My mother and father had been divorced since I was thirteen. They got along OK, so it wasn’t too traumatic growing up. When my father started dating someone a year later, I was happy for him, why should he be lonely? After they’d been seeing each other for two months, Dad wanted me to meet her, and I was thrilled to meet her.
Her name was Allison, and she was 40 to my Dad’s 45, so I was cool with that. She was a pretty, dark haired woman who kept in good shape, and didn’t look 40 at all. She was about 5 foot five, 120 pounds, with a ready smile. I took to her instantly, and we became friends as my sophomore year in high school cam to an end. She wasn’t my mother, nor did she want to be, she was happy being more a big sister to me or an aunt that was really cool.
When summer vacation came along, Mom and I had had enough fighting, we weren’t getting along, and I asked if I could live with Dad and Allison, and she thought that would be a better solution than fighting all the time. I moved in and was pretty happy at first, Allie was cool to be with, and she was a better cook than my Mom or myself. She and Dad seemed super happy together, and I “accidentally” left a copy of Modern Bride where she could easily find it. I thought being in a wedding would be great.
I just had no idea of the twists and turns my own life was going to take.
A month and a half into summer vacation, the phone rang and I picked it up, and a man asked if he could speak to Allie. I tossed the phone to Allie and headed upstairs to goof around on the internet.
After an hour or so, I went downstairs to grab a snack, and I noticed Allie and my Dad having what looked to be a serious conversation. I mean real serious. I prayed there was nothing wrong between them, but Allie noticed me and asked if they could speak with me.
She assured me that she loved me as if I were her own daughter, and that she and my Dad were really happy, but something had happened that she hadn’t expected. It turned out she, too had a daughter who was in fact sixteen like me. She had been with her father since they’d broken up 14 years before. She and the girl didn’t see much of each other, and she’d expected that she’d only rarely see her as she and her ex-husband didn’t get along well at all. Dad had known about it, and hadn’t said anything to me because he didn’t want me to doubt that I would ever be far from their minds, and then he looked at me and smiled and said “The only time we expected you’d ever meet her would be at our wedding”
At which point I hadn’t even noticed the wedding part, Dad started to speak again when I jumped up with joy to hug he and Allie. They were getting married!!! However, due to her ex-husband being shipped off to his company’s operations in northern Canada, her daughter would be coming to live with us.
What could be the problem? We were the same age, I had a cool father, she had a cool mother, we’d get along great, right? Not exactly.
I met her two days later, as Dad and I were at a restaurant waiting for her and her mother. Her name was Kristi, and Dad assured me I’d like her.
They came in, and she’d gotten much of her looks from her mother. She had long, jet back hair, with pale skin, and a nice body that made me feel self-conscious about my less than stellar body, but she wasn’t smiling. She looked pissed.
“Therese, I want to you to meet Kristi, Kristi, this is Therese, Jack’s daughter.”
She barely looked at me, barely shook my hand and muttered “Swell” under her breath, and when introduced to my father, she grumbled out “Charmed” and promptly sat down and looked away from us all, to stare out at the rest of the restaurant.
What the hell was her problem? If she had a problem with me, fine, but don’t you be rude to my father! I thought she treated her mother pretty rudely, too!
Allie jumped in to make conversation as my Dad and I tried to help as well. Kristi muttered single word answers to everything, and refused to be drawn into conversation. Maybe she was just really shy? The conversation came around to my mother and I not agreeing on many things and my coming to live with Dad and Allie and she finally uttered a complete sentence.
“Your mom didn’t give a crap about you either?”
“Kristi!!” said Allie, “That isn’t true and you know it! Your father made three times more money than I did, and with your grandparents there to help, I knew you’d have a better life with your father. I did and still love you very much.”
“My mom loves me, we just aren’t getting along real good right now.” I said. “It seemed better to avoid the fighting.”
She looked at me with a look of pure venom.
“Like I care? Trust me, I don’t.”
That hurt so much. What was her problem? I’d never done anything to her, I thought her mother was wonderful, and was thrilled at the prospect of having a girl my age in the house with me. Shopping trips, make up, and introducing her to my friends and showing her around the city was something I’d been looking forward to.
