Executionus wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 6:02 am
I think it might actually. At the bottom of every thread is a wrench button with options, one of which being "subscribe". I've never bothered doing that myself, but I imagine it would notify you any time a post is made in that thread.
Good to know, Executionus. Thanks!
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My mother, sisters, and I arrived at the airport on a dreary April morning. And we couldn’t be in better spirits. Closing your eyes as your plane takes off into grayness and opening them when the wheels touch down in paradise is one of life’s underrated pleasures.
While standing around waiting for our luggage to arrive, I was rudely greeted with a kick to the back of my knee.
“Ahh Fuck!” I snapped. Mom gave me a disapproving look at my language. I turned around to see my 14-year-old cousin Brian wearing a shit-eating-grin, a Hawaiian shirt (despite us being in Mexico), and a gold chain. He looked ridiculous.
“What up, bruh!” He said, holding his hand up to greet me. I entertained him and slapped his hand. Phillip and Adam mimicked their older brother. Brian eagerly turned his attention to my sisters. “Sup, Katie,” he said, using a deeper pitched voice than 5 seconds ago.
“Heyyy Bri,” Katie smiled at him and gave him a hug. He blushed and us cousins finished saying our hellos.
That’s when I saw my Uncle Jim and his fiancée, Emily. The men in my family continued to not disappoint when it came to their choice in women. While not quite as beautiful as Amira, she was still eye-candy. She was decently older than me, but decently younger than Jim. Maybe early-to-mid 30s, if I had to guess. She had dirty-blond hair and brown eyes with a slim figure. She put on a smile, but didn’t seem overtly thrilled upon seeing Katie and Maddy. I suppose being on a beach vacation with two 10s could be intimidating. Nonetheless, she hid her inhibitions well enough and we all gathered our bags and hopped into a taxi van.
“Hola!” Phillip shouted at our driver with all the enthusiasm of a kid who had learned five phrases of Spanish. The driver looked at him through the rear-view mirror, nodded, but said nothing.
“I remember my first Spanish lessons,” Brian said loudly. He beamed proudly when Maddy looked back at him and laughed.
Our driver skillfully weaved in and out of traffic. The houses and infrastructure looked pretty run-down. There were some local kids kicking a ball around in the street, without shirts on.
“Do people live in these?” Adam asked in disbelief.
“Duh!” Phillip said.
“But they’re dumps!”
“Adam!” Jim yelled back at him from the front seat.
“Not everyone’s as fortunate as us, sweetie,” Emily said. I’m pretty sure I caught the driver rolling his eyes.
We passed through the bad part of town and the emergence of fancy hotels, pristine roads, and splotchy, overweight tourists marked the arrival at our home for the next week.
“whooooaaaahhhh!” Brian let down his “cool” persona as our driver pulled up to the grand entrance of our resort. The grass was bright green and cut as low as a golf course fairway. The flowers and vegetation were colorful and healthy appearing. The building consisted of expensive woods mixed in with gold and marble.
We got out of the van and grabbed our bags. Jim gave the driver a tip and an apologetic smile.
“Gracias!” Phillip shouted out. The driver ignored him and muttered something in Spanish over his radio.
The workers at the hotel greeted us with wash cloths and a glass of freshly squeezed juice. They were young and attractive, and I noticed my mom get extra bubbly around one of them as he took her bag. Maddy and Katie exchanged curious grins.
While Jim checked us into our rooms, Brian and his brothers went running to the back of the resort to check out the pool and beach.
“Oh, boys!” Emily shouted after them. She made a brief attempt to run after them, but quickly realized it was futile. “Aww, shoot,” she said once they were out of site.
“Don’t worry, none of us have been able to control them for the past 14 years,” Katie said. “Including Jim.” Emily smiled cautiously at her.
The boys returned about 5 minutes later.
“Dude, Drew! You GOTTA come check out the pool. It’s dope!” Phillip said in-between breaths. “It’s got FIVE pools, two hot tubs, a basketball hoop, and a volleyball net!”
“And a big slide!” Adam pitched in.
