A Flirting Workshop with My Sister

K> You'll have to be bolder when you do flirt

Z> I'm so bold now

K> You can be a lot bolder. Show them your boobs!

Z> Stop it! You're so evil

* * * *

A few days later, my roommate Dimitri and I were comparing how we did on our first major exam when Z dropped by. She was wearing a dark blue short skirt and a white shirt that was almost like a gym shirt; a thin amount of material on her shoulders and lots of open space around her armpits. I could see on top the straps of her black bra and through the arm holes the sides of it. When she came in, she went straight to Dimitri. "How'd you do on your test?"

"Very well," Dimitri said with his heavy Ukrainian accent. "Better than your brother."

"That's wonderful!" Z gave Dimitri a little hug. "You'll be a great doctor someday. And I'll be able to say I knew you back when you were a lowly pre-med student. Have you told your parents?"

"No. I will talk to them middle of next month." It was late September. "I do not talk to them about the good tests, so I do not have to talk to them about the bad tests."

"Well, you can talk to me about the good tests. I take it that it was very hard."

Dimitri told her about the test; how many of the questions were very tricky, and that you had to know the material inside and out. I could tell he was eating up Z paying attention to him.

After they had finished discussing the test, Dimitri said, "Z, I would like for you to do something."

"What's that?"

"On Friday, I will have some friends over to watch a movie. An old action adventure. We drink a little bit, we make fun of the stupid things in the movie, and we have a good time. Would you please join us?"

"Oh, I thought you were going to give me a present." Z winked at Dimitri like she was joking. She then looked at me for confirmation I'll be there to have her back.

"I'll be there. Landon should be there. You've met Rob. He should be there too."

Z said to Dimitri, "I would love to join you. What time?"

"Nine." Dimitri turned and opened a drawer in his desk. "And I do have a present for you." He pulled out a box and handed it to Z.

"Victoria's Secret? You shouldn't have."

Victoria's Secret? What the fuck? Why was my roommate buying lingerie for my sister?

"Bah!" Dimitri waved away Z's protest. "My parents give me lots of money. They will be happy to know I spend some on a pretty girl."

Z gave Dimitri an indulgent smile. Dimitri handed her a pocket knife, and she opened the box. "A bra," Z said as she lifted it out of the box.

"34C. I remember. Blue, like the color of your eyes." He took the box from Z. "Try it on. If it not fit, I will send it back and get one that does."

Z looked at Dimitri like she was struggling with whether she should accept this present or not. I hoped she wouldn't. She had dropped a hint earlier about Dimitri buying her a present, but a bra was not what I was expecting him to give her.

To my disappointment, Z said, "Okay." She turned and went to our closet, opening its door. I assumed she would go in it and change, but, instead, she hung the new bra on the outside doorknob. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head while her back was to us. She reached up and hung the shirt on the top of the closet door. Once her back was to us again, Z reached behind her and undid her bra. I turned to Dimitri, and his jaw had dropped. From the way he looked, I wondered if I was going to need to perform CPR on him.

Z's breasts were bare, and I could see the tiniest amount of side boob as she swapped bras on the doorknob. I was outraged by Dimitri giving her the bra and her now putting it on in front of us, but, at the same time, I couldn't turn away from watching her. Z's upper half did look great. She quickly put the new bra on. She spent a few moments tugging and pulling. "The material feels nice. Very good construction. Fits me well." She grabbed her shirt, pulled it on, and then turned to face us. "Thank you, Dimitri." Z walked over and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "It was sweet of you to give me a present."

"Okay." Dimitri looked very happy. Z's little show had been well worth his money.

Z put her old bra into the box. "Gotta go. I'll be here Friday at nine. Bye!"

"Bye!" Dimitri and I said.

Once the door was closed, Dimitri turned to me and said, "What a woman!"

"What the hell, Dimitri! Why did you buy her a bra? Why didn't you buy her something more reasonable, like a box of chocolates?"

Dimitri chuckled, which pissed me off even more. He then tapped the side of his head with his finger. "My father told me once to always be sure that the person you are giving a present to wants whatever you are giving them. Nothing offends more than giving someone a present they do not want. It tells them that you have not paid attention to them."

