Auntie arrived a day sooner than my Mother had said and I wondered if she had lied to me or if Auntie really did get the dates mixed up like the two of them claimed. I suspected it was the former and not the latter seeing as I couldn't remember my aunt ever having mixed up anything but a drink. The fact that Mother had lied or was suspected of lying didn't bother me in the least, after all I was pretty much beyond surprise. And we all had been keeping secrets hadn‘t we?
Auntie arrived with her attitude and heinous offspring in tow. Robin was my cousin and if I were some spandex clad super diva she would have been my arch nemesis. The bitch worked my nerves like that shit was a job. She was older than me by about two months and she had never let me forget it, not that it mattered now that we were both grown, but believe me in the times of Barbie's and my little pony dolls she had ruled with an iron fist. When we'd gotten a little older our mother's had kept us in constant competition or at least that's the way I saw it, they would sit and compare us like purebreds at a dog show. Luckily I had grown out of the need to compete before I'd even entered high school. I could only be my best and no one else's. Robin hadn't grown out of that need and if she hadn't stayed on my nerves so damn much I might have felt sorry for her or at least taken a moment to wonder why she had such an intense need to be or feel that she was better than everyone else.
The little bitch didn't even acknowledge me when I answered the door. Auntie was still sitting behind the wheel of their huge ass SUV and appeared to be talking on a cell phone . Robin set her bags down on the porch and left them there as she pushed past me and entered without so much as a hello. If she expected me to bring them in she had clearly lost her monkey ass mind. I left the bags where they sat and closed the door leaving it unlocked for Auntie. Mother had gone shopping for all the thanksgiving fixins and Sheri was in her room, so for the moment I was stuck with Robin. She whipped her sunglasses off and flopped down on the sofa in the living room sighing. I looked at her wondering if she had eaten in the past year. She was so damn skinny it looked like a hearty sneeze might send her flying. In addition to being Skeletor she had dyed her once black hair to a frightening shade of auburn that made my retinas itch.
"Do you have anything to drink?" She demanded.
I'm sure , you do remember where the kitchen is don't you?" I asked her settling on the opposite sofa. She looked at me hard and sighed again before getting up and heading into the kitchen. She was slamming shit around and generally acting a fool which I ignored. I would have retreated to my room except for the fact that I wanted to see Auntie. My stomach was already quivering with excitement over the many possibilities of seduction that played through my head like a streaming video file. I didn't have to wait too long Auntie came in the house within moments as if my thoughts of her had summoned her.
I knew I was staring but that didn't stop me from doing so. Believe me you would stare too, She was tall, full bodied, cocoa brown, and dark eyed. Her face was all cheek bones and full lips. Her hair was cut into a sleek stylish bone straight, jet-black bob. It was hard to imagine that she was the same skinny girl that had stood with my mother in those old photographs, with a mass of unruly black hair and a look that said "fuck you." even way back then. I smiled at her when my lips decided to function again and was able to mutter "Hello Auntie." She looked at me hard and for some reason I started to blush. Hoping she hadn't seen I jumped up and brushed past her.
"Let me see to your bags." I said walking right out of the room.
"Oh that's ok Lorraine don't bother I'll take them up myself." She had brought her bags into the house and set them at the foot of the stairs before entering the living room. I turned back not sure what to do, so like a fool I just stood there. Auntie was staring at me again in a way that wasn't altogether familial. Had she always looked at me like that and I'd just failed to notice or did she know what I was thinking, or what I had done? I felt myself starting to blush again and wondered how the hell I was ever going to seduce her if she made me as flustered as a school girl with a simple look.
A slight smirk played across her glossed lips and she parted them as if to speak. She never got the chance because Robin walked back into the room. She glared at me and I glared right back hating her for making me miss whatever Auntie had been about to say.
Auntie turned away from me and looked at her daughter.
"Robi why did you leave your things on the porch?" Robin glared at me again. "I thought as our hostess Raine would have enough sense to bring them in. Obviously her manners are lacking."
I wanted to run over there and shake the hell out of her skinny little ass but instead I smiled.
"Technically this is my mother's house which would make her your hostess, besides you're family not guests which means you can get your own damn bags."
"Whatever."
She left the room in a huff and made plenty of noise opening and slamming the door, and then getting her lone suitcase off of the porch. She made even more noise dragging the damn thing up the stairs. Unless she had cadaver crammed in there there's no earthly way that the bag was that heavy. Yes that's right you guessed it drama queens run in my family.
Auntie closed her eyes for a moment as if saying a silent prayer. More likely she was cursing the demon that had impregnated her and with the succubus that was my cousin. She seemed to be proud enough to rave about her daughter to any family member who would listen and even the ones who wouldn't but she couldn't seem to stand the girl when it came to one on one interaction. Not that I could blame her much. Robin was selfish and spoiled rotten thanks mostly to her father. Auntie had been divorced from Juan 20 years but he had maintained a relationship with his only child. Robin had been to the most expensive schools money could buy and given every gift she'd ever him asked for, I knew for a fact that Auntie had never really been able to discipline Robin because her daughter had no idea what it was like to be denied anything. Juan met no phone privileges immediately with the purchase of a cell phone. No car just meant he'd call a car service to take her where she wanted to go. Because of that she had grown from a spoiled little girl to a spoiled woman who was in a word sickening.
After her moment of silence Auntie opened her eyes and graced me with a wide smile. We jokingly referred to her as the politician, because no matter what the circumstances she could produce that same brilliant smile.
"So what have you been up to?" She asked
"No good." I replied being more of a smart ass than I usually was with her
