Blessings Ch. 02

There are four chapters to Blessings. They should post in daily intervals. Thanks go out to chargergirl for her support and for her expert eye. Don't forget to vote and/or comment. I'd love to know what you think.

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As he'd suspected it hadn't taken Amanda long to join him on the sofa. She had glided down the stairs like a goddess.

Amanda wore her sleeping clothes, a bright red Mickey Mouse t-shirt that stretched halfway to her knees. She was not long removed from her shower. Her skin was still flushed from the hot water and lustrous from the body lotion she had applied. Kevin pretended not to notice how good she smelled as she plopped down on the couch beside him. Apple body wash and strawberry shampoo conspired together to distract him from the football game. He inched closer toward her, shifting his hips just a bit on the sofa.

Angling his head to get a better whiff, he instead got a better view. Her right arm was propped on the back of the sofa; her shoulders were turned in his direction. The position accentuated the curves of her breasts. That they were angled toward him drove him mad. With each breath she took, they rose and fell. Unrestrained beneath her night shirt they were free to bob and sway, reacting to every little movement she made.

Kevin tried to concentrate on the game. Dad occasionally asked him questions about the two teams or about a particular player, but Kevin was too distracted to give coherent answers. He glanced at Amanda again; she now reclined against the opposite arm of the sofa. Her shapely legs stretched enticingly across the seat cushions. She scissored her legs, playfully bouncing her heels on the middle cushion. As her legs rose and fell, he was treated to enticing glances beneath her nightshirt. Her pale legs were even paler beneath the short hem of her red nightshirt. The soft flesh of her inner thighs jiggled with every motion, moving as unpredictably and as erotically as her breasts. Kevin angled his head a bit, trying to see even more. At the junction of her thighs he caught a glimpse of turquoise blue. He leaned forward, under the pretense of scratching his foot and glimpsed even more turquoise. Her panties, he realized. The leg openings were trimmed with black-and-white striped elastic. The harder he concentrated the more he thought he could see brown curls pressing against the soft fabric.

She stopped bouncing her heels. Her right foot reached out to touch his left arm. Fearing he might have been caught peeking, he abandoned his view of her panties and concentrated on the TV. She rubbed the sole of her foot along his arm, tracing a delicate pattern across the navy sweater. Slowly she moved down his bicep, across his elbow, and over the length of his forearm. Kevin shivered. Beneath the sweater, his arm hairs stiffened at her touch. She moved her foot down, slipping it under the cuff of his sweater. He glanced at her face, but she was watching the game intently, paying absolutely no attention to what her feet were doing. Her foot slipped out of his sweater. Her nimble toes curled around the top of his hand, and she pinched him, hard.

Kevin yelped. He grabbed his hand as she squealed with laughter.

"Mandy, stop pestering your brother," Dad warned.

"Sorry Daddy." Her lips drooped in a pout. "We'll kiss and make up." She crawled on her knees to Kevin's side and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. She left a streak of saliva on his face and laughed again. Refusing to relinquish her pout, she turned to Dad and asked, "Would you get me something to drink?"

Dad asked what his little girl wanted. Kevin rolled his eyes. His dad wouldn't have been so accommodating had he asked."You want something, Kevin?" Dad asked. Kevin called out Diet Coke, as his father headed for the kitchen.

Amanda was still close at his side. She pressed her warm body against Kevin's shoulder. He wanted to put his arm around her waist, to hold her even closer, but he was afraid she might laugh at him.

"Can you believe what they thought?" she said. "I mean you and me?"

"It's nuts," he nervously answered. He felt his hand leave the safety of the sofa. It was destined for Amanda, more specifically the warm skin of her exposed thighs.

From the kitchen, Dad hollered at them. That was enough to halt Kevin's advance. Dad yelled that they were out of Diet Cokes. He asked if the regular kind would be alright.

"You want to mess with him?" she asked.

Kevin's hand fought to rise from the sofa. He swallowed hard and asked how.

"Follow my lead." She climbed on Kevin's lap and sat facing him. He oophed like he'd just had the wind knocked out of him. "Coke sounds fine, Daddy," she called. "I think Kevin's in the mood for something sweet, anyway." She grabbed his wrist and forcefully placed it on her thigh.

