I'm Not Your Mentor - 13. Chapter 13: A Day With My Sister

13. Give more than you get

Being a mentor takes time and energy. But as a mentor, you’ll get just as much from the experience as the mentees. Whether it’s learning new things or just the satisfaction of helping someone grow and advance their career.

— Employee Handbook: Mentoring

 

Sometimes my sister drives me nuts. Andrea always knew how to push my buttons, and it seemed like there would be no respite on this visit. Yet her declaration that Jonah wasn’t 24 confused me more than upset me. What did she mean? Was Andrea saying Jonah was younger or older than 24? Did she know, or was she just guessing? Or was she bullshitting me to get a reaction? I wasn’t sure. For the moment, I decided to try not to think about it.

When I got back to the car, I found Jonah leaning against the passenger door, looking nonchalant. He grinned when he saw me.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, and we started walking towards Harvard Square. I reached out my hand, and he glanced at me, and I wondered if he was hesitant about being seen with me. But then he reached out and took it, and for a couple of blocks, we walked hand in hand.

I wanted to ask Jonah about what Andrea had said, but I was worried about the reaction. And the answer.

“What happened when you got in the car?” I asked him, suddenly remembering something else that had been nagging at me, which seemed a safer topic.

“What?” Jonah asked, puzzled.

“Something happened when you got in the car?”

“Oh, nothing,” Jonah said, and then he laughed.

“What?” I quizzed him, puzzled that something had provoked that reaction.

“Oh, I was just…the car has climate controls in the back. Digital temperature display and everything. Pretty cool,” he laughed again at being amused by something unexpected.

“Oh, yeah,” I agreed. I’d never ridden in the back seat, and though I’d looked briefly at the backseat when I’d bought the car, I’d long ago forgotten it had those features.

 

“I love bookstores,” said Jonah, surveying the books in the Harvard Bookstore. I mentally added it to the list of things we had in common.

“They have a good used section downstairs, too,” I said to him.

“Yeah?” he said, and before I’d had a chance to explain further, Jonah disappeared off to investigate, leaving me to look through the new release section.

I had considered offering to buy Jonah some books but decided against it. He had money now. I didn’t have to shower Jonah with gifts all the time. Even if I wanted to. In the end, neither of us bought anything, and we went in search of somewhere to eat.

We had lunch at a small sandwich shop on a side street, and as we were waiting to pay, I got a text from Andrea saying that her friend was being released in an hour. Could we give them a ride?

I texted back that we’d see them in an hour.

All through lunch, I’d wanted to ask Jonah what Andrea had been on about, but I didn’t know how to put it to him without upsetting him. What really annoyed me was that I should already have known if he wasn’t the age he said he was. He’d shown me his driver’s license! But at the time, all I’d been focused on was the expiration date. I hadn’t even looked at his birthday. And if I had looked at the year then, it probably wouldn’t have meant anything; I wasn’t really focused on his exact age at the time.

It occurred to me that I might get the information from HR, except that strictly wasn’t the right thing to do. I should just ask him. Or I guessed I could go through his wallet and look at his driver’s license.

Or I could just ask him.

I tried to think of all the possible answers and how I might react or how he would react.

“What are you thinking about?” Jonah suddenly asked me,

“What?” I said, trying to appear puzzled.

Jonah frowned.

“Something’s bothering you,” he said. “Is it Andrea, or because of last night?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing about last night,” I assured him. We were out of the Square, and there weren’t a lot of people about. I reached out for his hand again and took it in mine, and squeezed gently.

“Oh,” said Jonah. “So it’s your sister then?” he asked.

“No, oh…” I paused and then decided it was best to get it out in the open. “Did Andrea ask you how old you are?”

Jonah glanced at me, and an expression of guilt passed over his face.

“Oh,” was all he said.

I squeezed his hand gently again to let him know I wasn’t really angry with him, but he didn’t say anything.

“So, what happened?” I asked.

Jonah sighed.

“I just…” and then he stopped talking.

