I'm breaking this story into chapters because too much is changing in the draft revisions. This chapter is complete on its own. The original draft is 10K+ words, so it's also a test of my new process. If it sucks please say so, and I'll move on.
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Chapter 1
Pulling up to my grandparents' house, the whole deck was draped in little American flags. The lake house buzzed like a beehive, and it looked like we were the last to arrive. Caleb and Marny, my brother and sister, with Mom's red hair, woke and tumbled out of the van as soon as we stopped.
I counted: if you included Grandma and Grandpa, there were five couples orbiting the front lawn, the deck already crowded with lawn chairs, cooler lids popping, and too many young cousins rampaging barefoot like a school of piranha.
Then my heart did this fluttery, traitorous thing when I saw him walk out of the boathouse.
Jack.
It's funny how just four years change everything. When Jack and I were fourteen, we'd dunk each other in the lake and race for the last popsicle. He'd shot up another inch or two, sunburned along his shoulders, and grinned in this way that made me forget about the younger cousins shrieking over sparklers.
"Jill!" he called, waving his water bottle. "Didn't think you'd make it out from the big city."
I rolled my eyes, playing hard to get. The crush of muscular arms made me shudder, but I lied anyway.
"Come on. Grandma threatened to mail me rhubarb pie if I missed this year." I said, "Where's your dad?"
He smirked and pointed to the house. We were the vanguard, Jack and I, just old enough to act bored but too wound up to hide it, and we loved this reunion ritual because it was funny how the grown-ups all stopped, as if a spell had been cast. Jack's dad, Uncle Sam, lumbered his big frame onto the porch, and Mom's carroty curls bounced as my favorite circus act was about to start.
As we wandered closer to get a better seat for the show, Jack slipped his arms around my waist from behind and leaned against the tree. He put his face in my not-at-all-red, wavy hair and just breathed. I felt it coursed through me--hot, shivery, a live wire from his chest pressed to my back. My doubts, which were many, were stamped out by that one gesture. I looked at him over my shoulder, still trying to be coy.
"Nostalgic, or just horny?" I asked.
He nuzzled the crown of my head, his sheepish smile making me wish I had been more honest.
"Little of column A, a little of column B."
"Works for me," I said.
I slipped my hand between us, grabbed his boner, bold as you please. I waited for his silent approval, then unzipped his shorts and went fishing. We were getting away with murder, and my whole body buzzed with it. Mom stretched her arms wide, her DD bosom impressive as ever, and Jack's dad barreled toward her like he might try to break the family record for a high-speed collision with Mom's two airbags. But right before impact, they dodged--her torso bent at the waist, her cleavage stretching the fabric of her shirt as if deflected by an invisible forcefield.
"C'mon, you know you can to start a seismic event with these melons, where is you sense of adventure," Mom quipped, giving her boobs an exaggerated upward bounce. "I promised the board of tourism no natural disasters till sunset, but for you, I'll make an exception. "
Uncle Sam grinned, bending at the waist to hyperbolically 'look down' her shirt.
"Gravity's cruel, Sis. Besides, Mom says I can't use you for shelter after last year's incident."
"Gravity?"
Mom looked at pendulous breasts, then opened a button, showing everyone the double duty her clothing items performed. Uncle Sam made a cartoon face with his eyes popping out. I had Jack's fully erect shaft in my hand, and it told me he wished he had that view. Uncle Ben's wife had one of her older nephews along for the celebration. He was the only one to register what I was doing, but his view was close to Uncle Sam's. The instant Mom dipped her jugs, he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Mom and Uncle Sam tiptoed forward with her cleavage open for him to see. Their mouths were open like a wrong turn family reunion was about to take place, then puckered at the last minute to finish their performance with a dainty peck on the lips. Mom and Uncle Sam burst into side-splitting laughter and gave each other a warm hug, still laughing. The laughter was familiar--an old family ritual. Mom's sailor talk made everyone blush, and their recurring performances were so well-choreographed that the show even titillated me. My wet panties and Jack's boner were the start of a less subtle, more private family tradition.
Behind them, one could see Aunt Lila was blushing from the tips of her ears because she kept her hair in a ballerina bun, already fussing with the drink cooler, trying to get her husband Gary, to stop staring staring at my mom's boobs.
"They ought to sell tickets," Gary muttered, "You know, raise funds for heart attack victims after her next wardrobe malfunction."
On the stairs, Uncle Ben, the baby brother doomed to forever look twelve despite being a parent himself, called out,
"Careful! You're blocking the stairs with your...assets!"
His wife Maria barked, "If those fall on you, I'm not doing CPR to revive you."
"Is Aunt Maria bitter because she has small boobs?" Jack asked
"I don't think I would trade being that pretty for big boobs."
Aunt Maria was a runner-up in a state beauty contest and married Uncle Ben because she was a cougar at heart.
Meanwhile, my dad, Jack's uncle, sighed theatrically,
"This is why we named you Jack and Jill. You're the only two who can keep the peace between those two."
Jack snorted. "We just try not to get trampled."
It was chaos as always. The four children, grandpa and grandma, and their spouses produced twelve first-cousin grandchildren--me and Jack at the helm, a pack of cousin-siblings between 7 and 15, plus two college-aged second cousins not related by blood, were in attendance. Uncle Gary's nephew never recovered from seeing Mom's cleavage and was still staring. Aunt Maria's niece, who looked familiar, was put out because Gary's nephew had been talking to her.
Grandpa bellowed from the back deck: "No running with torches, and somebody find the cat before lunch!" Grandma wheeled out with a cart of lemonade, pulling the niece's mind away from the situation by listing which cousins were siblings until she ran out of breath.
Sam's wife, Abby, was ready to continue the show.
"If you've finished flirting with my husband, Kate, I'm ready for that erection--Sam, I mean, the drink you promised me."
Dad, Uncle Don to everyone else, chimed right in,
"Hon, your nipples will impale anyone running too fast if you don't calm down."
"Language!" Grandma said.
I had no idea what she was warning against, the breasts or the erection comment.