On Me Ch. 01

"Right," Britney said calmly, surprised at the magnitude of that little outburst. "Well, maybe I don't. Or maybe... you don't know yourself as well as you think. Maybe you just need to look deeper within yourself. Either way, that's the only place you're going to find answers."

***

Skylar roused the next day in the late hours of the morning. Waking up before noon was highly unusual on her off-days. Her sleep had been fitful, and she felt slightly lethargic and in need of caffeine. Minutes later, in her room, she sipped her coffee and went over her social media notifications when something caught her eye.

She walked up to her large window and sighted her brother doing his daily workout. Last night started creeping back into her thoughts. She recalled how utterly defenseless she'd been when Britney dug into her complicated relationship with Lucas.

She was too distraught then to confront the accusations however baseless they had first seemed. But now, despite feeling an ominous knot unraveling deep in her stomach, she was going to look deep to find answers.

And so she sat by her window and observed Lucas as he pulled his tall frame up and over the bar in what she remembered her guy friends referring to as muscle-ups. The morning sunlight seemed to dance around his hair, playing hide and seek with the fading blond highlights, and the metal shaft piercing his left brow glimmered every so often.

He was rather handsome, she confessed, as she stared rivetingly at his bulging biceps. They weren't especially large left to their own devices, but under duress, they ballooned nicely. She set her eyes on his face, her mind adrift.

Skylar didn't know how long she stared at his face. It might have been seconds; it might have been hours. But when he reached for his cane and limped away, a small groggy smile snuck up on her, one filled with warmth, and light, and...

And then she felt it.

She felt it.

IT.

The revelation crashed into her so explosively that Skyler felt as if her spirit was punched out of her body only to be immediately whiplashed back into the earthly vessel.

"Oh my god..." she muttered as tears built in her widening eyes and her head began to spin.

Her knees turned wobbly, her skin flushed hot, and her heart tried to pounce out of her throat. A dizzying wave of nausea struck her, and before she knew it, she scurried to the bathroom, crouched in front of the toilet, and the contents of her stomach surged up her throat and shot out of her mouth.

Two volleys later, she collapsed to the floor with an outstretched arm across her uneasy stomach. Her mouth tasted strongly of bile, and her face beaded with tears. She couldn't seem to find the strength to move for the longest time as her addled brain raced to catch up to her heart.

***

Saturday

Skylar entered her home and laid her keys on the kitchen island. Her date would be picking her up in a couple of hours, and she needed to get ready. She climbed the stairs leading to the second floor, and her heart started drumming as she set her eyes on Lucas' door.

She stopped outside his door, anxious. Was he there? Should she knock? She felt paralyzed with fear. After a moment of deliberation, she made haste to her room and locked herself in. She dropped her bag on the bed and pulled her hair back with a sad sigh. What was she going to do?

She opened her closet and picked her outfit for tonight. She then took a shower and spent the following hour on hair and makeup. She stood in front of the full-sized mirror and made sure nothing was out of place before she grabbed her purse and exited her room. She hadn't even taken one step forward when she heard the front door open and the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Oh my god..." she breathed, her heart now genuinely racing.

The footstep grew louder until, finally, her brother came into sight.

Lucas froze at the top of the staircase as soon as their eyes met. He hadn't expected to find his sister standing outside her room, looking all tense. He hadn't expected to bump into her at all, considering that she'd been away for the last three days—sleeping over at a friend's, according to his mother.

He and Skylar wouldn't usually talk on the phone, or even text each other all that much, but small updates were something he'd come to expect from her.

But apparently, she wasn't doing that anymore.

His grip over his cane tightened, and his heartbeat picked up as he held her gaze. The moment stretched on and on as their eyes locked and the tension built. It seemed like a lifetime before he finally broke the silence.

"Y-you look beautiful."

The way he said it, his voice whispery low and almost as hoarse as hers, touched deep within her soul and nearly brought tears to her eyes.

"Thank you."

He swept his eyes over her dress. She was showing a lot of legs, an obscene amount of legs even. Zero cleavage though. He recalled her cleavage rule. If she wasn't going to show some cleavage on a date, then when?