I kept walking, hoping he’d start talking again.

After half a block, I stopped, pulling him back to me as he’d walked on half a step before realizing that I’d stopped. Jonah turned to face me, and I gently pulled him closer, and then I put my other arm around him and hugged him, and then I kissed him on the lips.

I think it was the first time I’d ever kissed him in public. At least in Boston. Maybe we did it in New Orleans, but I wasn’t sure about that. When the kiss ended, he pulled away from me and looked down.

I gently pulled his hand a couple of times, and he looked up.

“Yeah?” he said tentatively.

“What?” I asked him.

“She told you?” he asked.

“She just said you weren’t twenty-four,” I said, figuring that I had to get to the point or we’d be here all day.

Jonah sighed. “Okay,” he said.

I waited, expecting him to elaborate, but nothing came. We just stood there.

“Is that true?” I finally asked him.

“Yeah,” he nodded, and then he looked at me as if expecting me to be angry.

“So, how old are you?” I asked him softly.

He sighed. “I’ll be twenty-four in three months,” he said, and he blushed.

I looked at him, and he looked back at me, clearly worried, and then I nodded. So he was a bit younger than I thought. It wasn’t like he was 16 or 42. A few months meant nothing.

“Come on, we can’t be late,” I said and started walking, pulling him gently with me.

Jonah walked beside me for a block, not saying anything.

“Are you mad?” he asked me quietly.

I looked at him. “No,” I said.

“You’re not?” he asked, clearly surprised.

“If you round it, you’re twenty-four,” I said and grinned at him.

Jonah smiled.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just…I could see you were worried about the age difference, so I just…fudged it a bit.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said, pulling him to me so that we bumped shoulders, letting him know that it made no difference to me.

Not really.

 

It took about an hour longer than estimated to extract Andrea’s friend from the hospital. I went in and had to find Andrea, and then I met her friend. Her friend seemed like a nice woman, about the same age as Andrea—a few years older than me—with long blond hair and a nasty red gash on the side of her face. I tried very hard not to stare at it. Her other injuries were evidently more severe, and she was clearly rather tired and just wanted to get home.

But we had to wait until everything was straightened out and for a wheelchair to arrive. Then Andrea pushed her to the entrance, and I called Jonah and had him bring the car around.

Andrea and her friend sat in the back while Jonah sat in front with me, and we drove them to her friend’s condo in Cambridge. Her friend still seemed pretty sick and didn’t really talk at all. I was almost surprised she’d been released.

At the condo, we helped them in and got them settled, though there wasn’t really much to do, and then Andrea very quickly said that she thought she might come back to my place to sleep. I said that was okay, and if she called, I’d pick her up. In the end, she took an Uber and arrived just before dinner.

That night I barbecued burgers, and the three of us ate on the deck. Then Andrea and I sat watching Jonah as he swam.

“How did you two meet?” Andrea asked casually, though the tone told me I had to be careful.

“Oh, we met in New Orleans. Remember when I went on that vacation trip?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I don’t remember you mentioning bringing back any souvenirs,” she said.

“Well, I didn’t realize I had at first.”

“I thought you were there on business?”

“It was one day of business and four days of vacation,” I explained.

“You met him there?”

“Yeah. In a restaurant. We were eating at the bar, and we just got to talking.”

“And then what? You got him a job?”

“Uh, no, he had already been hired but hadn’t started yet. It was just a coincidence that we started talking,” I explained carefully.

Andrea looked at me, one eyebrow raised, which suggested she found the chances of my story being true were kind of slim.

“He told you he was going to be working there?” she challenged.

“Are we playing 20 questions?” I asked, trying to bring some levity to the discussion.

“I’m curious.”

“No, he didn’t tell me that,” I said.

“Why not?”

I shrugged. “Because, I think he thought that, had I known, I would have not let it progress any further,” I said.

“But you did anyway.”

“Well, I didn’t know,” I countered.

“But you knew he was younger.”

