Chapter 3

My mum hugged me as she whispered in my ear, “Be kind to your sister.”

“I will,” I replied solemnly, understanding all too well the hidden message within. I looked at the large suitcase that my dad was hauling to the car, wondering why the hell they needed so much for just two nights. It was obvious my mum couldn’t decide what to bring and probably had packed her whole wardrobe.

“Now,” she said, addressing us both, “there’s enough food in the fridge, and Casper? I expect you to help your sister without any complains.”

I saw Cindy’s knowing smile appear and I couldn’t help myself thinking of all kinds of other things she wanted me to help with. My dad chuckled when he saw my bemused face as if he knew I was in for a hell of a time. It was funny to see how mum instantly turned her face to dad. Their silent exchange was subtle but clear enough for me. I decided to disarm the tensed situation by saying, “Of course mum. I’ll be her obedient little slave.”

We all laughed but when I noticed the twinkle in Cindy’s eyes, I knew almost for sure the coming days could become very interesting.

Cindy hugged mum and for the first time I did a comparison of the women with the knowledge I now had, it was unmistakable they were not related. Mum seriously lacked Cindy’s voluptuous curves and their hair looked completely different. Mum’s bouncy curls missed the brilliant luster of my sister’s straight hair.

She stood next to me when we waved our parents goodbye and as soon as the car had disappeared from view she said huskily, “Come, obedient little slave. I want a nice cup of coffee.”

I groaned, knowing I had made a serious mistake. She giggled. “I think I still have that pink leash somewhere. Although I’m pretty sure the collar is just a little too small for your neck.”

“Maybe it fits yours.”

“Tempting,” she replied deadpan and walked into the house, without waiting for my response. I watched her walk straight to the living room and she knew I was admiring her amazing body. The supple fabric of her skirt flowed beautifully with every elaborate swing of her hips. She turned, her smile was ever so sweet as she asked, “Which movie do you want to watch?”

We both were slouching on the sofa, watching the credits scroll over the screen. The feel-good movie was okay, not much of a tearjerker, which I was happy about. She snuggled up to me and said, “That was nice.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“I told mum, you know about it.”

I looked at her askance. It took a second before the penny dropped. Sometimes it was hard to follow her thoughts, but it explained my mum’s remark. It suddenly dawned on me I hadn’t asked her whether she had any idea why the hell Jack was such an idiot. I pulled her closer. I sighed, not knowing how to ask the question.

“You probably want to know why Jack did it.” she said demurely.

“Only if you want to talk about it. I mean it must be hard.”

“Actually, it’s all my fault.”

I shook my head and said firmly, “Nothing can justify rape, Cindy. Whatever you’re going to tell me. Bloody hell! It will never give him any right to tie you down like that.”

She shuddered. “But people warned me not to become his girlfriend and I did it anyway.”

“Still, his suffering is his own bloody fault but what I don’t understand why he did it.”

“Because I’m a virgin.”

That little sentence didn’t land completely, and I had to ask, just to be sure, “What did you just say?”

Her eyes looked sad when she sighed deeply. “You perfectly well heard what I said.”

“Yeah,” I huffed, “but I have real trouble believing it! Come on Cindy, you’ve had so many boyfriends! Even I have lost count how many sad bastards I saw smugly walking next to you.”

Her smile was demure. “Maybe it’s better you don’t know the exact number.”

“So, just let me get this cleared once and forever; you never had sex with any of those sleaze balls?”

Cindy looked me in the eyes and replied, “I never lost my virginity.”

Then I suddenly understood what she meant. It was strangely arousing to imagine all the other lewd activities she must have done. But it also explained the many boyfriends; they all wanted only one thing she didn’t allow to happen. It started to sink into my sluggish brain about why Jack came to his desperate but stupid act. My mouth must have fallen open because my sweet sister pushed it closed with her index finger.

“In the beginning it was easy to convince the boys I wasn’t ready for that,” she said softly as she looked down. She chuckled while slowly shaking her head. “Some of them had never seen a naked girl. It was fun to be their first girlfriend.”

She sighed deeply. “But inexperienced boyfriends become bolder, and they all started wanting more. Apparently just having fun wasn’t enough, which resulted in them leaving to find a new girlfriend.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Looking like this,” she continued while moving her chest forward, “is a guarantee for failure.”