"What does this have to do with buying my sister a bra?"

"You said I should have bought her a box of chocolates. I thought of that. But then I remembered when she eats with us, she never eats a dessert. She eats low-calorie food to keep her weight down. She never talks about it, but she does it. She would not want a box of chocolates."

I had to admit what Dimitri said made sense. "You could have bought her a Diet Coke."

Dimitri laughed and shook his head. "I have too much money for that to be a good gift. It would be another insult." I could see that. "I thought of buying her a bottle of excellent vodka." He let that hang for a few moments.

"But she doesn't drink vodka."

"I thought of a bottle of wine."

"Same thing."

"I thought about perfume, but I don't know what perfume she likes or even if she wears it. Then I thought about a shirt. She has so many funny shirts. But I don't know what she would think is funny. I don't know her size." He tapped the side of his head again. "But I knew the size of one piece of clothing she wears. She was quite proud when she told me. So why not? And she liked it." A beatific look filled his face.

I wanted to punch Dimitri in the stomach. It always annoyed me when Z ignored me to flirt with my friends, but today really, really upset me. "Doesn't it bother you that she's just flirting with you and isn't interested in you?"

"She likes me." Dimitri smiled widely. "She would not ask so much about my test if she did not like me. She does not like me as a boyfriend. She likes me as a man." Dimitri stood up. "When she told me I would be a great doctor someday, she made me feel like a big man." He puffed up his chest and swung his arms in front of him in an exaggerated motion as he marched around the room for several steps.

"You know, instead of flirting with Z, you could hook up with one of the women in our classes."

Dimitri sat down. "Bah!" he said while waving his arms dismissively. "The females in our classes are not women. They are like you and me, except they have no penis. They do not know how to make a man feel like a man." He pointed in the direction of our closet. "When she took off her shirt and bra, I saw one of the most beautiful sights in the world. If one of the females in our class took off her clothes in front of me, I would say to put them back on." He held up his hand as to block the view. "I would not want to see that."

"Several of our classmates look good naked." I knew from personal experience.

"But they do not know how to make me want to see them naked. It would be like a patient visiting me as a doctor. 'Doctor Dimitri, I have removed my clothes. Let's start the procedure.' When Z had nothing on, I wanted to beg her to turn around. I wanted to drop to my knees and beg her. I did not because I knew she would not turn around even if I begged." Dimitri turned pensive for a few moments. "I am glad she does not like me as a boyfriend. I would be a bad boyfriend. Study too much. She deserves to be taken out to the best restaurants all the time. I would not be able to do that. I am happy to be her friend. She is a very good friend to me." Dmitri smiled broadly. "She knows how to make me very, very happy."

* * * *

Friday night at nine, Z came into our room. She was wearing shorts instead of her usual short skirt. She was wearing a T-shirt that she had cropped about six inches below her breasts.

"Hey, Z," I said. "Come on in. I don't think you've met Vivek." She shook hands. Vivek's eyes were mostly on her top. The material in front dropped straight down from her bust line, and the gap between her shirt and her bare stomach emphasized how much her breasts stuck out from her chest.

I walked over to the door and locked it. "You can serve the drinks, Rob." Having alcohol in the dorms was very forbidden, so we didn't start drinking until everyone was there. I didn't know how Rob got the liquor as he was nineteen. But as his parents were both doctors, he had the money to acquire liquor, laws be damned.

Landon's parents were also both doctors. Dimitri's parents were wealthy Ukrainians. I knew very little about Vivek's parents other than they were immigrants.

Rob said, "Tonight's drink is rum and coke." Every movie night, Rob served up a different mixed drink. Landon had brought several food platters. Vivek had some food delivered from Domino's. As the poor mouse of the group, I had contributed only a couple of bags of chips.

I took a plastic cup from Rob and handed it to Z. "We only drink enough to get buzzed. Nobody gets drunk. Eat as you drink. Don't be afraid to ask for straight coke."

Rob added, "And if I think anyone is getting drunk, I'll give them straight coke."

Dimitri had a workstation computer with a huge monitor which was what we were going to watch the movie on. I sat down in the middle of my bed, so I had to turn a little to my right to see the movie. Z sat down to my left, between me and the wall. Once everyone had a drink and some food, Dimitri said, "Tonight, we watch the Stallone movie, 'Cliffhanger'. Have any of you seen it?"