“Slides are for little kids,” Phillip brushed him off.
“And BABES!” Brian said.
“So MANY babes!” Phillip agreed. Katie and Maddy laughed at them.
“Please try to not bother the girls out there!” Emily said.
“Oh, I’m not gonna bother them,” Brian started. “I’m just gonna beat Drew’s ass in basketball in front of them!”
“Language,” Emily responded in a hopeless, going-through-the-motions manner.
“If you really wanna get smoked and cry in front of everyone out there, you’re on,” I said.
“Nice!”
“This trip is gonna be so sick!”
“Alright boys, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We gotta check out our rooms and drop our stuff off and then get something to eat before we do anything else.” Jim had finished checking in, and, in typical dad fashion, seemed to take pleasure in hampering the boys’ excitement and delaying their fun. They let out groans before begrudgingly following us to the elevators.
The elevators were all glass and looked out into the promenade. Phillip made some inappropriate gestures toward the guests below (hiding them from the adults, of course.) We rode up to the 11th floor and walked down the hallway toward our adjacent suites. We split into our two families and inspected the rooms.
The suite that Mom, Katie, Maddy and I would be sharing was everything I came to expect since moving in with them. Massive in size, luxurious features, multiple bathrooms and 4 king sized beds. It had a balcony that overlooked The Caribbean.
“Jesus,” Katie exclaimed as she took in the breathtaking view.
“Well, your father’s money has to go somewhere,” Mom said, sheepishly. Maddy and Katie laughed.
We all claimed a bed and unpacked some of our luggage. It didn’t take long before we heard some yelling from the balcony next to ours. Brian and his gang were shouting for me to come out and join them. I walked out to see Brian mooning me. I had forgotten how relentlessly obnoxious these kids were.
“Katie and Maddy come out here, quick!” I yelled. Brian furiously pulled his shorts up before the girls could get outside. “Yeah….that’s what I thought,” I said. I mouthed “Pussy” to him once the girls went back inside.
After getting settled, we all went down to one of the grills in the hotel and grabbed some lunch. As soon as Jim took his last bite the boys began pleading to go to the pool. There was no more delaying the inevitable. We went back to our rooms, put on our swimsuits and sunscreen, and made our way back down to the outdoor pools.
The area was crowded, but was so large that there was still plenty of space up for grabs. Brian wasn’t kidding about the number of cute girls. They were every direction you turned. Mom and Emily noticed and kept their swimsuit dresses on. Katie and Maddy weren’t fazed and unashamedly stripped down to their bikinis. Brian and Phillip tried to slyly check out their cousins, but they didn’t have enough practice to do so without being obvious. Adam was curious, but not quite old enough to really appreciate my sisters’ curves.
“Last one in’s a homo!” Brian shouted and took off sprinting into the water, followed closely by his younger brothers.
I removed my shirt and casually sauntered over to the pool’s edge.
“Drew, try and teach them some manners would ya?” Uncle Jim asked. “This week is meant for us,” he cozied up next to Emily.
“Ha! Drew and manners!” Katie laughed. I brushed her off.
“I’ll do my best. Kind of a lost cause at that age though.”
Katie and Maddy laid in their chairs and caught some rays. Once the heat caught up to me, I dipped into the water and swam over to my cousins.
“Dude, your sisters are so hot,” Brian said.
“They’re your cousins. You know…your FAMILY,”
I was such a hypocrite. “Also, everyone in the vicinity now knows you feel that way,” I laughed.
“Huh?”
“You really think everyone over there didn’t see you guys drooling over them?”
Brian blushed a bit.
“If you can’t be subtle, at least get yourself some shades,” I said. “You’re gonna creep out all these girls if you eye them up the way you eyed up Katie and Maddy,”
“They didn’t say anything,” Phillip said.
“They were being nice.”
“Whatever,” Brian said. He glanced around, and it didn’t take long for him to find a target. He pointed toward a hot short girl with curly hair and mocha skin. “Alright, Mr. Know-it-all, why don’t you go over and flirt with her. Try and pick her up. Let’s see it.”
