Me n My Niece

I hated days like these. Humid, hot, and no wind, even the air conditioning just blew around hot air. You see, I’m 24, I own my place already thanks to rich parents down on the Cornish coast, however, today didn’t have the breeze that I had come to live here for. Though, British weather wasn’t something you could predict by any standards either.

 

Looking out of the window in desperation, I sighed and shut the blinds hoping it might actually cool the place down. I doubted it though. I walked over to the fridge and took out a can of shandy, I wasn’t a Beer man, but I did like the taste of a good ale with a little lemonade. I popped it open and drank the whole can down. Refreshed I crushed it up in my hand and threw it into the waste basket.

 

I’m not exactly, a muscular person, but no one has ever told me that I don’t look handsome. Probably all those martial art classes, and believe me, Tai chi shouldn’t be sniffed at. I rubbed a bruise on my back. Take my advice, don’t brag about Karate in front of a Tai-chi specialist.

 

At that moment, the phone rang.

 

“Who the hell…?” I muttered. I had assumed that everyone would be out enjoying themselves at swimming baths or other recreational activities. The only reason why I was still in was because I was paying off the mortgage for this property still. I couldn’t even afford to run my car. I picked up the phone.

 

“Hello…” I said, “Uh huh…Suzy? Oh, okay then, yeah sure no problem, yeah….” I looked at my watch, “5:00pm?” I frowned slightly, “Yeah sure.”

 

Not that I didn’t like doing favours for my big sister…but this was going to be one of the most torturous evenings going. Suzy, my no means was a tease. Her favourite outfit, was a figure hugging belly-revealing top, and a mini skirt with a pair of beige shorts underneath. Countless times I’ve watched her walk past boys and men, teasing them. She’d done this since she was old enough to know what that hole between her legs did to dirty old men. I hadn’t seen her in a while though, so maybe she’d changed. I doubted it.  

 

Looking at my watch again I sighed. I wouldn’t get much work done now. It 4:00pm, and although I worked from home Suzy used to be such a troublemaker that I’d be snipping the phone lines to prevent her from making house parties…at my house! It was after the latest incident three years ago, coincidently the last time that I saw her, that she started teasing me about how I wanted her all to myself.

 

On the case of work, I worked from home, which cut down on costs quite a bit, I was a Web Designer earning a respectable 150,000 large ones a year…and yet I was still paying the mortgage off for this two bed roomed, though large coastal house. I looked at my watch again and shoved some water in my ice bucket before putting it in the freezer. I’ll be damned if she didn’t ask for fresh water with ice.

 

I decided to go on the all out and do as much as I could before they got here. I got out the vacuum cleaner and whizzed round quickly. There was no reason why I shouldn’t make the house look at least the slightest bit presentable.

 

I had just finished dusting off the T.V.…something I hadn’t used in god knows how long, when the door bell rang.

 

“Here already huh?” I looked at the time, “Ah well.” I walked to the door and opened it. I stopped.

 

“Hello?” I said looking at a girl who I was sure I didn’t know. She just looked to the side in what seemed to be an annoyed stare, no smile, just a cold hard stare to the side, holding a large gym over her shoulder with one hand. Then my sister popped her head round the doorway as if to surprise me.

 

“Hey bro!” She said, “Happy to see me?”

 

“Er…” I thought for a moment, “Yeah.” She pouted immediately and then slapped me playfully, “I thought you were bringing Suzy, who’s this?”

 

It was then that I realized, this was Suzy, and she was no longer wearing the provocative clothes she used to. Now it was a case of...faded jeans, a long sleeve black baggy top, and black hair…was it dyed from the brown I was used to…probably. It was so different to see her like this.

 

“DO you mind,” Suzy spoke suddenly. As I looked her over, “Tch…” She pushed past me and my sister looked at me.

 

“Call her Suzanna from now on…every time I call her Suzy she scowls so I call her by her full name now,” My sister said and beamed at me. She was still like a kid when she came to visit me. I looked at my sister again.

 

“It’s because of Martin isn’t it?” My sister nodded. Martin was Suzy’s…no Suzanna’s father, he’d been a good father, and Suzanna would have done anything for him. It came as a bit of a shock…no a lot of a shock when his heart ruptured. Suzanna had been there right when it had happened, she had been holding his hand through the last moments of his life. When it came to it, the doctors couldn’t figure out what had happened, he’d never had a weak heart, no heart attacks, a healthy-ish diet, regular exercise, it wasn’t even genetic why had he died? No one knew but it was unique for a heart to just explode, and apparently he had took it gracefully, never screaming in pain, he just fell to his knee’s suddenly. The doctors had said it must’ve hurt, but he’d probably not wanted his daughter to hear a scream in pain at least, not from her father. Suzy had clammed up since then from what I had heard on my phone, and this was three weeks after I had seen her last.