He was in heaven, absolute heaven. As she squirmed on his lap, trying to find a more comfortable position, her soft butt ground against his crotch. He wanted to trail his fingers up her magnificent legs, to sneak under the hem of her nightshirt and feel her magnificent ass through the turquoise cotton panties, but he was completely frozen. He could do nothing but sit there and sweat. She tugged the zipper of his quarter-zip navy sweater, exposing the white oxford he wore beneath. She undid the top two buttons of the shirt and exposed the base of his long neck.

She pressed her lips to his neck just as Dad returned with the sodas. Dad looked as confused as Kevin felt. Her lips climbed the side of his neck. They weren't proper kisses, just light contact between her lips and his skin (this was, after all, a put-on), but they were incredibly hot.

She rose up on her knees and sank back down, better positioning herself over his crotch. "Mmmm," she moaned, "Daddy, you were so right. Kevin and I are so good together." She leaned forward to quickly peck Kevin's lips. She remained in that position, rubbing their noses together and mashing her breasts against his heaving chest. "Come on," she whispered into his mouth, "play along." Kevin slipped his hand under her nightshirt. He grazed her soft butt before settling on the small of her back. She reacted favorably, cooing into his ear and playfully nipping the lobe. He wanted to move his hands and graze her butt again, but he was totally paralyzed. "And to think, we have Daddy to thank for everything!"

Dad stumbled backwards a step. Despite the little conversation he and Kevin had, it was clear that he was not prepared to see his son and daughter engaged in any type of intimacy. He fell backwards into the recliner. Both glasses of Coke went flying, thoroughly drenching both he and the chair. She nipped Kevin's ear one last time before losing control. She threw her arms around Kevin's neck and tried to smother her laughter in his shoulder. He was still erect, and she was still in his lap. He had been so nervous that he didn't realize how close to climax he was. Her laughter sent tremors throughout both of their bodies. Her unrestrained breasts jiggled against his chest; her soft legs clenched tighter around his lap; and her crotch, that place that radiated such glorious warmth, rubbed his own crotch, teasing his erect penis. His tension eased just enough to where he could move his arms. His hands slipped to her butt. He kept them there, using the justification that he was helping her keep her balance; he didn't want her to fall over laughing and bang her head on the floor. He had touched her there before. There had been accidental brushes, playful smacks and pinches, but nothing like this, nothing like molding his hands around the perfectly shaped cheeks. He wanted to squeeze them, but he didn't dare. He just kept his hands in place and hoped she didn't figure out what he was doing.

Dad got up from the recliner. His white t-shirt was soaked with sticky brown soda. "Damn it, Mandy!" he cursed.

Amanda started laughing all over again. "What's the matter, Daddy? Not quite ready for grandkids?" That statement combined with the friction from her body was too much. Kevin felt the orgasm approach but was powerless to stop it. His hands moved to her hips, where he tried to rock her against his spurting penis.

The release was amazing. Mandy was amazing. He spurted again and again, soaking his boxers.

He was so in love but knew that none of it was real. The kisses were fake, the touches an act. He felt increasingly foolish as his cold, wet penis wilted. He pitched Amanda off of his lap. She was still laughing at Dad's spill when she asked why he was leaving. Kevin made up a lame excuse about homework. He didn't want Amanda to see the growing wet spot on the front of his jeans, so he walked sort of hunched over, blocking his fly with his left hand. The strange position probably only drew attention to it. He heard Mom at the top of the stairs. She asked what the commotion was. Kevin knew he didn't want Mom to see the wet spot, and he didn't want to explain what had just happened between him and his sister. Repeating the lame excuse about homework, he abruptly left.

The week passed, and Kevin was able to reclaim some manner of focus. The grind of his job certainly helped. Kevin worked a paint line in a small manufacturing plant. The job was hot and messy; he often had to use the company shower to get the sweat and powder-coat out of his hair, but at least the job offered solitude. Spending nearly ten hours a day in a paint booth was a unique kind of meditation. Muttering to himself through the respirator, he spent the week considering life and love, and replaying Monday evening on the couch with Amanda more than a few times.

It had been a game to her, a not-so-innocent joke. She had laughed, not only at Dad but at him.

