Chapter 72: Double Seduction

Lissa's mood was exactly opposite of what she had projected. The sadness and longing was all an act. The truth was that she felt excited to be returning home. She missed her dad, and Allison, and Jeff, and especially little Brit. A part of the old Lissa remained, a part that felt protective of her younger siblings, especially Brit. Jeff was old enough to take care of himself, but Lissa worried about her little sister, especially since her brother who should have looked after her still tended to fight with her all the time. Not that it was all his fault, of course, but without Lissa there to mediate, Brit would be left at the mercy of a boy who was older, stronger, and probably twice her size. He would never deliberately hurt her, but what if he just didn't realize his own strength?

But that was the old Lissa thinking, the one she had cast aside. The new Lissa didn't care. She had no responsibility to them any more; they would just have to learn to get along without her interfering. That thought was liberating, and she smiled.

She took the bus to the airport so she wouldn't have to leave her car in long-term parking. A few hours later she sat aboard the plane, happy and excited, and almost, but not quite, able to ignore her feelings of guilt.

It had to do with Alya. The girl was so sweet, almost innocent in a way. She had fallen for Matt because she was inexperienced in love, not completely emotionally mature. And now Lissa was going to risk destroying her.

It's for her own good, she told herself, but she was hardly convincing. In truth, it was to justify her own vanity. This had become a challenge, and the new Lissa never backed down from a challenge.

Still, it felt like a rotten thing to do to a good person. She could try to rationalize that Alya deserved it for stealing Lissa's boyfriend, but even that was a stretch. Lissa didn't hate her for that; she had spoken truly when she said that Alya was as much a victim as Lissa was. And she really did care about Alya's feelings. The two of them had become good friends over this, and Lissa really enjoyed her friendship. She was even willing to admit that she felt a bit lonely here on the plane without Alya there with her. But she had to do what she had to do.

No guilt, she thought. I told myself I would never feel guilt again. Lissa Primdale does what she wants.

After a few minutes of such self-talk, she felt much better about it.

The plane landed a couple of hours later and Lissa disembarked with the rest of the passengers. As she emerged from the long tunnel, she spotted her family standing nearby. She trotted over to them and began to hug them all.

Not surprisingly, Brit hugged her the tightest. That made Lissa feel good; it meant that her little sister was still the same girl she had left behind.

As they made their way to the baggage carousel to pick up her luggage, she told them all about college life. She mentioned Matt and how he had dumped her for her roommate, leaving out the part about how she had found out; Brit was still too young to hear things like that after all. She talked about her Thanksgiving with Meg's family, again leaving out certain incidents. She even left out any mention of Meg's sexuality, saying only that she was a bit of a wild girl.

Brit and Jeff talked with her, asking her plenty of questions. That was strange; for one thing, they didn't say a single harsh word to each other, and for another, Jeff was speaking a lot more than he used to.

Even though it had only been four months, it seemed like the two of them had changed so much. It wasn't that they looked different. In fact, they looked exactly the same. But there was something a little more mature about them. Maybe it was that they weren't constantly fighting and teasing each other. In fact, they actually seemed to like each other! That was shocking, but maybe it was because Brit was now a teenager, too old to play the role of the snotty little brat.

She noticed something else about Jeff as well. He had a confidence now that he had lacked before. He had always been a good-looking kid, but he had a shy streak that manifested itself around girls, even Allison. Now, though, that bashfulness had disappeared completely, replaced by a quiet, inner strength. It was actually quite sexy.

She was about to try to clear her mind of that thought, but then realized, what the hell. The old Lissa wouldn't dare think about things like that, but the new Lissa had no problem with it.

She realized that Brit was also turning into quite the beauty. She had been filling out all summer, and although she still had the figure of a thirteen year old, now her little girl ways had been discarded, leaving a hot little teenager in their place. No doubt all the boys in her junior high were lusting after her.

Dad and Allison, of course, were the same as always. Dad was quiet and conservative, but kept stealing glances at Lissa's body whenever he thought nobody was looking. And why not? He had been doing the same thing the whole summer since the Hawaii trip in June. Allison, of course, was friendly and cheerful, but Lissa couldn't help wondering if she was doing the same thing. It made Lissa feel a little aroused by the thought of them thinking of her in that way.

Then she wondered something else. If Dad and Allison were thinking it, what about Jeff? Lissa's new flirtatious manner, of course, wasn't exactly designed for them, but why not? Was Jeff fantasizing about her right now?

That brought up an intriguing possibility. She had already admitted that she found Jeff sexy. And she was about to spend two weeks with her family, two weeks without much chance of having her way with boys, or girls for that matter. She didn't know if she could stand it. That meant she had to make do with what she had.

She might be able to get Allison to indulge her. After all, they had made good progress down that road six months ago. While that was tempting, she had a better idea in mind. She had already admitted that that trip on the sailboat had been the new Lissa, the one who was willing to do anything. Well, if she was willing to put her own father's dick in her mouth, she would have no qualms about seducing her own brother.