He gulped, realizing he'd been staring at her for far too long. He made towards his room. He had nothing else to say to her.

"Lucas."

He turned around.

"The other day, when you said you had something important to talk about... it wasn't about Apex, was it?"

He carefully considered his answer. "No."

"Then what was it?"

Damn her and her husky voice.

"It doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

He studied her face. There was something different about her, about the way she was looking at him now. Her eyes, those big brown puppy eyes, were brimming with... not quite sadness, not quite agitation, either. Then was it... longing?

Skylar's phone then gave a beep, and they could hear a deep exhaust note as a car pulled over next to the house.

"You should probably get going. You don't want to keep him waiting."

"Lucas!"

He turned to face her again, but she wasn't saying anything else. Standing in her short little dress, she just bored into him, her eyes, now so emotional, utterly wrecking him.

He opened his door. "Knock him dead."

***

Skylar strutted out the front door, and her date was waiting for her inside his Camaro. She opened the passenger door and stepped in, thinking it would've been nice if he were to do that, holding the door open for her like a gentleman. She wasn't going to hold that against him though.

What did bother her was the fact that the butterflies he used to give her whenever he came to the restaurant were conspicuous by their absence. She felt no excitement going out with him, and knowing why that was filled her with a deep sense of melancholy.

He put on his handsome smile when he complimented her looks, and she thanked him before they drove off. He'd made reservations at a quiet little place downtown, and when they were shown to their table, he pulled the chair for her, and it made her feel special.

He seemed to take interest in her, asking her all sorts of questions, and Skylar liked that. It showed her that he really wanted to get to know her. Even so, she couldn't help wishing she were somewhere else. She felt like a homesick hitchhiker, situated halfway across the globe, stopping for a quick grub before they got back on the road.

He gave his wine a twirl, looking observingly at her while they waited for their entrées. "Are you okay?"

The question snapped Skylar into focus. "Yeah, why?"

"You just look a little... off."

"I'm sorry, I'm just dealing with some stuff at home, and I guess it's... affecting me more than I expected."

"I see," he said, curious, but not enough to pry.

She looked him over for a spell. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever wanted something so bad but knew you could never have it? Like, maybe you could, but the ramifications would be dire."

"How dire?"

"Like 'the world would cease to exist as you know it' dire?"

He took a moment to consider her question. "Actually, I have."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. A few years back, when I was thinking of robbing this bank."

Skylar burst out laughing, and it made him feel like for the first time tonight, the date might actually go somewhere.

"Yeah, I cased the joint for weeks and had blueprints of the structure and everything."

Skylar pulled her hair back, laughing. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you didn't go through with it."

"No," he chuckled, "No, I didn't." He sipped his wine, surprised at just how melodic her hoarse laughter truly was. "But on a more serious note, I remember in the fourth grade I nearly kissed my teacher on the mouth."

Skylar cocked a brow, entertained. "You don't say?"

"Ms. Thompson. She was my first love. And a couple of years later, I came this close to drowning my big brother's pet hamster, Mickey, in the toilet."

Skylar laughed.

He polished off his glass, feeling on a bit of a streak. "Is any of that sort of relates to whatever dilemma you seem to grapple with?"

And just as he thought the date was finally picking up some steam, her laughter died down, and her expression clouded over again.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to bring you down."

"Don't apologize. You're wonderful. It's me who's being a terrible date." She sipped her water, feeling a twinge of guilt at her behavior. "If you'd have asked me out a few weeks ago, this date would've gone very differently, I assure you."

"Yeah, I was uh... getting up my nerve."

Skylar bit on her bottom lip, noting how tense he seemed suddenly. "Am I making you nervous?"

He gave a sheepish smile, finding that little nibble incredibly erotic. "I think you know you are."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to."

He shook his head. "It can't be helped, I'm afraid. You're a gorgeous girl."

Skylar smiled a coy smile, and her cheeks flushed a touch.

"And despite whatever it is that keeps you from fully engaging tonight, I can already tell that your personality is no less beautiful."

"You're so sweet," she murmured, feeling a second twinge of guilt at his mounting efforts. "And you genuinely seem like a great guy."

