Seasons

"What are you doing, Darlene?"

His sister looked up from where she was sliding what looked like a piece of laminated paper beneath the crack of door leading into Lenny's small space, her shoulders going tense, her expression already defensive even before she answered, eyes narrowing as she snapped back at him.

"Putting stuff beneath Lenny's door, David. What are you doing, lounging around trying to get a hard on looking at my ass?"

Then she sneered, deliberately widening her eyes as she concluded, "Oh, no, my mistake, you wouldn't be doing that…you'd rather check out the paperboy's."

A muscle jerked in David's jaw, and he cleared his throat several times, looking away as though to attempt to compose himself before speaking to her again. Darlene was still holding the paper in her hand, though face down, where he could not see it, as he inclined his head towards it.

"What are you giving Lenny?"

"Your last will and testament. The words might be a little over his head, but I figured he'll have to know what he gets out of it if Wendell and I figure out the best way to rid ourselves of your annoying presence," she said straight-faced, even as her eyes crinkled at the corners.

She tossed her hair back behind her shoulders, then arched her back and neck in a curve which accentuated her breasts and exposed the tendons of her throat. Unwillingly David's eyes followed her movement before he tore them away, swallowing again, and his voice carried even greater tension than before as its volume rose slightly, attempting authority in its tone.

"Darlene, you can't give him just anything, you know that. He can't even read. What are you handing him?"

"Oh, do you want to see, then?" she asked with mock innocence, and began to hold it out to him. When David's fingers almost brushed, she snatched it back, holding it behind herself as a wicked smile curved her lips.

"You'll have to take it from me, then, brother dear…a friendly game of keepaway, or perhaps truth or dare…"

She stuck it beneath herself, sitting on it firmly, and as she watched David's face redden further, fists forming at his sides, she extracted the paper, holding it out about an inch from her torso in a tempting fashion, before stuffing it down her shirt, between her breasts.

"Come and get it, David…I dare you."

She could see his teeth grinding, his growing anger evident in every muscle of his body, standing hotly in his eyes, and she knew he wanted to hit her then. She knew he wanted to scream at her, to demand she obey him…but he also knew he could not make her, nor could he intimidate her, even without Wendell as her backup. Even more so, she suspected, he wanted to grab the paper just as she was daring him to, to feel her skin against his, in this intimate part of her- but he would never admit this even to himself, would never allow himself to give in to any such urge. Not with her. Not ever.

It was because of this knowledge she teased him all the more, brushing against him so he jerked away, making insinuative comments to watch the blood rush to his cheeks. It was more than amusing, it was a challenge, one he always won out on.

Without another word David stood, abruptly stalking away, and let the door slam behind him. Darlene smiled, satisfied, watching to make sure he stayed away before she turned back to Lenny's door, pressing her face against the wood as she cooed to him softly.

"Hey baby…he's gone now, it's just me. I've got something for you….see?"

She finished slipping the pictures beneath the frame, waiting for the scuffling noise of Lenny coming over to investigate. What she had slipped him were carefully drawn pictures of flowers and rainbows, sunshine and clouds…pictures of springtime and nature. Picture she had selected for their beauty and cheer.

"The season's changed, baby, it's spring time now. You put those on your wall, or on your shelf, and you'll see what it looks like outside. Isn't it pretty, Lenny? It's called spring."

She hated to think how her brothers might react, if they knew of her ritual with Lenny for each changing of the season, of the surprise that would show in their faces, of how they might look at her in a different way than she wanted or allowed them to see her as being. But she hated more for Lenny to go all year without ever seeing the best parts of the world shifting and changing without being able to view them for himself.