By the time they reached the van, Lissa had made up her mind. She would give Jeff a Christmas present he would never forget!

"I hope you don't mind," said Dad as they drove home from the airport, "but you're going to have to sleep with Brit while you're here. We've been cleaning out the garage, and we have a bunch of crates filling your room temporarily. We've set up the old bunk bed in Brit's room. You know, the one you used when the two of you were younger."

Actually, Lissa did mind, but not for any reason that she was willing to admit to them. No privacy meant that there would be little chance of getting Jeff alone one night and...

"Okay, but I get to sleep on top," she said instead.

"Hey, no fair!" Brit complained.

"It's just for a couple of weeks," Allison told her. "If you want, we can leave the bunk bed set up and you can sleep on top after Lissa's gone."

"Oh, all right," Brit mumbled.

Well, that put an end to Lissa's fantasies about Jeff. On the other hand, since she was already going to sleep in the same room as Brit...

She giggled at just how naughty that thought was. Would even the new Lissa be willing to go that far?

"What's so funny?" asked Jeff.

"Nothing," Lissa responded. "Just a momentary absurd idea I had."

"What kind of idea?"

"Nothing I'd tell you," she smiled sweetly.

"Oh, come on."

"Never you mind, dear," said Allison. "A girl needs her secrets."

Allison would certainly know about that! There was a particular one that Allison and Lissa shared, for instance, that they wouldn't want Jeff or Brit to discover.

"So how's your head, Jeff?" she asked instead.

"My head?"

"Yeah, I heard you had a major concussion. Do you still get headaches and fainting spells?"

"Not for a couple of months now."

"Well, I'm glad. Wouldn't want to have anything spoil your Christmas."

"I have a feeling this is going to be the best Christmas ever," he replied.

"Me too," Brit giggled. Lissa wondered what they meant by that. Was there something they weren't telling her? Not that it really bothered her; if Lissa could have her secrets, they could have theirs.

"So tell me about the accident," she asked.

"The one where Jeff saved my life and became the family hero?" asked Brit with her typical hyperbole.

"Right."

"Well, there I was standing on the balcony over the great hall. Suddenly, the railing split, and I found myself tumbling down toward the floor. I was just fortunate that Jeff was there, or I might have been killed. He made a diving catch and kept me from hitting the floor head first, but in his effort to rescue me he hit his head on the stairs and knocked himself out."

"Is that true?" Lissa asked Jeff.

"More or less, although Brit makes it sound so much better than it really was. She makes me out to be some kind of hero."

"Do you deny it?" Brit asked.

"Well ... no," he said with a grin. "But honestly, I just reacted without thinking."

"Apparently heroism is so much a part of him that he does it automatically," Brit smiled.

"I for one am glad he did," Lissa commented. "Jeff, I want you to promise me something. Promise that you'll always protect your little sister."

"I've promised her that, and I've promised Dad that, so why not you too?" he laughed. "Okay, I'll always protect her."

That took a weight off her shoulders. Seeing them being nice to each other like this and now with Jeff's promise, she didn't have to worry about them ever again. In a way it was sad; she was giving up her long time role, passing it on to Jeff. But that didn't mean she couldn't still be their big sister.

They continued to talk as they drove home, finally pulling into the driveway at the top of the hill. Lissa smiled as years worth of memories of the fun she had had in this house crashed down upon her. It was great to be home.

As soon as she stepped in the house, she gazed up at the Christmas tree standing in the great hall. It rose nearly twenty feet high; Greg spared no expense during the holidays. Lissa smiled, thinking back to previous years, and how she sometimes just sat in the front room staring at the hypnotic blinking lights of the tree.

There wasn't much time to fix dinner, so Allison merely heated up some leftovers, which suited Lissa just fine. Allison's cooking was delicious even reheated the next day.

After dinner they sat in the living room talking about their various adventures over the past few months. Jeff mostly just listened, which wasn't surprising, although he did talk more than he used to. Lissa was glad that he was coming out of his shell. Brit kept retelling the story of how Jeff saved her life, adding a few more details each time, most of which were untrue. Not that it mattered; everyone knew she liked to embellish stories, and it sounded so much more interesting to hear her tell them.

Lissa talked about her failed relationship with Matt, but emphasized that she had forgiven her roommate over it, and now the two of them were best friends. She didn't mention that she was trying to seduce Alya, smiling to herself as she imagined the reactions she would get from her family. Greg would be shocked, Allison would be amused, Brit probably wouldn't understand, and Jeff would probably just sit there grinning.

As bedtime neared, Jeff helped her carry her bags up to Brit's room. Lissa sighed in disappointment. It was really too bad that she would be sleeping there, because it meant there would be no chance of slipping into his room after everyone went to bed. Still, she couldn't fault him for that, and it would only be a couple of weeks after all. Besides, she was just happy to see her little brother and sister again. Jeff was still just as nice to hug as ever.