The Gift

There are times you can bang your head against the desk for weeks and weeks trying to write a story worth posting, then there are those inspired moments when you sit down and the words just flow. This is the latter. Not to worry, if you're waiting for a sequel, or another chapter of one of my other stories, I promise I'm working on them.

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The news was bleak. After a short, but heated argument, I was going to get stuck playing security guard to my sister and her roommate when they came down to the beach house for the first few weeks of summer vacation. I was only eighteen myself, having just celebrated my birthday a month earlier. My folks didn't have a lot of time off from work so they would come out for the first weekend, then leave us during the week to fend for ourselves. They weren't overly concerned about me but their precious first born, my sister Tara was a pretty twenty-one year old college student who now that she could get booze without having to steal it from their liquor cabinet, was a wildcard in their eyes. I don't blame them. She was the free-spirit, I was the stable one.

I banged out my finals which thankfully my school planned the week before Memorial day so that the teachers had time to grade them and get our transcripts completed and ready to ship to our respective college choices. That left the seniors with no classes as of June first. I was headed to Rutgers in the fall. Tara and Ali were at Villanova in Philadelphia.

The plan was for me to drive mom's car down to the beach and they would take dad's so we would have a car for the week. Neither of us kids ever bothered getting our own since we never had any problem borrowing one, and the driveway at home didn't have space for us to park them.

"Teddy, why don't I give you some money to fill up the tank. You pick up the girls in your dad's SUV. When he's ready we'll head south and pick up groceries for you guys before we meet you at the beach."

"Aw mom, I thought you were going to pick the girls up. Since I'm going to do most of the cooking shouldn't I do the shopping?" I asked hoping to sway her from the current plan.

Since my future was geared toward business management and culinary arts my folks had often leaned on me to cook dinner to get in practice. I blame mom and her addiction to cooking shows when we were young for getting me hooked. We only had the one TV when we were kids and the moment the cartoons were over on Saturday mornings, any day that wasn't scheduled with activities was public broadcasting cooking shows for hours. She watched, but rarely could she emulate any of the recipes. Her cooking was pretty standard professional mom fare and we made out just fine. I started getting the knack in my early teens to tackle entire menus and she gladly let me flourish in that respect as her days as an upwardly mobile corporate lawyer left her drained when she got home.

"We have a beach house, I can't afford to let you do the shopping or it will be diver scallops, and filet mignon, with truffles for every dinner until you empty my bank account." She added with a laugh.

"I was thinking Asian inspired grilled salmon, but I need to get a look at the grill first and see how bad dad left it."

"Here's some money. It should cover some drinks and snacks for the ride down." She handed me several folded twenties. "If you get there ahead of us, go ahead and open some windows, it was a bit musty the last few weekends we were there because of the rainy spring. You can help the girls get settled and make up the beds in your rooms too. Don't just ditch them and head to the boardwalk."

She gave me the well honed cold eye stare of a lawyer waiting for an answer to a question.

"Yes mom." I rolled my eyes and she reached up to ruffle my hair.

"C'mon, your sister just texted me that they were just leaving and should be here in twenty minutes. It'll take you that long to get to the station, you can probably pick them up at the curb. I warned her you were coming."

I sighed knowing I wasn't getting out of it, but knowing if I didn't give her a hard time she would think something was wrong. I had already stowed my bag in the back so I took the keys off the rack in the kitchen and headed out the door. I was thinking as I drove into town about Ali, Tara's roommate. In a conversation with Tara, mom had learned Ali like me, took karate classes, and was pre-law. I just hoped she wasn't more of a pain in the ass than Tara was.

When I got the train station I took a chance and slowly rode up to the curb hoping they were already there. I saw Tara and next to her was a tall blonde haired supermodel that I desperately hoped was Ali. I stared just long enough that I nearly drove past them. I stopped short hoping I wasn't about to get rear-ended. I put on the hazards and hopped out.

"Cook to chauffeur, is there no menial job you can't do?" Tara asked, the first shot had been fired in our casual sibling rivalry.

I popped the trunk and the blonde stepped off the curb to join Tara at the back. She swept her hair behind her ear and smiled. I melted.

