91
Despite our new dedication to open discussion, the next week passed without much excitement. We all hunkered down for exams before the break, I think, and it took away most of our energy. The three of us pressed together a few times, but it was a quick thing with none of the ‘performance’ of our earlier sessions.
Then break started and we got caught up in prepping for Thanksgiving. Despite my mom’s insistence that everything was going to be as cheap and easy as possible, we still ended up spending all our time on cooking and cleaning. The fact that we were having a guest, I think, made Mom feel way more self-conscious about how we were living.
The house we were renting was old, almost certainly haunted, and it collected dust everywhere — like someone was using a sifter of sand in every room when we weren’t looking. It made every cleaning project an extra chore, more like exhuming a body than keeping our own living quarters clean.
But we did our best to stay cheerful as we went through it. Holidays were particularly stressful with everything that had happened, so we all worked extra hard to keep each other engaged.
Finally, Thanksgiving Day arrived. The table was set. The dog show was onscreen. We were all ready to settle in for a day of overindulging in food, alcohol, and television.
Kara arrived shortly before 2pm, even her knock on the door was bubbly and cheerful. Lucy hurried over to answer it, and immediately embraced her petite friend in a hug so big, it threatened to swallow the girl.
My sister finally released Kara, and the brunette immediately caught my eye. Reflexively, I stared down at my shoes. Kara was super cute. She was petite with dark brown hair and a tight little body. Her build was kind of like my younger sister, Lindsay, although she was skinny, rather than lithe or toned.
The last time we’d met up, at Lindsay’s birthday party, Kara had given me her number. We’d texted a few times, but mostly it went nowhere. Now I was regretting the lost opportunity. With her deep brown eyes and wicked smirk, Kara was very much in my crush category. All the sibling masturbation sessions couldn’t quench that fire.
Kara walked over and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. I looked immediately at Lucy, waiting for the jealousy monster to leap out from her lips, but instead my older sister just grinned at me. Like she knew a really good secret.
Soon after, we sat down to the meal. There was enough food for all, but I would never have described it as a sumptuous feast. Weird how even our indulgences were a reminder of all the things we could no longer indulge in.
Everything started OK. My Dad asked Kara how school was going, and she did a good job keeping things light. My sisters chimed in, and we were having a pretty good time. But then one innocuous question stopped everything dead.
“So where are your parents during the holiday?” Mom asked.
“Oh, they’re off at the ski resort,” Kara said.
“Ski resort,” my dad said. It was not a question.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.
“Yes, it was this whole thing,” Kara said, “Dad said that money was tight, so he reserved at this place that isn’t as nice as usual and Mom freaked out.”
“Yes,” Dad said, “Important to be financially responsible.”
The room went dead silent. I think Kara realized what she’d been saying, but it was too late. The cloud of our family’s failures hung over us, thick and murky. I felt it, heavy, in my chest.
We’d been those people, once. Never as rich as Kara, of course, but doing well enough to have a nice home, new cars, and a good vacation. Dad didn’t set out to lose his job, we all knew that, but it happened anyway. Suddenly we were scraping by.
Dad had found another job for about a quarter of the pay. Mom went back to work and Jan cut grad school short to start earning money. The only reason Lucy and I weren’t working was because Dad insisted that school was more important and wouldn’t allow it. Watching him gather up those last shreds of his pride was almost worse than seeing it obliterated in the first place.
So, hearing Kara talk about having to accept the ‘lesser’ chalet while we stared at two sad, skinny chickens at a busted up table in a sad, old house — I guess it hurt a little. With conversation stifled and the meal mostly gone, we turned to the one thing we still had plenty of: alcohol.
We’d ended up with a half dozen bottles of wine and we proceeded to methodically murder them all. It didn’t make dinner less awkward, but it helped us remember less of it in the morning.
After dinner, the inevitable began to take its effect. My Dad found his way to the football game and Jan joined him. Mom ended up napping in a corner. That left Lindsay, Lucy, Kara and I to sloppily clean up.
At one point, while I collected the dishes and Kara and Lindsay were washing in the other room, Lucy sidled up next to me, nudging my side.
“Kara’s been eyeing you all night,” she said.
“That’s nice,” I said, absently.
“You should make a move,” Lucy said, “I think she’d go for it.”
“Last time, that did not turn out too well,” I said, looking at my sister meaningfully.
“It’s fine,” Lucy said, “I won’t get mad.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Lucy said, “Kara’s a nice girl and she could do a lot worse. Besides, I feel like one of us should score on Thanksgiving, since it looks like the Cowboys can’t do it.”
“Thanks,” I said, meaning it.
Our lives had been so cursed, dating hadn’t felt like an option. And while I enjoyed my little meetings with my sisters, they also put me in an uncomfortable spot for other relationships. What had happened when I flirted with Kara last time, I was not going through that again. So having the green light from my sister left my engines revving hard.
Once we were done cleaning up, I made my way over to Kara. I was about to suggest she come see my room for some lame reason (it was the best excuse I could think of), but Lindsay beat me to the punch.
“We should do something,” my little sister said, “The rest of the family is busy, so let’s hang out.”
“That could be fun, I guess,” I said, mentally cursing my cock-blocking baby sis.
“We could play a boardgame,” Kara said, “I think I saw some in one of the bedrooms before.”
“Oh hell no,” Lucy said, “That’s only going to lead to trouble.”
“What if we did our thing?” Lindsay suggested.
Both Lucy and I swung our heads toward our sister so fast, I’m surprised our necks didn’t snap in unison. What did she just say?!
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, hon,” Lucy said, taking the side of reason for once.
“I bet Kara would really like it,” Lindsay said.