Kenny gave her credit. Most girls would be embarrassed to be seen in public without their hair and face done and dressed decent. But not his little sister. Josie gave zero fucks about what people thought about her.
He wondered if it even occurred to her what people said or how they looked at her. Danny wasn’t wrong when he’d described her as spacy. Josie seemed oblivious to everything around her, and she spoke slowly. Her voice had a smoky quality to it which could be described as sexy, but she always sounded distant, as if she weren’t really interested in the conversation.
Josie did smoke more than her share of weed, but her personality in general was as Danny had said kind of spacey. At this point Kenny was convinced his parents knew she smoked, but seeing she never did it, or kept it, in the house they let it slide.
Well, she didn’t do it in the house when their parents were home, he’d smelled it in the hall at seven this morning when he was heading to the bathroom. Then again, according to his folks Josie was a lot like mom when she was younger, and a self-proclaimed “Love child”. So maybe that’s why they didn’t care about her mode of dress or coming home smelling like pot.
Josie was also a straight A student, had held her part time job at Subway for two years and paid for her own insurance. In that sense she was a bit of a paradox, the look and mellow disposition of a burn out, but more responsible than a lot of kids her age.
His sister also possessed a sweet disposition and the one feature she couldn’t hide or diminish was a huge and genuine smile that always touched her eyes and tended to make people around her smile with her.
Josie would help anyone who needed it, including Kenny whenever he needed a favor of any kind including borrowing money in between his pay checks from Walgreens because unlike him, she knew how to save money.
His sister was ‘good people’ as his dad would put it, and it was why he’d always taken exception to anyone who mocked her throwback look or made fun of her as being ‘special’ because of her slow way of speaking and tendency to zone out.
“Hey, Josie,” Danny greeted her. “I bet you’re hot under all those clothes.”
Kenny wanted to smack him but settled for shooting him a look.
“No, the fabric’s thin, I made this outfit myself.”
“It shows.”
“Danny was just leaving.” Kenny informed him.
“How you doing with the design thing?” Danny kept talking. “Sell anything?”
“I sell some of my bead jewelry, but none of my dresses yet, but it’s okay, I do it for fun more than money.”
“You should make things most girls would wear. You know, short dresses, things that show they have a body?”
“There’s a ton of that out there. My stuff is for women who don’t care about anything but what they like.”
“Hey, its rude not to share you know.” Danny put his hand out.
“Share what?” Josie asked, her eyes growing wider, causing Kenny to notice they were red.
“What you’ve been smoking to sound stoned out of your mind.” Danny snapped his fingers. “Oh, wait, you always sound like that don’t you?”
“Bye Danny.” Kenny shoved him in the back.
“I guess,” Josie didn’t seem offended. “Kenny, can you help me for a few minutes”
“Maybe I can help?” Danny offered with a grin.
“Kenny said you were leaving.”
“He is.” Kenny leaned close and whispered. “Get out of here before I smack you for being a dick to my sister.”
“Hey, yeah, have to run.” Danny nodded. “Good luck tomorrow, bro. Make sure you get your money’s worth.”
He walked past Josie and paused to sniff loudly. “Damn, girl, I could get a contact just standing next to you.”
He waved at Kenny over his shoulder and left the room, seeing himself out as he had been since they’d first become friends in middle school.
“What are you getting your money’s worth from?” Josie asked. “What are these partitions for around your bed?”
“I told you I have my shoot tomorrow. Doing it here to save money on the studio.”
“Thought mom and dad gave you money for that.”
“Yeah, they did, but I spent it on these and paying for the model.”
“Oh,” Josie looked at his bed. “You’re paying a girl to take pictures on your bed?”
“Its kind of a racy shoot.” Kenny said evasively.
“Mom and dad don’t know you’re doing it here, do they?”
“No. You’re not going to tell are you?”
“Tell them what?”
“That’s my cool little sis!” Kenny put his hand on her shoulder.
“No, seriously, tell them what?” She cocked her head and looked up at him from under her unkempt hair.
“Wow, how much did you smoke?”
Josie giggled. “I’m kidding, I’m not that bad.”