“Yeah, bruh. Let’s see it,” Phillip parroted.
“Again, subtlety, dude. Stop pointing at her, for one. For two, we literally just got here. It looks so desperate to run over and start annoying the first chick you see.”
“She doesn’t know we just got here,” Brian responded.
“You don’t know what she knows. Or where she’s looking. Because she’s wearing sunglasses. Like you two should be.”
“Sounds like excuses to me,” Brian started making some chicken clucking noises.
“Ugggghhh,” I groaned. “I need a drink if I’m gonna hang out with you guys any longer.”
I swam over to the bar and ordered a beer and lime. It was nice to not have to carry a fake ID or know the bartender in order to get a drink. Miguel was his name. He poured the golden lager into a clear plastic cup. I took a sip and somehow, it just tasted better than back home.
I stayed over at the swim-up bar for a bit, enjoying the sunshine and cerveza and soaking it all in. There were a few older guys, fat and balding, who sat next to me. They sipped on tequila and puffed cigars, not paying me much attention. Until Brian’s girl, the mocha-skinned beauty, strutted past us, looked my way, and smiled.
“Whooo-Wheee!” One of the men exclaimed. “What I wouldn’t give to be your age, kid,” he said, looking at me. I chuckled.
“But you’re just gonna let her walk away?” The other man questioned.
“Haha, I’m with my family,” I said, a bit awkwardly.
“You’re married?! Way too young for that!”
“No, I mean…well, my sisters, mom, uncle, and cousins.”
“So, no girlfriend? Well, what the hell are ya waiting for, she’s getting away!”
I sighed. All these girls were making everyone around here crazy. Why didn’t
they go talk with her instead of constantly badgering me to do it? Living vicariously, I suppose.
“Trust me, son. You’ll remember all these missed opportunities once your hair and abs go. They build up over time, gradually. Until it’s one massive pile of regret.”
I turned and looked into the pool, peering through the boomers’ clouds of smoke. I saw Katie and Maddy had made their way into the water. They were splashing with Brian and the boys. Laughing, and having a good time, looking gorgeous in the Mexican sun. The old men’s words sunk into my chest. Would I one day regret not making a move with one of them? My own sisters? I had plenty of opportunities by now, and the girls would soon be out of the horniest years of their lives – and would likely realize how messed up our relationship was. But it wasn’t that simple. After all, I
had made a move with Maddy. Or at least didn’t back off her advances. And we knew how that turned out…
My gaze shifted between my sisters and the mocha-skinned girl. I had good genes and – deservedly or not – would be inheriting a nice bit of money. I probably had a good thirty years of getting with girls like her. Or at the least the hope of doing so. But my sister window was rapidly closing. And once that shut, it was done. Forever. I certainly didn’t want to turn into some fat slob, sitting by a pool on Mars, telling a kid to go fuck his sister or he’d regret it.
“Another cerveza, amigo?” Miguel asked. I hadn’t even realized I had finished my first one. I ordered a second, thanked the old guys for (unintentionally) clarifying things for me, and swam back over to my family.
“Thanks for grabbing me one,” Katie said, nodding at my beer.
“Yeah bro, me too,” Brian was back to using his “deep voice”.
“Saw you horndogs creeping on the other poor guests earlier,” Katie started laughing. I made an “I told you so” look at Brian.
“You can be my wing-man, Katie,” Brian said. “Cause, Drew’s a pussy.”
I smirked and rolled my eyes. God, was I glad to have grown out of the stage of life where you’re constantly acting like a hard-ass to impress girls.
“How bout I make it easier on ya, Bri,” Katie paused and nodded at Brian’s baggy swimsuit and chain. “Cause you’re a bit of a lost cause right now,”
“Am not!”
“It’s okay though! You should’ve seen Drew at 14!” Katie giggled.
“YOU barely saw me at 14,” I said. “Couple times a year, MAYBE.”
“That was enough.”
“Well, how are you gonna make it easier on me then? What’s the trick?” Brian asked, eagerly.
