The Agreement
31 New Sister
I FIGURED I’d BETTER tell Mom and Dad what was going on before Friday. After all, I was asking permission to skip school on Friday to go to court with my new sister. Mom and Dad were pretty calm about it. Candace had talked to them weeks ago before she filed. They asked me if I felt obligated in any way to Candace because of it and I said no. I sort of figured we wouldn’t even be boyfriend and girlfriend after school was out and she graduated. Jessica wouldn’t have dated me as a junior when I was a freshman. I couldn’t imagine that a college freshman would continue to say she was the girlfriend of a bunch of high school sophomores. I’d pretty well resigned myself to losing both her and Renee when they graduated.
“I don’t think you should mention it to Betts,” Mom said. That was the extent of the conversation. I had permission to ‘call in sick’ on Friday.
It was cool. The court hearing was at eleven and only lasted about fifteen minutes. The judge asked a few questions and asked Candace’s parents if they had any objections. They said they thought her choice was good and the whole family was thinking of changing their names to match.
Her brother, Cam, was injured in an auto accident when he was a freshman in high school and was paralyzed from the waist down. He made a crack about not losing a sister but gaining a brother. Then he wanted to know if Candace could move into my house and I could move into his. Cam even thanked me for the great jack-o’-lantern salad she’d made him after the fair. Candace hugged him.
No. Not Candace. As of twelve o’clock noon on May first, she was Elaine Frost.
After lunch, we went to the license bureau to get her driver’s license changed to her new name. I was amazed that it went so fast and she had a new license.
She had very specific requirements for dinner and we went to a meat market to have them cut exactly the steaks she wanted. I’d never seen one-pound center cut tenderloins before. A filet mignon was more commonly six to eight ounces. I had no idea how she was going to cook a steak that thick. We got potatoes, fresh asparagus, and broccoli. We got home about two o’clock. Her brother gave us two bottles of wine since we couldn’t buy it.
“We don’t have to start preparing things for an hour yet,” she said leading me into the family room. “I hear that chair is a great place to make out.” So even Renee talks about what happens on her dates. Damn! Still, I let Elaine push me into Dad’s recliner and let her sit in my lap. She brought the kitchen timer with her and set it beside us. “I don’t want us to forget to fix dinner. May I kiss you, Brian?” I agreed and while my classmates were still fighting Algebra, History, and English, I was making out with Elaine.
She was a soft and sensuous kisser and I lost myself in the touch of her lips and tongue. We kissed for a long time, but I really wanted more. She kept building up, but she hadn’t given me permission to do anything else. I remembered what she said the first night we dated and knew it was a no go to reach for her breasts without her permission.
It hit me like a ton of bricks. In all the dating I’d done in the past few months with sixteen girlfriends, I’d always just assumed that when they were ready for anything more, they’d give me permission. I never even thought about the fact that I could ask. Fuck!
“Elaine? May I touch your breasts while we kiss?” I croaked.
“If you had said Candace, I’d have said no,” she answered. She pulled my hand up to her breast. “Please touch me lover. I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”
We made out for a long time. I loved caressing her breasts, even though she was still dressed sort of professionally for her court appearance. I lost all track of where I was and all I could feel or think was Elaine. Then the timer rang.
“Everything gets cut on the diagonal. Quarter inch slices for the potatoes so they look like long ovals. Four inches long for the asparagus. Break the broccoli apart into florets and if any are more than an inch across, cut them in half.” I worked as Candace/Elaine’s sous chef, chopping and washing and cleaning things up. She got everything ready to cook and turned the oven on to pre-heat.
Mom and Dad got home a little after five and hugged us both. Elaine was prepared for them and started shaking martinis. Mom and Dad heard the sound, grinned, and rushed to get ready for dinner. They came out dressed casually, but elegantly.
“You two look so cute,” Elaine said. “Please relax with your cocktails and we’ll have dinner on the table in half an hour. We couldn’t start cooking this until we knew you were here.”
“Mmm. This is a good martini,” Dad said. “I remember the last time we had a cocktail before dinner. Do you, Honey?”
“Yes,” Mom giggled. “I could get used to it. I have an idea for Brian’s birthday present this year.” They took their drinks and went into the family room. I almost choked when I saw Mom curl up in Dad’s lap in the recliner to have their martinis.
“Oh shit!” I whispered. Elaine turned around and looked. We giggled together as she told me how to start the potatoes as she started searing the two steaks. It didn’t take long and they were in a baking pan in the oven.
“It’s called Chateaubriand,” she whispered. “Originally it was made with sirloin, but the tenderloin is like eating butter. As soon as the potatoes are done, shift them to the warming pan in the oven and start sautéing the vegetables. I have to make the glacé.” We’d set the table before we started cooking, so when Elaine started arranging the meat and vegetables on two platters, she told me to open the bottle of red wine. I did and took it to the table to breathe. “Okay. Remember, you cut everything on the diagonal. That includes the meat. But all you do at the table is cut the meat. You don’t serve your parents. You only serve me. Let’s go.”