“Okay, sometimes its hard to tell.” He hesitated. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” Josie walked over to his camera and peered through the lens.
“Do you really not know when Danny or other people are making fun of you, or you just ignore them?”
“I know, I don’t care.” Josie turned to face him. “They make them look bad, not me, is how I see it.”
“Never thought of it like that. But I’m sorry Danny was a jerk just now.”
“You don’t have to be,” she smiled. “You always stick up for me, don’t you?”
“I try.”
“Its nice, but you don’t have to. People like that don’t matter. People like us do.”
“Like us?” Kenny raised his eyebrows
“People who care about each other and help each other matter. Mean selfish people don’t.”
“Got it, you should look into writing fortune cookies or inspirational slogans.” He laughed. “You said you needed help?”
“I made some new bracelets last night. Can you take pictures and send them to me so I can add them to my Etsy store?”
“Of course,” he plucked the Nikon from the tripod. “I’ll do it right now.”
She gave him one of her huge smiles. “You’re an awesome big brother.”
“Thanks, you’re an okay sister so it works out.”
“I’m only okay?”
“Yeah, I mean, you are my little sister, I have to kind of pretend you’re a pain in the ass.”
“Too bad I’m just okay,” Josie sighed. “Seeing mom and dad are gone for the weekend I bought a bag and was going to share. But being as I’m only o…”
“Okay?” Kenny put his arm around her shoulders. “Did I say that? I meant to say best sister ever!”
“Then I guess I can share, but only because you take the best pictures.”
“A picture is only as good as its subject, sis.” He told her as they left his room and he followed her down the hall to hers.
“Never thought of it like that,” she replied as she drifted slowly in front him, as always moving as if she were in another world.
“Its true, pretty things make pretty pictures.”
And tomorrow he should be taking some damn pretty pictures.
.
Chapter 2
Kenny stood in front of the bathroom mirror. He wasn’t busting Danny’s balls; he did plan on being in a few of the shots. It would add a lot of heat if he got pics of Jenna up against him or maybe straddling him on his bed.
For that position he’d get a pic from the side with the Nikon on the tripod, but also use his second camera, the Cannon Rebel his parents had bought him for his birthday, for a POV angle. He was hoping for a couple of sexy shots of her leaning over him with her tongue out either just over his stomach, or even better, his crotch.
That was if he could get himself to ask for what he wanted. Now that he was only hours away from the shoot, he was getting nervous. Jenna was a pro who had a few magazine credits and a swimsuit catalog on her resume and was accustomed to working with people who knew what they were doing.
Except for taking pictures at local sporting events, Kenny’s only experience with people were just shots of family, friends, and kids at school. He had no real idea how to direct a model, let alone for an adult themed shoot.
Maybe he was no better than Danny and had been thinking with the wrong head when he came up with the idea of an erotic project. Could he ask Jenna to take her top off? If he could manage that would he be able to ask her to get into some intimate poses with him? In addition to wondering if he could ask for what he needed, he worried about how he’d look to her.
Jenna could easily think he was just an immature kid looking for a cheap thrill if he wanted anything beyond just shots of her by herself. Inserting himself into the shoot now seemed unprofessional and pervy.
But he couldn’t afford a male model, and its not like he knew anyone. He took a deep breath telling himself one thing at a time. His hope was that once he started he would quickly get over seeing a hot scantily clad woman on his bed and turn into a professional photographer who wouldn’t act like a flustered boy when presented with a sexy subject.
“Better get a grip hotshot,” he mumbled to his reflection. “She’s going to be here at noon.”
He titled his chin and moved his head side to side, making sure he didn’t miss a spot shaving. Kenny considered himself a decent looking guy. Unlike Josie who took after their mother with her dark curly hair and big doe eyes, Kenny had his father’s looks.
Deep blue eyes and short blonde hair he used some gel in to give it a tousled look, coupled with high cheekbones and a strong jaw, gave him what he felt was a ruggedly handsome look. He’d made the mistake of saying that to his mother who insisted he was more pretty than rugged.
But he had generally done okay with girls so whatever way best described him didn’t matter much. Kenny’s last girlfriend Laurie had decided some jerk off on URI’s football team was a better option and dumped him three months ago.
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