Love Bites

The doorbell rang, waking up both of the twins, who had reverted back to their normal sleeping positions in the night. Kayla stirred within Cory’s arms.

Cory gave a little squeeze before letting go of her.

“Hey,” she said sleepily. “I thought I was supposed to be protecting you?”

He kissed the back of her head and said, “Trust me, you are.”

She got up out of his bed and he followed her thinking of the broken glass and plastic on the other side of the bed. The doorbell had only rung once so their mom was up, but no one was expected so both of the twins thought it might be Lily.

Kayla turned towards Cory and ran her fingers through his hair. “Making you presentable is much easier now,” she said with a smile.

Cory picked up her glasses, tucked a few strands of hair behind one of her ears before placing the blue frames on her face and said, “Making you beautiful, well, that was easy.”

She blushed. “Come on,” she said, taking his hand. “Let’s see who’s here. Maybe Lily couldn’t stay away any longer. She might have realized you were stupid.”

Cory hung his head, but Kayla pulled him out of the room and down the stairs. A tall Hispanic woman was standing beside the door inside, while two big guys brought in boxes.

“What’s all this?” Kayla asked her mom, who was standing a few feet from the Hispanic woman.

“Kids, this is Trish, Lily’s um, personal buyer. She brought more of our replacements.”

“As well as a few additional things. Last minute additions,” Trish said to them.

Sophie looked at Trish and said, “But I didn’t make any additions.”

“No ma’am, you didn’t. They came from Ms. Madison,” Trish said.

The three looked at each other, then at Trish. “When?” Cory asked.

“Late last night. She wasn’t specific, so I hope what I was able to find on such short notice will do. If not, give me more specifics and I’ll make arrangements for a replacement,” she said passively.

Cory and Kayla looked at each other. The delivery guys finished by bringing in two boxes about four feet long, three feet high and six inches wide, setting then down carefully.

One left and the other said, “Need help from here?”

“Are they heavy?” Kayla asked.

“Not so much. Just fragile. Don’t drop ’em,” he said.

“We can manage then,” Cory said.

The other man came back in and set a smaller box down on top of everything. “That’s it,” the second man said, and the two men left.

“Ms. Madison wasn’t specific with that either,” the buyer said. “So I just grabbed a replacement along with the top ten games.”

Cory’s eyes widened and he looked closer at the two larger boxes and saw the markings. “TV?” he asked.

Trish nodded. “My understanding is one for you, the other is for your sister.”

“But I don’t have a TV to replace,” Kayla said.

“I think that’s the point,” her mother told her. “Cory’s doesn’t need replacing but she upgraded it, and so you didn’t feel left out, you got one too.”

“Actually mom, I had an accident last night and my TV broke along with my game system.”

“So, she is replacing it. She still wants Kayla to feel equal,” their mom said.

Maybe she isn’t so mad, Cory thought.

“There are also a few items in the last box for Ms. Hudson and envelopes for both of the kids. I was also told to let Mrs. Hudson know that I was to continue with the replacements as necessary. Anything over a half million will still needs Ms. Madison’s approval so please factor in the expected delay.”

Cory and Kayla looked at each other, eyes wide and mouths open. “Half a million?” Kayla asked, astonished.

“Yes dear. Lily didn’t tell you? Basically, anything we wanted is ours. Are there any limitations Trish?” Sophie asked.

“From what I understood, the answer is no, unless you are wanting to buy a small… no, a medium sized country. Except of course, anything over a half million would need to be approved first. That’s actually MY stipulation. Ms. Madison actually informed me that your family could spend whatever she had in the bank. I wasn’t really clear on what she meant when she said none of it meant anything to her anymore.”

“When exactly did you talk to her?” Kayla asked.

“I told you, last night… Well, technically very early this morning. Two a.m. or so. Hence the last-minute non-specific additions. I had to choose from what my suppliers could get at such short notice for a delivery this morning.”

“Why would she call you at two a.m.? Does she do that often?” Kayla asked.

“I’m on retainer for 24/7 service. I have been for years. However, she rarely calls me – at all. Maybe to furnish a new house every few years, but otherwise… This was actually a first. But I think it had to do with her departure.”

