Chapter 7

"Hey, kids. Breakfast," I heard my dad yell down from upstairs.

"Uhhh. Another minute," I grumbled, still half asleep. I rolled over not wanting to get up. Oh, that warm skin felt nice against mine. My eyes popped open and I found myself curled up next to my cousin Dale. Or, I guess I could call him brother now. Only last night had we found out that my dad was his father too and that our parents had been hiding that fact from both of us. It still felt surreal that I had a brother now when I had been an only child my whole life. I wasn't sure if I had truly processed it yet and I didn't think Dale had either. I mean, his while life had been turned upside down in the last mouth, having to move across country, give up his friends and everything he knew and then finding out the man he knew as his uncle was in fact his father.

It was a lot to take in. I giggled. The understatement of the year!

Wait! My dad yelled down?

I jerked up suddenly wide awake.

"Oh. Fuck!" I cried. I was in my brother's bed down in the basement. And my dad knew! Oh god did he know what we did last night? Did he know I had just fucked my own brother?

"Huh," my brother moaned. He started rubbing his eye as he woke up. "What's the matter?"

"Fuck, I think Dad knows. He definitely knows I slept down here."

"What? Why? What time is it?" He groaned, fighting waking up.

"Dad knows I'm here!" I cried as I grabbed Dale on the arms, shaking him awake. "What are we going to do?"

"Um ... Go upstairs," Dale said.

"But he knows!"

"Did he sound mad?"

"No. But..."

"But what?"

"How can I face him?" I asked. "What will he think?"

"What can he say? He's sleeping with both our mom's. At the same time."

"Yea. Ok." I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Yea. It's going to be ok," I said more to reassure myself than anything else. As I got out of bed I realized that the only thing I was wearing was my long T-shirt. "Crap. Can I borrow a pair of your boxers or something?"

"Um think they're all dirty," he said. He climbed out of bed and pulled on a pair of short that was lying on the floor. I think they were the same pair he had on yesterday. "I need to do laundry. No I just need more clothes," he muttered.

Resigned to facing my father half naked having just slept with his son, I headed upstairs. I slowly stepped into the kitchen. My dad was at the stove, his back to me. He looked to be just wearing a flannel robe, which was quite a shock as I almost never saw my dad not dressed.

"Hi, pumpkin," he said as he turned towards me. He was holding a plate full of pancakes, which he then placed down on the island bar between us. "Dig in."

"Ok" I answered. He didn't seem mad or anything. If fact he actually seemed quite happy. I sat down and picked up the bottle of syrup my dad had place before me. I poured a generous amount of syrup over my pancakes, while hoping this wasn't an act and my dad wasn't about to start screaming any minute. Screaming about how disappointed he was in me, how his little girl wasn't so innocent any more. But my fear was misplaced and my dad never started screaming. Slowly I relaxed as I ate my pancakes.

Dale came into the kitchen a few minutes later. And then the tension built. Fast! I pretended not to be in the room and concentrated on eating my pancakes. My dad and Dale just stood there, both trying to find the words, trying to figure out how to act with each other.

"Um ... Hi," Dale finally said.

"Here eat," Dad said. He placed the plate of pancakes for Dale down on the bar next to me. Dale sat down awkwardly next to me.

"So am I supposed to call you Dad now or something?" Dale asked. Though I could hear the frustration in his voice I felt myself relax that the tension in the room was not over Dale and I having sex. But rather it was over our parents lying to us and Dale suddenly finding out who his dad was.

"I would like that," Dad answered. "And I am truly sorry we never told you earlier."

"It's just ... urg," Dale grunted.

"I know," Dad said. "It's a really messed up situation. But we tried the best we could. We never wanted to hurt you guys or deny you a dad."

"I..." Dale suddenly jumped up and left the room.

I got up to go after him, but my dad stopped me.

"He just needs some time, pumpkin. His life has been turned upside down and inside out."

"Yea," I said. "Um ... so you know? Um..."

"Yes," my dad smiled. "Your moms told me what they saw. The two of you together."