Under My Skin Pt. 01

"Just a lot on my mind, dude."

"Anything you wanna talk about?" He asked as he wiped a bit of cheese from his face.

"Not really, man. I'm just stressing about all this school shit. Moving. Scholarships. Transferring to that store." I stabbed at my food with the fork, thinking I was getting pretty good at deflecting. Not that I actually wasn't worried about those things, but it seemed to be working well for distracting people from what I was really thinking.

"Wondering if you are going to be working with a bunch of hipster trash over in Austin. I get that." He smirked.

"Yeah, there is that," I chuckled. "But to top all of that off, my sister is giving me shit for wanting to move away."

"Shit, I'd haul her shit myself if my snotty bitch of a sister wanted to move out of the house." Kevin mused.

"Hell, I'd help you move her shit. She's a pain in the ass. But Skye's not like that. We get on well, really. She's got me feeling kind of guilty about it."

"Man, you gotta do what's best for you. You know that. She'll be perfectly fine. Hell, she's an adult."

"I know." I sighed. I actually was feeling kind of bad about the upcoming move, even though it was still months away.

My phone alarm chirped telling me my lunch break was over and I hit the dismiss button.

"Damn, already?" Kevin asked.

"I was in here ten minutes before you," I shrugged as I cleaned up my stuff.

A slim girl with dirty blonde hair that I recognized from the garden department wandered into the room and walked over to the time clock. She had a cute smile, I noticed as I tossed my stuff in my locker.

"Hey!" Kevin called after me, "we still on for drinks tomorrow?"

"Yeah, yeah... I'll be there."

* * * * *

I leaned on my pool cue and surveyed the bar while I waited on Kevin to get back with the beer. The place was crowded tonight, partially because one of the more popular local bands was supposed to be playing at the club next door.

Kevin appeared out of the crowd and passed me a Dos Equis. He took a long swig of his own beer and picked up his pool cue from the table.

"My shot, yeah?" He asked.

I nodded as I took a hit from the bottle.

He lined up his shot and sank it with ease. Son of a bitch. I may be able to club him mercilessly at Call of Duty, but he was a far better pool player than I would ever be.

"So, get this... Yesterday I check the mail after work and the Edgefest tickets I bought to surprise Whitney with like two months ago finally showed up. I forgot all about them."

"Guess you won't be bringing her now," Kevin grinned as he took his second shot and sank it. The bastard.

"Nope. Want to go? There's like thirty-five bands playing or something. You pay for gas and I got the tickets?"

"Nah. That ain't my scene. Gonna be a bunch of that white boy guitar stuff." He snorted.

"You're as white as I am, dumb ass." I replied with a smirk, "and there are some hip-hop acts playing there, too."

"Who?"

Kevin eyed me suspiciously from behind his beer bottle.

"I remember Run The Jewels for sure because I want to see them. A couple of those mumble rap guys. Uh..." I tried to remember the rest of the line-up.

"RTJ would be fun, but I'm not gonna go out there and bake in the sun all day like a damned fool."

"Shit," I replied. "Man, these tickets cost me almost three hundred bucks."

"You should have just waded in on that orgy like I told you before. Then you'd still have a girlfriend to bring to that show. But no, not you... You had to get all self-righteous and storm off." He grinned at me. The perpetually horny bastard had been teasing me about this for weeks.

"Fuck you, asshole," I laughed, "You would have done the same goddamned thing and you know it."

"Yeah, but it's funny watching you get tweaked about it."

I pretended like I was going to crack him in the nuts with my pool cue causing him to bump into a random guy and his girlfriend when he flinched to protect himself. Grinning to myself as he apologized to them, I took aim for my next shot and surprised us both by sinking it.

After finishing our game, which I lost by a wide margin, we left the pool table to a group of guys who had been hovering around waiting for a turn and settled into a booth. One of the other guys from work, Scott, showed up and sat with us. We all bullshitted about the job for a bit before his friends arrived and he disappeared with them.

Kevin pivoted sideways and propped his feet up across the bench on his side of the booth, leaning his back to the wall. He pulled a cigarette from his pack with practiced ease, dropping the pack on the table.

"That shit is gonna kill you one day," I observed dryly.

He shrugged at me as he lit it and dropped his lighter next to the pack.