It was not to be.
She moved in and got the middle room upstairs. Dad designed the house himself, and there was the master suite, and two huge bedrooms, both with their own bath. I had the one on the end, and now Kristi was between mine and Dad & Allie’s. I never really wanted to be too close to their bedroom anyways. There are some sounds I really don’t want to hear.
I tried to talk to her, only to get ignored, or if I was particularly unlucky that day, she’d tell me to fuck off. I’d never met anyone so hostile towards me, and that includes some of the girls I play volleyball against.
She was equally hostile to her mother and to Dad. Lots of silence, followed by “who the fuck cares?” or “go fuck yourself” was not exactly conducive towards a happy home life. Luckily she stayed in her room a lot, but it frustrated me, I’m a nice person, and I think I’m easy to get along with, but nothing seemed to make a difference with her.
The part that really bugged me was that she could be cool if she wanted to be. She had some amazing clothes that were unique, and she was into vintage stuff, and looked a little bit mysterious.
She also was into classical music like I was, and I’d hear things playing in her room that I’d never heard and wanted to find out about, but she rebuffed me at every turn.
If we were going out to dinner she’d just sulk the entire time and when we’d all gone to a movie she walked out saying it was stupid and she was going to wait in the lobby.
In two and a half weeks, the only nice thing I’d gotten out of her was a thumbs up while I was listening to Mussoursky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. I’d tried to talk to her but she just ignored me and shut her door in my face.
“Allie? Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure sweetie, what’s up?”
Allie was a very friendly, open person, unlike her daughter.
“I’m not trying to be mean, but….Kristi…isn’t the easiest person to get along with. Do you have any ideas on how I make things easier between us? I’m out of ideas.”
“I wish I did, Therese. Leonard and I met when he got stuck in the motel I was working at because of a storm. He thought I was cute, and we fell for each other. At nineteen love can fix everything, at least that’s what you tell yourself. We married despite his parent’s objections, and settled into a nice house. Kristi was born almost ten months later.
However, we were already starting to have problems. His parents made no secret of the fact that they hated me because I was a poor girl who’d barely made it out of high school, while their boy was a Stanford graduate of excellent breeding. He’d be better off at a company function if he had a lady of class on his arm, not a former motel worker. If he had a wife that knew how to network, he’d go farther at work, if his wife had any connections of her own, she could help him, and so on. They made it as clear as they could that he’d be better off without me.”
“But you’re a good person, and who cares where you went to school?”
“They did, but then it all fell apart. I’d made the mistake of having a male friend while I was trying to take night classes. Nothing ever happened, but Leonard’s mother had hired a detective and he made the pictures look really bad. Leonard went ballistic.
Two days later I was served with divorce papers and his mother hired the best of the best to ensure I was crushed. Of course Leonard made much more money than I could, his loving parents would help with the child, and she was better off than she would be with a lying cheating whore.
Not only did I lose custody of Kristi, I had no visitation rights. At all. Leonard made me an offer though, he’d give me five thousand dollars to go away. I wasn’t going to be able to see my little girl, but he swore she would be well cared for. He’d make sure she had the best of everything, schools, clothing, you name it, she’d travel to Europe and the rest of the world, and would have all the opportunities I never had.
I’ve often wished I could go back to that moment so I could do it differently, but we can’t go back, can we? Otherwise I would have fought tooth and nail for her.”
“Why would they be so cruel?? Didn’t they think of what might be best for Kristi?”
“They did. Money was the answer to everything with them. I got to see her three years later, my smiley faced baby girl was now a serious faced young lady of six. It broke my heart.
I’d taken her father’s payoff and gone back to school, and I was in chriporactic college already. I was building something for myself. I saw her again three years later, and I swear she didn’t smile once the whole time I was there.
I saw her three more times before she moved in with us, and at the last Leonard apologized, he realized that his parents had caused much of our troubles, but it was too late for us.
It was too late for Kristi and I as well. She didn’t want anything to do with me. I could see she was having some emotional troubles, and it was clear her father was more or less ignoring her, but she didn’t want me there.
