I was walking home after my morning shift at the local supermarket, in a bad mood as was typical when I left work, and quite hungry. Still, I wasn't in a hurry to get home because I knew there would be no one there for at least another six hours and the feeling of being in an empty house again was even worse than the feeling of my empty stomach.
"Damn those jerks!" I cursed my co-workers. "Damn them all to hell!" It was my afternoon ritual that occupied the twenty-five minute walk home after work. They would spend six hours at work making my life a living hell and I would spend that half-hour coming up with all the things I wished I had had the guts to say to their faces.
The cursing that day though just didn't seem to work for me as my mind kept wandering back to the empty house I was headed to. My mother had gotten a new job so the one person who would typically be waiting for me at home with a sandwich made, a pile of chips and soda as well as some encouraging words to brighten my day was no longer there. She was now scanning items at a nearby pharmacy store and I wouldn't see her for another six hours minimum.
I rounded the final bend toward my house, only a few doors on the other side of Penn Drive which I was about to cross when I saw the empty driveway and its cold reminder of the loneliness that awaited me therein. Actually crossing Penn Drive made me think of my older cousin, Brianna, though. She was about 3 to 4 years older than me and had lived on that street for several years. As children we had always gotten together to play; tag, Nintendo and especially house. She always loved to be the mommy and make me be the daddy for all the stuffed animals and baby dolls in her house back then. In those younger days we were like peas in a pod whenever she wasn't practicing her beloved gymnastics.
Brianna had moved after high school, though. Her parents had separated and each moved to a different town following work so Brianna had gotten a place on her own closer to the college which was about a forty-five-minute walk for me. She had long since graduated from college but still lived in that same little place. Though I was hungry, I just couldn't cope with the idea of going inside my lonely house so I passed my driveway and kept going, searching out Brianna's apartment for a surprise visit.
It was nearing on two in the afternoon and as I got only a few minutes away, it dawned on me that I didn't know what her work schedule was any longer. Would Brianna even be home? Would she be busy? Still, there was only five minutes to go so there was no point in turning around now. I figured I'd see if she was there and if not, I'd grab a bite from a place on the college campus across the street. I just couldn't bring myself to go back home yet.
Knocking on the door, I heard Brianna's distinct voice inside shout 'who is it?'
"It's your cousin, Oliver."
I guess I expected to hear the bolts of the door unlocking or a chain being undone but instead she just shouted back 'It's open, come on in.' I nudged the door open slowly, unsure whether I had heard her correctly. Her voice had been muffled after all.
"Brianna?" I called.
"In here," she called back, her voice trailing into the hallway from the living room to the left. She sounded like she was winded or breathing heavy. I poked my head around the corner before walking into the living room.
I was warmly greeted by Brianna's petite but well-formed bum bent over forward in mid-stretch, her hands touching the floor between her feet. She was wearing her typical one-piece gymnastics outfit that exposed her bare legs all the way up to her hips. I had always appreciated those outfits that she wore as they were amazingly sexy. I remembered being especially fond of a little red one with sequins she would wear back in high school. It didn't always cover the entire bum.
"To what do I owe this great pleasure?" she asked, not standing from her stretching position until she counted a full thirty seconds.
"Mom's working and I didn't want to be alone at the house so I thought I'd come visit you for a while. Hope you don't mind."
After standing, she had turned around to face me before continuing with her stretches, this time crouching on her left leg and extending her right. The faintest hint of separation between her skin and the outfit's blue material gave view to some pleasant cleavage even if it was just a little.
"Can I get you something? Are you hungry?"
I was starving but I didn't want to make her stop her stretching. That was always the best part about visiting Brianna; watching her workout. "Yeah, but don't worry yourself about it. I'll grab something from the kitchen if that's alright."
"Grab me some bottled water from the fridge, will you?" she shouted back to me when I was digging around to look for something. I always knew she was a health nut but I had forgotten that included only healthy foods too. Her fridge was packed with fat free and low fat everything along with piles of vegetables and fruits. Bleh! I grabbed her water and an apple to start with.
"So what's a handsome boy of 20 like you doing alone all the time? You should be across the street chasing college skirts or something." Brianna had always teased me about my shyness around girls but she was the only person in my life that ever referred to me as handsome which always made me feel good. Most people just referred to me as 'nerd', 'geek' or 'loser' because of my glasses and I couldn't afford Lasik yet. I was saving up though!
"Ha, you're funny," I gave her the bottle of water when she stood back up from stretching the other leg.
"No, I'm serious." She opened the bottle and took a swig. "You're alone way too much. When we were kids, you were always with me so I understand why you didn't care so much back then. But now you're 20, almost 21 and still living all cooped up with your mom. You should be working on finding yourself the right girl...," she took another swig of water. "or what? You don't like us girls or something? I know a particular girl who would be just dying to go out with you given the chance."