"Hey, Skye is over there with the redhead and that chick that looks like she bathed in that spray tan bullshit."

I looked over in the direction Kevin was pointing, and sure enough, I spotted my sister and her friends at a booth halfway across the bar on the far side of the pool tables.

Skye was wearing a dark-colored cocktail dress with a white print that extended to mid-thigh, black thigh high stockings and heels. I was struck by how sexy she looked as she leaned forward to suck on the straw in her drink.

"What's up with that redhead anyway?' Kevin asked.

"Heather? Uh... She's okay, I guess. I don't hang out with her friends all that much, but she's always been pretty cool around me."

"She single?"

"I'm not sure. I can ask. You're interested?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I'd like to do some very rude things with her body if that's what you mean." He grinned at me.

"That'd be the perfect opening line to use on her. She'll be having to wring her panties out in no time."

"If only it were that simple," he replied wistfully.

"She's going in the air force soon."

"I'm not looking to marry her, just have an entertaining weekend or two."

I rolled my eyes and glanced back toward Skye's table. A blonde guy with a forearm tattoo was leaning down at the table talking to her.

My chest tightened up watching them. He was smiling at her and seemed to be trying to buy her a drink. She was smiling back at him, but I could tell she was forcing it. I'd seen her pretend to be happy enough times over the years to know she was just being polite.

Allowing myself a small sigh of relief, I thought about how I was reacting.

What was my problem? I should be happy for her. I mean, she had never had a boyfriend that I knew of. I should be encouraging her. Instead, I found I was feeling jealous. What the fuck? Feelings of guilt started creeping up on me. Jealous that some guy was showing interest in my little sister? I was being an asshole.

But realizing I was thinking like a dick and making myself stop thinking like a dick were two different things. It wasn't as if I could expect her to be single her entire life. She just needed to stay single until I could move to Austin and let the distance kill off these fucked up desires of mine, I thought. Even thinking about the future in such a way made my guts churn.

Blonde Guy dropped his hand to my sister's stocking covered knee. She flinched almost imperceptibly away from him. She was giving him a harsh look and said something that made him stiffen a bit. I didn't know what it was, but his hand withdrew back to the table.

"So, your mom asked if she could blow me, but I told her only if she let me nut in her nostril. She didn't seem too into the idea, but I told her it was a fetish of mine."

"The fuck?" Kevin's bizarre comment cut through the noise in my skull enough for me to look over at him, startled.

"Ah, now I got your attention. You've been staring a hole in the back of that dude's skull for like ten minutes now." He smirked. It was just like him to make a wisecrack like that just to get a rise out of someone. Luckily, I was mostly immune to his bullshit. Mostly.

"Jesus," I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed, "I'm just making sure the prick respects my sister."

"I gathered as much but I wasn't sure you weren't going to go kick his ass before he had a chance to."

"Come on, dude. I'm not that insane," I scoffed. "He just seems like the type of skeevy fucker to drop shit in her drink or something."

Kevin studied the guy with renewed interest, trying to figure out what I saw in him that set me off.

"If you say so. He just looks like some random dude to me. But if he does try some shit, I got your back."

I nodded in reply and reached for my empty beer bottle. Shit.

"Ready for another?" I asked, pointing at the empty bottle while I actively tried not to look back at the dude attempting to hit on my sister. I had a suspicion that I was going to need a lot of beer tonight.

"What the hell kind of stupid ass question is that? Of course, I am."

When I returned with the beer, Skye and Heather were sitting at the booth with Kevin. Skye smiled up at me and moved over to make room for me to sit.

"You picked up some strays," I observed.

"Hey, who am I to resist pretty girls?" Kevin replied taking the bottle I handed him.

"Vicki found a guy and we got abandoned. So much for staying at her place tonight." Heather sounded pretty annoyed.

"You can stay at my place. Mom's on nights again," Skye replied. "I'm sure Ryan won't care, will you?"

She leaned close to me and hugged my arm. I could feel her breasts smash up against my arm and tried not to focus on how soft they were. Goddamn, she felt warm and inviting against me.

"Cool with me," I shrugged, forcing myself free of her grip without being too obvious about it. Heather was far less annoying than Vicki. I never minded when she stayed over.

