Off Limits Ch. 01

"Uh-huh," her brother confirmed with a straight face and slurped the last of his milkshake.

Dumbfounded, Kimberly shifted in her seat so she would face him. "Matthew, you are aware that I'm your sister, aren't you?"

Matthew gave a chuckle, finding her bewilderment amusing. "I'm sorry, I wasn't clear enough before. What I meant to say was that I want to take you out on a series of pretend dates."

"Pretend dates?" she echoed, the excitement and consequent shame his offer had incited in her abating.

"Yeah. Remember that night you said that the idea of dating stresses you out? That you find it difficult letting guys in? I want to help you out. Let's work on it."

Kimberly took a second to consider it. She was somewhat relieved yet also unsettled upon realizing that in some sick way she was disappointed that her brother hadn't actually intended to date her. "Matthew, I appreciate the sentiment, but this is crazy. I know I guilted the heck out of you that night, but it's only because you made me open up to you."

"Look, I've been feeling like shit since that night, and I'm not going to feel any better until I find a way to help you resolve this. I know it's a little out there, but... I'm game if you are."

"Um"—she shook her head—"no. I'm sorry, Bro, I know you mean well, but this is beyond crazy. Let it go, please. I shouldn't have told you all of that in the first place."

Seeing the heat on her pretty face, Matthew bobbed his head, regretting that he had even brought it up. "You're right. It is kinda crazy, I guess. Just forget I said anything."

An hour later, the siblings were seated in the packed theatre, watching the latest comic-book blockbuster. Kimberly could barely concentrate though. She couldn't stop musing over her brother's radical proposition. Kimberly was a complicated teenage girl, plagued with confidence issues and low self-esteem. Matthew was right when he'd said that she found dating immensely stressful.

Perhaps it wasn't that crazy after all, Kimberly told herself. She often found herself rejecting the advancements of attractive suiters, guys she liked, because the notion of being on a date with them made her so anxious and insecure. She could use the practice, she knew. And Matthew was safe. He wouldn't hurt her, wouldn't exploit her.

Eventually, the explosions on the screen drew her in, and she forgot about it. When the movie ended, Matthew drove her back home. They discussed their favorite parts of the film, and both agreed that while the characters were engaging, the CGI was at places subpar. Matthew pulled up to the curb in front of the house and put the car in park. He could tell his sister was preoccupied, watching her gazing pensively out the window.

"You okay?" he asked, turning down the music.

It took Kimberly a second or two to realize that she'd been asked a question. She turned to look at Matthew with a grin that made her seem a bit disconnected. "Yeah. I'm great. I had a really nice time."

He returned her smile. "Yeah, so did I."

A moment of awkward silence followed. Matthew expected his sister to exit the car, figuring that this was the natural conclusion to the night, but for whatever reason, she remained buckled up while staring up the quiet, dark street.

"Okay, sooooooo... I guess I'll call you over the weeke—"

"I'm sorry," she cut him off, shifting in her seat to face him, "but what exactly did you mean before? The pretend dates? Like... how would that go?"

He frowned. "Uhhhhh... I thought we weren't doing it."

"Indulge me."

"Kay..." he replied, wondering what had made her change her mind. "I was thinking of taking you out on a couple of dates, give you the chance to confront your fears in a controlled, safe environment. And besides, it would give us a chance to get to know each other better. I mean, let's be honest, we don't know a whole lot about each other. Two birds -- one stone."

"I see," she mused while trying to envision it. A question made her frown then. "Would those dates be like... romantic?"

"Mhmm," he confirmed. "I'd be taking you out, courting you, and you would have to allow me, encourage me, like you would be expected to do on a normal date."

She looked into his eyes, awash in that unwelcome excitement that she had felt earlier. "You'd be... courting me?"

"Yeah. You know, to an extent obviously. You're still my sister."

Kimberly resented it that he felt the need to point it out, like there could ever be something romantic developing between them, as if she would ever allow it.

"So... I don't get it. Would we have different names? Or like..." she faltered.

"No, no, no. I'm still me, and you're still you. Only during the date, we're not brother and sister. I'm just a guy taking a girl I don't know out. And when the date is over, I'd be rating it and giving you pointers, so you'd have something to think about for our next date."