“Her departure?” Cory and Kayla asked simultaneously.

Trish nodded. “To where?” Cory asked.

“I don’t know and didn’t ask. If I needed to know I suspect she would have told me,” Trish said sounding offended.

“Trish, please accept my apologies for my children’s behavior. I suspect something’s occurred that neither of us are aware of. Thank you for everything and I’ll be in touch when my list is done, but I don’t think we’ll be spending any of Lily’s money otherwise. Or at all,” Sophie told the woman.

Trish looked at Sophie trying to figure out the woman. Finally, she said, “Really? You do realize I just told you that you have access to an ungodly amount of money, to do with as you please. No strings attached.” Sophie just nodded.

“Ms. Madison said you might decline. Her instructions in that case was to inform you that accounts would be opened in the twins names with enough money for them to be, um, comfortable the rest of their lives. Accessible upon their eighteenth birthday. And although I probably won’t be asked, her definition of comfortable is ten million dollars… each. Use it as you wish.

“As for you Mrs. Hudson –”

“I don’t want anything,” Sophie interrupted.

“Also, what Ms. Madison predicted. However, a sum of five hundred thousand had already been deposited into your account, with instructions to inform you should you need more, simply phone me. Your house and car have been paid off as well.”

Sophie’s mouth dropped open. “Wh… what in the hell happened last night?!” Sophie asked, turning on the twins.

“And that would be my que to leave,” Trish said to no one in particular. “You know how to reach me. Anything needed will be delivered to you, “ she said, leaving, closing the front door behind her.

“I’m waiting…” their mom said to the twins.

Kayla looked at Cory, who looked down at his feet. Both knew this would be difficult to explain and their mom was mad because she didn’t cuss, and hell was a cuss word to her.

“There was a… misunderstanding last night,” Kayla said. “It was sort of over me.”

“What kind of misunderstanding ends in a girl leaving, but giving us twenty million, five hundred thousand dollars? And access to, well, God only knows how much more if we wanted it.”

“It’s a long story mom. And I’d rather not get into it. It’s between the three of us. Suffice it to say.”

“That I’m stupid,” Cory cut in. “I reacted – well, over-reacted – to something and upset everyone. Then to make matters worse, I told Lily to leave.”

His mom walked over to him and smacked his upside the head. “I know I raised you better than that.”

“But… but I didn’t mean for her to leave for good.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound like she knew that. I feel a migraine coming on,” she said walking away. “Good luck.”

Kayla turned to him and smacked him on the other side of his head. “Ow,” he said wincing.

“You deserve worse, but I can’t bring myself to do it,” she told him. “She left, and yet gave us twenty million dollars, Cory. Not to mention this,” she said pointing at the boxes in front of them. “And you sent her away just because YOU lusted after me because she bought me some pretty underwear and a haircut,” she hissed not wanting their mom to overhear.

“Can you blame me for the lusting part?” he asked.

She smacked him in the back of the head this time. “Thank you, but you blamed her for it, not me. And I’m sure I made it worse by offering myself to you, but I love you and didn’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. But she loved you too. And yet she gave you up and gave you ten million dollars. What’s that tell you?”

“Okay, okay. I get it. I was wrong,” Cory said ashamed.

“And I promise no more teasing you that way. I’ll try to keep clothed around you. You’ll either have to cope or stay away from pools, however since I’m not going to buy some ’40’s style bathing suits just so you won’t, um, pop off,” she said with a grin.

Cory groaned and said, “She told you, didn’t she?”

“Yes, my darling brother, but don’t be embarrassed. I kinda wish I were able to do that. It would make things so much easier. Although I might never leave my room,” she said with a snicker.

“You don’t have to worry. About dressing up around me, I mean. I can’t promise I won’t leer at you, but I’ll keep my emotions in check, promise.”

“Like any other boy, look all you want, just no touching,” she said with a wink. “Although I reserve the right to continue you holding me to make me feel safe when I need it.”

“Always,” he said as she moved to look in the open box on top. She pulled out two smaller boxes each with her name on them, along with two envelopes, each with a twin’s name on it. The rest of the box contained a new game system and ten DVD cases with games in them.

