Chapter 5: Meeting Valorie and Love at First Sight

Date: September 18th, 2023 (Saturday)

Location: Summerton residence, City of Ellington

Time: 8:32 AM (Local)

Allen is currently lying in the hallway outside of his room in nothing but the borrowed shorts from Brad and a girl with curly, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes wearing glasses is laying on top of him, wearing nothing but a towel around her waist. He has his arms out to the sides, making sure that he isn’t touching her and not moving a muscle. He is staring into her eyes while she stares back in shock and her face is a shade of red he’s never seen on a person’s face before. Allen’s face is placid, but he does have one eyebrow up that looks like it’s about to disappear into his hairline while he stares back as he waits for her to speak. How did he get here? Through a series of events that seem harmless on their own; but when added up, leads to the dangerous situation that Allen finds himself in.

Eve had woken Allen up at 0700hrs local as he had requested. Not wanting to lose his edge, Allen then proceeded to do his usual morning workout in his room. When he had finished, Allen wiped himself down with a towel and decided to get a glass of water from the kitchen as he was thirsty. Wearing only the shorts that he had borrowed from Brad, Allen walked out of his room. Allen had forgotten again that boys and men covered their chests while out in public in this universe as he usually only slept in shorts, leaving his room without a second thought. Allen hadn’t met Valorie last night as she had stayed out with her friends and came home late after he had fallen asleep. She woke up a little earlier than usual to shower and fix herself up. She had melted on the spot when she saw the pic from Kayla and then proceeded to show all of her friends and anyone who would look. She couldn’t wait to see that smile in person. Valorie was excited to meet her cute-as-hell “new bro” as Kayla had put it and wanted to make a good first impression. Allen walked down the hallway while carrying on a conversation with Eve without paying attention to his surroundings. As he had gotten closer to the bathroom door in the hallway, Valorie chose that moment to walk out of the bathroom wearing only a towel around her waist while drying her hair with another towel and they collided and fell to the floor with her on top which led to Allen’s current predicament.

After a few moments of awkward staring on her part, Valorie breaks eye contact and contrary to what Allen expected next which was for her to become hysterical; Valorie collects herself and then gives Allen a big grin.

“I’m Valorie, your new big sister!”

“Hiiiiii…………. mind if I ask a favor? Allen draws out the “hi” part.

“Sure!”

Allen’s trying to do his best to ignore the two pert breasts that are pressing into his chest, but it seems like his 16-year-old body has other things in mind and is trying to lead a revolt in his nether-regions.

“Can you get off, please? I’d like to grab a shirt and then a glass of water.” Eve had reminded him of the shirt issue.

“Why? Skinship is important in a family!”

“Uhh….” Allen is at a loss as to what to do.

A throat clearing from down the hall has Allen and Valorie whipping their head in the direction of the sound. Kayla is standing with her hands on her hips and glaring. Allen notices that Kayla hadn’t bothered to change her bed clothes from last night. He also notices that Valorie makes no move to get off him. She also goes as far as taking a deep breath of his scent. Allen is relieved as he thinks Kayla is there to defend his honor by the norms of this universe but is proven wrong.

“You moving in on new bro?”

“What if I am?”

“He’s only 16, you hag!”

“Hag! I’m only 19, you little tater-thot!”

Tater-thot? Allen is unfamiliar with this insult; he’ll ask later for clarification from either Brad or Laura.

“STOP MOLESTING NEW BRO, YOU HAG!”

“STOP YELLING IN THE HOUSE, YOU TATER-THOT!”

“MOM! SISTER IS A PERVERT!”

“KAYLA, STOP YELLING IN THE HOUSE!”

Allen is now sitting at the dinner table and the air is tense. Brad and Laura Sit in the middle, opposite of Allen with Valorie and Kayla on either side. They are in a silent struggle with who can glare the hardest and Allen isn’t sure who’s winning. The girls hadn’t bothered to change. Allen did run back to his room and grab the shirt from last night though. Laura launches into a tirade with the girls about yelling in the house and molesting new family members while yelling herself as Brad looks apologetically at Allen.

“Eve.”

“Yes, Allen?”

“Mark Valorie as a threat.”

“Waaay ahead of you!”

Allen never did get that glass of water.

“Laura. I’m taking Allen to the mall today to get him appropriate clothes.” Brad states after the bickering finally ceased.

“Get him a cellphone too. He needs one so we can stay in touch. I deposited the check in the bank app last night.” Laura responds without looking as she is trying to split a glare between the two girls.

“I’m going too!” the girls respond in unison.

They huff after they both realize they had the same idea. Brad agrees to this as it’s a chance to spend time with not only Allen, but his daughters as well. They rarely wanted to hang out with dad these days. Laura declines as she wanted to catch a hockey game and it would be a quiet house. Brad ushers the girls up the stairs to get ready and he follows them up leaving Laura and Allen alone.

“Sorry about Valorie.” Laura says as she leans forward and interlaces her fingers.

“Eh, it’s alright. Sorry about not wearing a shirt again.” Allen leans back and places his hands behind his head.

