The Man of the House

Chapter 31

That night, I returned to my room shortly after eating. I wanted to nap, so that I was awake for the nighttime activities, but I found myself unable to get any rest. My other option was to sneak over to Dawn’s room to play some video games and pass the time quicker. I was hesitant to do so, as I didn’t want to alert the other girls that I was spending any extra time with Dawn. Especially regarding Mackenzie, who was always nosy. I definitely didn’t want to alert her to what I was doing at night.

So, I remained in my room even though I was quickly growing bored. Just when I was planning to leave it to try to find something to entertain mysef, there was a quiet knock on my door. If it was mom, she would have already barged in, since I hadn’t locked it. That meant it was one of my sisters.

“Yes?” I called out softly.

“It’s Mackenzie. Can I come in?” Mackenzie was actually knocking on my door and acting polite.

“Come in…” I responded, sitting up in my bed.

The door opened, and Mackenzie peaked in, before finally entering the rest of the way. I tried to avoid staring, but she had already dressed down for the night. She had on a baggy shirt with a low neckline that showed her cleavage and even some of her bare pale shoulders. Her hair was tied up in the back and it had a somewhat messy look, but that wasn’t that unusual for the current Mackenzie.

She was clearly not wearing a bra, as her nipples poked right through the fabric of her thin shirt and could be seen. As for her lower half, she had on some tight and sexy shorts that really showed off her backside. I almost wondered if she was wearing them because I had mentioned she had a nice butt. They weren’t like the yoga pants the twins wore, or Bethany’s short hoochie shorts, but it had a less-was-more quality that made it hard not to look.

“Noah, I was hoping we could talk a bit, like we used to.”

“Used to?” I looked up at her, completely confused by her words.

“You remember how you used to sneak into my room at night when you had bad dreams and during thunderstorms, and I’d hold you while we talked…” She said, not meeting my eyes.

I legitimately had no clue what she was talking about. Then, I realized that this must have been something from the other Noah’s youth. In this world, Noah must have seen his big sister as comforting, and would come to her when he wanted to feel safe. Maybe that was why Mackenzie was always acting so protective of me. I was wondering what her deal was. She always pushed into my business and annoyed me, but this new Mackenzie seemed to really want to protect me from everything. It left me feeling awkward when I had to deal with her, even around my other sisters.

“Right, of course,” I responded, trying not to sound too uptight, “When was the last time we did that?”

“Oh… Jeese… it’s got to have been five years…” She responded.

“Right…” I nodded, smiling as if I had just remembered.

I couldn’t recall anything, so I was just fishing for information. It probably felt like one of those cold readers who pretended they were psychic. I had to just keep agreeing with her and then regurgitating back what she said. At least, that way, I could learn more about myself. That was the one thing I was lacking, and with school only two days away, it was a serious problem. I didn’t have an excellent sense on what the old Noah acted like. If I could learn anything from Mackenzie, it was probably worth listening.

“Noah, I wanted to talk about Abigail.”

“Really? Her again?” My eagerness diminished instantly; of all the things she could have come for, this was the thing I least wanted to hear about.

“Noah… I just need you to stay away from her, okay? Did she come over today?”

“What if she did?” I shot back.

I wasn’t in the mood to argue with her, but I was a little annoyed. Forget about protectiveness, Mackenzie always just butted into everyone else’s business.

“Noah…” She didn’t look angry, just worried.

It was an expression I wasn’t used to seeing on her face. If she wasn’t glaring at me angrily or with annoyance, then she wasn’t my big sister. Yet, her words were soft, and she was biting her lip while giving me a concerned look. It was enough that I couldn’t help meeting her eye.

“What?” I asked.

“Two years ago, Abigail was harassing a boy. He made it clear he wasn’t interested, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She started following him around. She would wait, parked in front of his house. She’d call him all the time. He started getting really scared, so he talked to me and my friends. Eventually, we had to scare Abigail to get her to leave him alone. Even then, it took calling the police and getting his whole family involved before she backed off.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” I demanded hesitantly.

“Look, I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” Mackenzie answered. “I’ve already heard rumors that you two are dating at school. Since you’re not at school, the only source of those rumors are her. I’m not sure if you’re dating her or not, but she’s telling people at school that you two are together. I just wanted you to know that.”

“…”

I really was flummoxed. It was only last night that we had any kind of relations. Today was the first day I had even considered her as something more. That meant, just from stopping over and helping me cook twice, she had already decided to start telling people we were dating. No, that’s not what Mackenzie said. The rumors could have come just from her offering to bring my homework to my house. There wasn’t necessarily anything nefarious about her actions. Then again, I was reminded that she all but skipped school just to buy me outfits and have me try them on. They were still in a bag under my bed.

In fact, taking all her actions the last few days, it did come off like a suitor trying to woo a girl. She showed up at my house and started buying me things. She happened to be friends with my big sister, when after her experience with Mackenzie, she should have been wary of Dawn. I really wasn’t sure how I felt about this revelation. I wasn’t scared or intimidated. After all, I was still a normal guy in my mind. If anything, her actions kind of felt cute. The fact she was actually interested in me genuinely made a part of me happy.