Skye leaned forward and took sipped the last of her drink through her straw. I noticed Kevin trying to catch a peek down her dress and subtly kicked him in the shin. He coughed and looked away guiltily.

"Will you get us some real drinks? We'll pay for your next round," Heather asked.

"What is that, then?" Kevin glanced at her half empty glass.

"Coke. Not twenty-one yet." Heather flashed the X drawn on her hand by the doorman.

Kevin looked at me with an amused smirk.

"Come on, Ryan. Please?" Skye let a little whine slip in her voice. I cocked an eyebrow at her as she tried to give me one of her sweetest smiles.

"Do you realize the mountain of shit that would descend on me like a biblical plague if mom found out I got you drunk? They would need to call in a dentist to identify my body."

"She won't find out. Besides, we didn't say we wanted to get hammered."

"Skye, do your feet even touch the floor in this booth?" Kevin grinned.

"Shut up!" She retorted, trying to sound indignant.

I craned my neck over and saw at least an inch of clearance between the bottom of her shoes and the floor.

"Nope," I answered Kevin with a smirk as Skye elbowed me in the ribs.

"I could ask the bartender for a booster seat if it will help you see over the bar better. Maybe they wouldn't think you were twelve if they could see more than the top of your head." Kevin offered.

She flipped him off but couldn't hide her amusement and we all laughed.

"So, about those drinks?" Skye turned back to me. Heather was giving me a pleading look while batting her eyelashes in an exaggerated fashion.

"One round." I held up a finger and foolishly uttered those famous last words, "That's it. I'd like to at least survive long enough to graduate."

Several rounds later, a waitress interrupted one of Kevin's long-winded work stories about a customer that had nearly driven him to homicide in order to clear the bottles from the table. I had quit drinking by now in order to stay sober enough for the drive home. Skye was quite buzzed at this point and leaning on me as she laughed at Kevin's antics. Heather excused herself to go to the bathroom. Kevin watched her ass as she walked away.

"You don't have to be so obvious, you know," Skye gave him a dirty look.

"Whatever, squirt."

"You'd have more girlfriends if you didn't act like such a perv all the time," she replied, picking absently at the half-eaten tray of nachos in front of her.

"I can get laid any time I want." Kevin cut his eyes at her.

"Sure, I just thought you may want to not have to pay her by the hour once in a while," Skye shrugged, causing us all to laugh.

"Did you ask her about the show?" Kevin motioned toward my sister with his beer.

"What show?" She asked.

"That big ass concert out in Edgerton. This moron bought tickets for it then dumped Whitney before he had a chance to use 'em. Now he's trying to find someone to go with."

"Don't talk about that whore around me. I'm glad he dumped her skank ass." She spat bitterly. I could feel her stiffen next to me in irritation.

Kevin started laughing as he rocked back in his seat, the alcohol having made him more animated than usual.

"Jesus, she holds a grudge, eh?"

"You should have heard her when I first told her about it. I thought she was going to hunt her down in the street." I said with a small grin. We had always been there for each other, but I was still a bit surprised by how much venom Skye had for Whitney.

"Anyway, I bet Skye would go with you." He shrugged.

"I've never been to a concert. I'd love to go!" She bounced a little next to me causing her breast to slide along my arm. Was that a nipple I felt? My dick stirred at the thought.

She pulled her phone out and started typing away on it. Before long she had pulled up the list of bands that were playing and reading names aloud, seeming to get more excited with each name she spoke.

"Holy shit, I love The Raveonettes! Oh my god, Future Islands? This is gonna be so much fun!"

Kevin spread his hands out in front of him with a shit eating grin on his face.

"See? Problem solved."

"Seems so," I replied, trying to hide how conflicted I was about this development.

I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about taking her with me, given my increasingly confusing feelings. But Kevin had already opened the door for this and now Skye seemed too excited about it to shut her down. I'd have to be a world class asshole to tell her she couldn't go because her piece of shit brother was falling for her and didn't want to make it worse by spending a lot of time alone with her.

Heather returned and slumped into the booth, looking a little green.

"Somebody hit their limit," Kevin chuckled.

"Screw off," she mumbled and laid her head down across her folded arms.

Skye immediately switched into nurturing mode, despite being buzzed, and started trying to take care of her.

