Call Lou for a ride

You tap Lou’s contact and call her, bringing your phone back up to your ear. You hear the line connect.

“John!” You hear a familiar familial voice excitedly shout through the phone.

“Hi Lou, how are you doing?” You ask.

“I’m doing great, it’s been so long since I last heard from you!” She bubbles. “What are you up to these days?”

“Uh, well my classes are going good, but hey I need―” you begin.

“Oh my God, that’s right! Kat’s been keeping me up to date with all the goings on with your classes. How’s the big project coming along?” She continues.

“It’s going fine,” you grimace, “but are you―”

“Man do I miss being an undergrad, are your professors treating you well?” She clicks her tongue, and continues.

“Yes Lou, they are” you huff, “but do you―”

“It was Professor Hauptman, right?” she asks. “Your department head, right?”

“Hubbard,” you groan, “Professor Hubbard, but are you―”

“Yes?” She asks.

“But are you free right now?” You ask, exasperated.

“Of course!” She shouts gleefully. “I’m totally down to hang out right now. I can’t get too wild today but I still owe you a bar crawl now that you’re old enough to drink, it’s gonna be so fun!”

“Actually I kinda need a ride―” You say.

“Oh sure!” She giggles, “I can come pick you up right now.”

“Not at my apartment!” You shout reflexively, Marcy shifting against your shoulder, gayly snoring.

“Uh, ok, well where are you then?” Lou chuckles.

“Uh,” you say, looking around for something to identify where exactly you are, “I’m in front of a house on greek row that says chi upsilon mu on the front.”

“Ha!” Lou laughs. “Oh my God, I’ll be there in a couple minutes! It’s not too far from my apartment! See you soon!” She says, and then hangs up. You shove your phone back into your pocket and rub your face again. You feel exhausted already.

A few minutes later, a car screeches to a halt in front of you in the street. You look up and see a very familiar sedan. You slowly rise to your feet, roughly pull Marcy up onto her feet and throw her arm around your neck, and walk over to the car.

“Hey Lou.” You groan.

“Looks like you caught yourself a cutie, John. Get in.” Your big sister Louise grins from the driver’s seat, popping open the door behind her for you.

“Tell me about it,” you say, heaving Marcy into the backseat and scooting in after her. “Can we drop her off at campus, Kat’s waiting for her.”

“I thought you wanted to hang out?” Lou whines, giving you a pained look through the rear view mirror. You groan, too hung over to put up a fight.

“We can once I’ve dropped her off,” you sigh. Lou beams at you in victory and slamming the car into drive. You get pushed back into the pleather seat.

“Good! It’s been too long since we had sibling bonding time.” She says gleefully.

“Ohhhh.” Marcy groans, laying beside you face down in the back seat.

“Oh you better not.” You growl, propping Marcy up against the passenger side door and rolling down the window, letting her head hang out just in case. It’s a stressful ride back to campus, Marcy hanging her head out the window like a dog and her blonde hair dancing in the breeze, and Lou weaving through city traffic like it's a race. When her car comes to another screeching halt in front of campus, you go to jump out of the car. Lou locks the doors before you can pop the handle.

“Promise me,” she says, looking back over her shoulder and staring you dead in the eyes, “that you aren’t just going to dip on me again?”

“I promise.” You sigh. She gives you a wicked grin as she unlocks the doors and you drag Marcy out and onto her feet. You see a glistening slimy streak like a slug’s trail on the back seat and try not to think too hard about it. As you pull Marcy along in the glaring morning light, you pull out your phone and hit the speed dial.

“Hey.” You say, into the phone once the line connects.

“Are you here already?” Kat says.

“Yeah. Lou gave me a ride.” You reply.

“Did she talk you into hanging out for it?” Kat snickers.

“Ugh,” you groan, “she did.”

“How unfortunate.” She crows. “I’m on my way down now. I’ll meet you at the door.” She hangs up. Kat beats you to the front of the freshman dorms, Marcy still holding on to you, though thankfully walking on her own wobbly legs now.

“Wow, you both look awful.” Kat states, holding the door open for you.

“Nice to see you too.” You huff, tugging Marcy through the door. Kat flashes her ID at the RA at the desk as you pass and you take the elevator up to Kat’s room. Kat opens the door for you and lets you in. You lift a barely cognizant Marcy up and set her as gently down onto Kat’s bed as you can.

“I’ll keep an eye on her until she’s ok to go back to her room.” Kat states, sitting down at her desk, going back to her school work.

“Thanks.” You sigh, looking down at Marcy’s sleeping form, tits threatening to spill out of her stained dress.

“Also you owe me, big.” She adds.

“I know,” you sigh louder and more exasperated.

