Chapter 5

Unfortunately Heather and I weren't able to get together any more before Christmas break. I had made plans months before to visit my parents, who had moved from Nebraska to Illinois and since Heather was spending the holidays with her family in South Dakota there would be no opportunity to spend time together.

My family has always been close although in recent years, most noticeably since I started college, our time together has been limited. After the long drive across Iowa on Interstate 80, I was thrilled to be able to relax in the comfort of their home. It's true that it wasn't the same as going home to "my" bedroom, but they had taken my old bed with them when they moved, so it was close enough.

Our family Christmas was much the same as it had been growing up, except the charade of putting out cookies and milk for Santa Claus was no longer a necessity, now that my sister and I no longer wore footed flannel pajamas. Truth be told, I kind of missed the naive innocence of the whole event, even if what I really missed was the year I was deemed old enough to "play" Santa Claus and drink the milk and eat half the cookie.

"How's life treating you?" my sister Natalie asked me one evening. Christmas had come and gone and the two of us were sitting around the basement, watching one of the new DVDs she had received as presents, while our parents were out with friends.

"Good," I said. "How about you? You have a new boyfriend yet?"

"As if!" she laughed. I thought she sounded a bit nervous and raised an eyebrow in question. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," I replied quickly. "You sounded a little weird there."

"Oh, you know how it is," she sighed. "Members of the opposite sex just don't understand the two of us." One of the long-standing jokes the two of us had shared had been born out of a shared failure in dating. Neither of us could ever understand why it seemed impossible for us to hold down long romantic relationships and had joked that the two of us were simply incompatible... with everyone.

"Actually that's not quite the truth anymore," I said, surprised to feel embarrassed to admit it. I realized that I hated the feeling of leaving my sister on her own.

"Dan, what do you mean?" Natalie asked, wide-eyed with amazement. "Don't tell me you found a girl!"

"Yeah," I admitted. "Sorry I didn't tell you before. I wasn't sure how you'd react."

"What are you talking about?" she practically shouted, bouncing up and down on the couch. "I think that's great!"

"Seriously?" I asked. "I thought you'd be upset."

"Upset? Why would I be upset?"

"I don't know. Because we'd always joked about how the two of us were fated to end up alone."

"I didn't like the idea though!"

"Me either."

"That's so cool," Natalie enthused once more. "Can I tell you a secret?" she finally asked, grinning at me out of the corner of her mouth.

"Sure. What is it?"

"I found someone too."

"Really? Why did you just say you hadn't?" I asked, grinning idiotically at our shared nervousness.

"Um... I thought you'd be upset."

"Why?"

"Same reason as you. Because we'd always joked about the whole thing."

"Do I know this person?" I asked.

"Um... I'm not sure," Natalie answered. "Maybe? I'm not sure which of my friends you would have seen when you were home from college. Do you know Chris?"

"I think so, the name sounds familiar, but I don't know," I shrugged. "But I think it's cool when friends decide they love each other."

"I'm sure you'd remember," she said. "Tall, brown hair, really athletic, plays basketball..."

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Sounds familiar, but I can't really put a face to the name."

"That's okay," Natalie answered. "I'm sure the two of you will meet at some point."

"Come here," I said, pulling my sister in for a tight hug. "I'm happy for you," I said. "I really am."

"Me too."

Most of my time at home was spent watching college football games on the television. Since my parents had moved here after I had graduated high shcool, I really didn't know anyone, and although I had met a few of Natalie's friends on those rare occasions when I'd visited, I wasn't acquainted to them enough to really call them friends.

So, while the rest of the family went out to celebrate New Year's Eve, I decided I'd rather sit and watch the ball drop at home. It would just be me, Dick Clark, and however many hundreds of thousand people in Times Square.

"Are you sure?" my mother asked when I told her of my plans.

"Yeah," I said. "I don't really know any of your friends here in Illinois, and Natalie's going to her party, so I'll just hang out here."

"But you'll be bored!" my mom exclaimed.

"I won't be," I promised. "I kind of like hanging out. Remember all those 4th of July celebrations, where I hung out at home?"

"Yes."

"Well, I liked that. Don't worry about me. If I do get bored I'm sure I can find something to keep me occupied."

"I just hate the thought of you being all alone," my mom replied.

"Nah, don't worry about that. Besides," I chuckled. "Consider me a spy. I'll watch out and make sure Natalie and her boyfriend don't get into trouble," I joked.

"Natalie has a boyfriend?" my mom asked, her eyes showing complete surprise.