It was a revolutionary concept, one not without merit, Kimberly had to admit. She could truly use the practice, and it would be invaluable to her to receive some feedback from a guy who loved her and cared for her, a guy with no hidden agenda, a guy that simply wanted the best for her. There were no downsides, Kimberly figured. What could possibly go wrong?

"Okay," she murmured seconds later.

"Yeah?" he said, frowning in surprise.

"Yeah. Let's do it. I don't date much, and I could use the practice."

He smiled. "Okay then. It's a date."

She smiled back. "It's a date."

***

"Are you sure you want to pass on this party?" Amber asked on Friday evening. "The place will be jam-packed with tons of hot guys."

Sitting in front of the dresser, Kimberly brushed a little rouge across her cheeks. "Yeah, I'm sure it will, but I've made plans with Matthew."

Amber flopped onto the bed. Lying on her back, she lifted her legs, her pretty feet pointing at the ceiling. "You know, it really bothers me that he hasn't even asked if I wanted to come with you guys. I kinda hate him now."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. It genuinely irked her, her cousin's perverted infatuation with her brother. "Amber, you really need to get over this. You can't think about him like that."

"I don't want to think about him like that, either, trust me." She heaved a sigh and lowered her legs back. "But I can't help it."

Kimberly shook her head, increasingly getting irritated. "I know you can't control it, but I want to go on the record that I think it's really F'd up. You've known him your whole life."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Kimberly gritted her teeth and rose to select her outfit for her date with her brother.

"That night, when I went out with Rob," the blonde started.

"You mean the night you ended up doing it in his car?"

"Yeah," Amber replied, not oblivious to the judgmental note in her cousin's voice. "Anyway, while I was riding him, I was totally thinking about Matthew. And then I exploded like you couldn't even—"

"Amber, I really don't want to know that."

The blonde's cheeks swelled with blood. "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting he's your brother. I didn't mean to gross you out."

Kimberly sat on the bed beside her and stroked her leg. "Look, I know this must be tough for you, be into a guy you can't be with, but... damn, Amber, this is incest you're talking about here. Not to the mention the fact that your dad and Jimmie may very well murder him if he so much as looks at you the wrong way."

"I know, I know... I have to get over him, don't I?"

"And the sooner the better. You really don't have any other choice."

Staring up at the ceiling, Amber shook her head but didn't comment further.

It pained Kimberly, to see the wetness building in her cousin's eyes. It also surprised her greatly. Deep down, she must have known Amber was capable of forming such profound attachments, but this was the first time she was witnessing it. "This is really hurting you, isn't it? That you can't be with him?"

A tear trickled down the blonde's cheek in response.

Kimberly sighed, acknowledging for the first time the magnitude of her cousin's feelings for her brother. "I'm so sorry, babe."

"Fuck it," Amber croaked and wiped off her tear. "It's not like he's the only guy on the planet."

"Exactly!" Kimberly replied.

Amber sprang to her feet. "I don't care about him. And tonight, I'm going to prove that at the party."

"You go, girl!" Kimberly cheered.

Amber padded to the door, but then she swiveled abruptly to her cousin. "Oh, and tell your brother I said he can go fuck himself."

"Oh, boy..." Kimberly muttered under her breath.

***

Thirty minutes later, Kimberly walked out, ready for her first date with Matthew. She climbed down the steps while her brother waited for her outside his car, smiling as he held the passenger door open for her.

"Oh, it's on," she said inwardly just before he kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi, I'm Matthew."

"Kimberly," she replied with an embarrassed grin.

"Your profile picture doesn't do you any justice. You're so much prettier."

An awkward smile curled her lips. "Um... thanks."

She entered the car, and they were on their way to wherever Matthew was taking her. Not long after, they arrived at a mini golf course, and it wasn't a minute too soon. Kimberly felt very ridiculous during the drive. Her brother had been making small talk, discussing the weather and traffic, pretending to be nervous around her. He was really selling it.

"So, tell me a little about yourself," Matthew said as he putted the ball into the hole.

"Well, as you already know, my name is Kimberly. I'm 18, just graduated from high school. I live in Boise, Idaho, and... what else..."

"Are you going to college?"

"Uh, yeah. Local college, nothing fancy."

"What are you going to major in?"

"Something with computers, I guess. That's where the money is, isn't it?"

"You don't sound too enthused."

