Chapter 16

It was good to be home, even though the trip was great and I had a blast. I helped unload the van and then flopped on the couch to rest. The last two days had been long and I was very tired. I heard Mom in the kitchen, listening to the messages on the answering machine. There were four or five from Cindy, the last three sounded like she really wanted to talk to me.

I really didn't want to call anybody right then. I went to my room, opened my notebook computer and turned it on. During the trip, I had taken a lot of photos and I wanted to download them so I could see how they turned out. After the computer was booted up, I plugged in my camera and started the process. It took about ten minutes to copy the pictures from the camera to the hard drive and when it was finished, I began going through them.

Most of the photos were of the boat and scenery along the ICW. When I got to one of my brother, I paused and thought about what I was going to do.

I was sure that Cindy wanted to know when she could come over and see me, but more importantly, I knew she would want to see Eddie. Now that my brother had some experience with kissing, I felt he wouldn't be so shy around my friend.

Eddie and I didn't have a chance to kiss as much as I would've liked, but we had our fair share. He was a good kisser, as far as I was concerned, after all, he was the only boy I'd ever kissed, and I wasn't too sure I wanted Cindy to feel his lips on hers. I also knew that given the opportunity, Cindy might just let him feel her up.

The more I thought about Eddie and Cindy, the more upset I became. I started to imagine the two of them in all kinds of sexual situations. Cindy and Eddie kissing, Cindy and Eddie touching, Cindy touching Eddie, Cindy and Eddie...

By now I was seething. When I visualized my brother and Cindy getting married I jumped up to go and yell at Eddie. I was going to tell him to stay away from Cindy, that she was no good for him. I was also going to call Cindy and give her a piece of my mind.

When I opened my bedroom door and started to walk out, it dawned on me that I was being foolish. After all, Eddie was my BROTHER! What made me think that he wouldn't want to find a girlfriend? What made me think he wanted anything more from me than to fool around once in a while?

I went back into my room, closed the door and sat on my bed. I thought about the few times my brother and I did anything and realized that I was the one that initiated it. It was me that put his hand on my tit. It was me that played with his cock. It was me that kissed him first.

Now I was upset for another reason. Why did I always have to be the aggressive one? Why didn't Eddie start fooling around with me instead of the other way around? Why didn't my brother like me?

I continued to think until I had a headache. I stretched out on my bed, hugged my pillow and fell asleep.

A loud knock on my door woke me up the next morning. I looked at the clock and saw it was only six o'clock. Glancing down, I realized that I had fallen asleep in my clothes. When I heard the knocking again, I got up and opened my door.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Eddie said as he stood in my doorway grinning. "Are you going running this morning?"

I looked at the clock again and said, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well then get a move on. Change your clothes and let's go."

"Okay, give me a minute to change."

My brother remained in the doorway, staring at me. I waited for him to leave, but he didn't move. Finally, I walked past him and went to the bathroom.

When I came out of the bathroom, Eddie was still standing in the same spot. I went into my room and flipped the door closed behind me. I started to undress and heard the door open.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I wanted to watch you change, Jen, if it's okay," he said sheepishly.

I stood there for a moment, my shirt in my hand, and looked at my brother's face. He had a devilish grin and his eyes sparkled.

"Why?"

Eddie stammered for a moment and then said, "Because you're beautiful and I like to see you."

I didn't know what to say or think. All of the things that ran through my head the night before disappeared. Turning around, I finished removing my clothes and put on my white running outfit.

"I'm ready, Eddie. Let's go."

I glanced at my brother's crotch and saw his obvious excitement. I didn't stare or say a word; I just walked out of my room past him. We went out the backdoor, stretched and warmed up, and then went around the side of the house and began our morning run.

It felt good to be running again. I loved the sound of my shoes hitting the pavement. We started slow, more of a jog than a full run. I set the pace and Eddie followed. It had been almost a week since the last time we ran and I didn't want to over do it.

"Let's go that way," Eddie said, pointing down a street we normally passed on our usual route.

We made the turn and I picked up the pace a little. As we ran, my brother began to lag behind me a few steps. I looked over my shoulder and he smiled at me.

After we had run a little over a mile and a half, Eddie yelled from behind me.

"Turn right at the next corner."

I made the turn and saw the park at the end of the road. I wondered why we were heading there, but continued without asking. Eddie caught up to me and ran at my side. We left the pavement and ran across the grass until we were near a picnic table.

"Let's take a break, Jen."