She handed Cory his envelope while she opened hers. Pulling out a sheet of folded paper, she opened it and found a handwritten note on it from Lily. She read her note while Cory opened his up, then walked around and smacked him on the back of the head again, muttering, “Asshole.”

Waiting until he was finished reading his note, she handed hers to him and he reciprocated. Cory read her note:

Kayla,

I’m sorry that I will be unable to deliver what I promised for

your birthday. While not in the same leave as my promised gift,

I hope you find this a suitable replacement. Think of me while it’s

near your heart and head.

All my love,

Lily

Kayla read Cory’s note:

My sweetest Cory,

I’m at a loss as to what to be sorry for, but whatever it was,

I know that I’m truly sorry. I would never hurt you intentionally.

If you read this first, know that this isn’t my parting gift to you.

Just replacing what was damaged. I can’t give you the real gift I’d

Like to give you without dying as a result. Giving you my heart would

Be my final act, but know t hat I would if it would fix

this. I know they say money can’t buy happiness, but I

hope it will buy forgiveness, or at least get you the next best thing.

Take care of your sister and yourself. You two are special. You told

me to leave, so I am, broken heart and all. I can no longer be happy

here. I am truly sorry. Be safe. Be happy. I’ll never forget you.

Yours,

Lily

Kayla’s was a shorter letter, so Cory finished first and was looking at the two boxes that were sitting there in front of him. One was about two inches square; the other was two inches wide by five inches long. He was still looking down when Kayla hit him.

She finished his letter, looked at him and decided she had smacked him twice already and hadn’t felt any better, so she drew back, made a fist, and hit him as hard as she could right in his bicep. His left arm fell limp to his side, and he swore.

Kayla did too but it was because she hurt her hand. Shaking out his hand to try to get feeling back into it, he said, “I already know, I deserved that.”

“Did I mention you were stupid?” she asked. “And now my hand is hurt, damnit.”

“Want me to open these?”

“I’d rather have Lily back,” she said vehemently.

“Me too. I’m already tired of being a punching bag. But since you hurt your hand, want help?”

“What I want is to hit you again,” she told him.

“If It’ll make you feel any better, do it. But if you want me to open these, keep it to the left arm, will ya?”

She came over and put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Open them.”

He unwrapped the first one which contained a felt box. Popping it open, they looked inside to see a pair of earrings. Each was an inch long with three large diamonds in them. One at the stud, one in the middle and one at the end of a gold chain. “If these are real, they are worth a small fortune,” Kayla said.

“Knowing Lily, they are real.”

“Open the other,” Kayla said, impatient now. Cory opened the second one, which held a similar felt box. Opening the felt box revealed an elegant gold necklace with a large teardrop shaped diamond pendant on it. “Oh my God Cory.”

“If the earrings cost a small fortune, then this makes up the rest of the fortune,” Cory said impressed.

“I should send it back but… put it on me, please?”

“Turn around and move your hair,” he said. As Cory took the necklace out of the box, Kayla turned, gathering her newly cut hair, giving it a twist, and held it up on top of her head. Cory turned around and paused. “You look pretty with your hair up like that,” he said to her. “Use those chopstick things to put it up. You’d look like a model.

She blushed and said, “Flattery will not get you in my good graces mister.”

He put his arm through hers and his other over her shoulder, taking either side of the necklace and pulling it back around her neck to clasp it. Letting go, he kissed the base of her neck and said, “I mean it. You could be a model.”

Kayla dropped her hair and turned. “How does it look?”

“Not quite over your heart but if you wear a dress it will keep you guessing if people are looking at it or your boobs.”

She slapped his arm lightly this time. “You’re still in the doghouse.”

“I’ll take this stuff upstairs and set it up,” he told his sister. “Where do you want it?”

“I don’t,” she told him.

“I’ll set it up anyway. You don’t have to use it.”

She picked up her two boxes and the two letters and Cory collected the games and the game system in the larger box, then took it upstairs. Kayla followed him up, then went to her room.