I rolled my eyes at Kevin, who just grinned back at me. I was beginning to have a growing suspicion that my earlier thought that I never minded when Heather spent the night was about to come back to haunt me.

A few minutes later, Kevin made the mistake of getting me into a discussion about how potentially invasive some of the plants were that we sold in the garden center at work and was enduring a lengthy speech on the topic when Skye declared that it was time to get Heather home and asked if I were ready to go. Kevin looked almost relieved.

I helped load her into the backseat of my car where she laid her head down in Skye's lap with a groan.

"If you need to throw up, get out and do it now," I warned her, holding the car door open.

"M'fine," Heather mumbled, not looking at all fine.

I shut the car door with a sigh, hoping the girl wouldn't puke in my car. I knew I shouldn't have let them drink, damn it.

When we stopped at a red light midway home, Heather suddenly bolted from the car and dropped to her knees behind some bushes. Skye scrambled out after her, cursing as she went. I pulled the car around into the deserted parking lot and got out to check on them. We loaded her back in the car and got her the rest of the way home.

I helped Skye get Heather in the bathroom to clean up and went back downstairs to the kitchen, looking for something to snack on. There weren't any leftovers at the moment and I sure as hell didn't feel like cooking at two in the damned morning. Apathy and laziness made my decision for me and I poured myself a bowl of cereal.

No sooner had I settled in at the kitchen table than Skye passed through and into the laundry room. I got up and followed her, carrying my cereal, intending to tell her to keep Heather away from mom in the morning until she didn't look as hungover as I expected her to.

What I saw in the laundry room froze me in my tracks. My sister was facing away from me, pulling her dress over her head. Her shapely ass was on display, covered only by the tiny fabric triangle at the top of her thong underwear. Despite being so short, she had a beautiful ass and her legs looked amazing in the thigh high stockings she was still wearing. The sensual curve of her slender back came into view as the dress lifted, revealing even more of her pale and flawless skin. She was wearing a lacy black bra, but she hadn't turned in such a way that allowed me to see her breasts at all.

I watched in rapt attention as her hair fell back down into place when the dress pulled free of her head. Even that tiny detail seemed indescribably sexy to me at that moment. She stepped up on the stool in front of the washing machine, dropped the dress in, and bent forward slightly to adjust the controls. Her firm looking little bubble butt, now even more on display for me, called out for me to feel it's delightful firmness. Even though she had long given up gymnastics, her body was still toned to near perfection. My cock was so hard that it hurt at the sight of her. This was more of her body than I had ever seen exposed before and it was glorious.

Skye grabbed a shirt from on top of the dryer and pulled it on, her smooth shoulders disappearing from sight. I almost whined in protest when the hem of the shirt fell to her hips, almost, but not entirely, covering her ass. Jesus, I wanted her so badly at that moment that I had to fight the urge to step forward and put my arms around her.

The sound of the washing machine starting snapped me out of my trance just in time for her to turn and see me. She jumped a little, clearly startled, and suddenly blushed.

"I thought you were in the kitchen. You scared me."

"I... uh..." Fuck. My mouth forgot how to work all of a sudden.

"You okay?" She looked amused. No doubt, I looked pretty damned stupid standing there with a bowl of cereal in one hand, staring blankly at her as my mouth wouldn't form words.

"Yeah. Shit. Sorry. I blanked out a second." I blurted as my brain finished its reset sequence or whatever the fuck was going on up there.

"Did you need something?" She smiled up at me, her eyes looking tired and still a bit glassy from the alcohol.

That question was a trap if ever I heard one.

"Yeah, sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to be changing clothes in here. Kind of threw me off."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting Heather to puke tequila on my dress either." She blushed again.

"When the hell did she get tequila?" I was trying with all my might to keep my eyes on her face and not focus on the couple of inches of exposed flesh between the tops of her stockings and the bottom hem of her shirt. She looked sexy as hell.

"Kevin ordered it for her when you were in the bathroom."

"That son of a bitch," I muttered. I would have to have words with him about that shit.

"So what did you want?"

"To tell you to keep her the hell away from mom in the morning until she doesn't look as hungover as she is gonna be. I mean it. I don't want to catch a ton of shit for letting you two drink."

"I'd be in as much trouble as you would."

"I have my doubts about that," I grumbled, making an effort to sound more irritable than I was feeling.