I thought about her story, wondering why she always ended up with boys who just wanted to fuck her. Of course, I knew that most heterosexual men had the instinctive urge to reproduce, and I was pretty sure it was the highest item on a student’s bucket list. But not getting ‘it’ should not be the reason to leave your girlfriend if you really liked her.

Jack was notorious for his stallion behavior and his annoying boasting about an extensive list of chicks who lost their virginity to him. As her brother I was always left out of those horny conversations about my sister. I probably would’ve warned her if I knew about it.

“You just haven’t found the right boyfriend who accepts you as you are.” I said soothingly.

“Perhaps.”

“Yeah,” I grumbled, “they only saw you as another chick on their trophy list.”

Cindy shuddered. “I was stupid to believe I could convince Jack to wait a little longer.”

“But still. Don’t you want to know what it’s like? I mean I can’t imagine you girls don’t chat about it.”

She laughed. “Oh, you don’t want to know about the gory details I hear.”

All this time she was snuggled up to me and absentmindedly tracing her index finger over my abs. I remembered some of the conversations I overheard in the locker room, and I knew most of the bragging was just their wild imagination. “Indeed, I don’t.”

“You know,” she said softly, “I just don’t want to be someone’s trophy.”

I shook my head. “Why Jack? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she muttered, “I guess I fell for his boldness. I mean, it’s so off putting when a guy just can’t say anything coherent while he is constantly looking at my girls.”

“I’m afraid we boys have an obsession for those, especially if they are as magnificent as yours.”

“I know,” she sighed, “but there must be someone out there who likes me as a person and not as a sex object.”

Her words were still echoing in my ear when I suddenly came up with a plan. One of my classmates, Simon, was completely gaga about Cindy. I knew they had a few of the same subjects and it seemed that they’d worked on a project together as well. He was truly a nice guy, and I wouldn’t mind him becoming her boyfriend.

“I think I can help,” I said offhandedly, “and perhaps you can help me.”

Her finger stopped moving and as she looked askance at me, she asked, “What are you thinking of?”

I cleared my throat. “Well,” I started, “I know a guy who really likes you but he will not bother to asking you out because he thinks you are well out of his league.”

Her beautiful blue eyes became a lot bigger. “Do I know him?”

I nodded.

“Really?”

I rolled my eyes.

Cindy prodded her finger into my stomach. “Oh, Casper! Come on who is it?”

“Think hard, sis,” I teased, “which of the boys you know, never made a pass on you?”

“Is he cute?”

“How the hell do I know if a guy is cute?”

She giggled but then she pouted. “You know, at school I try to avoid being the center of attention and that means I cut myself off.”

“Alright,” I gave in, “with whom did you do the science project?”

“Simon!” she exclaimed happily, “but he is such a nice guy. I thought he had a girlfriend already.”

“He’d wished.”

“Just like you,” she muttered, looking pensively.

“Uh-huh,” I conceded, “we geeks are doomed to go through life all alone. Unless you’re going to help us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you could help me with teaching what women want. You know, like how to impress a girl or what to do for a romantic evening.”

“That’s the easy stuff,” Cindy responded thoughtfully, “you need to learn how to please a woman.”

I was shocked by her answer. How the hell was I going to do that? I looked at her, realizing she was holding her breath. Only then it hit me, Cindy!

“No,” I said resolutely, “you’re not going to teach me.”

She didn’t respond to my statement and asked, “You know Claire, the girl with dark brown hair?”

I knew exactly who she was talking about; it was her friend in the cheerleader’s group. She often traveled with us back home because it was only a small detour to drop her off at her home. She was a pretty petite bouncy girl and her cheerleader’s costume didn’t hide much of her nicely toned figure. Her breasts were not as big as Cindy’s but perfectly in proportion with the rest of her body. She was a nice girl, and I talked with her several times while we were waiting for my sister.

I’d never thought about the possibility she might have an interest in me. Cindy looked at me with a big smile and it was obvious she knew there was more going on with Claire.

“I actually don’t believe Claire is interested in me.”

“Did you ask her out?”

“No, of course not,” I conceded meekly.

“So, you assume she’s not interested in you.”

Her words sounded quite culpable, which did sting a little. I sighed because I didn’t want to discuss my insecurities with her. She patted my stomach and nuzzled me.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “I understand it’s horrible being rejected. I’ve seen it happen often enough. But you are a sweet and cute man and I know Claire wouldn’t turn you down just like that.”

