Summer Storms and Hidden Secrets: A Brothers Unexpected Encounter

Fuck me. Fuck me Fuck me fuck me.

That thought kept running through my head. The airport was my least favorite place on the planet, right after my hometown of Bastion Ohio. The city was exciting but clogged and rheumy in spite of all the people.

You’d think that somewhere along the line people would learn common hospitality towards strangers. These people might as well be in a chute mooing about grass while the slaughterhouse looms up.

Yes, that was an actual thought of mine. Let me make things clearer: I’m Kyle, Kyle McAllen. I just got off the last flight from home to my older brother Ethan’s new home, ready for two weeks of my summer in his apartment. Yippee. Don’t get me wrong, Ethan is a great guy; best older brother on the face of the planet, as well as I can see. He’s this big guy, well six foot but big to me, with plain looks. Standing in a crowd, he almost seems like a backdrop for everyone else around him. And yet there’s something about him that just makes people drop their guard and be themselves. He’s the kind of person who inspires things simply by being Ethan. He talks like a guy who’s lived for a century and thinks like a computer with emotions. And then there’s me, the kid who always gets into trouble. My parents say I got everything compared to him, but I don’t have his empathy, I’ll tell you that much. Okay maybe I do better with girls than he did in high school. Maybe I have better grades. It’s not my fault I have a photographic memory. It isn’t my fault I took after our mother, with auburn hair that seems like it changes colors every time I step into a different shade of sunlight and green eyes that girls seem to enjoy looking at. I’m getting off track. (I don’t have Ethan’s discipline either)

Finally I made my way out of the terminal and onto the escalator, rushing down it with my backpack thumping on my back and my carry on thumping down the metal steps as I pulled it along, and then out into baggage claim. I picked through the crowd until I saw Ethan towering over everyone else. Okay not towering. Am I the only one who thinks of my older brother as being gigantic? I pushed through the crowd of mindless travellers until I found Ethan again. He smiled and wrapped me in a hug, which he hadn’t really done in a long time, since Melissa, at least, but more on that later.

“Kyle! God you really haven’t changed at all.”

“It’s been three months what do you expect me to do grow?”

“Hey calm down its not my fault you turned out to be a midget.” I slugged him hard on the shoulder and started walking toward the doors after that. We talked and laughed and generally reminisced about everything under the sun, though he didn’t mention anything recent, which I found a little strange, but I ignored it. That bitch Melissa probably had him down about something stupid. Finally we got into the car and I woke up an hour and a half later. Okay, woke up is not really the word: I jumped out of my sleep as Ethan opened the car door I was leaning against and let me catch myself- barely.

“Prick! You gonna push me over the railing when we get to the door too?”

“I might, if you fall asleep again. You remember the rules of sleeping in the car.”

“We made those when we were both in the same house, jackass.”

“We never changed them, and we are living in the same house. Two weeks, Kyle. Better be on guard.” Okay, Ethan was being a dick on purpose. I knew that much. He was excited about something and I have very good reflexes… okay, scratch that; he would have caught me if I hadn’t. He’s not a deliberate dick. Grumbling about letting a man sleep in peace, I grabbed my bags out of the backseat of his car and trudged up the steps. He lived on the second floor of a very nice apartment complex, which he really didn’t have to live in. He had a great job that he called pointless but it paid seventy thousand a year and Ethan had been saving the excess for years now. He had paid for our parents’ vacation to England these two weeks on his own as a present for them. He always did things like that.

He was literally giddy as he opened the door and walked inside. I followed him and I didn’t even make it past the threshold of the door. Ethan was embracing the most beautiful woman I had ever seen; okay the most beautiful woman over my age. Her dark, lush hair fell to her ass and her eyes flashed with the different colors of the rainbow. Her figure was perfect, beyond anything I’d thought possible. And then I looked at the two people sitting on the couch. They were my age and my jaw dropped even further for a second as I took them in. The one on the right looked more like the girl Ethan held in his embrace; dark hair, though she had pulled it back into a ponytail, with vividly rainbow flashing eyes and a face that made me just want to stare at her for a long, long time. Her body was thinner than Ethan’s girl, just barely but enough to be noticeable, and her chest was a little larger. Her hips moved so gracefully it hurt as she got up off of the couch and hugged Ethan. Her eyes caught mine and for a second they flashed in a sequence of color I didn’t understand. Then she walked over and shook my hand and I went through the roof. She couldn’t be real. I took a second to look over at her friend, who was equally beautiful. She was a blonde with a body that was similar to the other girls, though she was skinnier than either of the sisters (what else could they be?) and her movements were graceful, just more… forward. Her eyes were a sparkling blue that seemed more silver, like molten mercury. She got up and threw her arms around Ethan, then moved up behind the girl in front of me, waiting. I took the girl’s hand and somehow, in a very calm, small voice, I squeaked.

