Chapter 7

I suppose for some people that first kiss would be all about fireworks and breathless passion. Ours was about love, friendship and caring. That’s not to say it wasn’t pretty special!

We both put a lot into that kiss, I know that I tried to draw on all of my experience from my original timeline to convey the depth of my feelings for my wonderful stepsister in that kiss. We found our places, heads slightly tilted with noses out of the way, quickly and held it for some time, not crushing our lips but definitely not just brushing them together. I caressed her cheek with the back of my hand, then traced her ear with my fingertip and finished by finger combing her long, dark hair. She ran her fingers through my hair, then slid her hand down to trace my jaw line and finally held my head in place while rubbing my cheek with her thumb. It was, in short, an amazing kiss and it went on for some time.

“And I love you, Jeffrey,” she said as she stroked my cheek. “I know you’ll never try to hurt me and I know I’ll never try to hurt you.”

I just reached to her and gently pulled her head to my, way too small, chest. With it resting there I planted light kisses all over the top of it and stroked her hair while she murmured little love sounds.

We must have stayed in that position for 15 minutes. We were finally interrupted when Helen knocked on the door frame — the door was standing wide open — and said, “It’s time for bed, kids.”

Without even looking up Trish said, “Okay, Mom. Goodnight.” She then sat up and stretched, she must have been pretty cramped down there for so long, and told me, “Goodnight, Jeff. Thank you for loving me.”

“My pleasure, sweet sister mine. It is most definitely my pleasure. Goodnight,” I then turned to Helen and said, “Goodnight, Helen. Thank you again for your faith in us.”

Something in how we looked at each other or touched must have changed then — at school the following Monday Jenny just stared at us for a moment when we sat down to lunch.

“I know there’s a story here,” she said while looking from one to the other of us and back. “What happened?”

I didn’t quite know what to say but Trish did. “We had a long talk with our parents Saturday and they’ve decided that it’s okay for Jeff to be my boyfriend.” Thank you, Trish! That was the perfect line.

“That’s cool! It’s not like it’s news but it must be nice not having to pretend at home.”

A couple of boys at neighboring tables looked a little dejected at our new, semi-official status, but I don’t think they seriously thought they stood a chance with Trish anyway.

I had hoped that the last couple of weeks of before Dave left would fly by, but we all know time perception is the inverse of what’s hoped for. The hours crawled. Still, the day finally arrived and we all went to Stapleton to see him off. I wasn’t sorry to see him go. Beyond our personality conflicts, it meant I got a room of my own again.

Trish and I had started our lawn service on weekends in early May. With school out we took on some more clients and settled in to comfortably doing one or two yards a day, Tuesday through Saturday. We didn’t need a lot of money so splitting $4 or $8 a day was just fine. After mowing our lawns for the day we’d head down to the rec building and workout, then go out to the pool. On our days off we started riding our bikes out to the lake with a picnic lunch. Most of the time one or more of the other three amigas would meet us there and we could get caught up. To say life was good wouldn’t have done it justice.

Strange though it might seem, our physical explorations proceeded very, very slowly. It didn’t feel like either of us was holding back but neither of us was in a hurry either. At the time it didn’t strike me as odd but I’m sure any outside observer even moderately familiar with hormone ravaged teenagers would have wondered.

There was lots of kissing, of course, including some very serious French kissing. I loved the response that I got from kissing down her neck to the edge of her shirt. She would kiss down my neck while running her hand up the inside of my thigh to the edge of my cutoffs. But that’s as far as it went for quite some time. And it was enough, though it did leave me hard a lot of the time!

As the summer wore on it became apparent that I wasn’t the only one affected by our kissing sessions. I noticed that Trish would sometimes disappear shortly after some serious kissing and return looking much more relaxed. In early July she commented on the same behavior from me. After that very embarrassing episode we decided to be a bit more upfront about our needs rather than sneaking around. It was a little awkward at first since I knew that she knew why I was taking a break, but, in its own fashion, it was also reassuring. We were physically interested in each other — though I didn’t understand what she saw in my 12 year old physique — even if we weren’t doing a whole lot about it.

Summer marched on. Tolkien wrote about happy times being quickly described and that pretty much sums up our summer; at least, through the end of July.

On the 25th of July that year we got back from the pool to find that Karen and Butch were joining us for dinner. That wasn’t a problem since we were just putting together tacos but it was a bit unusual. Over dinner the surprise came out — Butch had lost his job.

“What are you going to live on,” asked Helen.

“We’re trying to figure that out right now,” Butch replied. “I’ve got some ideas for getting a job but it’s going to be a couple of months before any of them open up so in the meantime we’re stuck. We have some savings, but not enough.”

“If it wasn’t for Michael,” Karen said, nodding to her son in his highchair, “I’d try getting a job at 7-11, but babysitters can be pretty expensive for everyday.”

As soon as the word ‘babysitter’ was mentioned Trish tensed up. I just squeezed her knee a little and she loosened up some. She definitely did not want to babysit all summer, especially not for free. Fortunately no one brought it up. I’m sure they realized that it wouldn’t work once school started so better to have not gotten used to it.

For the next half hour various options were thrown out. Some — like robbing 7-11’s instead of working at them — in jest, others in complete earnest.

Trish hadn’t said much to that point but finally she tilted her head in thought and asked, “What’s your biggest expense?”

“Rent, no doubt about it,” Karen replied quickly.

At that point Trish glanced at me, then turned back to her sister and brother-in-law and said, “Maybe you could move in here until Butch finds a new job. Would that make it possible for you to live on your savings for a while?”

Huh? April and Bob, Helen and my father, Trish, me — that seemed to account for all four bedrooms. I wasn’t the only one confused, but Trish wasn’t the only one looking thoughtful. Helen looked like she was reading her youngest daughter’s mind.