“Ya see her over there?” Katie muttered under her breath, turning her head towards Maddy, who had her back turned.
“Yeah...”
“Quiet….See the strings on her bikini?”
“Yeah!” Brian squeaked, not any quieter.
“All it takes is one pull….and you’ll see your first pair of BOOBS,”
“I saw Alex’s,” Brian corrected.
“and you’ll see your SECOND pair of boobs.”
I looked at Katie.
Seriously? But I wasn’t going to interfere. I was curious to how this would play out.
“But I’ll get busted on the first day of vacation,” Brian said.
“Pussy” I stooped back down to his level. He flicked me off.
“It’s Mexico Bri! Tits are legal down here. I’ll take the blame off your shoulders,” Katie said, wickedly.
“Really?”
“Yup.”
While Brian was clearly desperate to see some boobs, he also wanted the approval of Katie. I could tell he was gonna go for it. He swam over to Maddy and tread water.
“Just one, little, string….” Katie whispered.
The Cheshire grin on Brian’s face couldn’t be spread any wider. He also couldn’t be any more obvious. He at least waited for Maddy to swim around an edge over near a faux-waterfall. She would be out of sight from most of the sunbathers, including our family.
He crept up to her, reached out his thumb and index finger, and pinched a neck string of her bikini top.
“Ahh ahh ahh!” Maddy caught on to what he was doing and spun around swiftly. Her spin did cause Brian to pull her knot loose, but she gathered the top of the material before her breasts spilled out. “Bad Brian!” Maddy laughed it off and kicked away from the little hellion. She nonchalantly tied her strings back together.
“Katie told me too!” Brian instantly ratted out his older cousin. Both he and Maddy looked over at Katie.
“Snitches get stitches,” she said, with sarcastic menace.
“Well, that’s enough swimming near you two,” Maddy said. She dipped down under the water one more time and emerged to the surface back over near our mom. She got out, relaxed back down in her chair, and pulled out a novel.
“Very smooooooth, Bri,” Katie muttered.
“It was your idea!”
“I mean yeah, but ya gotta pick the right moment.”
“We can try to get her again, right?” Brian said hopefully.
“I don’t know, she’s gonna be more alert now.”
Brian turned toward his younger brothers. “You guys should’ve distracted her! Why didn’t you help me!?” He took his frustrations out.
“I didn’t even know what was happening,” Phil said.
By the end of afternoon, the boys, being too cool to reapply sunscreen, were turning pink, signaling it was time to pack up. We showered, and decided that tonight would be a chill evening, no fancy restaurants. Katie threw on some jean shorts and tank, and Maddy wore a loose skirt. They both were already developing some nice color.
We walked across the street to a local bar and ordered up some tacos. My mom and sisters began digging for the details on Emily, and her and Jim’s engagement.
It turns out Emily works as a physical therapist, and she met Jim when he was rehabbing a shoulder injury last summer. While I thought about doing it, Katie actually came out and joked about inappropriate relationships with patients. But she did it tactfully, and Emily didn’t seem the slightest bit offended. I’m sure if I said it, I would’ve heard crickets.
But this confirmed that the two had been dating for some time prior to our Thanksgiving get together. The girls of course had to grill Jim on that.
“Awww C’mon!” He laughed. “With Nance and all her nonsense!? Had to make sure Emily said ‘yes’ before I brought her into all that.”
“I really wanted to come!” Emily said. “But I got where he was coming from. Had I known he was gonna propose so soon afterward, I would’ve insisted!”
“Yeahhhh don’t worry, you just missed a few Aunt Nancy explosions, not much else,” Katie said.
“What’re you talking about not much else,” Adam began. “How bout when Alex was naked in front of everyone!?” Brian gave him an elbow nudge.
Most of us went silent for a bit, not knowing what to say. Jim, who had had multiple tequila shots by know started laughing.
A cautious smirk arose on Emily’s face. “Who’s Alex?”
“Our cousin,” Maddy explained. “She had a…wardrobe malfunction in front of us during a storm. I felt so bad for her!”
“Oh, that poor thing, I would’ve died!”