Then her father needed to focus on his career, and Kristi would only foul things up, so I was given another chance to be a mother. She didn’t want it, and despite her protestations, I think she realizes I care, and that her father wasn’t the best parent, but it’s going to take her a long time to adjust. I just hope I can do right by her this time.”
Allie was almost in tears, but I hugged her and told her she’d do fine.
“Well, it was different with you, you were much easier to deal with.”
“I consider myself a real handful.”
“Not at all, you moved in and I was prepared for some resentment and the obligatory ‘you’re not my mother’ stuff, but I already liked you, and you adjusted pretty quickly. Your mother had one set of rules, we had another. You just went by whatever the rules of the house you were in were. I’d pretty much believed my maternal instincts were gone, but you woke them up all right. Almost to the point of your father and I considering….a little brother or sister for you.”
“No way.”
“Way. We’d been talking about it and thought that we might go for next year.”
“Have you given up?”
“Yes, Kristi’s here, and I’m never going to quit on her again, ever.”
“I won’t either. I promise.”
“No matter how long it takes?”
“No matter how long it takes.”
I had to try something, and new clothes for school were on my agenda. Dad made good money, but I was never spoiled. I’d gotten a car a few months after my 16th birthday, but it was three years old, and far from the fanciest model out there.
Dad had gotten a cash card for my school shopping and had only put four hundred dollars on it, once it was gone, it was back to my allowance of 35 dollars a week. He had thoughtfully gotten one for Kristi with the same amount, and was going to give her the same amount of allowance. No credit cards for me. Damn.
I had to do some chores around the house, but nothing too strenuous. Mom and Dad had been good about keeping me up to date as far as a cell phone and a top of the line iPod, plus I had a pretty sweet laptop that my aunt had gotten for me last year. If I went shopping with Mom or Allie, things like makeup, food or CD’s and DVD’s were picked up by them so the money was just to goof around with.
Kristi didn’t seem impressed.
“My father used to give me two hundred dollars a week. Thirty five is nothing.”
Oh, joy. She was going to be such fun to live with. At least I’d been able to talk her into going shopping with me. She was pretty reluctant, and I’d bailed on my friends to go with her, but I was pretty sure they’d understood.
“Do you want to hit Nordstroms first? Or we can head to Saks?”
“Fuck both of them. Have you got any place that’s cool?”
“Hey, I love Nordy’s, they have the best stuff, but what do you consider cool?” She did have her own style, wearing only dark colors and lots of black, but she wasn’t a Goth. More like Stevie Nicks. With her coloring I’d wear a lot more dark stuff, but no such luck, pale skin, reddish blonde hair, and just a dash of freckles for me, my Celtic blood showed through pretty obviously.
“Here, I have no idea, do you have any place that sells vintage stuff?”
“Yeah, we do, it’s on the other side of town, but they do have some unusual things.” I made a lane change and a u-turn and off we went.
The Queen of the Past was the store, and for the first time, she smiled. She obviously knew vintage stuff pretty well as she headed straight to a rack of dresses that were all long. She picked out a dark maroon one with black trim and held it up to herself to look in the mirror. She let out a happy sigh.
‘That looks great on you!”
“Do you….really think so?” she seemed so unsure of herself.
“Yeah, it looks killer, makes you look a few years older, perhaps with a slightly wicked past that no one knows about.”
She actually laughed at that. She then looked at the price tag, it was 495.00. Yikes! Vintage was not cheap.
I looked over and there was another rack of similarly styled dresses, but the sign said 79.99 to 139.99.
“Uh, those ones over there seem to be a bit cheaper.”
She smiled and said, “That’s because those are reproductions. Made in the last six months, with inferior stitching, poor materials, and they’ll be junk in less than a year. This one’s from 1906, and it’s gorgeous.”
Wow. She did know her stuff. She held it up so I could see closer and put her finger along one of the seams.
“Look at that, triple stitched, by hand, that’s quality. It’s not just a dress, it’s a work of art.”
She asked to try it on. The saleslady handed her a numbered key and pointed her towards the dressing rooms.
