[14] A Sister's Instinct

I went home that night with a huge smile on my face, and that, unfortunately, has not escaped my sister's inquisitive eye. Antoinette was better now with all the soup remedies and spas I've been sending her to. Now, since she has nothing better to do, and all her attention was shamelessly channeled to me.

"Well, well, well... look what the cat had dragged in early." She smiled as I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"How are you today, Antoinette?" I simply asked casually.

"Rather well, I suppose." She kept that reply short. "So, you're home early." She immediately fired on and reached a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. "Who are you spending time with lately, Tony? Is it a woman?" She handed me a glass.

"What makes you think it's a woman? Besides, I just want to be home early today, is that so much of a crime?" I asked her as I took my drink in one gulp.

"With you, it certainly is." She said with a small frown. "Don't play games with me. You know that sooner or later I will know." She smiled triumphantly. "Well?"

"I've been hanging out with Felice." I sat on the counter bench, thinking that this conversation would be long enough to strain my legs.

"Yes, thank god you weren't hanging out with Karen. I tell you, she's nothing but a bad influence." Antoinette never really liked Karen and her posse. Antoinette liked my boys though, but she didn't very much approve of our habits. "Last night, I was at Kristal's house..."

Kristal? Isn't that Karen's sister?

"Well guess what. We were about to celebrate her engagement to Randy, then we heard some loud thumping in Karen's room."

"No way!" I laughed. "Antoinette, you saw live porn?" My poor, innocent, sister.

"I did not peek in, okay?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Kristal opened the room and scolded the man. She scolded Karen too, but Karen didn't seem to mind. I tell you, you'll get nothing good out of that girl. She has apparently lost her mind." My sister was every bit traditional. She strongly believed that sex should be after marriage.

Karen was in bed with someone and she believes she lost her mind.

"The girl was having sex and you claim she has lost her mind?" It's not as if I cared. I knew that Karen was not a virgin anymore, but it was her appeal that always drove me to the edge.

"I think you know the guy she's with. I think you call him Pekto. I forgot his real name, but whatever. Talking about her is such a waste of time. So let me hear more of this Felice." She batted her eyelashes as if pleading.

"Pekto? As in Rico?" I boomed with laughter as Antoinette waited impatiently. "Okay, okay." I caved, "Felice Li is someone I met a few years ago. We didn't get off quite easily. I just didn't like her and I kind of... thought she had a crush on me." I felt my face color.

"What an egotistical man you are, Tony. Poor girl must've cried from disgust all these years." She laughed.

Ha-Ha, Antoinette. Very funny.

I instinctively rolled my eyes. How can someone this happy be so annoying at the same time?

"We're fine now," I said as I stood up from the chair. Not all fine, I suppose. I still lied to her. I'm still keeping something from her. It made me all the more disgusted with myself when I realized that I don't even have Felice's full attention, Justin was still in the picture.

I was startled when Antoinette grabbed my upper arm to stop me from exiting the room. "Tony, what's the matter?"

"I'm being eaten up by guilt," I answered with a sigh. Her eyes told me that I needed to elaborate. "I wouldn't have gotten to know her if I didn't agree to a bet with Karen. I can't tell her what really happened. I just can't, it will ruin everything" I admitted.

"I told you that Karen is not going to do you any good." She said with a frown. "What were you supposed to win, and how were you supposed to go about this dare anyway?"

"Make Felice fall in love with me, I get Karen for a night." Now that I think about it, it sounds pathetic. Obviously, I omitted the part about bedding Felice as well.

"Oh To y, aren't you too old for dares?" Antoinette shook her head as we climbed up the stairs. "But I tell you, Tony, Felice does wonders on you." She commented, emphasizing 'wonders' with a fleetingly high voice. "You're a changed man."

"WHAT?" How could she know this? I was sure that I was only a changed man in school.

Antoinette laughed. "I mean it. She makes you become a man, and I'm proud of you. Why don't you invite her to dinner? I'd love to meet this girl. She seems wonderful."

"But I didn't tell you anything about her!" I argued. How can she assume this?

"What you said is proof enough. And judging the recent events, it's more than enough to tell me what kind of woman this Felice is." With a smirk, she enters her room and leaves me in the hall, speechless.

After that night, my sister kept on bugging me about that dinner with Felice. It was not as if I could easily do that, especially if there was really nothing going on between us... and everything.

I wanted to believe that we didn't have anything, but something kept pushing me to believe otherwise. I had to remind myself that I disliked this woman, but I couldn't put my heart into it. I had to remind myself that all I wanted was Karen, but that was even harder to do.

To make matters worse, Karen was becoming a bit pushy. The bet was already off, but she believed that it was Trish's fault and the aftermath was none of my business. Although she still strongly believes that I should spend a night with her, I couldn't bring myself to her doorstep. But to tell her frankly, the thought of it does not sound appealing anymore—more like, it was utterly and disbelievingly disgusting.

Sure she'd be great in bed especially with all her experiences and whatnot, but it's kind of sickening too, now that she only wants me because I've allowed her to push me around.

I shook the thoughts away as I tried to concentrate on my homework. I was nobody's bitch.