She lay on the bed, face first, watching her sister’s every move.

“You are going to be the prettiest bride ever!” she finally said. “You already are!”

Clare blushed deeply. Her little sister’s words always had that effect on her.

“Thank you, Squirt,” she said with a little smile. “When your time comes, you will easily take on that role.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Not gonna happen!” she said emphatically, giggling a little.

Clare turned to her, fighting to clip on one of the earrings. “Now come on, sis. You’re old enough to have some boy in your life, right?”

Jenny stuck out her tongue. “Boys. Bleh.”

Clare laughed softly. “Not even a little crush?”

Jenny shook her head emphatically. “Nope. I like...” She paused, then clamped her mouth shut.

Clare sighed. She had known her sister for way too long to tell when she was trying to hide something. It was not like she was an expert at it, anyhow.

“You like who?”

Jenny grunted in frustration and bounced on her knees, still in bed. Clare smiled. Jenny was going to be a heartbreaker when she got older, she thought to herself. Really, she already was now. Wearing one of the blue bridesmaid dresses, Jenny fits into it better than most of Clare’s older friends. Evan, at the age of fourteen, Jenny was filling out nicely.

“No ... nobody,” Jenny said with a slight stutter. She was turning deep red.

Clare giggled a little bit. “You don’t have to tell me, then. It’s OK, Squirt.”

Jenny sat on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling over the edge, nowhere near the ground. She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

Clare inspected her closely as she finally got both earrings put on. “Something bothering you, Squirt?”

Jenny shook her head slowly.

“I know something is bugging you, Sis. You can tell me if you want. If you don’t, no big deal. But it might help to get a weight off your shoulders.”

Jenny sighed, chewing her bottom lip nervously. Clare could tell from this action that this was a big one.

“I wish you didn’t have to marry,” she finally blurted out.

Clare let out a sigh. Yes, that was undoubtedly a big one.

She sat on the bed next to her little sister, staring off into the void momentarily. “Change can be rough,” she said, kicking herself after the words left her mouth. That was the best she could do?

Jenny nodded. “Gonna miss you, though.”

“Yeah, I will miss you, too, Squirt. But you can visit all the time.”

Jenny huffed through her nose. “Can’t you come and visit instead?”

Clare smiled. “I can.” She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you like Charles?”

Jenny was silent for a moment, swinging her feet. “No,” she said quietly. Clare waited for more. More never came.

Clare sighed. Deep inside, she knew Charles was not exactly the most likable person. But, in a couple of hours, he would be her husband, hers forever.

Forever.

A long time.

A long fucking time.

“I think he’s mean to you,” Jenny finally said.

Clare winced inside. Damn it, Jenny knew how to get to the root of things so ideally, learned how to read Clare so perfectly. The girl would make a great manipulator, but in her case, it was blunt honesty rather than manipulation.

“He’s just short sometimes,” Clare said quietly, not believing herself. She knew her voice gave that away.

Jenny shook her head vehemently. “He’s a fucking asshole, excuse my French!” She let out a violent sigh. “He doesn’t love you! He wants your money!”

“Charles works hard...”

“Yeah, but he’s not rich like you.”

Clare shook her head. “No. He is not rich.”

Jenny threw up her hands. “I mean ... you’re rich, you’re fucking beautiful, and you just turned 18! And...” She waved a hand in frustration, then folded her hands together, holding her head down low, her disappointment in herself very evident. “Sorry,” she said with a little sob.

Clare put her arm around her little sister and pulled her close. OK, sure, the wedding dress might have some tear stains on it, but she truly loved her sister.

Jenny dabbed her eyes and put her forehead on Clare’s bare shoulder. “I just don’t wanna lose you,” she said quietly.

Clare hugged her tightly. “You won’t.”

Jenny looked up, her eyes still a little wet, but with a reason behind them. “Do you love him? For real?”

Clare opened her mouth; questions flooded her mind, other opinions flooded her, and feelings of forbiddenness flooded her. She felt doubt in her mind.

Her mouth wavered.

Her eyes blinked, her brow crossed.

Her eyes quickly slid from side to side.

Jenny’s mouth popped open.

“You don’t,” Jenny answered for her quietly, in disbelief.

