Christmas

Being the third wheel was never fun. Mom and Dad were off doing their own thing and I knew Lilian and James wanted time to themselves. I was perfectly able and willing to fly solo, but my brother was being a dumbass about things. While grateful he was making the effort to make sure I wasn’t left out, he was driving himself crazy by stubbornly having me tag along. I understood too. He was torn between being a good brother and enjoying time on a beautiful beach with a sexy model of a girlfriend.

If I was in his position, I’d have abandoned him first thing.

James was a better man than I was.

“Girlfriend?” I jumped at the sound of Lilian’s voice. She settled into the chair next to me as we looked out over the beach. Taken aback by the question, I gave her a confused look. She made an obvious glance at my phone. There on the screen was the picture of Emma and me. I quickly turned the screen off and set the phone face down.

Lilian had a nice smile. Among other things. She made bikini’s a war crime. How the hell am I supposed to be a polite, civilized gentleman with that kind of cleavage hanging out in front of me? It wasn’t that she had huge tits—large but not overly so—but that what was there was supported by incredibly little—

Oh god. I was staring.

Oh god. She totally knew I was staring.

Face burning, my focus snapping to my phone as if something important needed to be addressed. Why did I have to be so fucking creepy around her? This trip had probably tanked her opinion of me. The creepy little brother who perved out over the pretty girlfriend.

A light laugh followed by her sweet voice. “Can I tell you a little secret?” My eyes went over to her, making sure to stay above the neckline this time. She had leaned a little closer. There was a twinkle in her eye, but it was a warm humor that matched with her voice. “If I didn’t want guys to stare, I wouldn’t be wearing it.” My cheeks were probably about the same color as the sunburn on my arms. They certainly matched in temperature. She was laughing again. It was light and had a musical pull to it. I could see why my brother was attracted to her. She had an exotic pull in both looks and personality.

“No. Uh. She’s not my girlfriend.” My words tripped over themselves on the way out. The embarrassment was only getting worse the more I floundered, but I needed to change the direction of the conversation. “It’s not like that.”

An eyebrow rose in interest as she tilted her head slightly. “Keeping things casual? I understand.” My face burned at the implication she was making. The shock made it so I couldn’t even correct her on that. There was a hint of amusement as she spoke. “What? I’m not a prude, Isaac. There is nothing wrong with keeping things casual. Things are certainly simpler that way,” she said with a wistful sigh. “Oh, I didn’t mean to imply—I’m perfectly happy with James. You don’t have to worry about that,” she said in a rush after seeing the look on my face. “James is…” She fell silent, looking off at the beach.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

Her head turned back to me. The wind had blown some of her long hair into her face, which she fought to pull back. “Like?” She laughed. Man, hearing her laugh was amazing. It was the infectious sort that had me grinning without even knowing why I was doing it. “I love James. Dated a fair amount of great guys, but your brother is something else. Never was a firm believer in that whole, ‘The one,’ crap. Him? Well, let’s say it’s never too late to believe.”

Her words were written over her face. She was a woman in love and even a socially oblivious Neanderthal like me could see it. But seeing that made my smile fade as I remembered my brother's words. How her feelings were perfectly matched by his feelings, yet his stupidity led them down a road to eventual oblivion.

Right now, I could understand my brother’s position better than ever. He saw this loving expression all the time. No idea how he could stomach the guilt of cheating on her. Even the knowledge of it made me sick.

“You probably don’t want to hear all this mushy stuff between James and I.”

“It’s fine.”

“One of the reasons I came over is to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? For what?” I asked as I looked up at her.

There was a faint redness to her cheeks. “Yesterday.”

Ah. She was talking about how I caught them—

“Oh. Uh. No. It’s fine. Sorry—”

“We are sharing a space together, and that was disrespectful of you.”

“I get it though. This is your vacation too and you want to spend it with the person you love. Mom and Dad are kinda clueless about stuff like that. I think they still believe James and I are their little children and forget we’ve grown up.”

Humor touched her lips. “Debatable. Put James in a party setting with a little booze…” She chuckled. “At least you have the excuse of still being a teenager. I love your brother, but there are times he shows he has some growing up to do.”

