Another day finished, I started my usual routine. Going to my bedroom I stripped off my clothes down to my boxers and headed to the bathroom to start running the shower. The pipes in my building were quite old and I lived the furthest from the water heater, so it always takes a minute or two for the hot water to come through. While waiting for the hot water, I took out my toothbrush, added some toothpaste and started brushing my teeth. When I finished, I rinsed my mouth and looked into the mirror to see if I need to shave. I wasn't a hairy man so I rarely had to shave, but when the hair on my face grew in, it grew in patches making me look funny. Deciding I didn't need to shave, I dropped my boxers to the floor and hopped in the shower. The hot water always felt so good at the end of a long day at work. It was the only thing I had to look forward to coming home.
I finished showering, drying myself off and headed back to the bedroom to get a fresh pair of boxers. As I went to my dresser, I looked to the mirror and memories started floating into my mind when I saw the picture of her nudged in the corner. She turned into such a beautiful young woman. Long flowing blonde hair. Beautiful blue eyes that could mesmerize a man in an instant. Her skin was pale, but flawless. Not a blemish on her face. And her smile. My God her smile could light up the black hole.
Attempting to shake the memories out of my head, I continued what I was doing. Opening the drawer that contained my boxers, I pulled one out and slipped them on after I turned away from the mirror in order to avoid looking at her again.
I headed for the kitchen to grab a beer before I went to the livingroom to watch some television. Flopping down on the couch, I grabbed the remote and hit the power button to turn on the tv. I started searching the channels for something that's at least somewhat entertaining. After about twenty minutes of looking for something to watch, I decided that this isn't going to work now that I have her on my mind.
I turned off the television and went over to my desk and turned on the computer. I decided to log on to my e-mail since I only check it once a month. I'm not the most popular man so I never have anything other than spam in my inbox. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people that have my address, but I'm the guy everyone smiles at and magically disappears off the face of the Earth. I'm not even horrible on the eyes. Five foot nine, a full head of dark brown hair, clean shaven, well built considering I've trained in martial arts for 20 years, but ever since I left home I was overcome with depression. I guess it was my "stunning" personality that made everyone vanish.
Delete, delete, delete. Nothing but spam mail as usual. People wanting me to buy their Viagra, send them money so I can claim my 30 million euro's that I somehow won in a European lottery. Women from Russia wanting to come down and be my wife even though they've never met me. Staring blankly at the monitor, I just kept on clicking delete.
Wait a minute! Something out of the ordinary caught my eye. It was something familiar but I clicked delete so fast I wasn't able to see what it was. All I can say is thank God for a Restore button. I had to restore the last 12 e-mails before it came back up. I just stared. My heart started racing a million beats per second. "She e-mailed me?" I asked out loud.
I moved my cursor over the e-mail's subject and finally found enough courage to click on it so I can view the e-mail.
"Jason! How are you? It's been so long since any of us have heard from you! We all miss you so much, especially me, your little angel Ashley. At least I hope I'm still your little angel teehee. Anyway, I'll get straight to the point. As you know, I am now 18 as of last week. By the way, thank you so much for the present. Only you could think of something to give me that would put the biggest smile on my face. I can't believe you kept all of our old photos and arranged them all the way you did. It must have taken you at least a week to put that together! Look at me, so much for getting straight to the point lol. Okay, back to the subject at hand (I'm using my serious voice now haha). Now that I'm 18, mom and dad are letting me travel by myself as long as it's not too far, so I told them the only place I want to travel to is to you because it's been so long since I've seen you. I hope you don't mind if I come stay with you for the summer. I'll be leaving on June 2nd and arriving June 3rd at 8pm at the bus station. Gate C. I really hope you get this e-mail because I've tried calling you a couple of times but you never answered. It's probably because I have a new cell phone and a new number to go with it and I know how you don't like answering numbers you don't recognize. You really need to get voicemail! Okay, I'm going to pack now. I'll see you in a few days! Ta ta for now! Your favorite little angel, Ashley."