“Oh my god,” I muttered, “you’ve been talking about me.”

“No,” she responded curtly but then she continued with a sweet smile, “I deliberately waited to join you and watched how you and Claire were chatting. It’s clear she is interested but you should take the initiative.”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“You do. Only you think you’ll fail.”

I looked down and as I admired her slender hand’s painted nails I nodded slowly.

“Hey,” she whispered as she pulled me into a hug. I loved the closeness, and I realized I actually hungered for being close to a person.

“Casper?”

“Yes?”

“Do you trust me?”

That question was a little strange. My mind was searching for a possible reason why she wanted to know whether I trusted her. It automatically came up with all kinds of scenarios where we were involved in a much more intimate manner. I still saw her as my slightly older sister and that made it all a lot more complicated.

“I want to but I’m not sure.”

She nodded slowly. “I understand.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You know,” she said with a small voice, “when I discovered I wasn’t part of this family it made me happy but also very sad. I was ... No, I still am happy because the love I feel for you is genuine. The sad part is that we can’t be together because of our rigid society.”

My heart was pounding in my throat because I hadn’t seen that coming. Slowly her words sank into my brain, which caused a cascade of emotions to course through my body. Those seemingly innocent nights sleeping together had brought us much closer than I could’ve imagined. I realized our ‘forbidden love’ had become much stronger since her traumatic experience with Jack. The last few nights sleeping together were different and even my feeble attempt to keep her at arm’s length, didn’t prevent my attraction to her to become much stronger.

“Oh god, Cindy,” I muttered.

She sniffed. “I want to be with you, but I can’t.”

“But you are now.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

The dilemma was annoyingly obvious, and I felt pushed into a situation that truly went against my ethics. But somehow there was this little voice in my head, which told me to go with the flow. I knew if I gave in, I would want more than just fooling around.

“Oh, my little tease of a sister,” I grumbled softly, “I don’t think I want to become just one of your boyfriends.”

Slowly she moved away and positioned herself opposite me, her knees folded under her. Her hands were resting on her thighs while she stared at me for a long time.

She cleared her throat before she said, “You are the first man I really trust. I feel at ease, and I know you love me too.”

She grabbed my hand to stop me from responding and continued, “I know we can’t become a couple, but I think we shouldn’t just ignore what we feel for each other. I want you to be happy and I think Claire is one of the nicest girls I’ve ever met. But to win her over you should be able to wipe her feet off the ground and that’s where I come in.”

Actually, it was funny to see her hopeful expression etched on her pretty face, realizing she was as desperate as I was. But my huge inferiority complex kicked in massively. The thought of being a clumsy nerd and failing badly to impress a woman was agonizing me to the core. “Oh, I don’t know.”

“Do you love me?”

I didn’t need to think about that for a second and I replied instantly, “Yes.”

“I want you to be my lover and I’ll teach you everything I know. After that I’ll help you to win Claire’s heart and you can help me with Simon.”

Her proposal had merit, but I didn’t want to end up in the situation where our bond became too strong and I worried that others, especially our mum, might notice. I reckoned we shouldn’t stay together for more than two months and suddenly the idea popped in my mind. “We should use Valentine’s Day.”

Her face fell a little, so I continued, “We can’t be together forever anyway, and besides, what if mum finds out? And the longer we are together the harder it will be to be separated.”

She pouted. “But then we have such little time.”

Suddenly the coin dropped as I understood how well she’d played her cards. She knew all along that the coming two days were a perfect opportunity to explore. Slowly I shook my head and said, “Well, we’d better make the best of it, shouldn’t we?”

Her eyes seemed to gleam when she climbed on my lap. She sat down. Her skirt was hiked up, revealing her beautiful toned bronzed thighs. “How about a kiss?” she purred.

I moved forwards and we both slanted our heads in the same direction, causing our noses to touch. Cindy giggled nervously before she adjusted her angle and pressed her mouth onto mine. My whole body yearned for her, and I couldn’t prevent myself from whimpering. Her lips were so soft!

She pulled away and whispered, “I’ve wanted to do this for such a long time.”

My hands cupped her face and gently pulled her back onto my lips. Her teeth softly bit my bottom lip, which I took as a hint to open my mouth. I had heard about French kissing, and was not sure what to expect, I gently pushed my tongue forward. It was enthusiastically met by Cindy’s and I loved the playful interaction.