 

“I’ve seen her gazing at pictures of you and Martin, I’ve seen her go to pick the phone up to call you but she never did,” My sister looked downcast then.

 

“You wanna come in,” She shook her head, “I have coffee.” I said as if to entice her in. She laughed and we both remembered the days when we used to argue over it and our parent’s would say, “Coffee isn’t for children”. We burst out laughing.

 

“Nah, I need to get going, I’m really sorry about this,” She said referring to Suzy. I brushed it off.

 

“It doesn’t matter, anything I can do to help I will,” I said, and I truly meant it, my sister and Suzy were the most important people to me in the world now. She looked like she was about to say something but stopped, blushed and walked away with a quick goodbye. I waved as she drove down the road. I turned around and walked back in.

 

It shocked me to see that the water hadn’t been touched, and instead she’d gone for the cranberry juice in the fridge. I blinked. This wasn’t Suzy at all, this was a completely different person…well almost.

 

“Is there something I can get you?” I asked watching her place the glass on the table. She shook her head and walked back into her room. It was the same as she had left it when she had last visited. I sighed, what she needed now was normality so I flicked on the TV to her usual channel which was a Music channel, I could never understand why she was into dance music before. I turned it up just loud enough to listen to if she wanted to, and enough to ignore if that’s what she wanted.

 

It was amazing how much you remember the routines of people you love, and the routine it puts you in. I flicked on the water heater and went back to work, something I had never been able to do before with Suzy in the house…I frowned, no this wasn’t Suzy, this was Suzanna, I corrected myself. I noticed a gush of cold air whisk in. It was getting cooler out there. That was good. At least she wouldn’t have one of those hot sticky nights tonight.

 

I finished up work on the computer and started preparing dinner. I heard the bath running. When had she moved to the bathroom? I shook my head and thought about what to cook tonight. Though I already knew what I was going to cook tonight, fish. It’s what I always cooked the first night Suzy came to stay. Fish, on a bed of water cress and new home grown new potatoes. However, the watercress and potatoes weren’t supposed to be eaten straight away, since there was a lot of fish to get through, she used to enjoy sitting and eating this and she wondered why I didn’t do it every day. I sighed again and set up the dining room area. As usual I shut the thick curtains to the only windows to the dining room area, which tended to repel a lot of the heat from outside and filled up the home made…yet extremely quiet air conditioning system with dry ice, though not much of it. The candles were the final item that set the atmosphere. I wondered if she’d wear the outfit she’d always wear for this occasion. (A short red dress). Though, with what I had seen earlier, I doubted it. I finished up by setting out the knives and forks. I think she liked the way I set everything up as it seemed that was one of her main reasons for coming. With that, while everything was slowly cooking I changed into something a little more fitting. My fathers suit.

 

I walked back into the kitchen area and noticed that the glass of cranberry juice was missing. I smiled glad that she had something to drink. Then started heating up the plates that we’d be using. I had a suspicion that she wouldn’t come out though…which would worry a lot of people if you did something special for someone and they never turned up. It’s not only a disappointment but it’s embarrassing too. I took the steamed fish in on a platter all by itself, and put it in the centre of the table. Then I put the bedding of watercress and new potatoes onto the deep plates and carried them in also…via a towel, do you really think after being on the hot plate for fifteen minutes I was going to be able to touch them?

 

Now everything was set, there was only one thing missing. Suzanna. I heard something towards where the bathroom was. Then I realized Suzanna was headed this way, was she going to turn up after all?

 

“Uh…Uncle Jake,” came Suzanna’s voice. Yeah that’s my name, kind of normal isn’t it. I liked it, “Could you close your eyes for a minute?”

 

“Sure,” I said, I even turned around, it was unusual to get a direct request from her. I heard her walk in. I could hear her heart beating, yet she was nowhere near me, she took a moment to calm herself…calm herself? Who the hell was I in the room with. This was definitely not the Suzy who loved to tease.