"No, I am, I am. I don't know why I said it like that." She swung the club when it was her turn, but she overhit it. "Darn it."

Her date chuckled. "It's okay, you'll get the hang of it soon."

"Yeah, I'm afraid this is out of my wheelhouse. You're pretty good at this though. I bet this is where you take all of your first dates."

"I don't know about all of them, but yeah, I found that this really works on first dates. It takes some of the tension off." He hit the ball and missed.

His sister snickered when the ball came to a halt a foot away from the hole, setting her up with the easiest strike. "I don't think you've been dating all that much. That was pathetic."

"I'm normally better than that."

"Normally?" she scoffed as she got herself ready to putt the ball into the hole.

"Well," he started, a roguish smile on his face, "I'm finding it especially hard to concentrate on my strokes tonight."

Kimberly took her eyes off the ball and looked at her date. Her cheeks were hot and her body tense. This was without question a compliment of romantic nature. She smiled bashfully and focused back on the task at hand, a task that had felt almost trivial a moment ago, but not any longer. She made contact with the ball and missed the hole by the smallest of margins. "Darn it!"

Now it was her date's turn to snicker. "I think we'll be back here on our second date."

An hour later, they abandoned the course and proceeded to the second portion of their date: dinner.

"I hope they don't card me," Kimberly said while Matthew browsed through the wine menu.

"I'll be crushed if they do."

"And why is that?" she asked, slanting a brow in suspicion.

Her date gave her a sly smile but didn't elaborate.

Kimberly found herself blushing again. He might not have said it, but his mischievous smile implied something sexual, which to her dismay, hadn't weirded her out as much as she was hoping it would. The waitress did end up carding her, which mildly upset her but wasn't at all surprising. She knew she looked her age.

"I really like your eyes," Matthew said several minutes later while twirling his glass of wine in his hand. "I feel like I could get lost in them for days."

Kimberly put on a false smile, squashing the urge to roll her eyes at the cheesiness. "Uh, yeah, thanks."

Matthew averted his gaze and puckered his lips. "Well, okay then."

The waitress served them the main course, Fettuccini Alfredo for the lady and a steak for the gentleman. They ate in silence, neither attempting at anything even remotely close to a conversation. Matthew asked to see the dessert menu when they finished while his date took a glance at her phone.

"So, um... what about relationships?" he asked, desperate to kickstart any form of communication.

"What about them?" she replied as she laid her phone down.

"Had any?"

"I'm not sure. Is three weeks considered a relationship?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, why not."

"Well, in that case, the answer is yes."

"Okay. Want to tell me a little about it?"

"I rather not." She sipped her coke. "What about you? How many relationships have you had?"

"A few. Some longer than others."

She gave a nod that seemed almost obligatory. "Cool."

He sighed. "Yeah, cool."

They split the dessert, Matthew paid the check, and he drove her back home. He killed the engine and turned to look at his date. "Did you have a good time, Kimberly?"

"I did. It was... really nice."

"Good," he replied with a smile. "Because there's no way in hell I'm taking you out again."

"What?" Kimberly exclaimed.

"Date's officially over. Time to rate it. Um, I'm gonna give it a... two."

"A two?!" Kimberly seethed. "On what scale?"

"One to ten."

"Matthew?! What the heck?!"

"I'm sorry, but this was a disastrous date."

"Oh my god! You're such a jerk!"

"Sorry, Kim. Just telling it like it is."

Kimberly shook her head, her face flushed. She didn't think it was a particularly successful date, but she certainly wouldn't go as far as calling it disastrous. "I can't believe you only gave it a two. I mean, it wasn't a good date, I know that, but what was so bad about it?"

"Where do I start?" He took a better look at her. "Let's start with your clothes."

Kimberly looked down at herself. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

He looked her up and down with clear disapproval. "Is this really the best you can do? Khaki pants? Really? And what the fuck is this cartoonish blouse? Flat sandals for a first date? And your ponytail, jeez... girl, you're a mess. Like, nothing works here. Like, you went out of your way to look as unattractive as possible."

Kimberly's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe he thought she looked so horrendous.

"Now, I might've been able to look past that, but on top of that, you were also a lousy date." He sighed, noting the insult on her face. "I'm sorry."

"No, no! Tell what you really think!"