I stared at her like she was stupid. Of course, I knew Jonah was younger. “That wasn’t the issue,” I said.

“But he is younger.”

“Yeah, I know he’s younger. But the only issue has been at work because he reports to someone who reports to someone who reports to me.”

“You intended to see him when you came back?”

“No,” I said.

“So it was just a fling?” she accused.

“You make it sound like I was cheating on someone,” I said.

“Well, you had sex with him but didn’t intend to date him,” said Andrea.

I closed my eyes and thought about what to say.

“Can I just say,” I said, “that I think he had the same intention? I don’t think either of us was taking advantage of the other.”

“You weren’t equals,” she countered.

“I didn’t know he would be working at the company. As far as I was concerned, there, we were.”

She looked at me as if I’d said something foolish.

“What is this?” I demanded. “You can only date someone your own age?”

Andrea ignored that question.

“So it was a one-night stand?” she said.

“It wasn’t one night,” I said, just because I was annoyed with what she was saying.

“It wasn’t?”

“No. It was three days.” There, take that, I thought!

“You met up each night?”

“What? No. He stayed at my hotel, and we spent the day doing touristy things, and then in the evenings…we did other things.”

“And then it was ‘thanks!’ and goodbye!?” said Andrea, and it was like she was defending Jonah and thought I’d taken advantage of him.

“Ah, no,” I said defensively. “All right, it was fun and exciting, and I didn’t imagine it would continue after the trip. But he seemed happy with what happened. And I didn’t even know he was living in Boston.”

“I’m sure you weren’t doing any thinking,” she said dismissively.

“Thanks!” I complained, hurt. I was starting to think that I needed to change the subject. I just wasn’t sure how to do it.

“So how did you end up dating here?”

“Ah. Well, he was working at the company….and…he was interested in starting things up again. I tried to talk him out of it, and…” I trailed off. I wasn’t sure that Andrea would appreciate it if I tried to put the onus on Jonah, even if he had been the one to instigate and push for the whole thing.

Andrea frowned. “You didn’t do a very good job of it,” she pointed out

“I tried. Several times! He was persistent.”

“You should have been more resistant. Just keep saying no. It’s not that hard. ’No!’”

I thought back to all the times I’d said no to Jonah. I’d been successful a few times, but at some point, I just didn’t want to. I shrugged. “I like him,” I said, avoiding the other ‘L” word.

“So you gave in to temptation?”

“He is a lot of temptation,” I pointed out.

“You should have said no.”

“I did! But, you know, he is…” and I was about to say he was twenty-four and realized I needed to amend that. “… He’s almost twenty-four!”

“That’s still a child. Their frontal lobe isn’t fully developed until…”

“You’re kidding, right? People marry and have kids at 21. Or younger. They try kids of 14 for murder and put them away for life, and you’re telling me a 23-year-old can’t make decisions about who they sleep with?”

“Not when it’s someone powerful.”

“Oh, come on, he didn’t sleep with me to get a promotion!” I defended myself. I was worried that she would next accuse me of being like Harvey Weinstein, which was totally unfair. I had never used my power to make Jonah do anything, intentionally or unintentionally. Had I?

“He’s living in a nice house,” Andrea pointed out.

I didn’t like that suggestion, but then I thought of the money I’d given him to fix his car. Andrea would be even less impressed if she knew about that. Though since he’d moved in, I hadn’t given him any money.

“Shall I sell the house and see if he still stays with me?” I asked.

Andrea shook her head and looked out at the pool, and I decided to take a rest. Maybe I’d go for a swim…

“He looks gorgeous,” said Andrea, seemingly changing the subject. A little.

“He’s more than that.”

“What do you two have in common?” she asked. “Apart from a mutual belief that you’re smarter than everyone else.”

I stared at Andrea levelly. “That’s what you think?” I asked.

“He’s better at hiding it.”

“Well, thanks for that. But we like similar movies.”

“So action movies?” she laughed.

I frowned. “Not just action movies. We both like watching Titanic and hoping Jack will survive this time.”