By Friday, he decided he needed a diversion, so he found himself thinking about Cassie. Thinking about her conjured up memories: Cassie in her flowery Easter dress, Cassie in English class twirling ropes of blonde hair around a mechanical pencil, and Cassie at the waterpark on Memorial Day, modeling the new bikini she'd bought just for him. And that bikini was fantastic. The triangles of turquoise and beige stripes had done little to conceal her willowy body. She was quite thin, a bit too thin, but she looked absolutely stunning in a bikini, like a model.

Kevin had never been outgoing. Girls he found particularly intimidating. He had gained a bit of experience playing the standard teenage dating games; he spent years trying to get from one base to the next, and he lost his virginity under the most clichéd of circumstances, prom night. Yet he'd never been the type of guy who would traipse through clubs or parties scoping out his next conquest. He felt little compulsion to approach strange girls.

Cassie had been different. He'd met her in English class last spring, and the two seemed to click. She was rational and sensitive (everything he was), yet bubbly and outgoing (everything he wasn't). Everyone who met Cassie fell instantly in love with her; Kevin was no exception. Yet it hadn't worked out. They hit a few snags in the relationship when they started spending less time together. She drifted toward her friends, and he drifted toward his. The drift turned into a mutual decision to take a break from one another, a break that never ended.

And thus we prove that Kevin Armstrong is the biggest idiot on the planet. He should have called her, or sent an e-mail. Hell he could have mailed her a postcard. He wondered what might have happened had they not broken up. Monday on the couch wouldn't have happened; that was for certain. He wouldn't have ruined a perfectly good pair of boxers and his favorite jeans. He wouldn't be slowly driving himself crazy thinking about Amanda.

After getting off work Friday, Kevin stopped at the bank, picked up a take-and-bake pizza for dinner, and bought a pack of vacuum bags at Wal-Mart. As Kevin cleaned his apartment that night he made a mental checklist of his plans for the weekend. Bob, one of his buddies from work, was moving into a bigger house. To spare Bob the expense and expertise of professional movers, the guys at work had all promised to pitch in. That would eat up a good portion of Saturday. And then what? He would do homework Sunday morning. The F he received Monday was a blow to his overall grade, but with strong homework and even stronger test scores, he could salvage his grade. He might even be able to finagle some extra-credit work out of his professor, Mrs. Langdon. Then he would have just enough time to hop over to the parents' for movie night.

Absentmindedly, he picked up the day's copy of the Star. He flipped to the movie listings section, before freezing. His imagination conjured up an image of Amanda; the zipper of her yellow cardigan lowered just enough to show she wasn't wearing anything beneath. Cleavage, he saw a hint of her white, generous cleavage. She climbed on his lap, facing him the way she had Monday night. He tugged the zipper all the way down, and parted the sweater. Her large, tear-shaped breasts were capped by swollen pink nipples. The areolas were round, and half-dollar sized. He wanted to kiss them, then keep them between his lips and suck. He imagined her whispering that he could do anything he wanted to her. She kissed his lips hard, promising that this time it wasn't pretend.

Kevin blinked the bewitching image away, realizing, to his consternation, that his penis had grown rock hard. He couldn't think such things about Mandy. And he certainly couldn't see her, not in his current state. The movie could wait a weekend. The evil empire wasn't going anywhere. Diarrhea Face wasn't going anywhere. And other than helping his friend move in the morning, he wasn't going anywhere for the rest of the weekend.

Amanda heard a car out on the street. She rushed to her bedroom window and peeped through the curtain, but it was only the neighbor, Mr. Pinkston, just back from the store. She slowly put the curtain back in place and retreated to her bed. She felt like such a waste of space, wearing her nightshirt at Seven P.M. on a Sunday night. Usually, she and Kevin would be at some grimy drive-through, pigging out on greaseball burgers, a meal that was always followed by a trip to the multiplex. There they inhaled even more junk food, indigestion be damned. It was their little tradition, and she liked it. But Kevin hadn't been around since Monday.

Dad had been furious once he got the soda cleaned up. But it was a great prank, and Kevin seemed to have enjoyed himself. He was certainly hard enough. She didn't blame him for that. She knew that guys got erections every time the wind changed. The way she was squirming around in his lap probably didn't do him any favors. She got a little wet, too, but only from the friction of their bodies rubbing together.

