The Man of the House

Dad had his hands raised as I held a bat over him. He slowly held up his hands as he stood up.

“Son… ah… I didn’t know you were home.”

He looked embarrassed, while I was mostly just confused. Why was he in my house? What was going on?

“I was… ill…” I changed my words from hungover. “Why are you here? Did you break into our house?”

Dad put on a pouty expression. “This was once my house, you know? Your mother and I never filed for a divorce, so we’re still technically married.”

I let out a noise of surprise with that one. Mom had always said that dad took off, but it was true that she had never mentioned anything about a divorce. That meant that they were still technically married? My expression was filled with confusion and disbelief.

“But… why are you here?” I tried to focus on what was important.

Dad’s expression stiffened for a moment. “Well, as to that. You see, I… um… was looking for something I left when I went away all those years ago. I didn’t want your mom or sisters to see me and cause trouble for you, so I thought it best if I stopped by while you were all out.”

“What is it that you were looking for?” I asked.

“Ah… that is… um…” He blushed. “A private matter.”

“Oh…” I didn’t want to pry into it if it made dad uncomfortable enough that he wanted to break in. “In that case, wouldn’t it be in the bedroom?”

“That’s right!” He smiled encouragingly. “How foolish of me. I’ll be right back.”

He walked away, going to mom’s room and entering, making sure to close the door behind him. I was a little uncomfortable with him being in there, but I would have been more uncomfortable going in myself or policing his actions. He was my father, after all, and anything he wanted probably wouldn’t be anything mom cared about. I could watch her door from the kitchen table, so I sat down in a chair.

When I did so, I felt something in my pocket. I reached in and pulled out the baggy of pills from before. Instantly, my eyes furrowed as I looked at it. What had Kelsey been doing with these pills? What were they? I was still looking at them when dad opened the door. I didn’t seem him holding anything, so I looked up questioningly.

“Did you…”

“Yeah!” he nodded and smiled, giving me a thumbs up, “I found it. Anyway, what is that in your hands.”

I realized I still had the pills out, and dad immediately noticed them. Before I could come up with an excuse or pull them away, he walked over to the table and plucked them out of my hand.

“Hmm? You had ADD?” he asked.

“Huh? Attention deficit disorder?”

He nodded. “Well, you have Ritalin, so I figured you must have ADD.”

“Ah… no…” I responded, taking a breath of relief that it wasn’t something really dangerous.

However, as soon as I relaxed, I recalled Kelsey didn’t have it either, so what was she doing with these pills?

“You shouldn’t worry so much about your studies.” Dad shrugged, dropping the pills back in front of me. “That’s why you got them, right? Needed some help focusing on your schoolwork? You’re a boy anyway. Just smile at a girl, and she’ll hire you in a heartbeat.”

“Ah… sorry, yeah… they’re mine.” I lied. “I just want to go to a good school.”

“Haah… sorry, sweetie, I don’t have a frame of reference for college. Um… I’m going to get going then before I am seen by your neighbors or something. Okay?”

“Yeah…” I wanted to talk to dad more, but my thoughts were more on Kelsey.

Was she struggling with her work? She had never mentioned anything. She also had Kristy as a study partner and three big sisters to help her study. I just didn’t get why she would do such a thing. In the end, I put the pills away in her room so that she wouldn’t notice they were gone. I then picked up the house a bit and started dinner.

I noticed the broken glass where dad had broken in earlier. He didn’t want to distress us, but wouldn’t my family, seeing that, be extremely stressed thinking someone broke into their home? I decided to cover for him. I looked outside and found a dead bird. I then dropped it near the glass. When everyone was home, I told them the bird ran into the glass and broke the window. Mom let out a sigh at the expense, but no one suspected anything.

We ate dinner rather peacefully, but my thoughts were fairly turbulent. They weren’t on my dad though, but my sister. I must have glanced at Kelsey a few too many times. One of the times she put on a smirk and gestured to her body.

“You see something you like?”

“I like all of Kelsey,” I responded.

Kelsey’s face turned red. “H-hey… that’s not fair. I’m your sister after all. Save that kind of talk for your girlfriend.”

Kristy snorted under her breath, and I ended up getting a jealous look from Mackenzie and an eye roll from Dawn that seemed to suggest this was expected from a brother like me. I decided to keep my mouth on the subject.

“Have any of you girls been in my room?” Mom suddenly asked a few moments later.

I tensed, but all of the girls said no.

“Why?” Mackenzie asked.

“Nothing… just… I thought I had some money put away, but it’s gone. You girls wouldn’t have known where I stashed it anyway. I probably just miscounted.” Mom laughed it off.

“I had a $20 I noticed was missing from my room too,” Bethany added.

“Strange. I was here all day.” I said, trying to look casual.

The girls all looked at me, but there wasn’t an ounce of suspicion on their faces. Did Dad pocket money he found while he was here? I didn’t want to believe it. It was just a coincidence. Mom miscounted her money and Bethany was young and prone to misplacing money anyway. It’d show up in a few weeks. That’s what I told myself.

I remained silent for the rest of the dinner, but my mind was still working. I tried not to dwell on dad too much, but I was worried about Kelsey and the pills I had found. After dinner, everyone went off to do their own thing. As for me, I wanted to talk to someone about the pills.

