Forbidden Sibling Treasure — Chapter I: The Sisters’ Gems

Emerald accompanied her father up the elevator, brining the last of her possessions to her new apartment. It was unfathomable to her to think that she had only graduated high school a few months ago. Although she was only 18, Emerald felt herself prepared to enter a new world of excitement.

“Are you ready for this, Princess?” her father asked her. Emerald chuckled excitedly, letting the sound do all the talking for her. She vibrated her head, making the tips of her golden blonde hair dance gracefully on her shoulders.

She had no reservations about leaving the small city she and her two older siblings had grown up in favour of one with much more opportunity and excitement. Her hometown was comfortable and familiar, but it had been her dream for years to move away. Besides, she was a young adult now and was anxious to have the experiences that only college could bring. Sure, post-secondary education was available back home, but most of the malls and stores closed early, even on weekends. Plus, there was hardly anything exciting for young adults to entertain themselves with. What sort of college social life could she really look forward to there?

Her application to the college her sister had attended had been accepted and the fall semester was about to begin in only a few more days. Emerald couldn’t have been more eager. It was surreal to be several hundred miles away from home now, sure, but the blow was softened knowing that she was moving in with her older sister. Pearl had graduated a year and a half previously in accounting and finances, and had landed a job at a local bank immediately due to her excellent grades.

Busy as she was, Pearl and Emerald had always been close, despite being a few years apart in age. Emerald knew nothing would change now that they were moving back under the same roof. If anything, Emerald was looking forward to strengthening the bond she had with her sister.

The elevator dinged and Emerald wheeled a handful of boxes out the door with a dolly. Her father followed her with the nightstand for her bed. Walking down a short hallway, they rounded the corner and entered the apartment. A wash of beckoning sunlight bade them welcome. Emerald’s sister and mother were busy chatting as they put the luggage and furniture in Emerald’s new bedroom.

“Well, I for one am glad you’re here, Pearl,” her mother, Jen, finished saying. “I remember how homesick you got when you first moved out. I’m just happy you’re here to keep Em company.”

“She’ll be fine, Mom,” Pearl reassured their mother. “I was only lonely for a semester or so.”

“And I think you called almost every night, telling me about how you thought you’d made a big mistake,” their mother recalled with a pointed glance at Pearl.

“I’m glad I stuck it out. I got a social life eventually.”

Their father huffed. “Yeah, and then you hardly ever called home ever again until you broke up with that douche of a boyfriend. What was his name?”

“Doesn’t matter, Dad,” deflected Pearl quickly, obviously not content to discuss past romances. “We try not to mention him.”

“Yeah…because we all know how great that ended up.”

“Phil…” their mother scolded him gently.

“Well…it’s true.” He turned to Emerald. “So don’t you follow your sister’s footsteps there. You’re allowed a lot of freedom here, young lady. Don’t abuse it. Call once in a while, even if – or when – you get a boyfriend.”

“I will, Dad,” Emerald giggled.

The pair of sisters soon bid their parents farewell. Once they left, Emerald stared into her bedroom. She was on her own, more or less, and the mountain of boxes and luggage seemed to stare back with an overwhelming sense of duty. It seemed like it would be an endless task to make sure everything was in its place.

“I’ll help you put it away, Em,” her sister offered, walking up behind her. “For now, just relax. You’ve driven a few hours and worked hard enough for one day.”

Pearl walked into the kitchen. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Emerald conceded and turned her back on the chore.

She sat down in the living room and looked out their tenth-floor balcony window towards the college just a few blocks in the distance. There was a feeling of indecision as she looked at the educational institution. She didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do with her life, only that she was starting with what she loved. In addition to English, Emerald had studied French and Spanish in high school and had become nearly fluent in each. Her father spoke French and her mother spoke Spanish, so she’d had plenty of opportunity to practice.

She figured she wanted to do something with languages, but she wasn’t sure what yet. She had signed onto a couple of other general study courses. Emerald didn’t worry. There was plenty of time yet to figure things out. Pearl hadn’t even begun college intending to find the career she had.

“Penny for your thoughts, Em?” Her sister’s voice broke Emerald’s concentration as she walked around the wall separating partitioning off the kitchen and dining area and entered the living room with two glasses of wine. She handed one to her younger sister.