"Hold your horses! I don't know about great. Definitely decent though."

Skylar chuckled.

"Listen, Skylar, as you've probably noticed by now, I am very into you. And I don't play games. Give me a chance here, a fair chance. I may surprise you."

***

Skylar stepped out of the cab and trotted toward the front door. She entered her home and swished up the stairs in her short dress, the excitement coursing throughout her body. She reached the second floor and barged into her brother's room, short of breath.

"Lucas?!"

The room was empty.

She quickly tried to think where he could be given that he rarely left the house due to the state of his leg. She walked across the room to his window. She smiled, seeing him in the hot tub seeping on a beer. Her heart was beating so fast she was afraid it might burn a hole in her chest. She took a deep breath and dashed to her room.

She opened her closet and rifled through her swimsuits, in search of the right one. She smiled when she found it. She changed into this very particular bathing suit and posed in front of the mirror. Yep, that was the one. After a quick stop in the bathroom, she sprayed herself with perfume, mended her makeup, and dabbed on some lip gloss.

Normally, she would put on a robe whenever she came downstairs, but her parents were away for the weekend and wouldn't be home until the next day. Tonight, it was just her and Lucas. A grin exploded across her face at the thought, and her stomach gave a flutter. She couldn't help but giggle at herself. Dear God, did she miss this feeling.

*

Lucas sat in the hot tub, shoulders slumped, and a beer in his hand. He was neck-deep into brooding after only two beers. The empty bottles were strewn to his left and three more had queued up to be consumed.

Knowing his sister was out on a date right now was killing him, he couldn't deny. The thought of another guy touching her, passing his fingers in her magnificent long hair, laying a hand on her bare thigh, smelling her fragrance, getting hard as they kissed—

"Fuck!" he chided inwardly. "Dude, you gotta stop with this shit!"

He chugged his beer and opened bottle number three. Before he had a chance to torment himself some more with visions of Skylar making out with her date, the glass door to his left slid open. He turned his head toward it, and his heart kicked into overdrive as he watched his sister padding along in her bathing suit.

So many different questions battled one another for some space in his head as she made toward the hot tub. For one, what time was it? She couldn't have been gone for long. Was the date that bad? Secondly, was she wearing a bikini? He'd never seen her wear a bikini before. And goddamn, what a bikini. The panties were riding high on her slender hips, and the top...

He swallowed and averted his eyes.

Cleavage.

And not your pedestrian cleavage, either. This one was as deep as a chasm.

He wouldn't take the risk and look again, but he didn't need to; the image had already been burned into his brain. The image of his sister's 30D breasts absolutely crammed in that small top. Her bikini was out of this word. A matching set, colored in rich cream, sprinkled with small brown dots evenly. The colors meshed so well and really accentuated her pale complexion and silky, light-brown hair.

Skylar laid her phone on the nearby table and picked up one of the beers that her brother no doubt had planned on consuming. She fixed her eyes on him the entire time, but he wasn't looking back. In fact, it seemed like he was doing everything in his power not to look at her. She wanted to believe that her swimsuit was to blame.

She climbed into the hot tub and sipped the beer. She made sure her chest was above the waterline as she stared at her brother. But again, he was determined to avoid her eyes. To avoid her.

"Lucas?"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Can you please look at me?"

Reluctantly, he took a swig from his beer and met her eyes.

"I just walked out on what was one of the best and one of the worst dates of my life. You see, you were right. He was a really sweet guy, just a little shy. But once he started going... man, was he charming! Smooth as butter."

Lucas had his poker face on as he was forced to listen. He wasn't sure where she was going with this, or whether she was even aware of what she was doing to him now, scantly dressed, looking so beautiful, killing him softly with those big brown eyes and deliciously-husky voice.

"So, this guy is pulling out all the stops, right? Like, really giving his all. And instead of melting for him, all I can think about is... is you."

The stupor struck Lucas with such force that he felt as if a bucket of icy water had just been hurled into his face. He couldn't see this twist coming in a million years.

