Pull Zipper in Case of Emergency

I came into my flat and found my sister sitting at my computer desk with headphones on, a drink glass in hand and a bottle of Jim Beam on the floor next to her left leg. She looked downcast, sad, and half drunk. “Hey Irene, what’s up?” I asked her.

She looked up at me, took the headphones off then said, “Hi Brett, I needed someplace to go.”

“Huh, why, what’s going on?”

“He cheated on me, he fucked Marsha.”

“Who, your boyfriend cheated on you?”

Irene splashed another shot in her glass, tipped it up and sucked it down in one swallow, “Yeah, the bitch lied about me, she said I was screwing Matt, but I’m not, she lied and Justin screwed her for revenge on me.” I grabbed another glass from the liquor cabinet and handed it to my sister, she poured me a shot then I sat next to her. “I found out when Zina told me what they did. Justin took Marsha to that park at Loon Lake and screwed her in the car. According to Zina they did it three times. Three times in the car? Doesn’t that easy slut know what beds are for?”

“How does Zina know?”

“The fucking whore told her, Zina said she was bragging how she finally got to fuck Justin. She’s been hitting on him the whole time he and I have dated, well, she did it. She got him, and now she can fucking well have him forever. They deserve each other, bastards and bitches belong together.” She was looking at me with tear filled eyes.

I felt sorry for Irene, she had been dating Justin for over two years, since they were seniors in high school. She was happy, in love, and delighted when he started in two of the same college classes with her; they could be together forever. Now she was getting drunk, mourning her dead relationship with him. I poured another shot for me and her, “I’m sorry Irene, you want me to body slam him for you, or her? I wouldn’t have a problem doing it.”

She looked up with sad, red eyes, “Why?”

“Cause you’re my sister. If someone does one of us wrong, we are all are affected. You told me that when Rick beat the shit out of me, remember, you wanted to shoot his ass.”

Irene smiled grimly, “I would have too, but I couldn’t find dads gun. It really hurt me to see you all busted up in the hospital.”

“Well I’m glad you didn’t, if you went to jail it would be awful lonely around here.” That brought her up to a small smile and a quick glance of ‘thank you’ from her eyes. She got off the desk chair and moved to the sofa then invited me to sit with her. I sat next to her then she leaned to me, rested her head on my shoulder. I put a comforting arm around her shoulders as she began to cry. Irene sobbed her sorrow, using my shoulder as a hanky, wiping her watery eyes and dripping nose on my shirt. I turned on the TV then flipped through several channels of crap before Irene said “Turn it off, talk to me.”

I shut off the TV, put down the remote and asked “You want another drink?”

“No, not right now,” She tipped her head back to look at me, “Why do guys do that? Why do they cheat on their girlfriends or wives?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Cause you’re a guy and have dated, what, nine, ten girls? Did you ever cheat on them?”

At twenty-two years old I’d dated more than ten girls but that wasn’t the issue, “No, I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean, you don’t think so? You did or you didn’t. Did you have sex with some woman when you were dating another?”

“Not without them knowing.”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“I mean I might have been with two girls at once a couple of times, they didn’t think of it as cheating.”

Irene pushed off my shoulder and stared at me for a few seconds, “Two at the same time? You fucked two girls at the same time?” she repeated.

“They were roommates and Krystal wouldn’t leave when Gabi and I wanted to go to bed so she went with us. That lasted a few months then I broke up with Gabi.”

My sister got off the couch then went to the main window and watched the traffic three floors below for a while, she was silent and I left her alone. Without saying anything she held her arm back, holding the empty glass to me. I took that as a hint and slopped another shot of whiskey in it. She put the glass to her lips and chugged it down then turned to me again, “I never did anything like that, did you love Gabi?”

“Love? I don’t know. She was pretty and sexy, but I’m not sure I would have asked her to marry me if we hadn’t broken up.”

“Did she love you?”

“She never said so, why?”

“How about your other girlfriends, were you in love with any of them?”

I wasn’t sure where the line of questions was going but I didn’t hold back. Irene was my sister; I wasn’t interviewing for a date where the truth might turn her off. “Love is a strong word Sis, I’m not sure I ever felt that way about any girl except Crissy, it tore me up when she dumped me, I would have married her.”

“Crissy was your first girlfriend; you were too young to get married.”

“Maybe.”

“Did you have sex with her?”

“What the fuck, we playing Twenty Questions?”

“Yeah, that’s what, question five?