“Awww, I don’t know about that!” Jim slurred with a mischievous grin. Emily rolled her eyes and nodded her head.
“Oh my gosh, be quiet!” She said.
“What are you referring to, Jim?” You could always count on Katie to ask the desired questions.
“Nothing!” Emily said, blushing a bit.
“You see, when Emily was a young gal,”
“Ohmigod!” Emily was now as red as the sun-burnt boys. She put her hand over her face. “Not around the boys, Jim!” She pleaded.
Jim looked at his sons and pondered. “Make yourselves scarce guys, here, take this,” he whipped out a crisp $20 bill, “and go play some arcade games.”
“No way!” Brian argued. “We wanna hear!”
“Yeah, c’mon dad, just tell us!” Phillip agreed. Adam looked as if he wanted to go play, but he wasn’t about to go against his older brothers.
Emily shook her head at Jim and he got the message. “Alright, it’ll have to wait for another time,” he sighed.
“Boooo!” Katie and Maddy jeered.
I was disappointed as well, but figure we’d get the story eventually.
The rest of the night’s conversation steered back toward more appropriate topics. Once our stomachs were filled, we walked back to our resort. Mom, and Uncle Jim and his family packed it in early. Katie, Maddy, and I stayed out for a night cap.
We sat on the outside portion of an indoor-outdoor bar and listened to the waves crash in.
“So, this is what you’re leaving us for, huh Mads?” Katie said, sipping on a paloma.
“Not quite
this level of paradise,” Maddy gave a short response, while staring at her own drink. “Do we really wanna talk about this now?”
“No, you’re right. But whatever happens, let’s make a deal to take AT LEAST one trip like this every year,”
“Deal! Drew?”
“Of course,” I said. I looked across the bar and noticed the girl who had caught my eye at the pool earlier that day. She was sitting with a couple of her friends, or, possibly family. She saw me looking, and flashed a smile. I never really know how to respond to a hot stranger smiling at me, so my response always comes as a forced, awkward smirk. My sisters noticed the interaction.
“Ooooh what’s going on there, Drew?” Katie questioned.
“Yeah, I saw that too,” Maddy looked at me.
“Nothing,” I chuckled. “Just a girl Brian was trying to get me to hit on earlier.”
“Huh. Gotta say, not bad taste for an 8th grader.” Maddy said. “She definitely looks like your type!”
“What?” I was perplexed. “Didn’t even know I had a ‘type’.”
“Oh, you
definitely have a type, dude,” Katie began. “Dark features, non-white. You’re a sucker for the ‘island girl’ look….like Kelly,” I could hear the classic Katie jealousy creeping into her voice.
“And Ara,” Maddy said.
“Ara?” While I did find Ara attractive, we didn’t have that much interaction together.
“Yeah! I saw you two vibing during our trip.”
“I’ll give you guys Kelly, that’s obvious. But I don’t remember much going on between Ara and I.”
“So, you don’t think she’s cute?” Katie asked.
“I mean…yeah, but that’s a different - "
“Ha! See! She thinks you’re cute too,” Maddy said.
Well, that’s nice to know
“Uggggh, Mads. Why would you tell him that? Just gonna inflate that ego more than it already is,” said Katie.
“I think they’d be cute together!”
“Eh, think Kelly’s a better match. Well anyway, our point’s made. THAT girl,” Katie pointed over at the girl from the pool. “Is definitely your type. You should go talk to her.”
“Yeah, Drew. Let’s see your game! But first I gotta go to the bathroom,” Maddy got up, patted me on my back, and walked to the restroom.
Katie and I stared at each other in silence for a bit.
“You really want me to try and hook up with that girl?” I finally asked.
She held my stare, but dug her tongue into her cheek as she pondered her response. “No,” she eventually said.
“That’s what I thought,” I said, probably too smugly. “How about Kelly?”
“What about her?”
“Do you want me to hook up with her?” I already knew the answer, of course. But my ego wanted to hear Katie say it.