"You must be Ali." I took her bag and slid it into the back before walking her around to the passenger door and opened it for her. I'd left Tara to take care of her own luggage.

"I can sit in the back."

"Absolutely not. You're our guest. If she thinks I'm her chauffeur then she can park her ass in the backseat." Once Ali was in I ran around the front to find Tara standing at the drivers door with her hand out for the keys.

"No way." I said putting my hand to her face and pushing her back gently. She rolled her eyes and got in behind the back.

"As you no doubt figured out Casanova here is my little brother Teddy. Teddy, this is Ali. Be nice or else."

"I'm always nice, just not to you."

I made my way south out of town noting I didn't need to stop for gas immediately. Once we were on the highway south I pulled into Wawa's and filled the tank before joining the ladies inside.

"It's about an hour and a half ride so get what you want, my treat." I said. Ali only grabbed a bottle of water so I decided to get some shareable snacks. We were on our way a few minutes later.

"Ali what do you like to eat?" I asked as the girls surfed their phones.

"Food mostly." She replied without looking up. I glanced sidelong at her and she had a silly grin on her face as she tapped the screen.

"As you no doubt heard I'm the chef de cuisine at chez Quinlan. So it's always good to know what people want."

"She doesn't eat. As your eyes, which practically fell out of your head when you first saw her can attest, Ali's a model, so she drinks water, eats lettuce and stares longingly through bakery windows."

That got Ali to look up from her phone. Shots were fired and it was nice to see Tara was bringing Ali into the fold. I reached over and turned up the radio and glanced at her. "Do you hear that noise coming from the back? I don't know what it is but it's really annoying."

Ali laughed at that and glanced toward the back. "I'm her roommate, I know that noise."

"If you make lasagna or manicotti this week, I'll eat her share. Just putting that out there."

"I can make something lighter than that."

"I'm not opposed to either of those, but Chef Quinlan you're going to be judged. My last name is Esposito. I know lasagna."

"Burgers it is then."

"At least you know how to cook them. When dad makes them the Flyers could use them for hockey pucks." Tara chirped in from the backseat.

"So you really are the chef of the family, and you're only seventeen?"

"Eighteen actually."

"Do you have a girlfriend? Did she give you a special birthday present?" Ali asked with a coy smile.

"This idiot? He couldn't get a girl if her foot was caught in a bear trap."

"Hey, that's not true!" It hurt to hear it but Tara wasn't wrong. I never made it past a first date or, if I got lucky, two.

"Really? Who's the new squeeze then?" She asked. When I didn't respond she added, "That's what I thought. All talk, no game. What ever happened to Mallory?"

I didn't answer her and just drove. I had a crush on Mallory through senior year. When I finally got up the courage to ask her out, she was with a couple friends who decided to show their distaste of me, Mallory joining in with awkward looks as if the biggest loser was asking out the prom queen. To say the least I walked away from that with enough burn marks and ridicule to decide high school was over and I was done with trying to fit in there. I saw Ali look over her shoulder before she gave my arm a quick squeeze. I looked to see an apologetic look on her face followed with a quick smile before she looked out the side window.

The rest of the trip was quiet. When we arrived I pulled into the driveway and pulled in far enough for mom's car to fit when they got here. I went and unlocked the door and we brought our bags inside. Ali was looking around and commented how nice a place it was. Tara quickly hauled her upstairs to show Ali her room for the next couple weeks. They chattered away as I heard doors opening and closing as they made up the rooms and got their things squared away. I dropped my bag at the end of my bed and got the sheets out of the bottom drawer of the dresser and made my bed.

"It's still getting pretty warm out, do you want to hit the beach right now?" I heard Tara call out.

"Sure, give me a minute to change."

"I don't think you should change. You're perfect as is." I called back to Ali. Shit. I said it without thinking and quickly realized why every girl thought I was a fucking weirdo. I was flipping the sheet across the mattress when I heard Ali speak softly behind me.

"Thanks." I nearly jumped on the bed, surprised she'd come into my room. "Is this bikini okay?" She stood there, her hair piled on her head in a messy bun, sun glasses propped on her head in front of it. I scanned down her body, she wore a very brief dark green bikini, the only other thing she had was a piercing in her belly button. I looked her up and down again and thought either I'd died and I was in heaven, or I was daydreaming. She spun around on her heel and showed off the back, lifting the strings a little before sliding her fingers under the fabric to resettle it over her tight ass.

