My Cousin Laura’s 18th birthday

I looked up at the picture on the wall and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Laura,” I asked, trying to contain the chuckle, “what the hell are you doing in this picture?”

The photo on the wall was an old one, my little cousin at 8 years old in a black leotard, grinning at the camera while holding one of the more hilarious ballet poses I’d seen.

“That’s my horsie pose!” she yelled at me in defiance, hitting me on the arm. 10 years later and the little girl in the photo was barely recognisable. Today was her 18th birthday, and I’d just arrived in time to stick it to her about the dozens of past photos of her that my aunt had stuck up around the house. She’d always been the pretty one in the family when she was growing up, and today she was a stunning young woman; I couldn’t help but be slightly turned on by her these days despite us being related. She was about 5′ 5″, bright blue eyes, cute nose, perfect smile, and soft brown hair with blonde highlights that flowed down her shoulders, following her silver necklace down her body before nestling in between her exposed cleavage. She’d inherited the family figure, but unlike her older sister Clare, she hadn’t filled out around the middle yet, so her amazing perky breasts were exaggerated by her relatively slim waist – she had to be at least an F cup while her waist couldn’t be more than 30″. Below that, her curvy butt sat above long, slim legs, with the smoothness only a teenager can manage.

I’d arrived a hour late due to traffic and she was already tipsy by now from downing cocktails, her cheeks glowing as she buzzed around the party. “Happy birthday,” I smiled, handing over her card. “Your mum didn’t know what you wanted, so I got you some vouchers.” They lived less than a half hour from one of the biggest malls in the country, and even though I didn’t get to see Laura that often, if there was one thing I knew it was that she loved to shop.

“Aww, thank you!” she replied, throwing her arms around me and placing a kiss on my cheek. “Do you want a drink?”

“Sure,” I said, “but I can only have the one, I’ve got to drive back later.”

“What?” came Clare’s disappointed cry. Laura’s older sister was nearly 25, 6 months older than me. She had the unfortunate burden of looking more like her dad, unlike her sister who got her looks from her mum. She had similarly sized breasts to Laura though, but she’d piled on the pounds a bit in recent years. “You can’t drive home, you’ve got to come out with us later!”

“No-one told me you were going out,” I protested.

“Well, we’re telling you now,” said Laura, pushing a vodka and lemonade into my hand. I looked down at the drink, surprised at it’s sudden appearance. “Christ, that was quick, I didn’t even tell you what I wanted,” I said.

“Oh, I know what you like,” Laura replied, winking.

“We’re going clubbing in town later,” Clare continued. “and now you’re coming too, no excuses.”

“And where exactly am I going to stay? You’ve barely got enough beds here for you lot, and I don’t fancy your sofa much,” I said. My aunt and uncles house had always been on the small size and the girls, along with their little brother Tom, had been sharing 2 rooms between the 3 of them until Clare had moved in with her boyfriend last year. Normally the sofa wouldn’t bother me that much, but I’d seen the aftermath of a half-pint of beer being split on it on my way in.

“Ah, well tonight we do,” said Clare. She gestured out to the garden where the rest of the extended family was busy stuffing themselves round the barbecue. “See anyone missing?”

I looked around and then realised what she was getting at. “Your parents?” I ventured.

“Yep,” she replied. “Gone away for the weekend, and they took Tommy too, so little Laura’s got the place to herself tonight. Best off kipping in mum and dad’s room, Tommy’s room smells.”

“Thanks, I, uh, really needed to know that,” I said sarcastically, nodding my head. I took a gulp of my drink as Laura put her arm round my shoulders, then poked me in the ribs, almost making me choke on my drink. “So, are you coming or what?” she asked.

I thought about it for a second as I coughed. Sure, why not, I thought. I’d never been out with my cousins before and it wasn’t like I had any reason to go back home tonight. I’d moved out of my parents house when I was 18 and had been living mostly on my own ever since. “Yeah, alright then, you’ve twisted my arm” I told her.

“Cool!” she said. “Now finish that drink and I’ll get you another.”




The rest of the afternoon went pretty much normally, or as normal as it got around my family. I chatted with my mum and her aunts, ate a lot of blackened food, and kicked a football around with my uncles, all while Laura swanned around between the family and some of her friends who were there, stopping occasionally to push another drink into my hand. “I think she’s trying to get you drunk,” Clare joked at one point.

“I am,” Laura answered, laughing, then looked at me in thought. “I’ve never actually seen you pissed before.”

“Not much different to how I am normally,” I said. “Just louder and less co-ordinated.”

She leaned in and whispered in my ear. “And more horny, I’m guessing?” she teased. Fuck. She’d obviously spotted me looking at her during the party. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised as she walked away. Damn it, of course she knew people were looking at her; who wouldn’t be?

Before long the late autumn evening started to draw in, and one by one relatives started to filter out to begin their long drives back home. About an hour later and the only ones left were Laura, Clare, her boyfriend Sam, and a handful of Laura’s friends whose names I still hadn’t learned. Laura nipped upstairs and changed out of the combat shorts she’d been wearing and into a little black miniskirt, but keeping on the plunging white silky top she’d had on earlier. The skirt was pretty tight and I couldn’t see any panty-lines, so either she was wearing a thong or nothing at all. Clare called a couple of taxis, and we all piled in for quick drive into the town centre.

We hit a couple of pubs first, then when it started getting late we headed for Jak’s nightclub. We’d only just got our first round in at the bar when Laura spotted someone and her smiling face suddenly dropped into an evil glare. “Oh fuck, it’s Kevin,” she spat. I turned to look at the guy, who was drinking across from us at the bar with a slutty-looking blonde hanging off him. I turned to Clare for an explanation. “Ex-boyfriend. Ran off with one of her friends.”

“That blonde bitch isn’t my friend,” Laura snapped. I realised the slutty blonde must be the one they were talking about. “Look at her, she thinks she’s all that.” Laura downed her drink. “Get me another drink will ya?” she said to me, turning to me and smiling again.

I got the barman’s attention and ordered her another. As I did, I noticed she’d slowly started to press herself against me, her soft hair brushing against my cheek. Normally Laura was quite a bit shorter than me, but she was wearing 3-inch heels and the top of her head came up to my nose now. She wasn’t looking at me though, and I turned slightly to see her glaring at the blonde and her ex across the bar. The blonde caught her looking, and turned away slightly, but I spotted her looking back again a second later. I had a feeling I knew what game was being played here, and that feeling only got stronger when Laura spotted the blonde looking back and started to rub her breasts against the top of my arm as she took the drink I passed to her.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

“Showing that bitch that I can do better than that arsehole Kevin,” she replied.