 

“Y-You can turn around now,” A stutter? I was in shock. I opened my eyes slowly as I turned around wondering what the surprise might be. My jaw dropped. No she wasn’t standing nude, something much better…or was it, how was I to know? She was wearing a long Satin red dress, no shoulder straps, just a very long dress that showed off her figure beautifully. Her hair was completely different from what I had seen earlier, no long was it straight and un-styled, it was wave with a few curls here and there. Then I noticed the make up which she had applied, and it was very little. It was then that I saw her look at the ground suddenly as she blushed. I smiled.

 

“You look beautiful, some guy is going to very lucky to be your husband,” I let my hand drift up her arm, and I escorted her slowly to her seat, of which I pulled out for her. If she wanted to dress like a lady, then she’d be treated as such. I took my own seat and expected her to burst into conversation, but she didn’t. In fact, her gaze hadn’t lifted from the floor. I smiled anyway, and lifted the cover from the plate of fish. I was thankful that the air conditioning unit hadn’t gone bust lately, as there was now a gentle mist on the floor, just enough to creep in between your toes and tickle them lightly.

 

I looked at her, “Am I that bad to look at?” She looked at me in shock, blushed harder and looked the other side. I on the other hand was confused. What was her problem? I shrugged it off, “You can eat if you want, but I’m not going to force you.”

 

“Please.” She said quietly. Please what? Now what the hell was going on? Who was this girl who was making my heart beat ten to the dozen. I couldn’t believe I was sitting here, it was as if I was dreaming. Then I realized, she was playing the lady tonight. Something I was definitely not used to. Although it was probably not supposed to, this feeling of being needed was doing wonders for my sexual appetite and I was pretty sure I was going to be wearing out my hand tonight. I leaned over quietly, and started to place a fish or two on her plate. Then I did the same with mine. I stopped in my tracks suddenly.

 

“Would you like something to drink?” I asked. She nodded and I headed off into the kitchen leaving her alone. I pulled out a bottle of grape juice, it tasted like fine wine, but it had no alcoholic content at all. I took a bottle of red and white in. Followed by a couple of glasses and finally a glass jug of iced water. I poured her a glass of the white grape juice. I knew she liked that one. She took the glass from my hand as I offered it, she lingered a little too long I thought on my hand. Had she changed? Why if she was, didn’t I feel like I was being teased? I started on my food, and then she hers.

 

We ate in more or less silence, though I caught her stealing glances at me when she was pretending to take a sip of her grape juice. I knew she was pretending sometimes because she didn’t swallow. Yes I was looking, you try not looking when you have a girl with a 34C chest, a narrow-ish waist and flared hips of a young woman sitting directly in front of you with stunning blue eyes and black hair that just enhanced her features.  I’m not saying she was overly thin, but she was by no means fat, and her arms seemed quite toned as if she had been doing dancing or gymnastics. What the hell had my sister unleashed onto me this time. I excused myself to the bathroom. I couldn’t sit there having thoughts like that. I washed my face to freshen up. Then I returned to my seat and she giggled slightly. I cocked my head.

 

“What is it?” I asked. She looked at me and then down at my top. Argh damnations…I had gotten a splash of water down the side of it.

 

“Damn,” I breathed. She laughed again. I was now completely confused and I was going to ask my sister tomorrow where they had stashed the real Suzanna. The rest of the meal was finished in silence, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek good-night before retiring to bed.

 

I washed up as much as I could, putting some pots and pans into soak before retiring to the shower firstly. I finished myself off in there if you get what I mean, though I had a sneaky suspicion I was being watched, I was thankful half of the glass was frosted so even if she had, she couldn’t have seen anything easily. I put on my silk dressing down when I came out, which curiously…had Suzanna’s scent on it, she’d probably used it to go to and from her room while preparing herself earlier. I headed into my room, placed the dressing down on a hanger and proceeded to bed, like I always did…nude. I loved my bed because it wasn’t an ordinary bed, it was made up of fur rugs, though the fur wasn’t real it was pretty darn good and I had several layers that kept me comfortable. I fell to sleep almost immediately.

 

I woke up again in the night, I didn’t know when, but I was kind of in that state where I was awake but I couldn’t move, I didn’t want to move. Then I felt something warm move in behind me. Something even softer than my fur rugs pressed into my back.

 

“Suzanna you can’t….” I went on but I was interrupted with…

 

“Please…I don’t want to be alone.” She said softly.

 

“But I’m…” She cuddled up to me further. Well that was a useless argument because so was she.

 

“We shouldn’t…” I started and I felt her arm around me. I resigned myself to my fate and held her hand. We lay like that for a while, and only when I thought she was asleep did I go to sleep as well, dreaming of being wrapped in the softest of silks.