It was early summer, which meant that my sister in law and her family were in town. This was always a pretty joyous occasion, especially for my wife. We didn't get to see her sister all that often, so when she, her husband and their daughter Noel came to town for a few weeks it was always happy times.
As was the norm, my wife and her sister would spend many days together hanging out and hitting local craft fairs and the likes. This usually meant that Noel and her dad would stay with my in-laws, and my step daughter Kelly would be there too. This year, however, things were a little different. My wife and her sister had decided to take a few days and go out of town to where there was a huge street market every year, taking advantage of the fact that it lined up with Noel's family being in town. So, they had gotten themselves a hotel and would be gone for a few days. My sister in law's husband was also going to be gone for a day or two to visit some old friends of his in town. That left Noel all by herself. I opted to take pity on her, and Kelly by extension, and told the girls they were more than welcome to stay at our house. They were both more than thrilled at the prospect, their religious and very conservative grandparents weren't really keen on the swearing and R rated movies and the likes, while I couldn't care less.
I worked as a freelance artist, mostly doing work in the world of gaming. I had a few regular clients that kept me a pretty steady stream of income, as well as selling my own prints and stickers and such at local art shows and Saturday markets. I had just wrapped up a pretty lucrative deal with a big name client doing some work for a rather popular roleplaying game, and the payout meant that I could, effectively, kick back and relax for a month or two before needing to worry about bills again. I was spending my days playing video games, watching my favorite streamers, catching up on movies and shows I had missed while hyper focused on my work, and getting to spend some time with Kelly.
She was 19 now, and had come to live with her mother and I just before turning 14 after deciding she no longer wanted to live with her dad. We were happy to take her in, we had just moved into our first house and had room to spare for her.
Our new house, which we had only moved into a little over a year prior, was a ranch style house, most everything on one floor with a finished basement that was our rec room. We had a nice couch, a good sized TV, a gaming console and a pool table down there, along with another table that could easily seat eight people and several shelves stacked with board and card games. It was spacious, and I could give the girls some privacy regardless of where they wanted to hang out during the day. I didn't mind spending time with them, but I figured they would want to talk and hang out without Kelly's step dad hanging around.
Noel was a year younger than Kelly, having just turned 18 a month ago, and I knew two teenage girls probably didn't want to hang out with a 40 year old most of the time they got to hang out.
The first day everything went smoothly. I ordered us some pizzas, we watched some movies and I got a chance to catch up with Noel. I didn't try to pretend I was the cool uncle or anything, but we had always had a pretty good relationship and she often seemed excited to share news about her life with my wife and I. Her and Kelly exchanged stories, catching up on things they had forgotten to tell each other over various texts and social media posts. I just sat and watched the movie, largely ignoring them as what they were discussing was none of my business. I did, however, catch Noel mention something about being annoyed at having bought a new pair of underwear for prom only to have her date bail on her two days before. I was a little taken aback by the comment, but said nothing. Had she bought sexy underwear hoping to get some at prom? I guess that was the cliché, but it had also been over two decades since my senior prom so who knew anymore. I chalked it up to me mishearing and moved on.
On day two I got up and cooked the girls breakfast, trying to be a good host despite wanting nothing more than to sleep for a couple days myself. My last contract had been exhausting, but worth it. I had stayed up many nights until the sun came up, kissing my wife goodbye as she got up to go to work and I crawled into bed. Many days and nights of red eyes, a sore wrist and double vision from staring at various pieces for far too long. Despite that, I wanted the girls to be comfortable.
I called to them, they were both staying in Kelly's room, and started to plate up the eggs, bacon and toast I had prepared. I heard the door down the hall open, and then shut again, and the sounds of dragging footsteps on the laminate floor let me know the girls were shuffling their ways towards a free meal.
When I turned I was greeted by an unexpected sight. Both girls were still in their pajamas, but neither of their outfits consisted of much. Kelly usually slept in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, as far as I was aware since that was what she always came out wearing. Today she was wearing a fairly tight fitting tank top and the same shorts she often wore. The tank was black and low cut, and I had to assume she was wearing that because it had been a bit warmer than usual that summer. I was glad for it being warm because I was pretty convinced she wasn't wearing a bra. Her shorts were short, barely coming an inch or so past her butt cheeks, and a reddish brown color one might consider burgundy. I knew they were short, but the t-shirt she usually wore was long enough that I had never really noticed how short they were. They were loose fitting around the legs, so at least they weren't as revealing as her tank, somehow.
Noel wore a button up shirt, which she had taken to only buttoning up around her chest, and when she stretched her stomach was on full display. She also wore a pair of shorts, but these were spandex gym shorts that might as well have been painted on. Skin tight and bright blue, they drew the eyes in and I had to make myself look away for fear of seeing anything I really shouldn't have seen.
I was a little shocked by their outfit choices, especially knowing I was the one home and cooking, but I wasn't about to scold them for it. They were teenagers, giving them shit about their clothing choices was a losing battle. Besides, once they were sat at the table they were pretty effectively hidden, except for Kelly's top third.
We ate breakfast, chatted a little, normal stuff. I tried my best to keep my eyes on my plate, which was odd. I hadn't ever considered myself attracted to these girls, they were family, but their outfits were eye grabbing to say the least.
"So," I said at one point " you two have anything planned for today?"
"Not really." Noel replied, Kelly shaking her head as she munched on a strip of bacon.
There was a stretch of silence as Noel and I took bites of our food, and then Kelly's voice chimed in.
"We talked last night about maybe going to the mall. Walk around, hit some stores."