"Oh... I thought... what?" I asked. Maybe I had misunderstood Natalie, although I didn't think that was the case. But maybe she'd meant that she had found someone she liked, not that that someone liked her back. I was pretty sure I was right, but now I was confused about it. "Doesn't she?"

"Well, she certainly hasn't mentioned anyone," my mom said, shaking her head. "But don't worry, I'll have a talk with her."

"Mom!"

"Daniel, I won't say anything about you," she laughed. "I've been a mother for a long time, you know. I can be sneaky if I want to."

"Just as long as this doesn't come back to bite me," I said. "Maybe it was a secret."

"Maybe," my mom agreed. "Well, I still don't like leaving you here..."

"Mom! It's fine. I'm twenty-four years old, okay?"

"... but it seems I have no choice. So, have a good night, okay? And promise that you'll go out and have a good time if you feel like it."

"Okay!"

"Promise?"

"I promise. Love you," I said as she leaned to kiss me on the cheek. When my parents had finally left I took the chance to give Heather a call. She seemed pleased to talk to me, but her parents were throwing a party and she was busy, so the call was short.

"I love you," I said as we said our goodbyes. There was a pause and I wondered if I'd overstepped some boundary. It was the first time either of us had spoken the words.

"I love you too," she answered after the silence had become almost unbearable.

"So I'll see you when I get back, right?" I asked.

"Duh!" she laughed.

We made kissing noises at each other through he phone and hung up.

It didn't take long before I realized my mother had been right. Watching the festivities on the television really wasn't the same as being out in a crowd of people, and I decided to see what kind of community parties might be going on.

I took a quick shower and got ready to go out. My parents had made it clear that they'd be gone until late, so I left Natalie a note telling her that I would probably not be back until one or two in the morning and took off.

As it turned out there wasn't much going on, and to my surprise I found myself back home, watching Dick Clark, just as I'd planned. I decided to take advantage of the time zone difference and watch the big ball drop in New York an hour earlier than in Illinois, and after that headed to bed at just after eleven o'clock.

I was still awake forty minutes or so later when I heard the front door quietly open and close. I heard two soft voices and assuming my parents had come home early, began walking down the stairs to see how their evening had gone.

I had made it to the foot of the stairs when I realized that one of the voices belonged to my sister and the other was one I didn't recognize. Curious, I tiptoed around the corner and peeked into the living room and blushed in embarrassment.

There on the couch was my sister, wearing a slinky black dress I'd never seen before. I say wearing, but in reality the shoulder straps were down and the top of the dress pulled around her waist, baring her breasts to my view. Her date - I assumed this was Chris - seemed to be very attentive to my sister's tits and judging my the passionate sounds my sister was making the attention was appreciated.

It took a moment before I realized the attractive legs poking out from under the pale blue skirt belonged not to my sister, but to her date... another girl! Was this Chris? Or was it Christine? Was my sister a lesbian? Had my mom known this, and was that why she was surprised when I mentioned that Natalie had a boyfriend and not a girlfriend?

My mind was fuzzy with questions as I quickly backed away from the living room and moved as quietly as I could back to the room I was using. I sat on the bed, unsure as to what I should do, before deciding to do nothing.

If this was something my sister was trying to keep quiet, why should I be the one to upset her plans? I tried to sleep but found myself unable to get past the image of my sister and another girl making out. It was undoubtedly my imagination, but I thought I could hear the sounds of the two girls moaning downstairs and I stayed awake long into the night.

But had it really been two girls? Couldn't I have been mistaken about that? I know how limbs become tangled when two people are wrapped together making out. What if Natalie had been wearing a black top and a blue skirt? At one point, more to convince myself I'd been wrong I tiptoed back down the stairs. I didn't stay long, but a quick glance at the four naked breasts and my sister's face buried in the other girl's pussy was more than enough to tell me I'd been right.

As I crept back to my room I happened to look into Natalie's room and saw her high school annual lying on her desk. Careful to notice exactly how it was sitting I picked it up and flipped through it until I came to the sports section. I peered at the picture of the basketball team, but there wasn't anyone named Chris.

My heart pounding in my chest I turned to the women's team pages. It didn't take very long before I saw someone I recognized. Her hair was longer than in the picture, but I had no doubt it was her.

Christina Simon was her name. She was a forward on the basketball team. She was my sister's lover.

When I finally made it back to Omaha after Christmas break, I was still unsure about what, if anything, I was going to do about my sister. I had tried to act normal around her the rest of my stay, and I don't think she noticed, but there had never been any real opportunity to have a private discussion.

