All characters are at least 18 years old. This is a non-canonical story related to the Family Morsel series.
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Drew
"Hey Squirt," I said, giving a playfully irritated look to my soon-to-be stepsister.
"Stilts," she replied stiffly, looking about as thrilled with this arrangement as I was.
Cherry Valentine was a tiny four-foot-nine redhead who had all the feistiness that her hair suggested, yet too much compassion to back it up. I was pretty sure some of the girls at school bullied her for her stature, but honestly it wasn't really any of my business. I mean, yeah, we shared some stuff. We were both raised by single parents who worked together, we were neighbors who rode the same bus to school, and we were mutually friends with a pair of twins. But
we
weren't friends, really. It was just one of those things where, y'know, everybody takes care of their own problems.
Until now. Now, we had to live under the same roof. My mom and her dad had apparently decided that, now that we were adults, they could finally relax and have some fun. They went on a date last December and really hit it off, and now three months later there was already talk about matrimony. And so now the four of us were doing a dry run with cohabitation. Exactly what I needed to add to my senior year experience: a brand new stepsister to shake things up.
"Where are they?" I asked, carrying a box of my stuff past the threshold and into the new house we'd all be sharing.
"In the kitchen, flirting instead of unpacking," Cherry muttered. "What a surprise, right?"
"Can you at least get your dad to help with the boxes? He's a guy, he should be moving stuff with me," I groused.
"So, what, I'm not enough help?" she snapped indignantly, looking ready to snatch the box from me.
"You need to be both taller and heavier than the boxes to carry them," I replied with a smirk, and she growled before stomping out to the truck.
"It's only for a few months," I heard her hiss, presumably to calm herself down.
I passed my mom and Cherry's dad, giggling together in the kitchen just like she'd said. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't even notice me, and I wasn't about to burst their bubble. Mom was finally happy for the first time in a long while; far be it from me to rain on their parade.
Cherry and I unloaded the truck on our own, maintaining some distance lest we began to antagonize each other. Not that I detested her or anything. Quite the contrary. She was easy to tease, and I tried to keep it light-hearted rather than the bullying she received from bitches like Lauren. Cherry was actually quite cute when she got flustered, and I grinned at the thought as I cut a box open to begin settling into my new room, right across from Cherry's. At least we had our own rooms, unlike my best friend Stef and his twin sister. Though perhaps that was the reason that...
My phone rang, and I checked it. Heh, speak of the devil. "Yo, what's up?" I said after answering the call. "Already missing me on the bus ride to school? It hasn't even been a day yet."
"As much as I hate to admit it, I might actually miss some of our convos on the way to school," Stef chuckled. "But nah, just wanted to see how it was going. Cherry hasn't choked you out yet?"
"She'd have to get within arm's reach to do that," I replied, grinning. "And don't pretend you won't love the excuse to sit next to your sister on the ride to school. You two lovebirds have a lot of time to yourselves now that Cherry and I'll be walking to school."
"You're just salty about Brie," Stef sighed.
Around the beginning of the school year, Stef had entered a relationship with his sister. I'd had a crush on her for a couple years, and finding out that they were together was... something that required quite the adjustment. Don't get me wrong, he was my best friend, and they had my support, but... well, it wasn't every day incest happened so close to home.
"I told you, we're past this," I insisted. "You're just dead set on making it weird, huh?"
"You started it," he pointed out. "But hey, don't worry, there's always Cherry. She's gonna be your stepsister soon."
"Don't fucking say it--"
"'What are you