“No…I don’t.” Katie struggled. “Is that bad to say? I know she’s my best friend and I really do think you guys would be good together. But deep down, I….” Her voice trailed off.
“You what?”
“
I want - “
“What’d I miss?! Did Drew make his move yet?” Maddy returned.
Fuck…I’d never been so unhappy to see her. Was Katie about to say what I think she was?
“Nah, he pussed. Think she’s already lost interest over there,” Katie stood up. “Now I gotta go.”
Once she was out of sight, I figured I’d try the same game with my other sister.
“You really want me to go hang out with that girl?”
“Do YOU want to?”
Well shit. She turned it on me. And I was used to Katie being the most clever amongst us.
“Well, if I wanted to, I supposed I’d have done so by now,” I replied.
“Would you have?” She said, plainly.
“I errr….” I stammered as I tried to figure out what she meant. “I mean I’ve never had issues going after girls I’m interested in.”
“Uhh huhh.”
What did
that mean?
“Drew, you know why Stanford was my ‘dream school’?”
“I don’t know…good education, beautiful location, hot coeds. I could name off a million reasons.”
“Yeah…all that stuff is great…” She began. “But I really just wanted to try the west coast out…cause you were there.”
“Me?” I gulped on my drink. “But we barely saw each other when I was out there.”
“I know. But everything I heard about your life over there, and then when I DID get to see you…everything seemed so much fun. And free. And adventurous…I thought of what it would be like to go to school out there and have you nearby. But now you’re here.” Her icy blue eyes cut through me. “And I’ve created this ‘image’ where Stanford is my dream school, and everyone wants me to go there, and it’s ‘all I’ve talked about’ for these past few years. But the real reason I wanted to go in the first place isn’t there anymore.” She held her stare, not blinking.
If this was…not my sister, it would have been the perfect time to take a shot.
Katie returned.
“What’s up with you two?” She said. “Both got this glossy look on your faces.” We shrugged. “Welp, I see Drew’s not going to make a move anytime fast, so I’m gonna head up to bed.”
“Yeah, I’m spent too, you coming Drew?”
I looked down at the full beer the bartender had just poured me. I didn’t feel like chugging it. “You guys go on. I’ll be up once I finish.”
“You sure? We can wait for you?” Katie asked.
“Nah, yeah, I’m good.”
“Suit yourself.” My sisters got up and waltzed over to the elevators. They got in and Maddy relaxed right up near the glass. As the elevator rose, she waved down at me from above. I lifted my beer up to salute. Katie snuck up behind Maddy with a grin on her face. She grabbed her sister’s skirt and lifted it up. My eyes lit up for a second, until I saw Maddy was wearing tight shorts on underneath. She swatted at her older sister, but laughed it off. Some of the resort guests witnessed the prank. The men chuckled; the women shook their heads in disapproval. A few of them looked in my direction, piecing together that the girls were with me. I ignored them and went back to finishing my drink.
Once I was done, I tipped the bartender and walked over to the elevator. The pool girl was standing nearby. Alone. Her chocolate eyes met mine.
“…Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” she smiled.
“I uhhhhh, saw you at the pool earlier,” I blurted out, stupidly.
“Oh, yeah? I don’t remember seeing you.”
Yes, you do. Why do girls always have to do this shit?
“I’m Drew,” I decided not to engage with her stupid game.
“Nina. So, where’d those girls you were with head off to?”
“Ahh, just back to our room. We had a long day.”
“You just get here?”
“Round noon, yeah.”
“Cool, I got here yesterday. Who’d you come down here with?”
“My uhhh…family and friends.” I don’t know why I added the “friends” part. Maybe because I didn’t want this girl calling me out for seemingly flirting with my family earlier.
“Girlfriend?”
“Nah. You? Err, boyfriend, I mean? Or girlfriend! Not to assume,” man, I normally wasn’t this awkward.
“No,” Nina laughed. “It’d be boyfriend, by the way.”
“Right on,” I tried to be a bit smoother. “Well, I’m pretty beat from a long day, maybe I’ll see ya around the pool tomorrow?”
“Maybe. Nice to meet you, Drew.”