I tried to put it out of my mind. I was really none of my business, I knew that, and I had no intentions of betraying her secret. Besides, it had been nearly three weeks since I had seen Heather and I was anxious to see her. Based on the numerous phone calls we had shared during the break I didn't doubt that she was as excited to see me as I was to see her, but for some reason I was still jittery.

I arrived back to my apartment late on a Monday night and spent most of the next day unpacking and straightening up after myself. When I realized what day it was I decided to take a break and put on my coat. Time to head to Pablo's of course. What else are Tuesday evenings for?

"Hey good looking." I had managed to walk into Pablo's undetected and had snuck up on Heather as she stood at the bar. Because of the holidays the room was nearly empty and as I stepped behind her I ran the palm of my hand over the smooth curve of her ass.

"What?" Heather said, whipping around and nearly clubbing me with the tall glass she was holding.

"Hi," I grinned sheepishly as Heather's look of surprise turned to one of elation. She set her glass back on the bar and nearly threw herself at me. Her arms flew around my neck as we pulled in close for a searing kiss. Her fingers played with my hair as our tongues jousted against each other. Through the thin material of Heather's black skirt I could feel the heat emanating from her pussy as our crotches ground together.

"Kind of slow?" I teased, as we finally pulled apart.

"It had been," she laughed, reaching up to straighten a stray strand of curly hair.

"What time to you get off?" I asked.

"Not soon enough," she answered. It took a moment of my laughing for Heather to understand what she had said. When she realized the humor she immediately put on a severe face.

"What?" I laughed.

"You're mocking me," she huffed.

"I am not."

"Then prove it," she said, her face beginning to crack into the smile I loved to look at.

I leaned my head down so my lips just brushed her earlobe and whispered softly.

"As soon as you're done working, I'd be more than happy to help you get off," I said. Heather looked at me, her eyes wide as she realized what I was saying. The two of us had not talked about upping the physical part of our relationship, but judging from our ease with each other - not to mention how close we had come during our last dinner date before Christmas - it seemed obvious our thinking was very much in agreement.

"You've got a deal," she said with a grin. We stared into each other's eyes for a moment before the jingling of the bell on the front door announced the entry of another bar patron.

"You have a job, missy," I said, finally turning away from Heather's smoldering gaze.

"I do, don't I?" she sighed. "Wait right here," she said. "I'm done in an hour."

"Mmm... and then it's time for you to get off for real," I teased.

"I'm going to hold you to that, buster," she laughed.

"I hope so," I said quietly. "I hope so."

The next hour was one of the longest of my life, made more so by the always hovering presence of Michelle. Each time Heather would pass by she would shoot her coworker a dirty look, but Michelle seemed oblivious as always.

"What is it with her?" Heather hissed as she walked near my barstool.

"She keeps hitting on me," I admittedly nervously. "Keeps telling me that I should be with a real woman."

"What!?!"

"Don't worry," I said. "I told her there was only one of those in the bar tonight and she was going home with me."

"Damn right she is," Heather laughed.

Eventually, Heather's shift was up and the two of us walked out into the cold January air.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I noticed Heather grimacing as she put on her stocking cap. "You're walking a little funny. Did you hurt yourself?"

"I don't know," she groaned. "I pulled something the other night at home and I haven't felt good since then."

"But you were still at the bar tonight?"

"Yeah, but they need me there," Heather answered.

"You work too hard," I told her. "Why don't you just take a few nights off? I'm sure there will be plenty of people just dying to buy your flowers when you get back."

"I suppose I should," Heather admitted. "It's just that I need the money and I hate the idea of that bitch Michelle stealing any of my regulars." She looked up and me with a grin. "She can't have you. Ever."

"Of course not," I said, trying to act mildly offended by the mere suggestion. "I'm shocked you would even imply I might be susceptible to her wiles," I grinned.

"Oh no?" Heather laughed. "Come on, you're just a guy."

"True, but... a tramp like her? Never."

"Yeah, Michelle is kind of slutty," Heather grinned.

"Nasty," I agreed.

"A complete bimbo," Heather laughed, apparently over her disappointment as we reached my apartment

I unlocked the door and let us in, Heather sighing with relief as the warm air rushed over us. She immediately sat down on the couch and I caught a look of pain briefly flash over her features and she rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen her tight muscles.

"Your back still hurt?" I asked as she grimaced.

"Yeah. A little. It isn't so much painful as it is really uncomfortable."

"I could always give you a massage," I offered.