If I talked to my mom about them, she’d go nuts. She’d either blame me before I could explain myself or jump down my sister’s throat. Mackenzie would march straight into Kelsey’s room, making a scene. Kristy would probably take the news as a means of teasing Kelsey and blackmailing her. I wasn’t sure if Bethany would even grasp the ramifications of it. That left Dawn as the only one who knew how to keep a secret and was mature enough to take it seriously.

I knocked on her door, not hiding my presence this time. Dawn opened up a few moments later. She was wearing a low-cut shirt that shows a lot of cleavage. It was something a girl like Dawn would never wear in my old world.

“Games?” I asked.

“Ah… ssure…” her cheeks blushed, but she turned and let me into her room.

There was a past where Dawn would have said no and closed the door in my face, even in this world. This time, she just flopped on her bed and grabbed her controller. I had to go looking for another controller in her bin next to her television. When I found one, I hit start and joined in with her. It was a coop shooter, so I was familiar enough with the controls, even if all of the NPCs were women, and the only male character I could select was shirtless and wearing torn jeans that exposed parts of his butt. I decided to pick a decently clothed female character instead.

“How are you doing?” I asked, not wanting to just immediately jump into my problems.

She glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow. “I’m doing fine. Did you need something?”

I grimaced. Leave it to my older sister to dive right to the point rather than to mince words.

“Your… um… SATs… how are they going? You’re studying for those, right?”

She should be taking in college entrance exams soon, so I decided to jump on that rather than bringing up the pills.

“Ah… right… I’m supposed to take those next month, huh?”

I blinked. “You’re not?”

“Mom has been pushing me to go to college, but it’s not really what I want to do.”

“You want to do photography, right?”

“Yeah. Rather than spending all that money on college, I’d rather get a camera and then just go out and see the world, you know?”

“There are art colleges.”

Her expression twisted. “That’s what mom told me too. I had even started to follow that path. Then… well… we happened.”

I blinked. “Me?”

She sighed. “After you encouraged me with my… ahem… photography, I realized that it was my passion to just go out and create scenes. I’d rather gain experience in the field than in a classroom. Do you understand?”

“You got that from wanting to film me naked?”

Her face turned red. “When you put it that way, naughty brother! No, it was seeing you go out and do what you wanted to do. You didn’t care what other people thought, and you were willing to do what made you happy. I realized that the upshort website was just an outlet I was using, a means of me taking what I wanted and making it a dirty little secret while I bucked up and got a real job.”

“Dawn…” I reached out and touched her shoulder.

She smiled back at me. “I wouldn’t have figured things out if it wasn’t for you. I probably would have gone to college for some liberal arts degree and ended up miserable. I’m still going to finish high school, but then I’m going to take what I made from my website and then start doing it.”

She reached out and pulled my forehead toward her lips, giving me a peck on the head.

“That’s all?” I asked with a smirk.

She chuckled. “Don’t you have Mackenzie to take care of your dirty needs now?”

“Ah!” I let out a cry, and under her knowing grin, it was my turn to blush. “You know about us?”

“Mackenzie has always been into you. It’s pretty obvious to me, but then again, I’m a pervert. It takes a pervert to be able to recognize taboo things. Mom and our other sisters are way too normal to ever suspect you’re having an incestuous relationship with your sister.” She explained, and then her grin grew larger. “Of course, there is you and London as well.”

“You know about London!”

She blinked. “So, you’ve even seduced big sis? My brother truly is an irredeemable siscon.”

I was red at that point. “Don’t even act all superior. We’ve done stuff too.”

“True…” She nodded thoughtfully. “But, as I said, I’m a pervert. We perverts are well versed in the world of casual sex. I even get off thinking about you being defiled by other women. There is no hope for me, dear brother.”

“Oh, shut up!” I laughed pushing her over and then jumping on top of her. “Aren’t you the one who got squeamish when I was going to record a scene with Abigail?”

“That’s because I was worried about my brother’s purity.” She giggled. “Now, I know you’re irredeemable, so it’s okay.”

“Oh, is that what it is?” I responded with an eye roll.

“Plus… how could I share you before I tasted you myself.” Her eyes turned mischievous.

“Dawn…”

My lips lowered and kissed hers gently. She wrapped her arms around me. Then, there was a pounding on the door. I nearly jumped off of Dawn.

“What are you guys doing in there?” Mackenzie’s voice demanded angrily.

“Busted…” Dawn chuckled. “Your girlfriend is knocking.”

“Stop, you…” I blushed… “Sorry about…”

“Don’t…” She raised her hand. “I’ll just shlick one out. You go take care of her.”

“You’re an amazing sister.” I gave a peck on the lips and then ran to the door, unlocking and opening it.

Mackenzie immediately peaked in suspiciously, but Dawn was just lying on the bed with a controller in her hand, showing nothing suspicious.

“What’s up, Kenzie.” Dawn grinned.

Mackenzie put on an ugly face. “Shouldn’t you be studying and not playing games.”

Dawn scratched her crotch while yawning. “I’ll do that in a bit.”

Mackenzie sniffed and turned away. “Come on, Noah, I need something from you.”

As she walked away, I glanced back in Dawn’s room one last time. She mouthed the words, “Yeah, she does” And then made a V with her fingers and stuck her tongue through it, flicking it up and down.”

I chuckled before winking at her and then following Mackenzie. Before she got to her room, I grabbed her ass and then threw my arms around her. Dawn was right about how to deal with Mackenzie. She would lecture, bully, and complain all night if you let her, but the second I started kissing her she grew demure as a kitten.

It was only after we were done that I remembered I had forgotten to ask Dawn about the pills.