She looked around, confused. “Then why? Why marry him?”

Clare tried to capture a reason other than the truth, her mouth floundering and words refusing to vocalize.

Her mouth slapped shut.

She sat up straight.

A weird pit could be felt in her stomach.

She blinked.

She blinked again.

“I don’t know,” she said suddenly without realizing she was going to tell it.

She did not know.

She repeated the words.

Jenny sat beside her, mouth agape, looking at her big sister in surprise. “Are you a lesbian?” she asked suddenly.

A flash flood of red embarrassment hit Clare’s face. How the fuck could she GET this stuff so easily, she thought to herself, her mind in confusion. Again, her mouth flapped open.

Jenny cocked her head, looking at her sister, tenderness in her eyes. “Sis ... if you are ... I mean, it’s OK with me. But ... Charles?”

Clare swallowed.

The cat was out of the bag.

She looked at her folded hands.

Jenny lay her head back on her shoulder.

She melted inside, leaning on her head so it was leaning against the top of Jenny’s head.

The two sat in silence for a while.

“How did you know?” Clare asked quietly.

“Well, I mean, you made all those video games.”

Clare laughed out loud. “And how did you know about the video games, young lady?” she playfully shouted louder than she had intended.

Jenny giggled. “I found them on Steam. They all came out simultaneously, with the same publisher and developer. Hell might as well use her name. ‘Clarilust?’ Cute! Cute play on names.” She shrugged. “I thought so for a while, until you all got engaged. But I still thought. I mean ... those were lesbian games.”

Clare chuckled without humor and shook her head. “I’m not even going to go into how in the world you got hold of those games at your age.”

“Look who’s talking! A lot of those games came out before you were eighteen!”

Clare’s face flushed. She was right.

She nodded.

She shrugged.

“I ... I ... yeah.” She folded her hands and nodded. “I like women.”

Jenny plopped down into the bed and then rolled over, lying on her front again. Clare followed suit.

Jenny’s chin rested on her hand.

She shrugged.

“I mean, I like girls, too.”

She said it so casually.

Such a casual truth bomb to drop during THIS conversation.

Clare looked at her, eyes wide, mouth open.

Jenny glanced at her, smiled, and shrugged. “S’true.”

“And how exactly do you know this?”

Jenny stared off into the distance. “I just know. Known for a while.”

Clare rolled her eyes. It did make sense.

She wrapped her arms around her little sister and pulled her close. Jenny gave no fight, snuggling up to her big sister.

The pair had spent many hours of their lives snuggling up with each other, quietly comforting each other for things said and unsaid.

Jenny moved around a bit until she was snuggled up in Clare’s bosom.

It felt good holding onto her, Clare thought to herself.

Jenny moved one of her hands inside Clare’s, the two holding hands tightly.

Jenny’s breath grew regular. Clare wondered if she had fallen asleep.

Downstairs, people were still preparing for a wedding she now had no feeling about. She had no feeling now for Charles. He was probably eying one of the other maids of honor.

Jenny’s head popped up.

She looked into Clare’s eyes and smiled a wonderful smile. She had had a smile since she was a petite girl, a smile that could melt ice planets.

Clare’s insides melted.

“I love you, Sis,” Jenny whispered.

“I love you, too, Squirt,” Clare whispered.

Jenny smiled and shook her head.

She bit her lower lip.

Her hand still held Clare’s tightly.

With a moment’s hesitation, she moved her other hand up, paused it midair, then gently placed it on Clare’s face, her fingers gently brushing her cheek. “I mean, I ... I ... I truly love you, Sis.”

She leaned over and planted the tiniest little kiss on Clare’s lips, holding her lips there for just the right time before pulling her head back and smiling her sweet little smile.

Clare swallowed.

Suddenly, she sat up in bed, causing Jenny to give a little yelp as she was thrown to the side.

Clare gazed into the distance for a moment.

She grabbed Jenny’s hand, hard, and stood from the bed.

She practically dragged Jenny out of the bedroom.

“Follow me, Sis,” she said with utmost conviction.

Jenny only silently followed.

The house had two flights of stairs. The front stairwell was a traffic jam. The bedroom was on the far side of the hallway from that front stairwell, near the secondary stairs.