I poked around but the only thing I saw that I liked was a very 50’s looking outfit that would look great when we had a sock hop in the fall. it was also only 59.00, if it fit and looked right, it was going to be mine, I got a key as well, and headed towards the dressing room.
Kristi was just coming out of the dressing room, and it looked flawless on her. It fit like a second skin, too. I could never get away with it. My b-cups weren’t growing all that fast.
“Wow. You look….incredibly beautiful in that.” it was a sincere compliment, any of the guys I hung around with would be drooling at the sight of her in it.
Her eyes lit up, and she smiled again, she had a very pretty smile, she just didn’t use it all that often. I also noticed that her tough girl persona vanished. She was smiling and being nice, I wasn’t about to bring it up.
“I’m….glad you like it. I’ll take it.”
“Um, Dad only put four hundred on these cards.”
“So he did. Here.” she handed me her card. “Keep it. I’ll use my Amex.”
“Wow, you have one? Dad won’t let me get one.”
“He probably has a good reason, but my father has never had a problem with my spending.”
“So keep your card, you dork, if your dad is OK with you putting that on your card, my dad doesn’t need to know, enjoy his money as well!”
She just looked at me. I asked her what was wrong, and she just said “Nothing.” and walked back into the room to change.
I tried on my poodle skirt and blouse, and they fit pretty well, I walked out to show her, and she still looked sad.
“What do you think of my attempt at the 50’s?”
She told me to turn around and I did, she let out an appreciative whistle, which kind of surprised me.
“Definitely you. It also shows your legs, which are pretty nice, you really need to wear shorter skirts.”
What? She was opening up to me and offering suggestions? I’d asked her what she thought of one of my outfits when we were all going to dinner the previous night and she’d merely mumbled, “it looks all right”. I could not figure her out.
I went back in to change and she was waiting for me at the counter. Without a word, she pulled the clothes out of my hand and put it on top of the dress which had been wrapped in paper. She opened her purse, pulled out her Amex card and told the lady to put them both on there.
“You can’t do that, your dad doesn’t even know me!”
“No worries, you’ll find some way to make it up to me.”
“Like do all your chores for the next three years?”
“It’s a start” she said with a mysterious little smile, “it’s a start.”
I impulsively hugged her and she stiffened up immediately.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, “that was just really nice of you.”
She just looked uncomfortable, and I felt horribly awkward, but I rallied the best I could.
“So where to next?”
She visibly softened up, thought for a few seconds and said “The mall, I hate them, but there a lot of things that are just easier to find there.”
Off to the mall we went, with her being virtually silent the whole way. I couldn’t figure her out at all. if we ran into my friends, they’d think she was a grade-A nutjob. We went in and she headed straight to the directory.
“Hmmm….let’s try Hot Topic first.”
I didn’t shop there often, mainly t-shirts when I did. She didn’t strike me at the type though. Her appreciation of the old gown seemed out of character to the typical Hot Topic Goths.
She walked into the store like she owned it, and immediately went to the poster section. She carefully looked through them and selected one, a poster of Edgar Allen Poe, who was a favorite of the Goths, but I got the feeling she really understood Poe, and wasn’t just emulating his darkness.
She looked at a few other things, some mock vintage clothing, and bought a pair of faux evening gloves that actually matched the color of her gown. I remarked on it.
“They do, don’t they? It’s the lipstick that’s going to be the problem.”
What problem? Hot Topic had tons of dark stuff.
“And something for my hair. I need something…silver.”
I looked through the makeup section and picked out one I thought would go well with the gown and gloves.
She looked at it, gave me a sad little smile, and shook her head. “Not at all right for the look. We’ll find it, never fear.”
I picked out a classic Nintendo t-shirt and offered to buy her the gloves as she’d picked up the outfit, but she refused.
“That’s really not important to me. Don’t worry. Now, we need to get YOU some new stuff!”
She seemed all smiley and friendly, but by now I was looking out for another mood swing.