“Hi, I’m Kyle. Ethan’s younger brother.”

“Hello Kyle. My name is Serena.” Jut then my brain kicked in again and I was able to become myself. Looking into those rainbow colored eyes made me very uncomfortable.

“It’s nice to meet you Serena.” She peered at me. She literally peered at me. She walked in a full circle around me doing absolutely nothing but humming. Finally she walked over to the woman on Ethan’s arm and began to whisper in her ear. Immediately the whispers became an argument that I tried desperately not to hear. At least until Serena shouted

“He’s not going to be my mate!” Everyone looked at her. Stared is a better word. She was very conscious of our eyes. Finally I busted out laughing. Now they all stared at me, though Serena was glaring more than staring. Finally I managed to gasp out a few intelligible words.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry Ethan…” The woman on his arm blushed at my laughter. Serena’s friend put a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. Ethan just stared at all of us, ignoring the laughter. Finally Serena walked up and shoved me.

“What are you laughing at? What?” Finally I stood up and I managed to get some breath back.

“I just think it’s funny… you act like I would actually want such a thing from such a stuck up, superior girl who isn’t anything other than beauty. But please, give me one reason I’m not good enough for you.” She boiled in her clothes. Literally boiled in her clothes. Her face turned red and her eyes were like daggers, her fists balled and ready to use.

“First off, you’re too short. Second, you aren’t nearly attractive enough. Third, you have no real intelligence. Fourth, you are what people call an asshole. And finally, you have no flair!”

“Your first point is just annoying. Your second makes you a bitch. Third is based off of appearance and you can’t back it up, and your fourth is based off of your bitch actions toward me in the first few minutes after we were introduced. Finally, suck it bitch.” She looked surprised. Everyone but Ethan looked surprised. What they’d heard was “sucer salope”, one of my more useful French phrases. I’d become fluent over the past two years, which made for a good amount of ‘flair’. Ethan had never been good with language, but I think he had a pretty good idea of what I’d said.

“What did you say?” Serena stared at me.

“That, my lovely adversary, was French. Oh didn’t I tell you I was fluent in three languages? School gets boring when you’re at the top of the class in your school and attending college lectures. I mean, I’m not a genius, but having an IQ of 157 and a photographic memory is very helpful.” The girls gradually became more and more shocked. Eventually Serena blushed and stared at the ground.

“Well you’re still short. And not attractive. And an asshole.”

“Oh didn’t Ethan tell you? He was shorter than I am when he was my age. I’m considered tall among our youngest cousins and I haven’t hit my major growth yet. It’s normal. And the attractiveness is a measure of opinion, of which you have basically none, and the asshole thing… I think you’ve so far proven that you’re the only asshole here.” Finally I turned away from Serena and I turned to her friend, who was, in my opinion, a better waste of my time. “What’s your name, beautiful?”

“…My name is Veronica.” She looked… satisfied at saying that name. She was obviously lying about her name, but I wasn’t going to complain too much about it. “It’s… nice to meet you, Kyle.”

Serena shot Veronica a glare that I was very proud of. They were both stunning, but Serena was too bitchy for me to deal with. She’d called me stupid. And ugly. Not to mention an asshole. I was done with her. Okay maybe not done, but as much as I wanted to be, I couldn’t get her out of my head. The words she had said weighed my chest like lead filled lungs. Finally the woman on Ethan’s arm walked over and took my hand.

“Kyle, I’m sorry about my younger sister. I’m Clara.”

“My older brother’s fiancé. It’s nice to meet you.” She threw a glance over her shoulder at Ethan and he shrugged. She looked at me with curiosity in her eyes and I chuckled.

“You’re wearing a ring. It has a diamond on it.” She looked at her hand and shook her head.

“Yes... yes I am. How did you…”

“I pay attention.”

“Ethan warned me about that. I forgot. You really are as smart as he says.” I’ve got to admit I blushed. Not many people are as smart as Ethan, and that he would compliment me was something. He didn’t seem or act half as smart as he really was.

“Okay everyone, I think that’s enough of introductions. Kyle, I’m sorry but I’ve got to ask you to take the couch, the girls are in the guest room. Is that cool?”

“Can I have your bed?”

