Chapter 24: Outing with Sophia
After walking away from Mom's room, I went down the stairs with slow steps. The morning heat was already filtering through the windows, and the air inside the house felt dense. I sat on the living room sofa, trying to make the image of the oil shining on her skin fade away. I wasn't entirely successful.
Some time passed. The wall clock marked the minutes with an almost annoying slowness. Then I heard footsteps upstairs, and shortly after, Mom came down.
She was dressed for work: the fitted white blouse, the dark pencil skirt, and the heels. The contrast with what I had just seen hit me immediately. The fabric of the blouse outlined the shape of her breasts, and the skirt clung to her hips with a precision that made me remember far too clearly the form of her naked body.
I stood up when I saw her.
"Good morning, my darling," she said with a warm smile, though there was a hint of guilt in her eyes. "I'm sorry I have to leave so early on your first day back. I wanted to spend more time with you…"
"Don't worry, Mom," I replied, trying to sound natural. "I understand. Work is work."
She came closer and gently stroked my hair, the way she used to when I was a child.
"I promise I'll make it up to you this afternoon. I only have a few classes today and then I'll be back."
I nodded. While she put on her bag, I couldn't stop my gaze from dropping for a second to her chest. The white fabric stretched with every breath. The image of the oil sliding over that same skin returned with force.
'Don't look,' I told myself. 'You just spied on her. That's enough.'
Mom stopped at the door and looked at me one last time.
"Take care, okay? The house is yours. If you need anything, call Maya or one of your sisters."
"I'll be fine," I assured her.
She gave me a kiss on the cheek and left. I heard the car engine fading into the distance. The silence she left behind felt heavier than expected.
I was alone in the house.
The heat of the town seeped in from everywhere. I opened a window and the hot air hit me in the face. Everything smelled of wood, dry earth, and something indefinable that only this place had. I walked around the living room a little, touching the furniture as if I needed to confirm it was real.
'Eleven years… and everything is still here,' I thought. 'But I'm no longer the same.'
The feeling of emptiness was strange. On one hand, relief at not having anyone watching me. On the other, an unease I couldn't quite define.
Then I heard footsteps behind me.
"Hey."
I turned around.
Sophia was standing in the doorway of the hallway. Her orange-brown hair was loose, and her green eyes looked at me with that expression halfway between annoyance and interest she had always had.
But what really left me speechless was her clothes.
A short top with very thin straps, almost transparent, that left nearly her entire back and sides exposed. The neckline dipped low enough that it was clear she wasn't wearing anything underneath: the outline of her breasts showed with every breath, and when she moved, the upper edge of her skin became visible. Below, she wore very short, heavily worn denim shorts that rode up between her ass cheeks and left the lower part of her butt completely exposed. Every step she took made the fabric tighten and reveal a little more.
The most disconcerting thing wasn't how revealing the clothes were. It was how natural she looked wearing them. As if it were the most normal thing in the world.
'Since when does she dress like that?' I thought, unable to fully look away.
"What are you staring at?" she asked, crossing her arms. The gesture made the top lift a little higher and the neckline deepen.
"Nothing," I answered too quickly. "I just… didn't expect to see you so early."
Sophia snorted.
"Well, since you're here, you might as well go out. You're not going to stay locked inside all day like a hermit. I have an errand in town and I'm taking you with me. That way you can start getting used to the place again."
I tried not to look down, but my traitorous eyes dropped for a second to her short shorts. The way the fabric sank between her cheeks was impossible to ignore.
'In the city no one would go out like that… here it seems normal,' I thought. 'I shouldn't look. But if I don't look, it's even worse.'
"Are you sure about going out… like that?" I asked, trying to make it sound casual.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Like what? With clothes on? Yes, Ethan. That's what people wear when it's hot. Or would you rather I go out in a bathrobe?"
Her tone was the usual one: a little annoyed, a little defiant. As if I were the strange one for having noticed.
"It's not that," I said, feeling heat rise up my neck. "It's just… it looks a bit…"
"A bit what?" she insisted, taking a step toward me. The movement made her breasts shift under the thin top and the shorts tighten even more.
I almost said something I shouldn't. Almost. I bit my tongue in time.
"Nothing. Let's go."
Sophia smirked, as if she had won a small battle, and turned toward the door. I followed her.
I walked behind her. Inevitably. Every step she took made her ass move in a hypnotic way under the short shorts. The lower part of her cheeks stayed visible with every movement, firm and round. I swallowed and forced my eyes upward.
We left the house. The sun of the town hit us immediately. The heat was stifling.
We had barely taken a few steps along the dirt road when I noticed the first stares. An older man sweeping his porch looked up and greeted us with too much familiarity. A woman watering some plants smiled in a way I couldn't interpret. Another neighbor, younger, held his gaze on Sophia a second longer than necessary before looking at me with an expression I couldn't decipher.
Sophia walked as if none of it mattered to her. I, on the other hand, felt that every stare from the town weighed more than it should.
We crossed the property threshold and took the first steps along the main street. The hot air, the dust raised by our feet, and those overly insistent looks made me understand something:
This was only just beginning.
End of Chapter 24