“Yeah, you gotta work on that in a house with growing girls.”

“I’ll try harder, sorry.” Allen hits Laura with a smile.

“That’s all I ask. But, smiling won’t always get you out of trouble.”

Brad herded the kids into the mini-van and directs Allen to the front before a fight could break out on who would sit with him in the backseats. Allen is wearing his tank top and pants but covered his shoulders with a leather jacket borrowed from Kayla. Brad’s jackets were all too tight across the chest and shoulders. Kayla seemed pleased from this development.

“Never washing it again.” She quietly mutters to herself.

“Ever been to a mall, Allen?” Brad asks while watching the road, interrupting Allen trying to figure out the touchscreen in the center of the dashboard. The girls are whispering in each other’s ear in the bench seat right behind the front seats.

“I think I have?” he answers back. Allen goes back to navigating the screen while Eve takes notes.

Valorie gives Kayla a look.

“Amnesia.” She whispers. Valorie nods her head in response.

Allen accidentally stumbles across the radio and an upbeat rock song suddenly blares through the sound system. He jerks his hand back like it caught fire.

“OH! That’s my JAM, SON! Crank it!” Kayla hollers from the back seat. Brad recovers from the sudden noise and raises an eyebrow at Allen. He shrugs back and turns up the volume after locating it with Eve’s help. The ride continues to the mall as Kayla belts out the words to the song, stumbling on the lyrics more than once. Allen keeps the thought to himself that she sounded like a wounded beast.

Date: September 18th, 2023 (Saturday)

Location: Ellington Shopping Centre, City of Ellington

Time: 11:37 AM (Local)

The Summerton’s minivan pulls into a free space in the parking lot. The Autumn sun shines down on them as they step out of the minivan. Allen takes a moment to inhale the air and slowly turn in a circle to take in his surroundings. As he’s about to complete his circle, a loud noise catches his attention, and he jerks his head in the direction of the heavenly growl he hears.

*VROOOOM! *

Allen’s eyes widen and he takes a sharp inhale of his breath as his eyes land on an awesome sight. A two-wheeled vehicle is about to take off from the stop sign in the parking lot and a single rider is feathering the throttle as she waits for an opening.

*VROOM-VROOM-VROOM! * The sun glistens on the black and red paint job on the sleek, dangerous edges of the bike. The rider is clad similarly in red and black leather while wearing a helmet with a depiction of a fiery bird adorning it. He knows she’s female because the leather is skintight and doesn’t hide her curves or chest. Allen is in awe as he watches the rider spot her opening and she guns the throttle as she takes off.

“Eve.”

“Yes, Allen?”

“My first goal.” He says in awe.

“Noted Allen, I’ll update the list.”

“I FEEL THE NEED….” He yells internally

“…. THE NEED FOR SPEED!” Eve shouts with the same enthusiasm. Some things transcend all universes after all….

Kayla watches Allen as his head tracks the path of the bike. Then she notices who’s riding the bike and scowls.

“Allen, stay away from her. She’s the type of girl that dads warn you about.”

“I don’t care about the rider; I care about what she’s riding!”

Brad comes to Allen’s side and pokes Allen to break his reverie.

“BOTH young man, are dangerous!”

Allen watches the bike disappear down the road before following Brad and the girls into the mall.

“Ah, Eve. I get it, it’s their analog for a shopping-plex.”

“I believe you’re right Allen. It also appears to be a gathering area for people to socialize and court like our universe too.”

Allen walks behind Brad and the girls as he takes everything in and tries to compare it to his universe. Eve is observing and noting anything that may be important in the future. Storefronts are displaying and advertising everything from the latest console game to men’s lingerie. He stops in front of a storefront with red, cursive letters that reads; “Victor’s Secret” and stares at what an advertisement calls a “Mong” and cocks his head to the side. Valorie looks back to check on Allen and chuckles at what caught his attention and moves to his side after alerting Brad and Kayla that Allen had stopped. Brad glances at what Allen is looking at and puts his hand over his face as he sighs.

“You’d look good in that.” Valorie says from his side.

He ignores her eyebrow wiggling and asks, “What in the stars is a Mong?”

“It’s the latest fashion. Mong is a combination of “male” and “thong.” It’s kinda catchy!”

Allen turns his head and looks at Valorie with a “you’ve got to be shitting me” look.

“It’s true! I think they are sexy!”

Allen looks at the red piece of silk with doubt. The front has a pouch for the dangly bits and the rest is held together with string that makes Allen think would break with minimal movement. He shakes his head and walks over to Brad.

“NOPE!” He simply states as he marches off without looking back to see if they follow. Valorie and Kayla devolve into a giggling fit as Brad watches Allen walk off.

As he stands there watching Allen’s departing back, Brad turns and glares at Valorie. “He’s hopefully going to be your brother. You two need to cool it!” Brad gives her one final glare before rushing to catch up to Allen. This serves to cool Valorie’s teasing and flirting with Allen. Kayla gives her a smug look before following Brad and Allen.