We called my parents to dinner and set the two platters of meat and vegetables on the table. I carefully sliced their meat on the diagonal as Elaine had shown me and then repeated the process with our platter. It had taken some rummaging around in drawers to find appropriate serving utensils for both platters. While I poured my parents each a glass of wine, Elaine welcomed my parents to the table and explained what we were having.
“This is a French steak called Chateaubriand. It is a steak precisely large enough to serve two people. It’s usually prepared for romantic couples and the man always serves his woman.” I sat next to Elaine, opposite my parents and reached to serve my ‘date’ as Dad copied what I did. I only put one slice of meat on each plate with a few potatoes and a few vegetables. Then I drizzled a little of the glacé over the whole and sat down next to Elaine. Dad had no problem serving Mom. He was grinning at her the whole time.
“I see you have wine glasses,” Mom said. “But you didn’t pour yourselves any.”
“We just thought we’d drink our water out of glasses that matched yours,” I said.
“I think you could each have a glass of this lovely wine,” Dad said as he savored his first bite of the steak. “Oh, Honey, I’m so happy we decided to have another daughter,” he sighed to Mom. Elaine and I broke up into giggle fits. We took advantage of the offer of wine, though. Just half an inch in each of our glasses, but it was really good. We chatted throughout dinner and neither Mom nor Dad ever made a mistake by calling Elaine Candace. She already had a funny story to tell about the hearing and was sure to mention her dad’s response to the judge that the whole family was thinking of changing their names. It was just so easy to laugh with Elaine.
“We’ll clean up, Mom,” I said. “You and Dad enjoy the last glass of wine and we’ll get out of your hair for a while. I think my new sister Elaine and I are going for a walk around the estate.” I actually got that out without laughing, but it was hopeless after that. Mom and Dad each gave Elaine a great big hug.
“Brian, if any of your other girlfriends want to join the family this way, it’s quite all right with us,” Mom said. “It’s so much easier than a wedding! And cheaper!”
Mom and Dad returned to the family room and cuddled in the recliner. Elaine and I hurried through cleaning up the dinner dishes and in fifteen minutes we were out the door. She grabbed a blanket out of the back seat of her car and we set off toward the woods. I had a small flashlight, but there was a big moon and I didn’t really need the extra light until we were under the canopy of the trees.
“Where’s the best spot to sit and make out, Brian?” she asked. I thought about my favorite oak tree, but it was quite a ways to get there and there were other nice spots along the way. I chose a nice ring of maples and helped Elaine spread the blanket out in the middle. The ground was pretty dry now and this was an area that got a little sun. We really didn’t need the flashlight anymore. We lay down on the blanket and I opened my arms to Elaine.
“Thank you for putting on such a wonderful meal for my parents, Elaine,” I said. I just knew that somewhere along the line I was going to mess up and call her Candace. “It wasn’t necessary, you know. But thank you.” She sat up and looked at me.
“It was necessary for me. And thank you for working so hard to remember my new name. Brian, I give you explicit permission to take my clothes off and touch me in any way that is legal under our agreement. Just, please don’t rush, baby. We have lots of time.” I pulled her down next to me and we began the most fabulous make-out session ever.
I didn’t rush getting her out of her clothes, but I did get her out of them. Pretty soon we were both down to just our underpants. We didn’t try particularly hard to get each other off. We just lazily lay in the woods making love under the full moon. Climaxing and feeling Elaine’s juices soak through her little panties and mine soak through my briefs just happened as we loved each other for the first time.
“Haroo Hooray, the first of May,” Elaine sang. “Outdoor loving starts today.”
I never thought of it that way before.
“Green, sort of like Hannah’s,” I said. Sarah opened her eyes.
“Wrong. Green, exactly like Hannah’s,” she laughed. We were playing a game to learn how well we knew each other. She was doing a lot better than I was. Favorite music group? U2 for me and Bon Jovi for her. Well, those were both pretty good. I just loved U2’s new album and WLS was playing the heck out of it. If I had my own stereo, I’d buy it. “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” was rapidly becoming my theme song. “I play my part, you play your game. You give love a bad name,” she sang, shaking her finger at me and waving her brown pony tail back and forth. I wondered if there was a way to make requests for specific music at the prom. I had no clue how it worked.
Favorite movie? Top Gun, no question about it. Well, except Ferris Beuller’s Day Off was funny and absurd and I loved it.
“But what about The Golden Child?” Sarah moaned. “It was funny and sweet and romantic.” I had to admit I hadn’t seen that one.
“What kind of flower should I get you?” I asked. I might as well have farted.
“I’m not going to tell you what flower to get me!” Sarah said. “That’s for you to surprise me with.” Crap! Apparently, I don’t understand this prom date thing at all.
“Um… we haven’t talked about the transportation thing because it was supposed to be a surprise, but I think you need to know. Lionel, Lamar, and I rented a limo for four hours. He’ll pick us all up and drive around a little after dinner and then drop us off at the dance. Then he’ll pick us up and drive around another hour and drop us at your house.” We’d already determined that it would be easiest if I stayed in the Gordons’ basement after the prom because they didn’t want Sarah to drive any more than necessary. I thought this was a brilliant solution since she wouldn’t have to drive at all.