My sister, Ashley, and I have always been very close. The moment she was born I felt the need to protect her. Whether she needed me to beat someone up or just hold her and tell her everything was going to be alright, I did it. She was my little angel and nobody, I mean nobody, fucked with her while I was around. My supposed "friend" found that one out the hard way when he started hitting on my sister when she was 14. I saw his hand reaching towards her ass when we were all at the beach and I lost it! Running at full speed I caught his arm before it reached its destination and snapped it like a twig! Needless to say he was no longer considered a friend.
Ashley always looked older than she actually was. She dressed very well and was extremely mature. More mature than most people my age to be honest, which is probably why people mistook her age more often than not. Most guys, however, backed right off as soon as she told them her real age. The few that didn't -- well, that's when big brother stepped in!
I searched for a calendar to check the date. I've had the same work schedule for over a year now and I often lost track of what day it was until a co-worker reminded me. Usually on Fridays because they always have to brag about how wasted they're going to get and how they're going to fuck the hottest girl there. Bunch of damn perverts!
Finally remembering that there's a calendar on my computer that even shows the day, I clicked on the bottom right hand corner to bring it up on my screen. June 2nd. I froze, but only for a minute or two. "She's going to be here tomorrow?" I thought to myself. At that precise moment, I vowed to always check my e-mails every single day, one by one so I'm not so ill prepared next time something like this happens.
I raced up from my desk and started cleaning, and cleaning, and did I mention cleaning? My house didn't look like a cyclone hit it as the saying goes, but it was far from what my little angel is used to back at home because our mom kept the house spotless. I had to at least make it half as nice as my mom's house, otherwise my Ashley would spend her whole summer cleaning until it's as perfect as mom's. That's no way for a gorgeous eighteen year old to spend her summer.
Shit! What the hell is she going to do here? I can think of a few things that might get us through a few days without boring the hell out of her, but the whole summer? I have my work cut out for me!
After twelve long hours of cleaning, and scrubbing, and mopping, and dusting, I finally had the place nice enough even for my mom. I did her proud! And yes I know, scrubbing, mopping, and dusting is still "cleaning" smart ass. I needed to get my point across!
Looking at the clock, it said 2pm. I had another five hours to get a bit of sleep before I had to leave to pick Ashley up at the bus station. So tired. Heading to my bedroom I set the alarm for 6:30pm just in case I hit the snooze button a few times. Crashing on the bed I immediately began to drift off.
Thump, thump, thump, thump
Waving my hands sleepily in the air "Go away, I don't want to find Jesus!" I yelled. My usual comment to anyone coming to my door trying to convert me to their religion.
Smash!
"What the hell!"
I got out of bed looking at the clock before I stomped my way to the front door. 3:08pm. "Whoever is at my door better start fucking running now" I shouted as I placed my hand on the door knob. Opening it with so much strength it surprised even me, I stopped and stared.
"And what if I don't run you scrawny little punk?" she said with that magnificent smile of hers.
"Ashley!" I screamed in excitement, wrapping my arms around her so fast and so tight, I lifted her off the ground literally squeezing the breath right out of her.
"Jason. Jason!" she squeaked with no air in her lungs.
"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. I'm just happy to see you, that's all" giving her my best version of an irresistible smile that no woman can be mad at as I placed her back on the ground. I must have looked like a damn fool.
"I can tell" she replied. "I'm so happy to see you too! Can I come in or do I have to spend the summer in the hallway?" Again with that smile!
I stepped to the side to give her enough room to get through the door with her bags. Closing the door I turned to Ashley "I thought I was supposed to come pick you up at 8pm?"
"I wanted to surprise you so I decided to take the earlier bus. I changed the ticket right after I sent you the e-mail so instead of arriving at 8pm, I would arrive at 2:45pm. I just took a cab once I got off the bus and voila! Here I am!"
Ashley approached me after placing her bags on the ground and wrapped her arms around me giving me the warmest hug I've felt in....three years. I actually felt butterflies in my stomach.
"Jason, how come you never come to visit us? It's been like 3 years. Everyone really misses you even though mom and dad won't admit it" she asked with her cheek resting on my chest as she continued to hug me.
"I, uh" trying to think of an excuse as I looked at the floor. "I don't have much money to be taking any trips"
"You're a horrible liar J Man"