Andrea ignored my joke. “Anything else?” she persisted.

“Computers, reading, long walks on the beach, and sex in front of the fireplace.”

“The sex, huh?”

“Sex is a great thing. So you didn’t like John?” I asked, changing the subject.

Andrea frowned.

“Did I say that?” she denied.

“Sort of. You said you liked Jonah a lot more than John, and it doesn’t appear you like Jonah that much.”

“I don’t think I said a lot, and John was…he was nice…and vapid.”

“Jeez, talk about being an equal opportunity critic,” I complained. Andrea seemed to be on an unusually vitriolic roll, and I wasn’t sure why. Was she really incensed that Jonah was living with me? Or was it her friend’s illness that was driving this?

“Well, what did you like about him?” Andrea challenged. “Other than the looks and the sex?”

“John?”

“Yeah.”

“We both liked…” and I tried to think of what we did like to do. Of what we really enjoyed doing together. “We used to enjoy doing things together,” I said, a little unsure, trying to remember back to the beginning of the relationship.

“Yeah, and then you grew apart,” Andrea said, and she pointed a finger in the direction of the pool as if…I wasn’t sure what point she was making, but I didn’t like it.

I looked out at Jonah swimming about and realized I wanted to join him.

“I’m going swimming, want to come in? I think there’s a suit from when you were last here.”

“No thanks,” said Andrea dismissively, and given her mood, I decided it was best just to leave her. Before I said something that I would regret.

I got up, went into the bathroom and put on my swimsuit, and then went out and dived into the pool and swam up to Jonah.

“How you doing?” I asked.

“Good,” he said.

Jonah swam over to the side of the pool and grabbed on, and I grabbed on beside him, and we were hanging off the side of the pool, and I leaned into him and kissed him long and hard.

“What was that for?” he asked when I finally pulled away from him.

“That was for being so lovable. And because Andrea was annoying me,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“She thinks you’re too young, and you’re only interested in my money,” I said.

Jonah nodded. “She’s right,” he said.

I stared at him, trying to figure out what he was saying.

Then he grinned and hugged me.

“Got you,” he laughed in my ear.

“Yeah, you did, you little fucker,” I said, pulling him against me. “If we have to rent a room to do it in, tonight I’m going to kiss you all over, and then I’m going to slowly lick your dick up and down your shaft until you’re begging me to make you cum,” I said.

“Huh,” Jonah said, looking at me with lidded eyes. “I’m going to fuck you,” he whispered.

“Yeah? Well, I’m gonna have to lose this hard-on so I can get out of the pool,” I countered.

Jonah laughed, and then he pushed off and swam away. I gently tried to grab him and felt the firmness of his erection as it bounced against my wrist. I chased him around the pool for the next fifteen minutes, catching him at times and then letting him go and chasing him again.

When I got out of the pool, I was exhausted. I went into the kitchen, breathing hard.

“You’re getting old,” said Andrea.

“I’m not as old as you,” I said and stuck my tongue out at her.

It’s weird how having your older sister around can make you revert to being eight years old.

 

I had just started the shower in the downstairs bathroom when the bathroom door opened, and Jonah slipped in.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” I replied.

Jonah stepped up to me and kissed me. “Can I join you?”

“Always,” I said.

I tested the temperature and made a slight adjustment, just as Jonah opened the bottom drawer and pulled out the tube of waterproof lubricant. The lubricant he liked to use when we fucked in the shower.

We got into the shower, and I started rubbing my soapy hands all over him. Jonah handed me the lubricant, and then he turned around and stuck out his ass; that wonderfully round and smooth thing that I loved to rub my hands over. I gently ran my fingers over the globes of his ass, pulling him around so that his ass was no longer in the wash from the water. I ran my finger down the crack of his ass, slowly up and down as Jonah moaned. Then I opened the top of the bottle and spread lubricant on the finger, transferring the liquid from my finger to the ring of his anus. I repeated the process two or three times before putting my finger on the ring and slowly swirling it around and back and forth over the hole. And then I gently pushed the tip of the finger in just a bit as Jonah moaned and pushed his ass back towards me. I centered the finger on his hole and slowly pushed up to the first knuckle, pulling back slightly before pushing in again up to the second knuckle.

