More questions, this time from the girls...

I made my way into the dining room, giving a cheery smile to Nadine who was already sat at the table. Her seat faced mine, with Amy’s place to my left and my mom’s place set next to Amy’s at the head of the table.

Amy came through from the kitchen, carrying cutlery and placing them at the side of all of the plates. She reached over me to place mine, pushing her breasts against my back. I turned my head slightly and noticed a smile begin spreading across her face.

Nadine didn’t notice, her head was stuck firmly in her phone again. When Mom came in carrying a large glass oven dish, Nadine placed her phone next to her cutlery on the table.

“So I hear you’ve gotten yourself a job, Jake?” Mom said as she took her seat.

I goggled at Nadine, noticing her smirk briefly before I turned to face Mom. In my peripheral vision, Amy perked up in her seat.

“Yeah Mom,” I began, “I’ve started doing some side work, just to keep money coming in for myself. In fact, I’d like to talk to you about paying you some rent now that I’ve found my feet.”

My mom beamed with an intensely prideful expression whilst Nadine stared at me dumbfounded.

“We can talk about that after dinner if you’d like sweety,” my mom responded.

“What’s this about you joining a gym?” Amy asked, blurting the question out almost as soon as my mom finished speaking.

“Well yeah,” I replied, turning now to face Amy on my left and seeing her eyes fixated on my face. “I was feeling a bit down about my physique and when I was on my way home today, I found this nice little place, I’ve even gotten myself a personal trainer.”

“Well I think you already looked great,” Amy blurted, hastily turning red as both I and Nadine stared at her in shock.

Nobody commented on Amy’s outburst, my mom’s only response was to reach over and pat Amy’s shoulder fondly.

Mom began serving the casserole from the dish. We all gratefully accepted our portions, digging in as soon as everyone had a full plate.

I wolfed down my portion. There’s nothing better than a home cooked meal and boy was I hungry after my day.

Suddenly, with no preamble, I felt a leg rub against mine, starting first at my ankle and moving tantalisingly up towards my thigh before retreating. I glared around the table, noticing Nadine giving me a wicked smirk as the foot retracted.

“I’m still waiting to read that story you’ve been working on,” she grinned, full fork halfway towards her lips.

I smiled in reply as Amy once again turner her face to stare intently at me.

“Can I read it too?” she asked, her sweet, persuasive tone almost impossible to resist.

“Maybe once it’s more polished,” I smiled warmly at her, turning to Nadine as I added, “which is what Nadine is going to be helping me with, she’s going to help me edit it.”

“Awwww,” moaned Amy, not even trying to contain her immense disappointment. “Please? I can help too you know, I got an A in creative writing class.”

Amy’s lips had now reached previously unexpected levels of pout. I found myself genuinely considering caving in but Nadine stepped in to save me in an unexpected show of solidarity with her struggling brother.

“Stop pressuring him, God, you don’t know how temperamental artists can be, let me help him tighten up his copy and I’m sure he’ll be happy to share it with you once it’s at an acceptable level,” she winked at me. “This is part of my job, you know.”

Amy smiled at me, satisfied that she wasn’t going to be left out for long. Nadine also smiled at me, although her response looked more predatory, like a tiger staring at its next meal.

“Well, I’m really glad you’re finding your feet Jake,” grinned my mom, happy that I was getting on so well with my siblings.

Nadine and Amy began talking about their respective days, with the whole table being in uproar at how Nadine had been treated. We laughed with her when we were told how she had handled the situation, with my mom beaming pridefully at the business-like way Nadine had put both her boss and the client in their places.

With the meal complete we spent the rest of the early evening chatting and laughing, talking about old times and the new ones to come.

As the sun began to set and the room began to darken Nadine took her leave from the table, citing a long day and the tiredness that it brings, and made her way upstairs.

Both Amy and I began cleaning up after the meal, leaving our mom to put her feet up in front of the television. We took the plates and the dish and headed into the kitchen.