We shopped for another two hours and I had gotten pretty much all I’d wanted, with just accessories to buy. She’d been friendly, but seemed very particular about what I bought. She’d shake her head at me and frown if she didn’t like it, and would give me a shy smile if she liked it. It was kind of weird.
She’d gotten a few things, mostly some understated blouses and pants, and she picked out a rather frilly sun dress, which surprised me, but it did look sort of old fashioned.
We headed for the ultimate mall location, the food court to get some lunch. I ran into some of my friends and we all ate lunch together, and had introduced Kristi to them. They were all polite, but I thought she confused them just a bit, too. Everybody had just about gotten their school stuff all together, but Kristi said she hadn’t gotten everything yet, and said we needed to go elsewhere.
My friends took off, no doubt gossiping about my soon to be step-sister. Once back in the car, she asked to borrow my iPhone. I handed it to her, and she quickly launched the web browser.
I assumed she was looking for a particular store, and I was right. She asked me if the Fountain Court Mall was close by. I told her it wasn’t too far, we’d be there in 15 minutes if we didn’t hit traffic. We didn’t, but she had clammed up again in the car, and simply stared straight ahead, only to look into the bag where her gown was from time to time, and run her fingers across the fabric. Weird didn’t begin to describe her.
We arrived at the mall and luckily got a parking spot right up front. I couldn’t figure out why she’d wanted this one, it was pretty similar to the one we’d just left, and in fact about 90% of the stores were identical, but with a multiplex, a sporting goods place and a different chain bookstore and computer store.
She looked at the directory again, and said “This way.” and I followed her in. We came to a lingerie store called Sous-vêtements Classic and she headed in with a dreamy smile on her face.
I bought most of my stuff at Target, with the rare trip to Victoria’s Secret if I was really dressing up. I’d never been in there before, and I knew why. It wasn’t trendy, selling the bright pinks and neon reds that the other stores sold. Everything was in soft, muted colors, and everything looked sort of old fashioned to my eye.
She looked like she was in heaven. She picked up a camisole and ran her fingers across it, while humming quietly to herself. She looked at a few other things, quietly asked the saleswoman a few questions, and was handed a dressing room key. She then proceeded to look over many things, grabbing something from time to time and adding it to a small, but growing pile.
For all her dark colors, she only appeared to buying a few things in dark colors, some of the others seemed totally unlike her. She grabbed me by the hand and said “I need your opinions.” and pulled me into the dressing room area where she looked at her key and opened up one of them.
The place was huge, bigger than any dressing room I’d seen, with full mirrors and two chairs as well as an elegant rod to hang the various clothes from. The carpeting was soft, and the furniture was quite comfortable.
“Well, I’ll let you try your stuff on in peace.” I started to leave, but she grabbed my hand again and smiled shyly at me.
“Please stay.”
OK, getting weirder by the minute, but she was opening up to me, so I didn’t want her to get all moody again.
“Um, OK, I guess so…”
With that she let go of my hand and started to go through the pile of things she’d selected. She picked out a lacy camisole that looked like it was very old, that sort of yellowed look that white silk gets after a hundred years. I’d seen it in museums, on my grandmother’s wedding dress, and at the vintage shop we’d been at earlier. It was lovely, and I told her so.
“You can see why I like it?”
“I’m beginning to understand your style a little better. I can see why you’d like it for sure.”
“Oh, good.” she said and began to take off her shirt, and kicked off her shoes. She was wearing a black lace bra, but by now I wasn’t surprised to see that it was designed in an older style. She slipped out of her black jeans to reveal matching panties. She also revealed that the somewhat baggy pants and shirt had covered up a nearly perfect body.
I was really envious. My b-cups weren’t anything impressive, and while I had a nice flat stomach, my butt seemed to be the same way. The only feature I could call better than average was my legs, but volleyball does that to a girl.
She was perfect. Her waist was small, but not tiny, her hips flared out just right, and she had a chest I’d kill for. Her long dark hair hung down across her shoulders and she looked just plain gorgeous.
She kind of gave me a “oh, what the hell ” look and slipped out of her panties and undid her bra. She was even more stunning, she had perfect, lightly pink nipples that were sticking out just right, and I couldn’t help but look down to notice that she shaved for sure, because her pubic hair was trimmed to a very tiny strip of hair.