I nodded; we slowed down and ran in place for a few minutes next to the table. My brother sat on the bench with his back against the table and watched me as I continued to cool down. I finally stopped and sat on the table with my feet on the bench next to my brother.

"It feels good to run again," I said. "We should have done it while we were on our trip."

"Yeah, I missed it too, Jen."

Eddie and I sat quietly for a few minutes and let our breathing return to normal. He was staring off into space and I thought that something was bothering him.

"What's the matter, Eddie? You seem to be somewhere else."

"Jen, I need to talk to you about something."

"What?" I asked, not really sure if I wanted to know.

"It's about Cindy."

My heart was in my throat. Here it comes, I thought, he's going to tell me he wanted to get serious with my best friend. My mind was a blur as I anticipated his next statement, and my response. I decided that I was going to be strong and tell him I understood, even if I really didn't. I was going to give him encouragement and let him know that I was happy for him, even if I really wasn't.

I knew in my heart that Eddie was my brother and there could never be a serious relationship between us. I knew about incest and that it would not only be impossible, but illegal for a brother and sister to be romantically involved. I also knew how I felt about my brother. I knew that I was willing to take any chance necessary to be loved by him.

I was just about the tell Eddie that I knew how he felt about Cindy, but he spoke first.

"Look, Jen. I know Cindy is your best friend and I would never do anything to break you guys up," he began.

I took a deep breath and held it. Tears began to fill my eyes as I waited for him to tell me what he wanted to do with Cindy, that he wanted her to be his girlfriend.

"I don't really know how to say this, Jen, but..."

"I understand, Eddie," I told him as tears ran down my cheeks.

"You do? You don't care if I don't want Cindy as a girlfriend?"

"WHAT!" I said, completely shocked.

"Cindy is really nice and she's cute. I know I asked you to get us together, but, well, I just don't like her like that. Not as a girlfriend."

I wasn't really sure if I was hearing what my brother was saying. I had convinced myself that he wanted to be with Cindy and had tried to prepare myself for it. Now I didn't know what to think. Was it that he just didn't really like Cindy, or was there more? Did he feel the same way I did?

"Jen, I don't know how to tell her. I don't want to hurt her feelings. Cindy and I haven't ever done anything together, not even kiss, but I know she wanted to. What should I do?"

My heart was no longer in my throat. Now it was pounding against my chest so hard that I thought I would burst.

"Just tell her, Eddie. I'm sure she'll understand. It's not like you have been leading her on or anything."

"Do you think she'll understand? Are you sure she won't be mad at you?"

"I don't know, but if she gets mad, she'll get over it."

"I really hope so; I don't want her to be mad, especially at you."

We had been talking for almost an hour. The sun was up and it was getting warm. Eddie stood up, turned to me and said, "Let's go."

I jumped off the table and we started to run back toward the house. Once again, Eddie lagged behind me as we ran across the park to the road. I looked back and said, "Why are you back there?"

Eddie laughed and said, "Because I like watching your ass when you run."

I turned around, wiggled my butt and broke into a full run. I felt like I was running on air as I replayed my brother's words in my head.

When we got to the house, I led him around back and jumped into the pool. Eddie followed me into the water and swam to the far end where I was hanging on the side. He looked at my white sports bra, grinned and said, "You know you can see right through that thing when it's wet, don't you?"

I swam to the shallow end, stood up and turned to my brother.

"You can?" I giggled. "Well, we can't have that, can we?"

I grabbed the bottom of the bra, pulled it over my head and tossed it onto the deck. I swam back to my brother, put my arms around his neck and pressed my boobs against his chest as I gave him a quick kiss. I let go and swam away on my back.

Eddie came after me and caught up to me in the shallow water.

"Why did you do that, Jen?"

"Because I wanted to."

I heard someone calling my brother's name and realized it was his friend Kevin. I scrambled out of the pool, grabbed my sports bra and got it on just as Kevin came around the corner of the house. My cheeks warmed as I saw Kevin's eyes moving over my body, knowing that the boy could see through my outfit. I smiled, said hello and ran into the house, soaking wet.

My mom was sitting in the kitchen with my dad and she started to laugh as she looked at me dripping water on the floor. She got up, went to her room and came back with a towel.

Mom tossed the towel to me and said, "Almost got caught, didn't you?"

I nodded as I dried myself.

"I guess we'll have to have your father put a privacy fence around the pool so you don't have to worry about that," Mom chuckled.