Chapter 19

In the morning, I didn’t have a headache or dry throat, but I did have to pee, urgently. Apparently all that extra water had done its work. When I got up, though, I could hear that the shower was running. I cautiously peeked out of the bedroom and noticed that the bathroom door was open. “Well,” I thought, remembering one of my mom’s trite proverbs, “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” I took a deep breath and, still naked, walked out of the bedroom, then, after a little hesitation — I really did have to go — strode into the bathroom, saying “goodmorningAlicegottago” so as not to startle her. She gave a little wave through the transparent shower curtain. I lifted the toilet seat and relaxed, releasing a long, powerful stream.

Out of the corner of my eye I could tell that Alice was watching through the open area where the shower curtain didn’t reach, but I didn’t turn my head. I felt a little proud of myself for my nonchalance; I had “done as the Romans” again, and it was fine. When I finished, I flushed the toilet, then instantly remembered just as it was too late. Alice yelped and moved over to the end of the tub to get away from the suddenly hot water. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Alice, I forgot!” I moaned. She laughed. “That’s quite all right Rob, it serves me right for never remembering when Timothy is in here. Or you,” she chuckled again. I allowed myself to look at her; she was definitely not averting her eyes from me. I felt a little embarrassed, I probably looked like a mess after last night.

As the water returned to a normal temperature, Alice moved back under the spray, and I started to walk out, but Alice parted the shower curtain as I passed. “Want in?” I assumed she meant that she was getting out and would leave the water running for me, and I said “OK” and stood there awkwardly for a moment waiting for her to exit, but she just waited with the curtain open. My heart started to pound a little. Surely she didn’t expect me to ... But now I was stuck! I shrugged inwardly and got in, on the side that the spray mostly didn’t reach, half hoping that Alice would step out, half hoping she wouldn’t. She let the curtain close again and we both stood there for another endless moment.

I think Alice had suddenly realized that this was pretty weird. Drying me as I stepped out of the shower was one thing, but the tub was small and we wouldn’t even be able to pass each other without touching. I tried to avoid thinking about showering with Lily, as I had so many times; I knew if my thoughts strayed in that direction I’d get hard. As it was, the situation was so odd that I didn’t feel particularly aroused even with Alice standing there naked in close proximity. She handed me the soap and I lathered myself up, then indicated that I needed to get under the water. We did a little dance and, as I’d feared, rubbed up against each other a little as I passed her. I tried to ignore it and washed off the soap, uncomfortably conscious of the fact that Alice was quite obviously looking at my naked body.

To be honest, I felt a little thrill at her seeing it, but I also didn’t want to get excited and spring an erection in front of her, and I felt like that was a serious risk. To distract myself, I wet my hair, then took some shampoo and started to lather it in. “Here,” said Alice, “let me do it for you.” She gently turned me around, took the shampoo bottle from me and squirted a little more out, then massaged it into my hair. It felt quite nice, certainly more thorough than I would have been. After a while she gently pushed me back under the water and continued to massage my scalp until the shampoo had rinsed out. At the end, she briefly brought both of her hands down onto my chest, brushing my nipples almost as if by accident, then held my hips while she slipped past me to get under the water herself. With a shock I realized I had felt her pubic hair rub against my butt as she moved by.

I felt like, as “normal” as it might be in this family to share a bathroom and to see each other naked, there was no way that Alice could think this was a completely innocent thing. I doubted, for example, that she ever showered with Timothy, although of course I couldn’t be 100% sure of that. It seemed only remotely plausible, though, that she was so used to taking showers with her son that having me in there didn’t register on the weirdness scale at all. And she was quite obviously looking straight at me, not even pretending to avert her eyes. The thought that she might be registering interest in my body was starting to arouse me and I said, brightly, “I’m done ... getting out.” Was it my imagination that Alice looked a bit disappointed? I stepped out, got a towel, and began to dry myself. To my relief, Alice didn’t get out and start toweling me as she had before. She waited until I was done, then got out herself, as I walked back to Timothy’s bedroom.

Timothy was getting up when I returned. We sat, naked, and talked for a while; I didn’t mention that I’d just taken a shower with his mother. He was looking at me with evident interest, and I allowed the slight thrill of being admired to give me the erection I’d successfully avoided in the bathroom with Alice. Timothy got hard too, but I carefully avoided getting too close to him; I didn’t want to get messy again. Eventually our erections subsided and he got up to go take a shower, walking out into the hall naked. I looked around for my backpack with the change of clothes, and realized that I’d left it out by the computer. I didn’t really want to put on my underwear from the previous night if I could help it. Perhaps I could just run out and grab it before Alice came out of her room?

When I peeked out the door, though, I could see that Alice was already out and about; she was standing by the dining table gathering up the dishes we had left last night. To my slight surprise — at this point, it had to be admitted, I was learning to roll with the unexpected — I saw that she was topless, her breasts hanging slightly as she leaned over the table. Seeing her like this, in only panties, even from a distance was somehow even more exciting than having her right next to me naked in the shower, and I wondered if she was going to put on a bra or just hang out like this at breakfast.