"Look, Kim, I only want to help you out, and you were not a good date. Actually, you were pretty crappy. You looked less than stellar, you didn't participate, didn't encourage me, didn't take interest in me, didn't really tell me anything about yourself... and where's the fun? The playfulness? I set it up for you so many times, and you totally blew it. It was quite painful to watch."

Kimberly shook her head, her eyes welling up with tears. She wanted to scream at him, to sob, to storm out, but she couldn't even find the strength to move. "So... you didn't mean anything you said, about me being pretty? About my eyes? It was all just... lies."

"Not all of it."

"Yeah, right," she muttered, her throat stifled with tears.

Matthew sighed, realizing he'd been maybe a tad too direct. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so blunt. But I'm just so disappointed. I mean... is this really how you look and act on a date?"

Kimberly failed to respond, her stomach tightening so painfully as the insults piled up.

Seeing his sister this hurt made Matthew want to kick himself in the head. Although his intentions were good, it only now registered what an insensitive asshole he'd been. "Listen, I'm... I'm sorry. I don't know what I was think... this was a mistake. I shouldn't have suggested we'd do this to begin with."

Tears pricked his sister's eyes at his words.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

"Because you're rejecting me," she wept quietly.

Matthew frowned, finding her phrasing rather bizarre. "I'm not rejecting you. I just feel that maybe this isn't working out after all. Maybe you should consult your friends instead."

"Give me another chance," she pleaded. "I promise I'll do better. I promise... please, Matt."

Her brother considered her tearful face, feeling like he'd been backed into a corner. "You sure you want to go through this again? Because I hate seeing you this hurt."

She shifted in her seat to face him. "Take me out again, and you'll see that I can do better."

"You have nothing to prove to me, kiddo."

"I want to prove to myself. I need to know that I can be a good date."

He shook his head as he contemplated it. He didn't want to take her out again, but he didn't want her to feel rejected, either. That might crush her self-esteem entirely. "You're going to have to make a few changes."

"Yeah, anything! Tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

"First off, you need to have the right mindset. I am not your brother while we are on a date. I know it's hard to act, but if you truly want this experiment to work, then you'll need to somehow make that transition in your head because tonight you were struggling with it."

"Done. What else?"

"You need to be present and willing to engage in conversation. You need to be interesting. You need to tell your date about yourself—not a whole lot though. After all, you want to keep a little mystery about you. And you need to be a little playful and flirty, have some fun! This is a date after all."

"I can do that," she eagerly replied.

"Good. You also need to dress sexy. You need to remind your date why he asked you out in the first place. You want him to be constantly checking you out, to trip over his words, to act like a damn fool because of how badly he wants you. And that means no pants. Skirt or a dress, preferably short and tight. And cleavage is a must, the deeper the better. You need to show off the goods."

Kimberly felt the anxiety roiling in her stomach as she pondered his instructions. She never dared to dress that sexy before. She felt too self-conscious, and the thought that guys would be passing judgment on her body made her anxious to the point that she felt nauseated. But this wasn't a real date, and Matthew wasn't a real guy, Kimberly thought. This was safe. She could afford to step out of her comfort zone with him. She could afford taking risks.

"I'll do it. I'll dress sexy for you, Matt."

Matthew felt a flutter of excitement at her phrasing, an excitement he knew he shouldn't be feeling. He wasn't ready for it.

"Anything else?" his sister asked after a few quiet moments.

"Uh... your hair? Sexy it up. Ditto on the makeup: lipstick, eyeliner... the works. Make me drool, Sis."

Now it was Kimberly's turn to bathe in that illicit excitement. The thought of her brother drooling over her kicked her pulse into overdrive. "I will."

He nodded. "Tomorrow night. Be ready at 8."

***

Sleep came slowly to Kimberly that night. She hadn't realized just how bad she was at dating. And it hurt, that knowledge. Sitting in the car while her brother had listed all the reasons as to why she was such a terrible date was excruciating. She didn't want to experience that ever again. He had given her a second chance, and she was not going to squander it.

The next day, she woke Amber up and asked her to accompany her to the mall. She had a couple of dresses she had brought from home, but those were plain and pragmatic; she knew they weren't going to impress her date. She needed a complete makeover, and she needed Amber. Her cousin was a smoking hottie with an affinity for skimpy outfits. No girl could turn a guy on faster than Amber.