Emerald smiled and accepted it graciously. “Just thinking about the future.” She poured the soothing beverage over her tongue.

Laughing softly, Pearl sat on the loveseat against the partition. “Gotcha,” she acknowledged, and took a sip of her own drink. “Don’t worry about it, Em. It’ll all come together in the end. I started off trying to get a bachelor’s of philosophy, you know.”

“I know,” Emerald giggled. “I was just thinking that. How do you figure out what to study, though? There are so many options.”

“Yeah, there are,” agreed Pearl. She sighed. “I dunno; it just sort of falls into place. You have to find out what you have a passion for and what you’re good at and what you can make a living off of. The career that’s best for you just falls best into all three categories.”

“That’s deep.”

Pearl smiled and shrugged. “That’s just what a counsellor told me when I was confused.” She took another sip of wine. “Maybe you could study business and take over the jewelry store from Mom and Dad.”

“No, I really don’t think so,” laughed Emerald. “I suck at sales.”

“Then you can only get better.”

“Maybe,” Emerald half-agreed dryly. “But another generation of kids with gemstone names? Probably not a good idea.”

Peal laughed heartily.

It wasn’t that Emerald and Pearl disliked their names, they just thought it overkill that their parents, who owned a jewelry store, would name their children after precious stones. Emerald had inherited her name because of the vibrant green eyes she had right from the moment she was born. Her sister was initially going to be named Sapphire, but her eyes were such a light, light shade of blue when she was born that their parents decided on Pearl instead. Even their older brother’s name, Jasper, was because of the reddish hue in both his brown eyes and light brown hair.

Presenting another option, Pearl said, “Who knows, you might end up like Jasper and not even finish school.”

Emerald scoffed. “Don’t even go there.”

“What? The oilfield doesn’t interest you?”

“Not particularly.”

The sisters’ older brother, Jasper, had begun his school career with the intention of earning a degree in chemistry. Then, a friend of his introduced him to the idea of working on an oilrig for the summer to earn tuition money. Jasper had accepted the idea graciously and soon the idea of returning to school disinterested him completely because of the cash he was raking in with his new employment. Their parents were initially disappointed, but learned to accept it.

Later, after he had earned a couple mechanics certificate, he began maintaining the vehicles instead of solely performing the lowly grunt work. Although it was vocational training, he had never returned to a formal institution to complete his education. The chemists the company employed were paid even better than the mechanics, but Jasper just wasn’t incentivised yet. The money he was already earning and the toys he was able to buy were just too exciting.

“Besides,” added Emerald, “I’m so not strong enough for something like that. I mean, look at these arms.”

She flexed her bicep, such as it was. Emerald was a rather slender girl, weighing in at about 110lbs and standing at 5’7”. She was into fitness, but not athletics specifically, so although her body was tightly toned and strong, she didn’t have much of a ‘team’ attitude. Despite being fast and light on her feet, Emerald certainly didn’t have any sort of muscular strength to speak of, either.

Pearl laughed. “Well, you’re probably strong enough to do the paperwork in the office.”

“Yeah, no. Not so much.”

“I’m sure Jasper knows plenty of guys who would be anxious to meet you, too,” Pearl teased on.

“I’m sure he does,” agreed Emerald unenthusiastically.

Pearl fixed her eyes on her younger sister. “You need to get a boyfriend eventually, Em.”

“Maybe, Pearl, but not now,” Emerald declined with another glance at the college in the distance. “Right now I have bigger things to worry about.” Changing the subject slightly, she asked, “He still crashes here on his days off sometimes, right?”

“Jasper?” Pearl clarified. “Oh, yeah. Quite often, actually, when he hasn’t found some bimbo at a club to sleep with for a few nights or something.”

“And your landlord has never caught on?”

“As long as it’s only for a few nights at a time, the landlord doesn’t care. It’s usually only two or three nights in a row every month or so.” Pearl raised an eyebrow at her sister. “You’ve got a lot to learn about rental agreements, don’t you, Em?”