Skylar swept her long, flowing hair back, seemingly unfazed by the fact that her brother's jaw had come loose, or that he had quitted blinking altogether. "What I just said now... I am absolutely mortified by. But I would never have said it if I hadn't believed you might be feeling the same. Or at least I hope you do."

Lucas couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. What was she saying?

"I think that there's something happening between us, Lucas, something that neither of us was ever prepared for, but... at least on my end, I can't keep ignoring it. Like, it physically hurts when I repress it. Because I...I have feelings for you, strong feelings that I've only ever felt for my boyfriends."

Judging by his expression, the initial shock seemed to be wearing off now, but Skylar still couldn't tell what was going through his head. She couldn't get a read on his face, and her confidence began to suffer as a result.

"I was so scared to acknowledge it, though not nearly as scared as I am now, fessin' up to it. I am scared, ashamed... and excited." She gulped, her stomach knotting into braids. "I realize how tragic this is, and how this seems like an impossible situation—and to be honest, I don't have all the answers right now. But what I do know, Lucas, is that if you tell me that I'm not alone in this, if you tell me that my feelings are reciprocated, then I want you to know that... I am open to the idea of us."

Lucas wanted nothing more than to admit his feelings for her, to tell her how he truly felt about her. The scenario must've played out in his head a dozen times so far. But this wasn't a fantasy anymore; it was as real as it gets. And he knew, more than anyone, that there would be consequences if he were to cross that line with her.

Skylar found his silence extremely hurtful. It was, by far, the toughest thing she ever had to do in her short life, baring her soul like that to him, and he wasn't even going to dignify her with a response?

"I am giving you one chance to say something before I walk back in. Because once I do, we will never speak about this ever again. I swear to God, Lucas."

Lucas tried to think, tried to speak, but he couldn't form words. Or maybe he could, but what would he say? What should he say?

Brushing her hair away from her flushed cheeks, his sister sprang up, his non-answer searing across her chest. "God, I'm so stupid!"

Halfway out of the hot tub, Skylar felt a hand clasping her arm. Before her head could even fully register it, she was yanked back down and reeled forcefully into her brother's body.

She met his eyes through a thick film of tears, a little shook, slightly frightened, but mostly trembling with excitement. Her eyes anxiously traced down his abdomen until they locked in on his groin, where she was bestriding him.

A quiver ran along her brother's pulse when he was hit with the same realization. He began engorging, expanding under the perfect little bum of his perfect little sister. His senses were under assault, bombarded with the scent of her sweet musky fragrance, the warmth of her slender bod, and the sight of her amazing tits gently bobbing on her chest with her every breath.

Skylar flinched when she felt the lengthening shaft brushing up against her butt. The fleeting contact sent a tingling wave of heat along her virgin sex. She leveled a tense look at her brother, her arms hesitantly vining around his neck. If he had allowed himself to force her to straddle him and get hard on her, then she was going to hold him intimately.

Lucas palmed her bare waist, aching. "You're driving me crazy. I can't stop thinking about you."

She nibbled her bottom lip, his confession fluttering in her belly. "I can't stop thinking about you, either."

"I hated you so much for going out with him."

"Is that why you've been getting shitfaced?"

"Nuthin' slips by you, does it?"

She chuckled. "Then why didn't you say something? I was legit praying for you to stop me."

He stroked down her sides, admiring her superb build. "Because I'm a coward. And because... this is kind of... uncharted territory. I'm really excited but also scared, Sky."

"I'm terrified."

"Then tell me it's not okay that I'm touching you like this. Tell me not to kiss you. Tell me to fuck off."

Her thighs clamped down onto his hips, his pleading only egging her on. "I can't do that."

They'd already gone too far as far as Skylar was concerned. Never in her life had she been so turned on both physically and emotionally as she was now.

Lucas learned her face. She had that wanton look on, the one she had demonstrated to him a while back. But now it was directed at him, and she meant business, raking her pretty nails at the back of his head, practically smoldering as she stared intensely into his eyes.

Their noses inched closer, their heads tilted, and their breathing tensed as the inevitable kiss drew nigh. Skylar could write a book on how to create sexy moments like this one, how to draw them out, charge them up with so much sexual tension that the guy would be exploding by the time their lips touched.