“Fuck,” Jonah hissed, and I leaned forward and kissed his neck and the side of his face. He turned his head, and our lips met, and we kissed as I continued to slide my finger in and out, rotating it slightly left and right as I did so.

“You like that, baby?” I whispered.

“Fuck, yeah, more,” he mumbled.

I pulled my forefinger out, joined it with the middle finger, and pushed them into his hole gently, sliding the two fingers in. Jonah groaned, and I felt him shake just a little and move his legs slightly apart as he lowered his ass, and my hand moved with him, sliding in and out of him as he continued to moan.

I kissed him, chewing on his lower lip, and I felt his hand reach back and grab my erection, squeezing me, and I moaned, almost ejaculating right then.

“Fuck me,” Jonah begged, and I didn’t need a second invitation. I slid my fingers out of his ass and poured some lubricant on the palm of my hand. Tossing the bottle aside, I slid my hand over my erection, lubricating the head and shaft and just about coming as I did so.

I put my hands on Jonah’s waist. I gently pulled him back a little, as he pushed his ass out further, and then I stepped forward, my penis touching the crack of his ass. I slide my erection back and forth between his cheeks, just enjoying the feeling of touching him. He groaned and arched his back as I placed the head against the entrance to his hole. I pushed forward gently, the head entering just fractionally, before popping out, and we both sighed in frustration. I reached down with my right hand to hold my erection in place, as Jonah reached back with his hand and grabbed at his ass cheek, pulling it apart to provide better access. I stopped froward and slowly pushed in again. I felt his muscles relax as the head slid into him and the whole shaft slid almost easily, an inch or two into him. Jonah mumbled and groaned as every nerve in my penis seemed to be sending signals to my brain. I was so close to coming. The warmth and the tightness was so exciting. I was buried in him, feeling the flesh of his ass against my thighs, and I was pumping into him. I reached around and took his erection in my hand, jerking him quickly as I pumped into him, so close to orgasm.

 

Half an hour later, we were drying ourselves in the bathroom, and I realized that we hadn’t brought down clothes. We’d either have to put on our swimsuits again or wear towels.

Jonah tied the towel around his waist. “I’m gonna go get some clothes,” he said.

“Me too,” I agreed, wrapping a towel around myself.

We stepped out of the bathroom, and I intended to go straight upstairs, but Jonah had other ideas. He walked into the kitchen and I paused, watching him go. Andrea was sitting at the kitchen table, writing in a notebook, and it was interesting to watch the interplay between them. Andrea looked up, smiled, and then turned back to her notebook while Jonah nodded at her but then seemed to ignore her completely.

‘You want a banana?” he called out to me.

“No thanks,” I said.

I watched him pick up a banana, peel it, and then slowly insert the top half of it into his mouth. He slid it in and out a couple of times before taking a very erotic bite out of the top of it as he watched me watching him. I noticed Andrea look up briefly, watch him, and then look back at her notebook.

Then Jonah strolled back towards me, and I followed him upstairs.

“Did you really want a banana, or were you just being provocative?” I asked him as we entered the bedroom.

He grinned at me, still chewing on the banana.

“They’re full of potassium,” he said innocently.

Jonah pulled off his towel, and I dropped mine, and then I stepped up to him and pulled him against me, feeling his naked body against me. I ran my hands up the side of his chest, over his shoulders, then down his back, cupping the cheeks of his ass. Then I squeezed them and lifted him slightly, and he leaned in, and we kissed as he hung in the air, and then I pulled him towards me so that his penis was jammed between us.

I gently lowered him back to the floor, but I kept my hands on his butt, gently squeezing and rubbing it.

“What do you want to do now?” I asked him.