She cleared off a spot on her table, then grabbed the phone and went back downstairs. “Table,” she said, passing Cory as he lifted one the 36” Flatscreen TV’s.

While Cory setup the TVs, Kayla sat outside on the porch swing and dialed Lily’s number. It immediately went to voicemail. “It’s me. I might be out of touch for a while, so leave a message if you want but no telling when it might be returned. You’ve been warned,” Lily said in a surly tone, followed by a beep.

“Lily, it’s Kayla. I don’t know what to say to make things right. Cory’s stupid. He understands that. Now. It wasn’t your fault. Not exactly. He blamed you instead of blaming himself. It’ll be so much easier to explain to you live. Please call me. Come back. We need you… I-I need you.

“Your gifts, no matter how expensive, won’t replace you. And I won’t touch your money.” The phone cut her off. Kayla wanted to sock Cory again but knew it would do no good. What she really wanted to do was cry, but she knew that would do as much good as punching Cory.

She sent Lily a text message asking her to listen to her voicemail, then called Abby.

“What’s up, girl?” Abby answered cheerfully.

“God, why are you so happy this early?”

“Blaine just got me off – oops,” she said giggling. “I meant got me up.”

Kayla heard, “No, you got me up, and I got you off,” come from Blaine in the background.

“I probably didn’t need to know that,” said Kayla. “But it makes you happy?”

“I showed you that article that said an orgasm releases endorphins, so it’s a double plus. An orgasm makes you feel good, endorphins make you feel better,” Abby told her.

“God, I need to get laid,” mumbled Kayla.

“What was that hon? I could have sworn you just said –”

“Never mind. I need to go do something,” Kayla told her.

“What?”

“I don’t know. Something. Anything. I’m like the second luckiest, unlucky person on the planet.”

“What are you talking about girl?”

“I won the lottery and lost my best friend all at the same time.”

“Are you going to make sense anytime soon or keep talking in riddles? I might need Blaine to up my endorphins again at this rate,” Abby teased.

Kayla groaned and said, “Floozy.”

“I prefer insatiable, but I’ll settle for wanton. Floozy is too… slang.”

“Anyway, Lily left and in doing so, gave me ten million dollars.”

“WHAT?!” Abby nearly yelled.

“Great, now I’m deaf in one ear too,” Kayla said.

“Kay, don’t get me wrong, but ten mil? Can we go shopping?”

“Oh my God. Floozy gold digger. No. I don’t get it until I’m eighteen. But Lily left damnit.”

“Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. She left without telling anyone,” Kayla told her.

“Oh honey. I’m so sorry. How is Cory taking it? Wait, why is she gone? What did he do?”

“Cory is… stupid. He told her to leave. It was a misunderstanding, but he blamed her for it and went… catatonic, followed by stupid. All that and she gives us ten million each.”

“Wait, he blew her off and she gave him ten mil too? He wanna get married to a floozy?” A brief pause followed by a slapping sound and “Ow,” from Abby, then, “Wow, really?”

“Abby?” Kayla asked.

“Kay, something came up (a giggle), I… (a grunt) gottago (a grunt) pickyouup (a grunt) inanhour,” followed by a grunt-moan and the line went dead.

I really didn’t need to hear that, Kayla thought. She went back inside to change and found Cory setup her TV first.

He was in his room cleaning up the glass and plastic shattered on the floor. She went into her room and closed her door, walking to the dresser. Opening the second drawer, she looked inside. Not sure what she wanted to do, she went through Lily’s things, wishing she were here, before going through her left side, pulling out a pair of new bra and panties. She stepped back, closing the drawer.

Undressing, she put on the new things and stood in front of er full length mirror. The pale-yellow material stood out against her tan as she turned this way and that, looking at herself. Facing the mirror, she saw Cory was right. The pendant laid right between the curves of her bosom. She wondered if Lily had managed to do that on purpose or it had just happened. Kayla had a sneaking suspicion that it was on purpose.

She took a step back and looked at herself again, starting at her head and going down. Her hair and glasses really did make her look more feminine, and the look and feel of her new underwear made her feel sexy.

Damn both of them, she thought.

