By the time spring break came around, everyone was ready to party. The weather had been unseasonably warm for March in Alberta, and everyone had come home from the schools they were away at. My cousins, Eliza and Michael, had just come over to stay, visiting from their family farm in Manitoba. They, like me, had just graduated high school this spring and were taking a bit of a year off to work, and do things, and just relax. When Auntie Sherry and her family had lived in Alberta, they’d been right next door—and, being of the same age, Eliza, Michael, and me were great friends. They’d moved away at the end of grade seven, and I’d seen them every summer since, but it just wasn’t the same.

Eliza, in comparison to her brother, was a little willowy thing. She had a shock of light blonde curls that wisped around her face, which made her look dreamy, like something from a fairytale. Being a farm child, and her parents quite free-spirited, she didn’t wear any makeup, like lots of girls our age, yet she was a real beauty. Her eyes were a dark, rich chocolate with thick black lashes, and her face was smattered with freckles of all sizes. She had a sweet mouth and a lovely disposition, and was shorter than me—five foot five, maybe, while her brother—who was only older by about a year and a half—had dark hair, a little longer, and blue eyes, and loomed over the both of us at easily six foot three. He was well built because he worked hard on the farm and had been in his high school football league for all three years. Both siblings were inclined to Lizzy’s sweetness, and they had always been very close. Michael could always be depended on to protect his sister.

‘It’s great to be back,’ Lizzy said, sipping cocoa from a mug and lying sprawled across one of our armchairs. Her eyes roamed the house. ‘It’s just like I remembered it, Mandy.’

‘Yeah, it’s good to have you staying,’ I replied easily. Michael and I were both on the sofa, though he was on the side closer to his sister. ‘Listen, what do you say about going to a party tonight? It’s only a few people I knew in high school. They’re pretty chill. I think you’d like them.’

‘A party?’ Michael repeated, looking interested.

‘Yeah, I’m in,’ Lizzy said, slurping at the cocoa and smiling. Michael looked at his sister a moment and then smiled.

‘Yeah, I’ll come too. It could be fun,’ he agreed.

This was how we came to be at the Zimmerman’s house. ‘Cake by the Ocean,’ was playing loudly on the stereo, and a few people were dancing, holding your typical red plastic party cup. There were some bottles on the coffee table.

‘Hey, Mandy! You made it. Who’s this with you?’ my friend Silvia asked, coming up to me.

‘Oh—these are my cousins, Eliza and Michael. They’re visiting over spring break from Manitoba.’

‘Ohhhh,’ purred Silvia, eyeing Michael. Despite being his first cousin, I will admit to having similar thoughts when I first saw him, but they had gone soon enough. ‘Nice to meet you, Eliza—and Michael,’ she said, extending her hands and meeting his eyes. To my surprise, he glanced away awkwardly, but murmured a greeting.

‘Come in! Grab a drink. Dance. There are some people in the hot tub out back, and I think they’re starting a circle. Go enjoy.’

‘A circle?’ Eliza’s eyes brightened; her interest piqued. ‘I’m so joining that. Come on, Michael!’ She grabbed his hand and shot to the back door, barely stopping to pick up a couple of coolers from the kitchen table.

‘Hey!’ I tried to keep up with them. ‘You do KNOW what a circle is, right?’

‘Yeah, of course. It’s dope. I love weed. This is going to be great,’ Eliza enthused. I introduced them again, this time to the crowd of stoners, and they seemed to get on very well and had found their niche. I watched with some amazement as my cousin puffed away at the joint like a pro, and Michael seemed to have little difficulty as well. I took a bit myself. I suppose having hippie parents has its perks.

With a nice buzz under my belt, the music began to sound even better, and we bopped along, having a couple coolers each and a little more weed before decided it was time to call it a night. I was beginning to crash, and one of our stoner friends offered us a place to stay for the night.

‘Are you sure you’re all okay in one bed?’ she asked.

‘We’re family, it’s no big deal,’ I said, rubbing my eyes. ‘Besides, I think we’ll all sleep like the dead tonight.’ The four of us laughed.

Eliza was wearing a sun dress. She kept it on when she climbed into bed, but Michael stripped to his boxer shorts and t-shirt, while I was so tired, I flopped straight into bed and was nearly out in seconds. Eliza was in the middle, between Michael and I, and I fleetingly hoped I wasn’t taking up too much space as I lost consciousness.

I awoke sometime later—an hour, or two—to a gentle moaning on my right. Rubbing my eyes, I turned over. Oh god, was someone feeling sick? I hadn’t thought any of us had had that much, of anything, to cause sickness.

As such, I was almost relieved when I opened my eyes to see my cousins locked in a passionate embrace. Lizzy was half on her back, half on her side, and somewhat beneath her brother. They were kissing, arms around each other, eyes tightly closed. They’d thrown the blanket off, so I had a pretty good view, but I still didn’t seem to comprehend everything at first. Lizzy’s hands were down lower, on Michael’s boxer short butt, and his hips were moving forward, slowly but forcefully.

Then, I realized. They weren’t just kissing—as Michael moved forward, a soft moan left Lizzy’s lips, and her head went back. He began to kiss her neck then, soft, sucking kisses—and I could see now that his boxers were down just enough for his hard cock to be out, and pushed deep inside her. Her sundress was rucked up around her waist, and as I watched, I saw her hips arch up to his.

Oh, my god. I immediately closed my eyes again, pretending to still be asleep—in their passion, neither had noticed I was awake. I couldn’t let them see me seeing them. I put an arm over my face so I could still look with one eye without my cover being blown and then looked again.