endowed. As Kate was my sister, I never thought about her body and I don't think I fully realized how nice of a body she had until now. Broad shoulders, a small waist, curvy hips, and long legs filled out the package. I don't think Travis had any idea of how big she was on top until this moment and his eyes were glued to her chest the whole time she talked to him.

Travis finally pulled his eyes up to Kate's face. "I'm doing pretty good," he said a little awkwardly. But he regained his usual confident tone when he said, "It's nice to see you again. I guess I missed you the last time you came over."

Kate normally felt very uncomfortable when guys looked at her chest, which is why she always chose to wear baggy tops, but she didn't seem to mind at all that Travis was staring at her so openly. As Kate talked with Travis, she seemed to strike poses to flaunt her chest. Travis looked like his mouth was about to start watering.

Kate's behavior was pissing me off - I had warned her about Travis and now she was flirting with him like she had never flirted before? What the hell? I sent her a text, WTF with the flirting? She stopped flirting long enough to read my text and then text back, Explain later.

After fifteen minutes, Kate said she was going to leave. I stood next to her as she said goodbye to Travis. When he gave us both a look over, I thought about how Kate and I looked a lot alike. Both of us had attractive faces, brown hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders. We were both on the tall side - she was 5'7" and I was 6'2". The biggest difference was our hair - Kate's was a darker brown, was fuller and she preferred her hair at least shoulder-length while I kept mine short. Our faces were different enough that people didn't think we were brother and sister when they first met us.

Kate and I kissed each other on the cheek as we always did, and then she was gone. I went back to studying and her cookies. Oatmeal raisin really was my favorite cookie and Kate had done a great job making them. I didn't have to force my sounds of pleasure as ate them. Travis occasionally watched me eat a few but, for the most part, stayed away. I thought about Kate making the cookies and then flaunting her body to Travis while flirting with him. I decided Kate had wanted to deliver the message Travis, you could have had all this but you were stupid. I had to admit it was a very compelling message.

* * * *

The next Wednesday, Kate called to say she was in the mood to bake cookies again. I said, "Travis is going to see a movie on campus. He'll be home probably between 7:30 and 8."

A little past seven, there was a knock on the apartment door. It was Kate, bearing cookies. "You're here early," I said. "Travis isn't home yet."

"I know. I was hoping he wouldn't be here yet. Here are the cookies." Kate was acting a little odd.

I took a deep sniff. "The cookies smell delicious. Do they have cinnamon?"

Kate gave me an embarrassed smile. "And other spices. Try one."

I did. "Mmmmm. Wonderful. Even better than last week, and I thought last week's cookies were great. So what was the deal with flirting with Travis?"

"He called me every day after his date with Angela. Same sweet talk. He was keeping me on the string in case things didn't work out with Angela. And then after I guess Angela dumped him, he said he wanted to see me. So I let him see a lot more of me than usual. But now that I know he's just interested in the hunt, I'm going to be the one insincerely playing him along." Kate smiled. "It was fun watching him look longingly at my body while knowing I'll never let him touch me."

"Okay." I felt better knowing that Kate had taken my warnings to heart, though I wasn't wild about her insincerely flirting with Travis. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't. I'll never see Travis when you're not around."

Good. I decided enough talk of Travis and changed the subject by saying, "So what have you been reading?"

I enjoyed talking books with Kate. I didn't read nearly as much as she did, which I slightly regretted. I did like reading romance novels occasionally and whenever Kate recommended one to me, I'd read it. I'd never let any of my friends see me reading it, but that was another issue. Kate would always get excited when she talked about what she was reading, and I enjoyed her enthusiasm.

We talked for a while. Kate was acting awkward, blushing easily. When it came time for her to leave, Kate stood closer to me than usual. As I opened the door, Kate suddenly planted a kiss on my lips instead of giving me the usual kiss on my cheek. Before I could react, she was out the door.

* * * *

A couple of days later, Callie plopped down next to me on the bus to school. She was all smiles. "I talked to that girl Angela. Man, did I give her a good warning. She didn't believe me at first. I ended up having to call two other girls Travis had dated. When all three of us told her the exact same story, she finally wised up." Callie let out a huge laugh. "A couple of days later, I took the bus with Travis. I told him everything - how I hunted down Angela after you told me about her.!" She slapped her knee. "I've wanted to do something like that ever since I broke up with him."

Well...shit. Now Travis knew I was the one ultimately responsible for Angela dumping him.

* * * *

The next Wednesday was another cookie delivery, this time chewy bars with raisins and date pieces. Very yummy. Travis was home this time and Kate talked to him for quite a while.

As they were talking, Travis said to me, "I saw Brooklynne on the bus tonight. She asked about you. I got the impression she wouldn't mind going out with you again."

"No way!" I said. "I'm done with Brooklynne. I'm permanently off that roller coaster."

Travis said, "You two dated for a long time. What? Two years?"

I thought back. "Yeah. From our first date to when I finally, finally ended it, it was almost two years. But there was a lot of time during that where we were broken up."

"But you always got back together," said Travis with a smile. "She seems like she really wants to try to make it work."

"It would be wonderful if we did...for like two weeks. Then it would start getting crazy. I'm not going through that again."

"Crazy?" asked Kate.

"Brooklynne was the best girlfriend I ever had and the worst girlfriend I ever had." I shook my head. "When things were good, they were very, very good. And when they were bad, they were awful."

Brooklynne was a stone-cold fox; luxurious, dark-brown hair, deep dark-brown eyes that sucked you in, a perfect smile (best orthodontist her parents could find), a lithe dancer's body (she had danced from little-little through high school), and ample tits for a dancer. She looked great in whatever she wore and spent enough on clothes and jewelry to feed a small third-world nation. When I sent Mom a picture of Brooklynne for the first time, Mom refused to believe she was my girlfriend. Spoiled rotten, vain, and incredibly moody, she had gone through boyfriends at a fierce rate until she started dating me. But she was also funny, witty, and intelligent. She had been a blast to be with as long as I could keep her in a good mood.

Kate gave me a confused look. "If it was so awful, why didn't you stay broken up?"

"Because a few days after we'd have a big fight, she'd say she was sorry and wanted to make up. She'd be so sweet and affectionate. And...she was irresistible. I'd give in and start the cycle again."

Travis said, "She was insatiable when you two made up. The two of you would disappear into your bedroom and not come out for hours."

I blushed at the memory. Not going to discuss that in front of Kate. "I enjoyed making up with her. And then it would be great for two weeks. Then, little things would upset her. Then little things got her angry. Then little things drove her crazy. Then some little thing would lead to a massive fight. I hated those fights. We'd break up, but a few days later she'd be sorry and want to make up again."

"Seriously?" said Kate. "Was it always like that?"

"Pretty much," I said. I didn't say that she was a total bitch the day before her period started. Every twenty-eight days, she was hell to be with. "I learned things to do to calm her down, to push back the day when we'd eventually have a big fight but I could never stop it. And each big fight got more exhausting for me. Finally, a month ago, I refused her attempts to make up. I'm still recovering from her."