I couldn’t control myself, and I kept looking, only to jerk back up and try to pretend I hadn’t been doing exactly what I was doing. She only smiled and slipped the camisole over her head, and pulled it down. It looked amazing on her.
I couldn’t help myself from blurting out “it looks really…good on you..”
Her smile grew bigger as she reached for one of the pairs of panties that matched the camisole. She slipped them on, and pulled them up, and for a brief second, she hesitated before pulling them all the way up. I caught my breath as I realized I’d followed them all the way up, and was disappointed to see them all the way up and covering her. She raised her arms, and spun a pirouette to show the outfit off.
I gulped, and said “Very, very nice.”
“You like?”
“I like.” She responded with a silvery laugh and stripped down again. This time she tried on a dark purple set of panties and a matching bra. She looked almost royal in them and I told her it looked like something a queen would wear to bed to show her man she was still in charge.
She giggled and looked at her butt in the mirrors. “I think they’ll do nicely.” She stripped once again, and tried on a dark maroon set that came close to her gown. She spun again for me, but the color wasn’t exact, and I told her so.
“Aha, you’re beginning to understand that the entire outfit has to match, not just the outer stuff that everyone sees, but even the private things that only…special people get to see.”
Somehow, I knew that she meant me in that statement. What on earth was going on here? Was she into girls? I wasn’t, and didn’t want her to think I was, but how could I tell her that?
She took them off, and tried on a camisole that was also maroon, and it matched the outfit much better.
“Is that better?”
“Yeah, ” I said and then swallowed, “Much better.” “Well, then I’ll certainly get it, but I need just one more thing…”
With that, she slowly pulled the camisole off, put it down and almost reverently lifted a long nightgown up and pulled it over her head. I had thought it black, but on her it was revealed to be an incredibly dark shade of purple. It was also quite sheer in spots, and her body looked incredible in it. With her hair cascading down around her shoulders and breasts she looked simply beautiful. I couldn’t help but think thoughts that I shouldn’t be thinking. I wondered what it would be like to touch that body of hers? To caress her pale skin? To cup my hands around her breasts? I was breathing harder and faster for sure and I realize that my wayward thoughts had had another effect on me. My pussy was getting wet. This was not normal, I’d never ever thought about girls like that, and I’d seen enough of them in the shower at school, including the gorgeous Kelli Johnston, who every girl had hated because she was perfect. None of them made me think this way. What was this? Has she cast some sort of spell on me? The long dark hair did sort of put a witch in mind.
I came back to reality when she asked me how it looked.
“It’s…breathtaking.”
“I heard.” she said with a smirk.
“Now, it’s your turn. Kick those clothes off, you’re going to dress like a lady from now on.”
“Huh?”
“You see that other stack? They’re not my colors, they’re yours, so try them on.”
“Well, I, uh…” The last thing I wanted to do was strip in front of her so she’d see my wet panties.
“Try them on.” She said it more forcefully. “They’ll look wonderful.”
Praying she wouldn’t notice my wetness I turned around, I took off my shirt, kicked off my shoes and jeans, and turned to face her.
“Oh…it’s easy to see you’re in good shape, I was right about the legs.” She looked me over, and her eyes trailed down towards my crotch.
“Oh, well, we can fix that.” She grabbed her purse and pulled some moist towelettes out.
“These will tidy you up in just a second. Don’t want to personalize them until they’re yours, right?”
Oh. My. God. She’d noticed, and was now acting like it wasn’t a big deal to me. Couldn’t she see the effect she was having on me? Was she blind?
“Now come on, quit fooling around, slip them off and try some of these on!”
I slowly undid my bra and let it fall to the floor, and reached down and slipped off my panties. They were incredibly wet, and I was so embarrassed. My pussy hair wasn’t neatly trimmed, I’d never done anything other than a bikini wax. My nipples were sort of puffy, but nothing like her perfection.
“First things first!’ she said as she handed me the towelettes. I tidied up the best I could and tried to put all those confusing thoughts out of my mind.