She walked to her closet and looked through her clothes. When she picked out the underwear, she had nothing in mind other than it was new and pretty, but she found a matching dress that Lily picked out.

Kayla hadn’t even realized that they matched until she came across the dress. She figured that either Lily or Abby, or maybe both of them had actually planned that. Abby and Lily were good with clothes, but Kayla thought herself inept. She thought like a tomboy.

A pair of shorts or jeans and a t-shirt were proper clothing.

Pulling the summer dress over her head, she moved back in front of the mirror to look at herself. She actually had to look twice, because the first look she didn’t recognize herself. It kind of freaked her out.

The dress came down to her knees and showed her long, tones legs. At the top, the shoulder straps were an inch wide, covering her bra straps, but it hung almost exactly across the same line as her bra, so the dress had a small fringe of lace showing, framing her cleavage and pendant.

That should draw some attention, she thought. Who cares?

She kicked her dirty clothes aside to pick up later and went back to her closet to find a pair of shoes. Tennis shoes would look too white trash with the outfit, she decided. High heels were a little too much for the mall.

She opted for a tan pair of flats that weren’t too off color, but still comfortable. Maybe she’d buy a pair of matching shoes or high heels to go with it while she was out.

She put on the shoes and looked at herself in the mirror again and noticed the tag was still attached to the dress. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she snipped the tag off, looking at it and nearly freaked. Lily had paid $95 for the dress.

Kayla tossed the tag down frustrated and looked into the mirror again. Her underwear was just slightly darker – maybe one shade – but as she turned, she could just make out their outline.

Another detail probably done purposely.

Accepting it, she walked out of her room and walked to Cory’s room. His door was open, and he was hooking stuff up to his own TV.

“I’m going out with Abby for a while. Thank you for installing the TV. Lily’s phone goes straight to voicemail, but you should try calling her anyways, stupid.”

He looked up from hooking up the game system to his TV, and his mouth dropped open. Recovering quickly, he said, “Hey sis, can I take you up on your offer now? If not, would you just stand there for a few minutes? I imagine I’ll be quick.”

Kayla blushed a bright red. “No! And you best not do… that, thinking about me,” she said with mock indignation.

Cory paused, closed his eyes, then said, “Too late, finished, then opened his eyes again.

Kayla unconsciously looked down at his crotch with a mix of fascination and anxiety. She saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Looking at his face, she saw an evil gleam in his eyes, and he raised both hands and said, “Joking, geez. You look lovely. Stay out of trouble. Need me, call.”

“Perv,” she said with a twirl and walked away.

She heard him call out, “Careful, I could make out panties when you did that.”

Although no one was around to see, she blushed again walking downstairs to wait for Abby. She found her mom at the bottom of the stairs.

“Tell me you can fix this,” Sophie said to her daughter.

“Sorry, I think he’s permanently stupid,” she replied. Her mom shook her head. I’m trying mom, but I don’t know if I can. Her phone is off, and I don’t know where she is, so…”

“Well, keep trying. Lily’s probably too good for the dolt, but I love him just the same. And she’s a special one. Duh. You know what I mean.”

“I do. Abby should be here soon. We’re going out. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but I need to go out for a while.”

“Be careful how much you spend, we only have half a million in the bank account,” she said with a chuckle.

“Mom,” Kayla groaned.

“You look spectacular by the way. I’m guessing the necklace was from Lily?”

“Oh, I forgot you didn’t get to see it. I got earrings too. Do you like it?”

“The lay is very… dramatic.”

This caused Kayla to blush again. “I honestly think that was her intention,” Kayla said.

A honk came from the street. Kayla kissed her mom, grabbed her purse, and left the house. Outside, she went to Blaine’s van and got in the back. Abby was still glowing.

“Well Abs, you look freshly… made up.” Abby’s freckles merged with her newly acquired skin tone from that comment.

“Blaine was very, um, enthusiastic this morning.”

“I got that, from all the grunting I heard before you hung up.”

“Oops, sorry. I tried to talk quick but it’s hard when you’re… uh, never mind,” she finished because of Kayla’s glare.

“Drive Blaine,” Kayla said.

“Where?”

“Surprise us.”