“Apparently,” she joked, knowing full well she had a lot to learn about this thing called life. She’d always balked with her friends over ‘reading the fine print.’ Now, it seemed it was a good idea to do. Rent, school, sleep, friends…boys… How was she ever going to balance everything? “I guess it’s a good thing you don’t have a boyfriend, Pearl. People might accuse you of cheating or having threesomes all the time or something.”

Emerald’s older sister nearly did a spit-take into her glass of wine as she finished it.

Pearl always surprised Emerald with her social life. Her older sister had many friends, but seldom had a solid relationship with a specific guy. Despite this, Emerald knew Pearl was no stranger to the excitement that night life could bring. Pearl had often bragged to her about the most recent guy she slept with. She had lost her virginity when she was still in middle school and had had a ravenous appetite for sex ever since. She’d had a couple pregnancy scares in high school, but they had always turned out to be false alarms.

Emerald had no idea how her older sister had evaded pregnancy during her college years. Pearl had continued her life of sexual conquest and often told Emerald about it in minute detail – including details about the relationships she had cleaved because of her looser morals. It wasn’t uncommon for Pearl to seduce some guy who already had a girlfriend. She saw it as a challenge and she either blackmailed them for a bit to call in some favours or simply trumpeted her success with pride just to watch the inevitable fireworks that followed.

Now 24, Pearl had matured very gracefully. She was the woman every guy wanted, even knowing the burn they would most certainly risk. Pearl kept herself in great shape, balancing around 125lbs. Since she stood at 5’9”, the result was a very appealing and curvy hourglass figure. Her 34C bust gave a man everything he could want to hold in his hands without being either inadequate or overwhelming. Compliment that with long, golden blonde hair the same hue as her own, and Pearl was nearly irresistible for the common man.

Even Emerald had to admit that her sister was very attractive. If she were a guy, she knew her sister would be hard to resist.

Pearl coughed a couple times to clear her throat before regaining her composure. “Oh, people already talk. They’ve seen him come in here. There’s girls all over who want him.”

“Are.”

“What?”

“There are girls who want him,” Emerald corrected her sister.

Pearl rolled her eyes. “Oh, you and your perfect English. You got that from Mom, didn’t you?”

“You bet!” smirked Emerald, accepting the accusation as a compliment.

“Whatever,” her sister scoffed and emphasized, “There are girls who want our brother. Satisfied?” Emerald nodded. Pearl added, “There’s even one on this floor who I know has her eye on him.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” confirmed Pearl. “She came up to me one of the first times he crashed here and asked me who the hot guy was that I was sleeping with. When I told her Jasper is my brother her face changed from apology, then quickly to a thoughtful look, like she was wondering how to capitalize on his periodic visits.”

Emerald laughed at the story. “It’s a good thing you’re not sleeping with him, then!” she exclaimed. “That would have been hella awkward to explain!”

Pearl joined in laughing with her sister, though the slight delay and hint of gracelessness in her mirth went unnoticed by Emerald.

– – – – –

The next few weeks passed more smoothly than Emerald had anticipated. During the first couple days, Pearl had helped her unpack and arrange her room. Once she was settled in, Emerald took care of the nitty-gritty details about school: textbooks, finding her classes and even locating a good place to study in the library (she always hated studying at home). During the first week, she went so far as to sign up for a couple clubs that interested her: namely French and Spanish. She was surprised how quickly she managed to make friends once she emerged from her comfortable little bubble even slightly.

Her classes went well; they weren’t even as difficult as she had envisioned. Sure, the homework piled up – and quickly – but it was manageable if she stuck to her schedule. Her parents had ingrained into her a strong work ethic along with a healthy skill set of time management and goal setting. Emerald was thankful. Without it, she wasn’t sure how she could have balanced the workload.

Fortunately, a part-time job wasn’t even in the picture. She admired those who could keep such a steady life, but often found they lacked a consistent social life. Emerald wasn’t a social butterfly by any means, and often spent nights on her own (usually studying) or with her sister, but she liked to keep the option open.

It wasn’t until she consistently attended club meetings that any tangible friendships began to develop. The couple students she initially opened up to introduced her to a variety of others, including one young man in the circle of friends named Dennis that she began to have an eye for. He was 20, so a couple years ahead of her in school, aiming for a French major, with which he hoped to become an international translator working for a government or business. The ambition he had was very appealing to her.