"Uh." I couldn't find words and swallowed quickly.

"It's not too much is it? I have one that covers a little more, but I love this one. It makes the tan lines a little smaller."

"I um, I love it too. I stand by what I said, you're perfect."

"Come on down when you're changed. I'll grab us some towels and sunscreen."

Ali leaned in close and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Thanks, you're sweet." She tossed me a wink and ducked out of my room. She came back a moment later wearing flip flops. "Do you have a spare t-shirt? I didn't bring anything to cover up with."

"Why would you when you look like that?" I asked, my mouth opening before my brain engaged. It wasn't surprising since none of my blood was in my upper head at the time. I grabbed my bag and tossed it on the bed and started digging through the shirts. I had a Foo Fighters concert tee on top and she reached in for it.

"That should do it. Thanks." She flipped it over and pulled it slowly over her head and slid it down her body. It was just loose enough to be concealing, and just tight enough to show that she had a great body underneath. The hem landed just past the bottom of her bikini showcasing her great legs. She turned and headed for the stairs to join Tara. It barely covered her ass and all I could think about was reaching up underneath and giving it a squeeze. I shook my leg, to rearrange my now hard cock.

"Fuck," I said under my breath as I heard them rustling through the laundry room closet for towels. I pulled the sheet tight on the bed and fell backward onto it.

"Are you coming dweeb? If you do don't forget to lock up!" Tara called from the base of the stairs.

"No, you go ahead."

I heard mumbling as they made their way to the door. I got up and ran to the guest room across the hall so I could see the sidewalk. The house wasn't actually facing the beach, we were on a street which ended at the boardwalk. They had to walk past a few houses before they'd be there. I looked both ways to find them and saw them walk out from the driveway. Tara wore a cover up that looked like one of dad's old dress shirts. She had a bag over her arm stuffed with towels, Ali wore my shirt and had her water bottle in one hand and a towel in the other. I turned and realized this was the room Ali was staying in and saw her clothes piled on the bed. She'd folded her jeans, on top was a short top with thin straps and next to that in a heap of soft fabric was her underwear. A plain white pair of panties with a little daisy on the front, and the bra had little daisies over the cups. I quickly peeked out the window then turned back to the items picking them up. They were soft and still a bit warm. I brought them to my face and inhaled, the faint scent of sweet flowers hit me. It hit me how weird this would look if I got caught and put her things down as close as I could to how I found them and went back to my room.

I closed the door and unzipped my jeans kicking them off as quickly as I could. Soon I was laying on the sheet naked and I closed my eyes thinking about Ali, imagining her peeling my tee slowly off. I stroked my cock, not even trying to hold back even a little. In my head she reached up and undid the bikini top and let it slide down her arms to the floor of my room. Her breasts were beautiful, tipped with dusky rose colored nipples. Her dark eyes were positively feral as she reached up behind her head and released the bun and shook her dark blonde hair out in slow motion. I knew I wasn't going to last much longer as she ran her hands down her breasts and over her body, teasing me with that little smile as her thumbs reached the strings of the bottom. I imagined she asked if I wanted her to take it off and I felt myself nodding as I held my breath and stroked myself into a frenzy. She tugged both knots free and kept pulling as the fabric slipped from between her legs. She held it up for a moment and dropped it. She was completely shaved, and I came, shooting up so hard I thought I was going to hit the ceiling. It splattered on my chest, my stomach as I began panting like I'd just finished a road race. She was a smoldering goddess and I wasn't worthy of seeing her like that, but damn I wanted to see her naked.

My cock began to soften in my hand. I grabbed my t-shirt and cleaned up as much as I could before jumping into the shower. All I could think about was Ali and just how beautiful she was, I ended up rubbing one out again. When I got out I threw on a pair of shorts and another tee before I remembered mom asked me to open some windows to get some fresh air in the house. I cracked a few downstairs and went up and did my own room and the folks room too. I went and grabbed my phone, we didn't have cable or satellite at the beach so the only thing on TV was DVD's or the local station the antenna could pick up. We did have internet thankfully.

