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"You can't be serious!" I cried. Put my all into it, too. Even threw up a dramatic gesture with both hands. My mother just stared at me looking less than sympathetic. "Mom! Really?!"
"Yes," She said, coolly. "And they'll be here in a couple of hours so chop-chop."
My big sister was emotionless, as usual. I looked into Riley's face for salvation, or support, or at least an equal expression of outrage but she just huffed, rolled her big liner-ringed hazel eyes, and left the kitchen.
"Be reasonable, Mom," I started.
She raised her hand, sharply. "Jessica, it's already decided. No negotiation. It's two weeks. You'll live."
Living wasn't the point. Hell, sharing Riley's room wasn't even the point. Sure I was a virgin, but I wasn't sexually inept, and my uncle sleeping in
my
bed with the wife he just married meant my bedsheets would be filled with action. Married so recently that I was still wearing my wedding clothes. "Can't they just get a hotel? It's not my fault he broke his foot!"
"You're accommodating family. I'm a little disappointed that you didn't volunteer. Tom's always been good to you and your sister. Do you really think this is how he wanted to spend his honeymoon?"
I fought back physically gagging when she mentioned the honeymoon. That was the last image I needed to be refreshed in my brain. Giving one last pleading look at my cold-hearted mother, I realized the argument was truly lost. I groaned but turned to obey all the same. One thing was for sure; I needed to take my Slytherin sheets off my bed.
*****
I opened the door to Riley's room and was met with an icy blast. One of her windows was wide open, letting the winter night's chill in and the smoke from her joint out. My skin was still so hot from my shower that I faintly steamed in the cold and, now in my sleepwear that consisted of a peach sports bra and soft black boyshorts, I winced from the bite. Beneath the soft cotton of my top, my poor nipples were anything but. I laid my blankets out on one side of Riley's bed then I stood there feeling like I was naked in the snow.
"Cold enough?" I asked my sister.
Her shape was hidden by her black high-backed chair, but I knew Riley was sitting at her computer like usual, a multi-screen monstrosity that she had put owning ahead of getting her own place. The speakers were strategically placed around her room and played Lo-fi music quietly, the fan on her ceiling was going but the light was off leaving illumination to the lamp beside her bed and the shifting colors of her computing setup.
"I didn't wanna smoke you out," Riley explained. Her tall chair spun around slowly. I guessed she was ready for bed, though it didn't look like it would be a comfortable night. Thick green sweatpants vanished under the edge of a baggy gray hoodie with the logo of a band I could never remember the name of, though she had taken her emo makeup off. She looked ready to walk to the store more than turn in for sleep. Riley was gesturing with a hand that still held a smoldering joint. The hit must have been a bad one, because as soon as she had turned to fully face me her eyes bulged and a fit of coughing took her.
"Don't die." I teased, as I stepped back and closed the door.
After a few gasping breaths, Riley composed herself enough to speak. "You-- You're not-- You're not wearing that in my bed."
"What?" I asked, genuinely puzzled, and started searching for the mess on my clothes I must not have noticed.
"Put a shirt on or something."
"What? Why? This is how I sleep. I can't wear a shirt, I get tangled and it chokes me."
"Not in my bed. Take the couch," Riley casually refused, taking another puff. "And you'll be warmer in more clothes." The couch in Riley's room was an ancient love seat that barely had enough spring in it to not let your ass hit the floor when sat in. I grimaced just looking at it.
"That's bullshit. No fucking way. And why would I be warmer, do you leave the window open?"
"A bit, yeah. I like the cold."
"Well, not when I'm in here," I stated. "It's fucking stupid that I have to stay in here, and if I do have to stay in here then we're gonna close the damn window! I deserve to sleep comfortably," I was almost shouting, the combined injustices pushing my anger. "You know, you can make a little sacrifice for me for once!"
Riley rose from her chair like a volcanic eruption, flicking the roach out of the window then practically stomped as she moved towards it, slamming it closed. She stood facing the window with feet planted wide and her shoulders moved as she breathed in, held it, and then exhaled. A question just started to leave my tongue when she turned with a glare on her face that shut me down. I don't know what I'd done to stir her rage, other than voicing how the whole situation was bullshit, but I suddenly felt very small under her gaze. Small and vulnerable and, for the first time ever I swear to god, a thought pierced my skull like an arrow that was atrocious, vile, despicable even; I barely had clothes on, I knew my sister had a thing for girls, and I was entirely at her mercy. If she tried to force me to do anything... sexual... I stood no chance of resisting. The biggest question, however, was why the fuck did that turn me on like it did? I tried to swallow those thoughts away, but it was less than effective.
"Jes," Riley said with a quiet growl and took a step toward me. I squeaked and flinched back slightly. My sister had our father's height and outweighed me by at least fifteen kilograms of faux-sword-fighting muscle, not to mention her experience with dealing blows. She could beat the shit out of me as a lesson if she felt inclined. Riley hadn't hit me since we were still kids, but just this second I was terrified. I could feel my bones breaking and the throbbing of a bleeding nose.
"What are you doing?" Riley's deadpan voice asked and I realized I was standing with my hands balled up and eyes squeezed shut in preparation for my swift ass-kicking. Her body language had calmed entirely and, beneath a shroud of black bangs, her eyes were no longer blazing.
"N-- Nothing," I said as casually as I dared and immediately straightened out.
She laughed a cold dry laugh. "You think I'm gonna, what, hurt you? Beat you up?"