“Kyle, you’re still short for a little while. Don’t make me kick your ass in front of the girls over a bed.” We laughed, though I definitely didn’t challenge that. Serena and Veronica walked out of the room toward the guest room, Serena muttering something unintelligible, while I put my bags in the corner and Clara walked toward the master bedroom. Ethan and I crashed on the couch and turned on the TV, though I have no idea what we were watching. We talked about home, who was still there and who was doing well and how the parents were doing, all the standard sibling talk. Of course that became old memories and that became old arguments and that turned into old fights with other people, so eventually it was seven thirty and we were still sitting there not paying attention to the TV. The girls had all migrated in and sat in various places around the room, laughing with us as we told our stories of valor and blood. Finally I felt my legs start to twitch and got up, stretching long and hard as I did.

“Hey Ethan, I’m going to go for a walk out back, that cool?” he nodded and threw me some random ‘go ahead’ phrase as he and Clara talked about something in hushed whispers.

“May we come?” Veronica stood up and smiled, and I swear the room lit up. Serena stood, staring at the ground and glancing at me only occasionally. I sighed and waved for them to come along. I smiled at Veronica and held the door for them both as they walked out, though it was hard not to slam it on Serena’s ass as she left. We walked through the parking lot and back into the woods as the sun reached the horizon, just touching the hills beyond the city. The forest was pretty big I guess, not a forest but just a large park area, like a national park or something. We walked down the trails for a long time, not really talking at all. I walked behind the girls who talked in hushed whispers with thrown glances at me over their shoulders. Finally I’d had enough. I stopped on a nice cool spot near a river and sat down on the grass beside the path, letting them walk ahead. After a minute or so Veronica noticed I wasn’t following anymore and dragged Serena back.

“You don’t want to walk with us anymore?” she actually looked sad. Maybe this girl was worth the time.

“I just thought I’d give you two some privacy instead of making you whisper about whatever it is.” Serena blushed and Veronica avoided my eyes. I grinned and skipped a stone across the river. “After all, it’s not like I wanted to walk that much anyway. Just sitting here and waiting is fine.”

“Kyle, I’m sorry we didn’t say anything to you.” I looked up at Veronica. She really was beautiful, and she seemed sincere. I found myself liking her more and more.

“Well if you want to talk or sit or whatever, I’m fine, but don’t let me tear you away from Serena’s hip.” Okay it was low but Serena was pissing me off a little.

“What do you mean? We are not touching hips.” They both looked at me like I was crazy. First mating and now this?

“It’s a turn on a phrase, just forget I said anything. Look, I’m probably not smart enough or pretty enough for either of you anyway, so you walk ahead; I’ll head back to the apartment, all right? I’ll see you later.” I got up and walked back down the trail. I took some different turns to make it more interesting, but I kept heading in the general direction of the house. After ten minutes or so Veronica came jogging up the trail behind me.

“Kyle! Kyle wait, I’m sorry!” I stopped and let her catch up. To my surprise she didn’t seem winded at all. In fact, now that I was paying attention, she smelled perfectly fine, like flowers and fresh wind on a summer’s day. It was heavenly, that smell on a woman. I smiled at her and we kept walking.

“Where’s Serena?”

“She didn’t want to walk… with you. She thinks she pissed you off and now she’s sulking.”

“Ahh. Well it’s not like she insulted me five times in less than a minute… oh wait, she did.”

“She was wrong, but Serena has had trouble with being stuck up in the past. Trust me, if you knew what it’s like being her, where we come from… you’d understand.”

“Enough about Serena. What about you?” Veronica just looked at me blankly.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. It seems like you always get introduced second; you’re too used to Serena being the important one out of the two of you. Just because a girl is pretty doesn’t mean she’s worth the trouble. So tell me about you.”

“I don’t think that that’s a good idea. Really, there’s nothing to tell.”

“What do you like?”

“Freedom… that’s what I like. But I like being warm, and having friends… Serena is my best friend.” she almost looked sad for a minute. I watched her glance back into the forest and sighed.

“Go back to her. I’ll see you two back at the apartment, but you should check on her.” Veronica smiled at me and pecked me on the cheek. I swear she blushed as she ran off. It took me about ten minutes to get back to Ethan’s apartment. When I did I changed into my nightclothes, a pair of basketball shorts, under armor underwear (since I was in a house with three gorgeous women) and a white t-shirt. I had intended to watch television for a while, but I guess I fell asleep; I woke up at around one in the morning with the urge to use the bathroom and I stumbled off the couch to do so. The light was on, but I guess in my state of half sleep I didn’t care enough to knock. I walked into the bathroom and stopped dead in my tracks. I rubbed my eyes. I pinched myself. There in the bathtub was Serena, completely naked. Her naked chest wasn’t what startled me though. What scared the living hell out of me was the tail. It began at her hips and encompassed her legs: a beautiful, rainbow scaled fish tail with a wide flipper on

Explore my other stories

THE END