The amorous feeling appeared to be mutual as they often flirted the meetings away as they practiced their French together. Every time, the cordial interaction left Emerald wanting more, and she often wondered if they would get a chance to explore something more than just a couple hours each week allowed them.

Several weeks into the semester, she received her answer. The Tuesday meeting had gone like most any other, clusters of friends breaking off to have some fun, Emerald and Dennis ending up in the same one, as per the norm. As things began to wind down, Emerald lost track of time until she looked at her watch and noticed with horror that she would be late to her next class if she didn’t leave immediately. She excused herself and began to dash out of the room.

“Hey, Emerald,” Dennis called after her as she rushed through the doorway.

Emerald knew she was risking missing some of her class, but Dennis’ melodious voice froze her in her tracks. She turned around to see the handsome face approaching her. The elated feeling the surged through her veins made her knees threatened to buckle.

“Hey…” stammered Dennis again. “I was wondering…what are you doing this Saturday?”

The day’s schedule flashed through her mind, but Emerald couldn’t think of anything off hand. “Nothing, I don’t think,” she answered, anxious for his reply.

“Sweet!” he remarked, looking thoughtfully into her eyes. “Hey…I was wondering… There are a few of us going to the nightclub downtown that evening.” Emerald saw a quick look of concentration cross Dennis’ face, and she knew he was formulating a request in French. “Veux-tu sortir avec nous?” he invited, gesturing debonairly with his hand.

The request couldn’t have been sweeter to her. “Absolument! I’d love to!” she answered affirmatively with a giddy smile. They exchanged contact information and Emerald left, running to her class but feeling lighter than air.

The next four days couldn’t have gone any slower. The hours seemed like days and the days like weeks, each longer than the next. Finally, Saturday rolled around. After catching up on a few reading assignments in the morning and afternoon, Emerald raced back to her apartment to get ready.

There, she met disappointment after disappointment as she struggled to find something suitable and flattering to wear. Emerald stood there in front of the full-length mirror in her room wearing only a black bra and panties, looking at the several outfits that she deemed unworthy of the night’s importance. She looked herself over, up and down, too, being overly critical of the figure she saw before her.

She was well-toned and very slender. The muscles on her legs, arms and tummy were defined, though not seriously chiseled. She wasn’t a body-builder. She’d heard the horror stories about the dreaded ‘freshman 15’ and was determined not to fall prey to it. The gym was something she regularly made time for, usually three, if not four times a week if she could. Her skin wasn’t pale, but didn’t have much in the way of a tanned colour. People often remarked about how lovely a young woman she was.

But tonight, she was having trouble seeing it.

She stood there, holding one arm with her other hand, scanning up and down. Even though she was slender, was she still too fat to really attract a guy? Was she too bubbly? Was she too shy? Why didn’t she have curves like her sister? A sizzling hot figure like that would be sure to grab and keep Dennis’ attention. Was she too short? She had an average height, she supposed, but was it not enough?

She narrowed in on her chest. Was Dennis a ‘boob guy’? Was that was enticed him to a woman most? Were her breasts enough at only a 30B? Would he be impressed or repulsed if he saw them? Her eyes travelled down further. Her legs weren’t a problem, she supposed, having the envied little gap between them, but she wondered about the other side. She’s always thought she’d had a nice, round little bum, but now she wasn’t so sure if it was adequate. What if it wasn’t large enough, or what if it jiggled a little too much? Would that be enough to make him reject her?

While in the midst of all these troubling thoughts, a soft but determined knock on the door brought her back out of her own mind. “Em?” Pearl called from the other side. “You still in there? I thought you said you were going to the club tonight.”

“I am…” she called back. In a low voice, she said, more to herself than anyone else, “I don’t…I don’t know if I…”

“Don’t know if you what?”

That took her by surprise. How had her sister even heard that!?

“Can I come in?” asked the voice beyond the door.

“Sure…”

Pearl entered the room and looked at her sister. “Em, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know…” avoided Emerald passively, with another rueful glance towards the mirror. “I…I just…”

“You’re just not sure about your figure,” Pearl guessed correctly.