“That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

She shrugged. “He has his moments.” There was a brief pause as she switched conversation topics. “But I didn’t come over here to talk about our relationship. Beyond apologizing, I don’t actually know you all that well. Beyond what James has told me, we haven’t had all that much time to talk.” I shifted uncomfortably. “Relax, Isaac. This isn’t an interrogation. I just want to get to know you a bit better. James talks about you all the time.”

That surprised me. “He does?”

“Oh yeah. The stories he tells me…”

By the time James found us, the sun was creeping toward the horizon. I corrected several stories James had told her about our childhood. Beyond that, we talked about a lot of things. How she was in the nursing program and the things she wanted to do in the future. She asked about what I was interested in, what I envisioned for myself.

It was… nice. I was a bit shocked at how easily I held a conversation with her. It was only later that it hit me. A lot of it was stuff I did with Emma. Asking questions, listening to the other person, following that up to move the conversation forward and show you were interested. It was all something I had struggled with before. Now? I felt good about how it went.

Maybe Lilian would have a better opinion of me now that she had something more than, ‘horny teenager who stares at my chest.’

It was a lot less awkward tagging along with them after. I gave them space, but there was a more natural atmosphere when the three of us did things.

Christmas day was a bit of a thing. Mom and Dad made reservations at the fancy restaurant for dinner. The food wasn’t the best, not for that price, but the conversation was lively and we all had a great time. After dinner, we all went to the parent’s room and exchanged gifts. It was just a few small ones we brought with us. I was sure there was a boatload of them waiting for me when I got home. Mom and Dad always went overboard when it came to getting gifts.

After a Christmas toast, the three of us headed back to our room. Lilian went in first as James pulled me back.

“Isaac. I hate to ask this of you but—”

“I get it. Noise-canceling headphones and loud music.”

“If you want to take a walk for a half-hour—”

“And risk walking in on you again? No thanks. My room has a door. I’ll just stay in there for the rest of the night.”

Gripping my shoulders, he gave them a squeeze. “You’re the best.”

Shaking my head, he followed me into our room.

Lilian was standing there at the end of the small hall with an inquisitive expression. “And just what were you two talking about?”

I made a bad show of faking a yawn, stretching my arms so that I smacked James in the face. “Boy, I am tired. So weird. Going to go to bed early and fall asleep. A deep, deep sleep. See you both in the morning.”

Arms crossed, Lilian stared at James.

“What? You heard him. He’s tired.”

“You are unbelievable—”

I closed the door behind me. Moving over to my suitcase, I grabbed my headphones and put them on. Flicking through my music, I paused after remembering I hadn’t wished Emma a Merry Christmas. I sent her a message and went back to my music. Needed to find something before they got started…

Lying on my bed, I was listening to my music as I scrolled over some gaming articles before switching over to Dungeons and Dragons stuff. I still had some things to hammer out before we had our mega sessions. Now was as good a time as any to knock some of that out.

My phone buzzed and I found Emma’s message waiting for me.

>You do know it's 2 in the morning?

I grimaced. Totally forgot about the time difference.

>Whoops. Sorry. Goodnight

>Thought you’d forgotten about me

She had a crying emote after it. My response came naturally, but I hesitated on sending it. Knowing I was agonizing over nothing, I **** myself to send it.

>Forget you? Impossible

A smiley face popped up followed by her asking how vacation was going. I told her some things I’d been up to and she mentioned a few things that she did with her family for Christmas. It was a nice, normal conversation. The normal part got me. No crazy innuendos. No suggestive plays.

It was almost disappointing.

An hour and a half was gone with a blink.

>I really need to get some sleep though

>Okay. Goodnight, Emma

I was about to start getting ready for bed myself when the phone buzzed.

>BTW. You better have a present for me when you get back. We can exchange gifts.

Wait, seriously? Fuck. I never considered—

>Bet you can’t wait to open mine

The image that followed was Emma in nothing but a carefully positioned ribbon wrapped around her. The thin red material covered her nipples and two separate strands went over her shoulders to disappear between her crossed legs. A big red bow was positioned between her breasts. Stunning as that all was, her expression was what got me. Eyes stared up at the camera with coy innocence. She even looked like she was blushing in embarrassment. Emma knew me too well. She pulled off the innocent look so god damn perfectly that I almost believed it. Wanted to believe it. That wasn’t what excited me though. Innocent look aside, I knew she was anything but. It made my heart race.

“Fuck me,” I breathed as I **** myself to put my phone down.