A Picture With Sister
[note: all characters therein are over the age of 18]
Hey
The short text message had popped onto my phone screen unexpectedly. It was from my baby sister, Noah. I had recently had to move back in with our parents after a few personal disasters in my own life, so I was suddenly seeing a lot more of her. Which was very strange, as I had left home for school and then work on the opposite side of the country when she was all of twelve. Now she was nineteen and...honestly still as much of a brat as when I left. While she had grown, she remained short and flat as a washboard. The real draw--not for me, her older brother, of course--was her ass. Noah ran track in high school and still found time to jog almost every morning. This gave her a bubble butt that she constantly kept in shape and loved to show off.
What's up
I texted back
I waited as those three unholy "still typing dots" danced on screen.
R u gonna be home tonight?
Yeah, probably.
Do u want to watch a movie or something.
Now, this was very odd. As long as I had been back, Noah had wanted nothing to do with me. Like I said, she was still a bit of a brat, even as an adult. I didn't take it too personally. Honestly, before I was forced to come home, I never made much of an effort to visit. I talked to my parents on the phone, but Noah always seemed busy with her own life and her own friends. I was far away and she was busy growing up. Maybe that's all it was: a little sister wanting to reconnect with a sibling she hadn't seen hide or tail in seven years.
I'd be down for a movie.
She "heart" reacted and texted back:
ok, what should we watch?
Hey, isn't this your idea???
I know, but I never know what to pick :( That's why I never watch movies alone.
You're on Netflix all the time?
Uh, watching tv? like a normal person???
Okay, I'll pick something out that we'll both like.
She heart reacted again and replied:
it's a date.
The conversation wrapped up after that, but it was still all so strange.
It's a date.
That seemed so out of character for Noah to say, especially to me of all people.
I decided I was overthinking it and got back to my day. After all, part of me was looking forward to getting a chance to just hang out with my sister. The only hurdle now was picking a good movie.
(- - -)
Evening rolled around and I made my way to the living room. I had to pass by the kitchen to get there and found Noah by the oven.
"Are you cooking something?" I asked her.
Noah turned to me and for a second, I was struck by how much she'd grown up while I was gone. I gave her a hard time, but she really had become a beautiful woman. She had on a blue dress that complimented the runner's body she had given herself. After wearing her hair short for years, she had grown out her dark curls to perfectly frame her face. When her eyes caught mine, I froze in place.
"Yeah," she said, "I'm making us some pizza for our movie."
"You didn't want to just order out?"
Noah made a mock offended expression, "Are you scared to try my cooking?"
I laughed and replied, "No, I'm sure it'll be great. I guess I'm just used to movie nights being low threshold events. Order out, stream something, pass out on a couch..."
"Oh, like all your movie nights end on a couch," she said, rolling her eyes. Again, it was a strange comment. I was talking about watching movies in general, and suddenly she's accusing me of Netflix and Chilling...not that she was off base. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely one of those kids who used "cinephile" as a personality description for a couple years, but I wasn't above using the storied medium of film as a pretense to invite a girl over and hopefully get a piece of ass.
Which made the whole situation stranger because Noah was obviously
not
a piece of ass. I wouldn't deny that I thought she was very attractive, but that was an objective aesthetic response. I already had no idea where this night was going.
(- - -)
Noah pulled her pizza out of the oven --- diced chicken, banana peppers, black olives, and a creamy alfredo sauce for toppings--- and we settled on our parents' couch to stuff our faces and watch something.
"Are Mom and Dad going to join us?" I asked.
Noah gave me a funny look and then said, "Nah, they've got a thing?"
"A thing?"
"Yeah," she said, and I didn't press further. Like I said, this night was getting weird.
I clicked through the myriad of apps on our parents' smart tv to my desired choice. It was a sort of fantasy-western mash-up movie that was a few decades old but I had been wanting to see for a long time. I was about to hit play when Noah stopped me.
"So, I was thinking..." she started to say.
"Yeah?"
"Did you maybe wanna drink while we're watching?"