“Uh… Brian? Does that mean we only get to stay at the prom for two hours?”
“Yeah. The Limo won’t split the time, you know. The meter runs for four hours and then it’s over.”
“But… I was… We’ll be home by midnight. We have extended curfews for two o’clock. I thought we’d stay at the prom.” I was shocked. I thought the limo would be just as good as a school dance. Shit! That’s twice I stepped in it.
“Well, I sort of thought about that, so I had another option,” I improvised. “I was thinking that we could drop your car off at school earlier and then just do the limo from dinner to the prom with riding around town in style for a while, you know. Then we could stay at the prom all the way till one if you want to and you’d only have to drive home. I sure don’t want to waste an extended curfew!”
“Oh, that’s clever!” Sarah said. “We’d still get to ride in the limo!” Yeah. And fast thinking. I have to talk to Lamar and Lionel.
“She gave you all the hints you should need,” Rose said. “And you’d better get it ordered or it will be too late to get it before prom.” We walked through the mall to the flower shop.
“But I still don’t know.”
“What color is her hair?”
“Brown.”
“What color are her eyes?”
“Green.”
“She’ll be wearing her hair up and a green dress.”
“How do you know that?”
“She’s a girl!”
“Oh. That explains everything.”
The clerk looked impatient. A sign on the counter read, “Last day to order prom corsages!” Holy crap! What do they have to do? Grow the flowers?
“I need to order a corsage for the prom,” I said.
“Do you know what you want?”
“A pink orchid,” Rose answered. The lady’s attention shifted immediately to Rose. She assessed her quickly and scowled at me.
“Are you sure, honey?” she asked. “I don’t really think pink is your color. What color dress are you wearing? Blue? You should have a white or red rose. Maybe red with a spray of baby’s breath around it.” Rose giggled.
“It’s not for me,” she said. “But I’ll let you choose my flowers when I’m old enough to go. I’m just his consultant this time.”
“Oh.” I got scowled at again. “How is the older lady’s dress cut. Are we doing a pin-on, a nosegay, or a wrist corsage?”
“Not a nosegay. That’s too weddingy. I think for safety’s sake we’d better go with a wrist corsage.” Another look and another scowl.
“Frankly, I recommend all the girls request wrist corsages. It saves the embarrassment of having him grope around trying to pin it on.”
“Actually, he’s pretty good at groping around to pin it on,” Rose said. She sighed. “But his date for prom isn’t… uh… built with as much foundation as I have. A pin-on might over-burden the dress.” The flower lady nodded. We walked over to the refrigerator case where there was a display of flowers, some already made up into corsages. I don’t know why I couldn’t have just bought one of those. I guess a week-and-a-half in the fridge might not be good for it. She asked which color. I didn’t know there were so many pinks. Rose helped. I got scowled at.
“We’ll use a simple white ribbon around the wrist band,” she said pointing at the display of ribbons. That brought me up short.
“No. I’d like that green ribbon. Not that one, the one above.”
“That’s pretty risky, young man. That color green might clash with the color of the dress.”
“No, it won’t,” I said firmly. “That’s the color of her eyes.” The flower lady looked at me and smiled. Apparently, I’d redeemed myself somehow.
“Rose, Mom won’t be here to pick us up for half an hour. Let’s go get a soda so we can sit and talk.”
“We don’t have to have a soda to sit in the mall, Brian. Let’s skip that and just sit here. May I hold your hand?”
“Gosh, sure, Rose. I wasn’t… wasn’t really sure you’d ever want to hold my hand again. We haven’t had a chance to really sit and talk since the sleepover.”
“No, we haven’t.”
“Rose? Are you okay with what happened? I’ve wanted to ask you and I’ve been afraid and embarrassed. I didn’t mean to… have an orgasm while you were sleeping on me. I’m so sorry.”
“Brian? Do you think you could have prevented it? I asked permission to touch you the night before and I hadn’t let go all night. You silly, lovable dork. That wasn’t an accident. I chose that spot to sleep intentionally. I was doing my best to make you come. And you did. It was so amazing. I had my cheek right against you. I could… feel… every pulse. I knew that with everyone else sleeping on you there was no way you could move. You couldn’t reach down and touch my breasts or kiss me or anything. All you could do was lie there and let it happen, and you did.”
“Rose, I was so afraid that I’d… just used you and I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me.”
“Ashamed? Oh, lover, never. I’m sorry. I just wanted to feel you. It was all I could do to keep from pulling your pajamas down and taking you in my mouth. I’ll do that one day. You wait and see. But I felt so close to you and connected. Every night since then, I’ve lain in bed touching myself and thinking about how you felt when you came. Every night, Brian. I felt so powerful and loved. I did that to you, and you gave yourself to me. Thank you, lover. Thank you.”
I was pretty overwhelmed.
“May I kiss you, Rose?” I asked.
“Yes. But hurry. I think I just saw your mom drive into the parking lot.”
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