None of us had. It was normally at this point that Vivek asked if there was any nudity in the movie. He didn't tonight. He was standing to Z's left. I said, "Vivek, you can't see the screen very well from there. Go sit at my desk." He seemed reluctant to give up his proximity to Z but eventually made the move.

The first scene was a downer as a friend of Stallone's slipped out of his hands and fell to her death. Then the movie had a long mid-air heist scene that we hooted and howled at. Dimitri stopped the movie several times during that scene so we could talk at length about how stupid it was. "The air traffic controllers really don't notice a plane pulling alongside another plane?" "Don't they realize that when a plane is flying at 500 mph, that means the air is blowing outside at 500 mph?" We are all laughing so hard at how fake and stupid it was.

Z was mostly quiet. She made some comments to the bad guy's girlfriend - "He's going to throw you under the bus!" - but not much more. However, her presence changed the atmosphere. Nobody used any bad language. When one of my friends made a good joke, he'd look to see if Z laughed. The quality of humor and conversation seemed better; like the guys were trying their best to impress her.

It was close to midnight when the credits started. After I helped clean up for a bit, I said, "I'm going to walk Z home."

Z said, "Dimitri, thanks for inviting me. I had a great time."

"We will watch another movie tomorrow night. Do you want to join us?"

"Sure. Should I bring something?"

"No," was the response from all the guys except me. Dimitri added, "We have too much as it is."

"Okay," said Z. "See you tomorrow night."

When Z and I got into the empty elevator, she asked, "You didn't want me to flirt with Vivek?"

"Correct. I was afraid he wouldn't accept my telling him you weren't serious." Z nodded. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes. I've never hung out with a group of guys before. When I hang out with a group of girls, the conversation always moves faster than I can keep up with. It's very frustrating. I'm a nerd. I do fine one-on-one, but I've always floundered in groups. But I didn't feel like I had to be funny or entertaining tonight. I felt like your friends just wanted me to hang out with them. And that was really nice."

We were in the lobby now and making our way out the door. We didn't say anything in the public area, but we resumed our conversation once we were outside. Z asked, "Do you not like Vivek?"

"Vivek is okay. He tells a lot of jokes, but I don't find his humor funny. But Landon, Rob, and Dimitri do. And he wants to watch movies with us, whereas most of our classmates want to do other things on their weekend nights."

"Why don't you find his jokes funny?"

"Most of them are about his parents pressuring him to succeed. They call him whenever he gets a test back and demand he explain why he didn't get a 100. A 99 isn't good enough for them. Landon, Rob, and Dimitri are under huge pressure from their parents. Come back with a near 4.0 or don't come back. They find his reenactments of his parents' phone calls hilarious. I don't because Mom and Dad don't pressure me that way."

When we approached a park bench, Z said, "Let's sit for a bit." Once we were seated, she asked, "You don't feel pressure from Mom and Dad? You're living their dream. You can't expect me to believe there's no pressure."

My parents had been pre-med majors at this same university. Both had come oh-so-close to making it into med school, but an inch is the same as a mile when you don't make the cut. Mom continued pursuing her dream of helping patients and became a physician's assistant. Dad had become a pharmaceutical sales rep. Dad had been a year ahead of Mom in college, and though they had known each other during their college years, they had never dated and hadn't kept in touch after Dad graduated. But they had kept in touch with a mutual friend. When Dad got transferred to the city where Mom was living, the mutual friend suggested he get in touch with her. And the rest is history. When I was born, my parents moved to my mom's parents' town so my grandparents could help watch me. Dad now taught high school Biology and Chemistry.

"The pressure they've put on me is to bail on pre-med. They wanted me to go into engineering."

Z's eyes went wide. "I didn't know that."

"Publicly, they support my decision to go pre-med. Privately, they tried to talk me out of it. They know how much of a gamble pre-med is, how hard you have to work, and how disappointing it is to come up short. But it's my dream, and I think I can make it."

Z brightened. "And I think you can make it. Dimitri, Landon, and Rob think you can make it. I can tell by the way they talk to you."