Karen answered Trish’s question, as well as voicing my own, when she said, “Sure, that would be enough, but I don’t think there’s a spare bedroom here.”

“My room,” Trish replied, “is big enough for two beds. I’d be happy to share it with Jeff.”

Dawns the light! Helen was nodding as she turned to look at my father, who didn’t seem all that surprised by the suggestion. Karen and Butch just sat there with their mouths hanging open. Bob looked at Trish, then looked at Helen nodding her agreement, then just shook his head. April exploded.

“You cannot be thinking of letting them sleep in the same room! Hell, I was eighteen and still had to move out before I could sleep with my boyfriend! That is sooo unfair!”

“Well,” Helen said calmly, “it may not be the best solution. Probably the best solution would be for you and Bob to move out so Karen and Butch could have that room. How does that sound?”

“But, we can’t afford to move out while I’m in school,” April whined.

“If you’re not willing to make some sacrifices for your sister and your nephew then it doesn’t sound like you should have any say in this.

“First,” she continued before April could open her mouth, “Patricia did not ask to share a bed with Jeff. She offered to share her bedroom, with each of them having their own bed — though if we had another full sized bed I’d be tempted to let them share it. You, on the other hand, just wanted to be screwing your boyfriend while you were still in high school. It was all about you and your pleasure.

“Second, Patricia and Jeff have demonstrated significant maturity to this point — enough that we’re willing to trust them. You most definitely were not mature — your complaint tonight simply demonstrates that you still aren’t.

“Lastly, Patricia and Jeff are both excellent students. They haven’t let their obvious feelings for each other interfere in the least with their schoolwork. You were a mediocre student who always seemed to want to major in boys.

“Objection overruled!” she said, slamming her hand down as though it were a gavel. I’d forgotten just how big a Perry Mason fan Helen was since I no longer watched television, but the way she said it brought a smile to the lips of most of the people at the table.

It fell to my father to remember the other concerned party here. “Jeff, I know you’ve only had your own room again for a little while, but would you mind sharing with Trish, at least until another bedroom comes free?”

Would I mind sharing a bedroom with the most wonderful girl I knew, who happened to be my stepsister, my best friend and my girlfriend all rolled into one lovely package?

I’m sure I looked a little nervous but I tried to gather my wits when I said, “Um ... We get along real well so I don’t think I’d mind.”

I guess I got the tone of my voice just right — everyone except April started laughing their asses off.

“If Trish decides to have friends over I can sleep on the sofa for a day or two,” I added, trying to think of any downsides to the arrangement.

How many 12 year old boys — I wouldn’t turn 13 for a couple of weeks — got to share a bedroom with their girlfriend each night? I don’t think there were many but I got to be one of the lucky few. We took some time that Sunday to move my bed over and co-opt a little space in Trish’s closet for my clothes. Even though Butch and Karen wouldn’t be moving in for a couple of days we had decided to start our new living arrangement that night.

Just before turning in Trish sat down on my bed and voiced one of my concerns. “You and I both know,” she said, “that we’re going to see each other when we’re changing clothes or getting ready for bed. I’m not going to hide from you and I’d rather you didn’t try to hide from me, okay?”

“Sure, sis. You also know that I’m going to be hard every time I see you, right”

“I should hope so! And we both know that we’re going to have to relieve ourselves on occasion. That will be a bit trickier but let’s at least try to keep it quiet.”

Despite our openness that was an uncomfortable development! I finally said, “I can try to be quiet but I know this bed squeaks terribly. I may just use the bathroom when I need to take care of myself.”

“You might have a point there,” she replied, thoughtfully. “We’ll just have to see how it plays out.”

With that she stood up and stripped out of her clothes before pulling on the long t-shirt she slept in. If you didn’t notice the blush that went all of the way to her navel you’d have thought she did this all the time.

Since she wasn’t making a big deal of it I tried for a casual tone when I said, “You’re gorgeous.” I’m sure my air of forced casualness didn’t fool her any more than her forced nonchalance had fooled me.

Then it was my turn. Gulp. I tried to act as relaxed has she had but it was hard. Actually the reason it was hard was that it was hard, if you know what I mean. I managed to get through it without passing out — all of the blood that wasn’t at my dick was being used for an impressive blush — and finally donned my pajama bottoms.

Her comment? “I think I’m going to enjoy having you here,” said with a saucy grin.

That’s when we both saw the problem with my plan of using the bathroom — we went to bed before anyone else. Helen and my father wouldn’t be problems since they would still be at work most of the time, and they used the bathroom off their bedroom when they were home. The rest of us all used the same bathroom and I was reasonably sure April would object to having to wait for the bathroom while one of us masturbated!

We lay there in our separate beds just looking at each other as the realization dawned. I finally broke the silence, saying, “Right, that’s not going to work and there’s no way I’m going to be able to wait until morning. How about this: we both get ourselves arranged and when we’re ready we agree to close our eyes and take care of things? I’ll try to be quiet, too.”

“I know what you mean about waiting for morning. Okay, let’s try your idea.”

I got a sock that I used for these occasions — while she watched, of course — and indicated I was ready. I trusted her to keep her promise to close her eyes so I wasn’t as nervous as I might have been. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway — with the soft moans and squishing sounds coming from her bed added to the visuals from earlier it only took me about ten strokes. A deeper groan and some serious panting from her bed shortly thereafter told me that she’d been pretty worked up too.

We hadn’t agreed on a signal to say that we were done so I cleared my throat theatrically. She just chuckled and said, “Yes, sweetie, I’m done.”

I turned to face her and said, “That was incredible. I hope they won’t be like that all the time.”