The door downstairs banged open loudly and the girls came in jabbering.

"Teddy!" Tara called out. I knew her well enough to know that something was wrong.

"Yea I'm up here!" I called back.

The girls were outside my door seconds later. Tara stood in my doorway shaken.

"Mom and Dad have been in a car accident." She took a deep breath as I sat up quickly.

"Are they okay?"

She nodded as she continued. "It was a fender bender. Someone pulled out of a side street and hit them in the front drivers side. Mom rapped her head into the side window, but the air bag went off so they're at the hospital getting checked out. Dad just got bumped around. He says he's fine. They need me to go pick them up after they're checked out and bring them home. I talked to Dad and he said we didn't all need to come home. Can you stay here with Ali until I get back?" She dashed down to her room to change. She stumbled back tugging her shirt down and kicking her foot into her shoe to get it on. She was back so quickly I think she had just pulled clothes over her bikini.

"Yeah, of course."

She turned to Ali. "I'm sorry I have to go, Teddy isn't as much of a weirdo as I make him out to be, you'll be fine here with him."

"Don't worry about me. I can probably take him anyway. Go get your folks."

We went downstairs and I gave her the car keys.

"Shit there's nothing in the place to eat. Do you have any money?" Tara asked me.

"Yeah I can walk down to Sammy's and pick up groceries there. Get out of here, it's an hour and a half ride back. Everything will be okay, don't freak out."

"Please, they called me because I don't freak out." I thought about that and that's the opposite of the truth. She surprised me by giving me a hug, then giving Ali a quick hug before skipping down the steps to the driveway and got in the car.

"She's got plenty of gas, hopefully she doesn't get pulled over on the way back."

"Are you okay?" Ali asked me.

"If my dad told us not to worry then I'm sure it's all good. I should probably head down to Sammy's so we have something to eat. We missed lunch."

"I can come with you if you want."

"You might want to put something else on besides that bikini or you're likely to cause a few accidents yourself." I closed my eyes realizing that once again, my brain was out when my mouth opened.

"Thanks again." She smiled and headed up the stairs. I went up behind her and marveled at the sway of her ass under the hem of my shirt. I had to get my wallet but that's not what I was thinking about right at the moment. I got to my room and grabbed my wallet and slipped on my shoes. Ali came out of her room, my shirt pushed up as she buttoned very short denim cutoffs. I just shook my head and headed down the stairs.

I scanned through the cupboards and the refrigerator to see what there was to work with and realized that my list was going to be a pain in the ass to haul back six blocks in hand. I thought we might be better to eat while we were down on the main drag and just get some basics for breakfast instead.

"I think we may want to eat while we're downtown and then we'll have less to carry back." I said as I turned. Ali had rucked my tee and tied it off just below her breasts baring her midriff.

"Okay, is there anything decent down there?"

"A burger joint, Mexican, a few other places."

"Can we walk up the boardwalk to get there?"

"Sure."

We were about half way there and neither of us had spoken since we left.

"Jesus will you relax. I squat to piss just like every other pretty girl. Get over the wide eyed wonder of it. Besides you're not too hard on the eyes either." She swayed towards me and shouldered my arm.

"Sorry, it's just not that often I'm around someone as incredibly beautiful as you, much less alone with them."

"Well, don't fuck it up then." Ali laughed as she slid her hands into her back pockets. I felt like she was trying to get me to relax and not dwell on mom and dad.

We got to the main road and turned onto the sidewalk from the boardwalk and the first place on the corner was a big ice cream stand.

"Teddy save me!" Ali's arms came up on either side of me as she stepped forward pressing herself against me. I was so surprised I nearly went over but reflexes won and I put my foot back and stood my ground.

"Now Ali, you can go there after you eat, but real food first." I took her shoulders pressing her back half heartedly. She laughed and bumped her forehead against my chest before standing back a step.

"What do you feel like having?" She asked seeing the variety.

"It's your first time here. What tickles your fancy?"

"You said I had to wait until after I eat real food." She pouted, thrusting her lower lip out and pretended to kick at the dirt.