Roadtrip with Uncle Brian

Roadtrip with Uncle Brian

Kim sat in the passenger seat and watched the cars whizzing past. Her uncle was driving her home from her art show. For the first time since she’d finished art school she was invited to an exposition, to show some work. Her uncle had helped her transport her paintings and he stayed with her all day, supporting her, stimulating her to talk to people and even helping her sell one of her paintings.

‘Thanks again.’ She said.

‘No problem, sweety.’ Brian said.

She looked at him from the side. He was a thirty two year old quite handsome man. His eyes had this bright boyish twinkle, his hair was messy and curly and he had a dimple in his chin. She couldn’t understand why he was still single. She could imagine women feeling attracted to him everyday.

‘What are you looking at?’ He asked.

‘You.’ She said. Suddenly she was feeling shy, she looked outside again and stared at lights next to the highway. If she squeezed her eyes together, the lights seemed to blur into long lines.

‘Why?’ Brian asked. He briefly laid his hand on top of her knee and and tapped his finger on her skin. She smiled and looked the other way. They were only ten years apart, she was twenty two and her uncle was thirty two.

‘Don’t taunt me with that secretive smile.’ Brian said. ‘Just tell me.’

Kim took a deep breath and shrugged. ‘It’s just that I was wondering why you’re still single. You know.’

‘Because you think I’m attractive?’ Brian said teasingly.

‘No. Well, yes. You are attractive. I guess objectively speaking, but… like…’ Kim blushed. She didn’t know what to say anymore. She pressed her lips together.

Brian playfully stuck out his tongue and patted her on her shoulder. ‘I’m teasing you.’ He said.

‘Good.’ Kim mumbled. She laid her head to rest against the cool glass window.

‘I’m single cause I have a very particular preferences when it comes to women.’ Brain said. His voice had changed. He didn’t sound playful and teasing anymore, he sounded quite serious all of a sudden.

Kim looked at him for a moment. His hand again resting on her knee, his index finger was drawing small circles on her skin. On the one side she knew she had to stop him, but on the other side, she was quite curious. There was no harm in letting this situation unfold, she could always stop him later, when things would actually go to far, there was nothing wrong with an uncle touching his nieces knee, was there?

‘What preferences?’ She asked.

Brian smiled. A secretive smile.

‘Tell me.’ She said. ‘I won’t laugh. I promise.’

‘I’m not scared of you laughing.’ He said. He looked at her inquisitively as if he was judging her, making a decision whether he could trust her, whether he could confide in her. She tried to look as reliable and trustworthy as possible. Although she never been much of an actress and she didn’t quite knew what a trustworthy face would look like.

‘Okay, quit looking at me with those big begging puppy eyes, I’ll tell you.’

Those weren’t begging puppy eyes, she wanted to say, but she didn’t, she kept her mouth shut, way too curious to figure out what particular preferences he had. Maybe he was gay, and he would come out of the closet now, or maybe he was one of those guys with a fetish for cross-eyed girls or something.

‘I like my woman to be subservient.’ He said. ‘Or you know maybe submissive even.’

Kim didn’t know what to say to that. She stared at the car driving in front of them, on the bumper was a faded sticker from an amusement park.

‘I’d like them to hand over control to me, I will make the decisions, and they’ll obey me.’

Kim started blushing, her cheeks warm and tingling with shame. Was it shame, no it was something else, something that tingled down there in between her legs as well. She squeezed her knees together, rubbing her thighs against one another. His hand still caressing her knee.

‘What do you think about that?’ He asked. Shyly he glanced at her. ‘You think you’re uncle is a weirdo now?’

She shook her head. They drove in silence for a few minutes.

‘Maybe it’s a family thing.’ She finally picked up the courage to say so.

‘A family thing?’ He repeated. ‘You mean to say, you yourself like to be dominant as well.’

She shook her head.

‘I’m more of a… like… on the other side maybe, I don’t know. I’ve only ever dated college guys and they were… like… sometimes I crave something that I don’t know what it is and… and… I just…’ She started giggling, she studied his face for a few seconds and then looked the other way again.