She handed me a pale green set of panties and I slipped them on, and then she handed me the matching bra. I turned to look at myself, and was stunned to see it wasn’t a regular bra, it was definitely designed to give the appearance of much more cleavage than I had! I pulled my hands up to cover myself only to find her hands reaching around to stop me.
“Don’t cover yourself up. You’re really very pretty, you just don’t seem to carry yourself with confidence.”
She pushed my hands back down, and then reached up to cup my breasts in her hands.
“Mother Nature isn’t done with you yet, but the Goddess will finish one of these days. Until she does, proudly show what you have, and if you need some inventive stitching to make it look better, that’s OK.”
With that she leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “It’s really OK. Look at yourself…you’re beautiful.”
I slowly spun around like she had and stopped to see the biggest smiled I’d ever seen from her.
“Now, you’re getting it. We need to go a little bit darker on the colors. I misjudged your skin tone.” She handed me another set, and I tried them on, they were a darker green, and the bra was the same style.
“Oh, now see, that’s what you really are, you look lovely…”
I had shut my eyes, but I opened them to see myself in the mirror. Did I look that good? Was I really pretty? Her smile told me I was. Did I get her pulse racing like she had done to me? Why was I thinking like that? Did I want a girl to think that way about me? I didn’t know.
I did know that I liked the outfit, and was going to buy it. However the whole thing had gotten too strange for me. I just held up two other sets that were the same style, but different colors and kept one of them. I was done shopping for lingerie, and I told her so.
“Oh, no, I’ve seen you around the house, sweatpants and t-shirts? They’re fine for lounging around and watching TV, but for anything else? They simply won’t….do. Here.”
She thrust something at me. I held it up to reveal a dark grey nightgown, and it looked like something a fairy princess would wear. That can’t be for me, it can’t, I’d look stupid in it. She didn’t look like she was going to take “No” for an answer, so I figured out the straps and slipped it on.
“Ooooh…..”
I looked it over to realize it had some fairly sheer areas like hers had. She was seeing more of me than anyone who wasn’t a doctor or my boyfriend would see, and she seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.
“Now, that is so much better than sweatpants, right?”
Ohmigod. I was pretty. Very pretty. She then stepped behind me to lift up my hair, and pulled it into a high ponytail that fell around my shoulders, while making me look a bit older.
“Now do you see what I see?”
“I….think I do…”
She held her hands on my shoulders and slowly started rubbing them, I liked it, and didn’t want her to stop, but I had to pull away.
“Um, yeah, I think we got everything.”
I sounded dorky in the extreme. She smiled serenely at me, and started dressing again. I dressed myself as well, and gave her an embarrassed look as I held up my still damp panties.
She came over to me and whispered in my ear, “Go commando for the rest of the day, I dare you to….”
I had never, ever been out in public without my underwear, but I felt unsettled, still the thought of putting them back on wasn’t exactly appealing. I grabbed my jeans and put them on.
“There you go…feel sexier already, don’t you?”
I did, but I was too embarrassed to say so. She snagged my panties and slid them into a small plastic bag she had in her purse. We trooped out and the saleslady gave us a knowing smile, which sort of freaked me out. Did she know what I’d been thinking and feeling? Did she know that I’d soaked my panties?
Kristi put all the things on the counter and went to put back the ones we didn’t like, I wasn’t paying attention and slowly realized they were all being rung up together.
“Wait, only those two sets are mine.” and I pushed the nightgown away, only to see Kristi’s hand push it back as she said that it was all one bill. She whipped out her Amex card to pay for it all.
I was angry that she had done so, but I wasn’t going to make a scene in the store.
The second we left the store I headed towards what looked like a quiet spot behind one of the planter boxes. She followed me, and I whirled to face her.
“You can’t just buy me all that stuff. I know your father makes more than mine, you don’t have to show it off!”
She didn’t say anything. She just looked back at me cooly.
“Can you respond to that?”
She took a breath, and put her finger across her lips.
“No, not in anger.” she said quietly.
“What?”
“I’m not going to respond in anger. It will get us nowhere fast. Give me a moment and I’ll figure out what to say.”
