Chapter 2

Nicole’s little brother Stevie took his ‘sentence’ without question. After hiding in his sister’s closet and watching her begin a sexual encounter with her female friend Kelly; and after he was caught, Nicole banished him to his room. He stayed there until well after Nicole and Kelly had finished their interlude.

After Kelly had left and Nicole had finished with a shower, she left her room to see where Stevie was. She listened outside his bedroom door and heard nothing. After a minute she knocked and he immediately answered.

“Yeah?” Stevie said.

“Can I open the door?” Nicole asked.

“Sure.”

Nicole opened the door and looked in. Stevie was lying on his bed reading a book.

“How’s it going?” she asked, trying to act like nothing unusual had happened earlier in the day.

“It’s going fine. I heard Kelly leave.”

“Yeah. Um ... can I come in for a minute?”

“Of course.”

Nicole entered, pulled out the chair that was tucked under her brother’s desk and sat down facing him.

“Look, Stevie, I...”

“You don’t have to say anything, Nicole. I was totally wrong and I’m sorry. I did what you told me to do. I came in here and I didn’t bother you again.”

“I know. And thank you. And thank you for apologizing again.”

Nicole was trying to process her brother’s conciliatory tone. She wasn’t used to it from him.

“Stevie, I’m afraid I came down a little hard on you before. I know now you didn’t mean to end up in my closet. And I understand that once you were there, you didn’t know how to get out while Kelly and I were ... You know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, I’m saying I’m sorry too, Steve.”

“Since when do you call me Steve?”

“I know, I don’t call you that. It’s just ... we don’t usually talk like this ... like, about anything serious. I’m used to you being a wiseass all the time.”

Nicole gave a small smile that she hoped would help keep things calm.

“No, we don’t. And, it’s fine. You don’t have to apologize. But thanks.”

“So, Kelly had some things to say about you,” Nicole said.

But even though she had more to communicate to Stevie, they both heard their parents return home, so their conversation was put on hold until later.

An hour after the parents arrived home, the entire family sat down to dinner at the dining room table. Nicole noticed her dad looking at her mom a number of times as though he wanted to say something. Finally he did.

“So, what happened here today?”

Nicole and Stevie both nearly jumped when they heard the question.

“Wh ... what?” Nicole said nervously. “What do you mean, Dad? Happened? What?”

“Well,” her father replied, “we’ve been home for a while and we haven’t heard you two yelling at each other or arguing or fighting in any way. So I figure either you made peace with each other, or someone came in and switched you two clones for our real children.”

Brother and sister breathed a sigh of relief.

“Funny, Dad,” Stevie said.

“Yeah, what could have happened, Dad?”

“I was just joking. But, something’s different about the way you’re treating other right now.”

Their mother agreed.

“Don’t worry about it, Dad,” Nicole said. “We’re fine. Maybe Stevie is growing into a genuine human being all of a sudden.”

Stevie’s instinct would have been to make a snide comment back at his sister. But instead he gave a puzzled look and kept quiet. Although, he was almost as surprised as his parents at the civility his sister was showing him after the events of the afternoon. Everything remained calm through the evening until everyone bid each other goodnight and headed to bed.

An hour or so after the house became silent, Nicole got out of bed and made her way to Stevie’s room as silently as possible. She opened the door enough to listen inside. When she didn’t hear anything, she went in and quietly closed the door behind her. She went to the side of the bed and saw her brother was asleep.

“Hey, goofball,” Nicole said, leaning over the edge of the bed.

“Huh?” Stevie said a few moments later. “What the ... what are you doing?”

“I wanted to talk some more. Move over.”

“Nicole ... What? Are you serious?”

“Just move.”

Sensing this was not a time to argue with his sister, Stevie moved to the opposite side of the bed and Nicole climbed in and pulled up the comforter. She lay on her side facing him.

“Nicole, what the hell... ?”

“Just relax. I told you before I wanted to talk to you more.”

“You didn’t tell me that. Mom and Dad came home and you ran out of my room.”

“Fine, well I meant to tell you that I needed to talk more.”

“OK, I don’t know what’s on your mind. But this continues to be the weirdest day of my life.”

“Mine too, for sure. But like I said, chill. I just want to talk to you.” Nicole let silence fill the air for a moment before she continued speaking softly. “I’m not sure where to start. But I have to tell you this first. There’s something different about you, Stevie.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. But I have this feeling that you grew up, at least five years since this afternoon.”

Stevie took a few moments to consider his sister’s comment before he replied.

“I want to say I don’t understand. And honestly, I don’t. But at the same time, I do understand. Something feels different to me too. But it’s not just me. You feel different too.”

“Like how?”

“Like, when was the last time you talked to me without being a b ... Um ... without being snotty to me.” Nicole smiled. “And seriously, Nicole? What the hell are you doing in my bed, talking to me at night? This is bizarre.”

“I get it. But still, here I am. Let’s just say for now, things are different.” Stevie nodded his head in affirmation. “So, I wanted to talk to you about what happened. Not about why you were in my closet. I understand all that and I believe you. But I wanted to ask you ... what you saw. What did you see through the slats of the door?”

Stevie thought about his sister’s question again before responding. He couldn’t quite shake the thought that she might be trapping him in some way.

“What did I see? You mean, literally?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to give me every detail. But just tell me.”

“OK,” Stevie said. He took a deep breath, let it out, then continued. “I told you how I got in the closet. I was scared shitless. You and Kelly came in and you were talking and laughing. I have no idea what you were saying. Then you were both lying on your bed. And you started kissing.”

“OK. Go on.”

“Then you were talking quietly so I really couldn’t hear anything. You kept kissing. And it looked like it was getting heavier. It seemed like you were ... I don’t know ... closer. Like you felt closer to each other.”

“Interesting.”

“Yeah. It seemed like you kept stopping and looking into each other’s eyes. Honestly I’ve never seen anybody kiss like that.”