“Now go, before Lou comes looking.” Kat chuckles. You groan a tired groan, leaving Kat to tend to Marcy. You take the elevator back down and walk back out to the drop off lot. As you walk towards Lou’s car, she waves at you. You weakly wave back. You sit down in the front seat and Lou takes off at light speed again.

“So where are we going?” You ask, buckling yourself in for what is sure to be a bumpy ride.

“You hungry?” Lou asks, swerving through traffic. Your stomach gurgles in agreement. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She laughs and drives downtown, parking in front of the art deco silhouette of the Greasy Spoon.

Lou leads you in, the smells of grease, coffee grounds, and cigarettes wafting into your nose and making it twitch. You and her sit down at a booth and a perky little waitress strolls up and hands you each a menu and asks if you want a drink to start.

“Cup of coffee please.” You state.

“Cream or sugar?” The waitress asks, chewing the gum in her cheek.

“Cream please.” You reply. The waitress scribbles in her flipbook and looks at Lou.

“I’ll take coffee too, cream and sugar.” Lou orders, smiling at the waitress.

“Sure thing.” The waitress drawls, walking away from the booth. You look over the menu. You struggle to read it, you're so tired.

“So,” starts Lou, brushing her bangs back behind her ear, “how’s my favorite brother doing?”

“I’m your only brother,” you state, “but thanks.” The waitress delivers Lou and yours coffee, with cream and sugar.

“Ready to order?” The waitress asks, still chewing away at her gum. You order a breakfast platter of eggs and bacon and Lou orders a toasted sandwich. The waitress takes your orders and your menus and walks off. You catch your eyes following her cocking hips as she walks away. Is her skirt shorter than before you ask yourself while blowing on your coffee. You take a sip of the scalding beverage and feel the rush of caffeine.

"Oh." You groan as you feel the coffee breath new life into your tired form.

"Long night?" Asks Lou.

"Yeah." You say. “Have you heard anything from Dad?”

“He’s doing fine in the home.” She says, sipping her coffee and sighing. “Just as cantankerous and troublesome as always.”

“Oh?” You chuckle.

“Well,” Lou begins, “he is still complaining about the management and he’s apparently taken to annoying his neighbor for sport with petty pranks.”

“Oh brother.” You snort. “Did he finally get bored with the pretty nurse that he was hitting on?”

“Oh no he’s still flirting with her as often as he gets to.” Lou chuckles. “Insists that she is the lady to his tramp. Partners in crime. That kind of thing.”

“Oh my God.” You laugh.

“She’s apparently humoring him, bringing him candy and other treats from the kitchen when she makes her rounds.” Lou says, smiling into her coffee cup.

“That’s sweet.” You say, taking another sip of coffee. “Glad that he’s doing good, making friends.”

“And enemies too. But honestly, I agree.” Lou sighs. “Though we all ought to visit him more often than we do.”

“Yeah.” You reply. You and Lou sit there in silence for a long moment, before the waitress returns with your food. You get up to wash your sticky hands in the bathroom. You get a fright when you see your face in the dirty mirror, your hair wild, a lipstick mark on your chin, and hickeys all down the side of your neck.

“Jesus.” You gasp, taking some paper towels from the dispenser and doing your best to clean yourself up. You do your best before heading back to the table. You dig into your meal voraciously.

“So who was the girl with you when I picked you up?” Lou inquires as you shove scrambled eggs into your mouth. You swallow.

“Marcy,” you state, “one of Kat’s friends.”

“Huh” Lou says, eyes narrowing conspiratorially while you go back to chowing away, “you went to your first frat party and picked up your little sister’s friend?” You swallow your food again.

“That is the shape of things.” You chuckle.

“Wildchild John returns.” Lou grins at you. You scowl back. “I’m kidding.”

“Sure.” You chuckle, nearly finished with your plate already. “How’s grad school treating you?”

“It’s so much work.” Lou deflates, setting down her half eaten sandwich. “Plus Douglas and I broke up.”

“Oh?” You say, swallowing, having nearly finished with your plate already.

“Caught him at the bar downtown with the same bimbo again when he was ‘working the night shift’, so I went home and chucked all his shit out on the curb. Not much to add.” She says, forcing a smile.

“Sorry to hear that.” You say. Lou gives you a frown.

“Honestly, I’m much happier that he’s gone.” She gloats, sipping her coffee. “He was a lying cheat and really dragging me down these last few months.” You and her are shortly done with your plates. You go back to sipping your coffee.

“Mentioning exs,” Lou asks, reclining back in the aged booth seat with her coffee, “how are things going on the big project between you and Alice?” You freeze for a moment, contemplating what to tell or not tell Lou. You can see from the predatory grin on your sister’s face that she is looking to instigate. “Oh something happened didn’t it.” She adds.