It wasn’t like I enjoyed abusive relationships, it was that no matter how I contextualized it, I couldn’t bring myself to see anything she did as a warning sign. I could see the signs had I been a normal woman being chased by a man, but I couldn’t see Abigail herself as threatening. My mind just didn’t work that way. It wasn’t like I wouldn’t be warier of Abigail in the future, but I wasn’t ready just to toss that relationship out either.

“Noah… you deserve better.” Mackenzie spoke after watching me think quietly for a few moments.

“Better?”

If any words set me off, it was words like that. After all, I had spent years in my room while no one cared much about me. Samantha just ghosted me. My sisters acted like I didn’t exist. I had been handed nothing in life. Yet, now that things changed, suddenly I deserved better now? Why? What had I done now that differed from before?

Mackenzie didn’t catch the scorn in my voice and nodded. “Yeah, you deserve to have someone-“

“Like you?” I broke into her words.

“Ah… what?”

I took a step forward, reaching out and grabbing her shirt, with my palms resting on the top of her breasts. If I had touched her like this before, I’d have been slapped into next week. This Mackenzie only looked startled and confused. That only irritated me a bit more.

“Why don’t you just admit it. You want me.” I said, pushing closer to her.

 I knew I was lashing out at Mackenzie, but she was the one who was butting into my business. I couldn’t even say exactly what I was angry at. Was I angry that my sisters cared now? Or was I angry that they didn’t before? I still couldn’t even decide if this world was better or worse than the previous one. That made me angry as well. Most of all, I was angry at myself, although if I had to give a reason, I’d struggle to come up with one.

Mackenzie looked flustered at my words, but she didn’t pull away as I got closer to her. Rather, she lowered her head to me and pursed her lips like we were going to kiss. I couldn’t even believe it, but I didn’t go for her lips. Instead, I went past them and toward her ear.

“I’m not your boyfriend, Mackenzie.” I said simply.

She stiffened; her slightly opened mouth closed and she swallowed hard. “Noah… I’m not trying to…”

“Get out of my room.” I let go of her shirt.

“Noah, please just…”

“Get out!” I shouted loud enough that the entire house heard it.

Mackenzie shook for a second, and then nodded, her eyes turning slightly moist. “Fine… but don’t expect me to come save you.”

“No one asked for you to help.” I responded, turning my back to her.

I didn’t see the expression on her face, but a moment later she had turned away and left the room. The door was still open. I heard the door across from mine open for a bit, and then close, which was probably Kelsey or Kristy checking to see what happened. A little later, mom knocked on my door and asked if everything was okay. I told her the obligatory yes. I then shut my door and locked it so I wouldn’t be bugged by anyone else.

On the upside, I was no longer bored. I was too angry, and it took a good hour of pacing before I managed to calm myself down. That night, I slipped out of my room, but I didn’t see Dawn waiting anywhere. I tried to open her door, but it was locked. I was just thinking about what I was going to do when the door unlocked from the inside and opened a sliver, and I could see the frame of Dawn’s glasses reflecting light from her monitor screen in the room.

“I’m not feeling well, I won’t be able to come tonight.”

Recognizing the signs from countless days when she had slammed the door in my face, I shoved my foot forward. She predictably closed it, only to have it bounce off my shoe. I immediately pushed my way into her room and closed the door behind me.

“H-hey!” She protested in a hushed whisper as the both of us ended up alone in her room. “What’s the big idea? I’m sick!”

“You want me to go alone?” I demanded.

“It’s fine…” She looked away, “You know each other, after all.”

“I was doing it for you, you know?”

“Just… go… you can go play with your girlfriend. I won’t tell anyone.”

“I’m not going without you…”

She gave a grimace. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I don’t matter.”

“You matter to me.”

“Just get out…”

Somehow, only a little while after getting into it with Mackenzie, I was on the opposite side with Dawn. Now, she was mad at me, and kicking me out of her room. I didn’t know what to make of it. However, if I didn’t change something, I’d be in the same situation with her as I was with Mackenzie. Her hands were on my shoulders and she was trying to force me out of the room. I didn’t have any time to think. Remembering how Mackenzie had seemingly leaned in, as if expecting a kiss, the thought only naturally jumped into my mind at that moment.

I shoved myself forward, past her arms and kissed Dawn. As I did it, I tossed my arms around her and gripped her closely. Her mouth opened with a gasp, and I didn’t hesitate to send my tongue in. It was at this point her eyebrows shot up.

“Mmm!” She let out a surprised moan.

She tried to pull away, but I kept our lips locked, and the result was that we both ended up falling into her bed. It was harder to stop now that I was already going, and I found my hands starting to explore her body. My mind was numb and not thinking about anything, I ravished my older sister’s body!