I smiled. "Thanks." That made me feel good. "You don't have to come to the watch party tomorrow. You can hang out with your classmates or dorm friends."

"I much prefer hanging out with you and your friends." She paused for a moment. "I have a tough time reading people here. I'm used to being with friends I've known for a long time. When I'm with you and your friends, I use you as my reference. I could tell not to flirt with Vivek because of how you acted. I knew it was okay to accept drinks from Rob because you gave your okay. I can use you to triangulate their responses. When I'm in my classes or my dorm, I have no idea what people think of me. I'm a quiet wallflower."

"Z..."

"And I want to get better! I want to learn to read people better. I want to learn how to say witty things in groups. And I can learn those things much faster hanging out with you and your friends. I didn't just have a good time tonight; I grew as a person. So I definitely want to attend tomorrow."

Having had her say, Z stood up, and we continued to her dorm. When we got there, she said, "Thanks for the wonderful evening."

"Thank Dimitri. He's the one who invited you."

"I only went because you'd be there. I only drank because you were there. I only felt safe enough to relax and enjoy myself because I was sitting next to you. You are why I had a wonderful evening. Thanks."

That made me feel warm all over. It had been a great night for me as well, mostly because of my sister.

Z turned and walked into her dorm. I watched her until she got into an elevator. I hadn't gotten along with my sister in high school. We had fought, although not that often. Once I started dating, I was grumpy when I spent my free time with her because that meant I wasn't spending my free time with a girl. She had had her friends and her life, and I had had mine. I hadn't really cared or thought about her.

I cared and thought about her now.

* * * *

Z> I'm back

K> How was the party?

Z> Fun. Relaxing. I was buzzed most of the time

K> Pot or booze?

Z> Booze

K> How many guys were there?

Z> Five, including E

K> How many did you flirt with?

Z> None. I can't flirt with a guy in front of other guys

K> Sure you can. It's great fun! You can get them all eating out of your hand

Z> You can

K> You can too. I'll teach you

* * * *

Every weekend, Z attended both the Friday and Saturday movie-watching parties. Dimitri and I were always there, the rest missed occasionally. Z steadily found her voice. Her little niche was making fun of the female characters who did little but scream and need to be rescued. When there was any nudity, she'd tell us what she thought how many stars the sixteen-year-old boys who watched the movie in the theaters would give that scene. And she'd flirt with the guys. Landon had traveled a lot, so when there was a scene in some city or country that Landon had been to, she'd say, "Let's ask our international traveler if that was accurate." Rob was a big history buff and also was a rock climber. She would play those up when she could. She even flirted a little with Vivek, calling him "Big B". Vivek's last name began with 'B', and there's a famous Indian actor who goes by "Big B" that Z said Vivek looked like a younger version of. How she found out about that I had no idea. Dimitri is 6'1" - the same height as me - but he's much wider than me and built like an offensive lineman. She'd tell him he could have done that action scene better than the puny male star.

And then it was the last movie-watching party before Thanksgiving break. Vivek wasn't there. School was closed for all of Thanksgiving week, so there'd be two weekends with no movie-watching party. As we were getting our drinks and food before the start of the movie, Landon asked Z, "What is your first name? I've wondered since I met you."

"It's a nice but boring name. I much prefer Z."

Rob said, "We like calling you Z. It's a cool nickname. But we'd still like to know your first name."

"If I tell it to you, you'll think I'm stupid for not using it."

The guys opened their mouths to protest. But before they could say anything, Z waved her hand in front of her to silence them. She asked, "Do you promise to not tell anyone?"

"Yes!" they all said.

"Okay. It's Emily. I'm Emily Annette Zajaczkowski. When I was in kindergarten, there were two other Emilys. The school policy was when there were multiple kids with the same first name to call each student by their first and last name. But no one could pronounce my last name, so I was Emily Z. My classmates eventually dropped the Emily and just called me Z. I liked Z because there were so many Emilys, but there wasn't any girl who used just her last initial as her name. I've gone by Z ever since. That's my story. Pretty silly, huh?"

The guys took turns saying nice things about my sister. "Emily is a pretty name."

"A pretty name for a pretty girl."

"Z suits you better. It's a little mysterious and definitely unique."

"You are unique, Z."