She remembered his hands had snuck under her nightshirt. She hoped he hadn't noticed her wet panties. It would be incredibly embarrassing to let your brother know that rubbing on him made you wet. No, she decided, he only felt my butt, not my crotch.

She thumbed through a few magazines as another hour ticked away.

Surely he had laundry to do, or he was running low on groceries. He usually stopped by after work a few times per week to raid the pantry and fridge or do laundry. He hadn't even called. She had his number, of course, but she was reluctant to call him. After Monday night, and their parents' little stunt before that, he was probably just a little weirded out. She hoped that he'd snap out of it soon; she really missed his company.

She turned on her laptop and instinctively found herself at the movie listings website. It was so nice to spend time with a guy without any expectations or pressures. She could cuddle next to a warm body in the chilly theater and not have to worry about where her date's hands might go or what his hands might do when they got there. She always felt so secure with Kevin, and it was the kind of security that only a big brother could provide.

Another car moved up the street; this one slowed to the squeak of shoddy brakes. She knew the squeak by heart and bounded down the stairs. Kevin was too late for dinner, but Mom heated him a plate of lasagna, and cut a piece of chocolate cake. Mom had cut them each a piece of cake. Kevin stood at the counter, shoveling forkfuls of noodles into his mouth, while the rest of the family sat at the table, civilly eating cake. He poured a glass of skim milk and quickly downed it. He offered a deluge of schoolwork as the reason for his sudden reclusiveness. Amanda knew better. She could see his discomfort in the way he inhaled the food (the faster he ate, the faster he could leave). She could see it in the way he desperately avoided any and all eye contact with Mom, Dad, and especially her.

"Well," he said, using the good dish towel as a napkin, "You are still the world's greatest cook, Mom."

"Actually," Dad said, "your sister made the lasagna."

Amanda licked some chocolate frosting from her lower lip. "It was just Hamburger Helper, no big deal." She had made the cake from a mix, too, but didn't want to brag.

"Don't sell yourself short, cupcake," Dad said. "You're going to make someone a great wife someday; just not Kevin, apparently." It was a brave attempt at diffusing the tension, and a funny one. Amanda couldn't stifle a giggle, neither, apparently, could Mom or Dad.

Kevin's mood changed at the sound of their laughter. He went from uncomfortable to indignant. "What is wrong with you people?! Do you think I'm some kind of perverted freak who can't find a real girlfriend?" He still had some chocolate in the corner of his mouth. "I would never touch Mandy, never, God damn it! So just let it fucking rest."

He pitched the fork into the sink, letting it clatter around in the stainless steel basin. As quickly as his anger flared, it subsided. He quietly apologized for the outburst, his eyes trained on the dirty dishes in the sink. He still wouldn't look at Mom or Dad, but he turned to look at her. It was a curious look, one of hurt mixed with fear. He had something to say but wouldn't do it in front of Mom and Dad. She had the funny feeling that she wanted to say something to him, though she didn't know what. He left before she could figure it out.

In the sanctity of his apartment, Kevin finally returned to normal. He could breathe again without raspy wheezes. His cheeks were no longer red and hot. He unbuttoned the collar of his shirt and flopped down on the sofa. He turned TV on out of habit, but quickly turned it off. He rolled on his side and tried to rest, but something in his pocket was poking his hip. It was his cell phone.

Kevin flipped the phone open, prepared to call home and apologize for the way he had left. He flipped through the contacts list, flipped right past Amanda's cute picture and didn't stop until he reached the end of the list. Without thinking he pressed call. A youthful female voice answered after one-and-a-half rings. She didn't say "Hi" or "Hello" or "This is Cassie." She answered by calling out his name, "Kevin?" Her voice registered surprise, but it sounded like she was pleasantly surprised.

He paused a moment, stunned by his own boldness. He was not the type of guy who called girls out of the blue. "Yeah, Cassie, it's me. It's been a while, huh?"

She giggled a bit and answered, "Yes it has." He could imagine her perfect white teeth smiling just then.

He loved it when she smiled and wished he could see her. He gathered his courage for the next question. "Would you like to do something tonight?" He wanted to smack himself for being so stupid; it was almost nine o' clock on a Sunday.

"Sure." She answered quickly. "I mean, I have to work tomorrow, but we can hang out and catch up for a little while."