She stood thinking for a few minutes.
“Okay, first thing. I did not for one second ‘show off’ that my father makes more than yours. Nor was there any intended slight towards your father. I happen to think he’s a wonderful guy. I’m pretty happy that my mom is marrying him.”
She thought for another few seconds and continued.
“I have more money to spend than you do. It’s not a boast, or any kind of a put down. It’s a fact. However, if I look at you, I see that both of your parents love you like crazy, and have never, ever stinted in their love and concern for you. Even my mother loves you, which as she’s soon to be your step-mother is good, I’d say. We’re both young, and I would trade every penny I’ve ever had or spent to have gotten the love you did throughout your life. When my parents split up, I don’t think either one of them really wanted me. I grew up almost a thousand miles away from my mother. I didn’t see her, since the divorce I’ve seen her exactly 5 times until I moved here. My father, despite his ability to make money, has about zero affection for me. I’m something to be proud of if I do well in school or in my music, but to just out and out love me? To be my “daddy” who I can just love him back and feel special, safe and secure around him? Not a chance. I’d rather have had him take me to a movie and have ice cream with me afterwards than have him give me an Amex card. It never happened. It never will. Your father thinks the sun rises and sets on you, he’ll always be there for you. You could be 40 years old with three kids and he’ll still be your daddy, ready to help out, or just….be there if you need him. He’ll stand there with tears in his eyes when he gives you away at the altar, and he’ll be bursting with pride when he takes your hand after you’ve just done your first dance with your husband, mine never will….”
I could see she was starting to cry. I didn’t mean to make her feel like that.
“And now we’re all going to be together, in a new family of sorts, and I want to do the nicest things I can for you, and you think I’m showing off? Maybe your father doesn’t give you credit cards, maybe he actually shows his love instead of trying to cover up his lack of it with money! I was raised though by that man, I’m trying to show you I care about you, but the only way I know how to show it is by spending money on you, because that’s the only form of love I’ve ever gotten!”
With that she spun away and ran. I wanted to run after her, but what she said had finally gotten through my thick skull. I was actually honored that she had dropped all her cool, and all the walls around herself to show me some of her soul. Virtually everything that she’d said that day made sense, and her discomfort at some things and out and out brazen behavior with others made a lot more sense. She was not nearly as cool and collected as she seemed to be, and in a day of shopping, I’d gotten through to the real her. She was hurting, she was vulnerable, and she needed me to be there for her. I took off running in the direction she’d gone. I found her after a minute sitting behind another planter box, crying.
I walked up to her slowly, and put my arms around her from behind. “I am so…sorry about what I said. I didn’t understand at all. I was wrong to say that or ever think that.”
She turned to let me hold her closer.
“I thought you were mad at me?”
“I’m not. I’m horribly embarrassed that I was so dumb, but not mad. Can I take a guess at something?”
“Sure,” she sniffled.
“Is part of the money sort of getting back at your father?”
She stopped sniffling, looked up at me and smiled through her tears.
“Sort of, if he’s willing to give me just about anything, I’ll take it because it’s all I’ll ever get from him.”
She wiped her eyes and dug through her purse for some kleenex.
“I’m sort of messed up if you haven’t figured it out.”
“Ah, that’s OK, I think everyone’s a little messed up in some ways. Don’t worry, I’m pretty patient.”
“Well, we still have some more shopping to do, don’t we?”
“What’s left?” “You said you needed something silver for your hair with that gown, didn’t you? There’s a couple of really nice antique stores just down the street from this mall. Also, unless I miss my guess, we didn’t buy any makeup did we?”
“No, but that’s because the stuff in Hot Topic is terrible. We need to find something better, if I can use your iPhone again?”
I handed it to her and she got rolling again. It took a few minutes, but she found what she was looking for, and asked me where Carsten Avenue was.
“Lucky you, it’s about another two blocks over from the antique stores.”
She gave me the address and we headed out.
Part Two details the problems Therese faces as Kristi unveils more of her life, and the confusion that descends upon her.
Via: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/incest-fantasy/kristi-and-i-begin