Jonah grinned at me. “I like this,” he said.

“Me too,” I said. “You want to go for round two, or you want to make an early night of it?” I asked.

He looked thoughtful.

“Uh…I am kind of tired,” Jonah admitted.

I kissed him. “I was thinking of an early night. Maybe a little cuddling? We don’t have to paint the ceiling.”

He grinned.

“Okay,” Jonah said, and he kissed me.

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you,” he said, and I kissed him again and squeezed his butt.

 

After pulling on some sweatpants and a t-shirt to be decent, I went down to tell Andrea we were going to bed early.

“Hey, we’re going to have an early night. Are you okay?” I asked her.

She was now sitting on the couch in the living room, working on her laptop. She looked at me for a long moment before replying.

“I thought you did that in the shower,” she said.

“We often do it more than once in an evening,” I said, even though I didn’t think we were going to do it again. It was my sister; I had a reputation to maintain.

“He likes bananas,” she said.

“He does,” I agreed.

Andrea stared at me.

“What?” I said.

“I take it you told him I thought he was too young for you?”

“I might have.”

“That he was only in it for money?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t going to deny it.

“Now I see you have something else in common,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“You’re both very territorial,” she said.

“Huh.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“If you must,” I said, thinking this could turn into a longer chat than I wanted and wondering what Jonah would do if I wasn’t back there in a few minutes.

“No, it’s okay. We can talk tomorrow,” she said.

I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. On the other hand, I had a handsome twenty-something-year-old up in my bed, and it was easy to decide who I wanted to be with. I didn’t care if it was only for cuddling.

“I’ll see you,” I said, figuring that, if I was lucky, I could avoid any more discussions with annoying sisters.

I went back upstairs to find Jonah naked, in bed, reading one of his books. I climbed into bed, and he put the book down.

“All okay?” Jonah asked.

“Yeah,” I said, snuggling up to him.

 

The following day I offered to drive Andrea over to visit her friend. She took her bags as she said she thought she’d return home that evening. I said she was welcome to stay another night if she wanted to, and I hoped it sounded like I meant it. She said she’d let me know.

“So what were you going to tell me or ask me yesterday?” I asked as I backed out of the garage.

“What?” asked Andrea. She seemed distracted.

“Nevermind…” I said.

“Oh! Yeah,” said Andrea. “I was…I was…No, forget it.”

“Forget it?”

“Yeah,” she smiled.

“Okay.”

“I was going to tell you something stupid.”

“About Jonah?” I asked. There was hardly any traffic on the road, which at least meant I could pay attention to what Andrea was saying, even if she seemed to be making even less sense than she had the night before.

“I just…how do you know if he really loves you? That he’s not just…I don’t know, staying with you because of what he can get?”

“What he can get? Like what?” I asked.

“Well, he lives in a nice house. You’ve been helping him financially. It could be good for him at work,” said Andrea, and suddenly I wondered if Andrea was more concerned that Jonah was using me than she was about me using him. I was getting confused.

“I don’t…I don’t know how I can know that. If I started pulling it apart, I’d be wondering if John was with me for similar reasons.”

“Hmmm,” she said, nodding, looking out of the window.

“I guess I just have to…take the time I have and enjoy it and…well, I guess if it turns out he leaves me as well…I dunno,” I said. It sounded rather lame as a defense, and I started wondering how I would feel if Jonah left me. Gutted, I imagined.

“David told me the other day that he’s been having an affair,” Andrea said almost casually. It was so unexpected and out of context that it took me a moment to process it.

“He what?” I said, more out of shock than because I didn’t understand what she had said.

“With someone from work. He says it’s over—the affair.”

David was her husband. I always thought they had a good marriage. There had never been any hint of the relationship problems that our brother had. Or, for that matter, the problems I had.

“Oh shit, Andrea, I’m sorry,” I said, not sure what else to say.

She turned to face me, and I saw tears in her eyes.

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, and she shrugged casually, though I could tell she was terribly hurt.

 

To be continued…