Chapter 6: Winter Break

-- THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2004, WINTER BREAK --

"Dammit, Ben. Did Adrienne not fix the shocks before she gave you this thing?" Dawn groaned from the seat beside me in the Mustang as we hurtled down the 5 freeway at 80mph.

"Um, sorry?" I winced, glancing over at my girlfriend. I then checked the rear-view mirror, meeting Brooke's eyes where my little sister sat in the back seat.

"Do I want to know?" Brooke asked.

"My ass hurts like hell and the sport shocks on this thing are NOT being very nice to me right now," Dawn groaned.

I felt a very vague sense of déjà vu. Brooke looked to me for an explanation, and I shrugged. "Uh, well, in our whole thing with Chevelle, we never actually got around to doing her ass. So after she left, Dawn wanted to be the good girlfriend and lubed herself up."

Brooke winced. "The night before a six-hour drive?"

"Oh, NOW you warn me," Dawn grumped.

Fortunately, I had an idea. "I'll make it up to you."

"Sex is NOT at the top of my wish list right now," she warned.

I chuckled and shook my head. "No, no. This is really special to me that you're coming to stay with my family for Winter Break. So as soon as we get home, I'm going to give you a full body massage and a nice bath. Sound good?"

Dawn sighed and closed her eyes. "You'd better. Or I'm going to spend the entire vacation in Brandi's bedroom."

Unfortunately, Dawn didn't get her massage and bath right away. Even though Dawn was practically family, my parents still wanted to politely greet our guest.

While not as effusive as Deanna and Jack Evans, Mom and Dad were still quite warm. Mom hugged Dawn and so did Dad. They brought us into the living room to sit down and chat. And Brooke raced herself upstairs to poach the bathroom ahead of us.

Twice, I tried to deflect the conversation so I could get Dawn out of there. Seriously, how many things could my parents ask Dawn about her parents when our moms talked on the phone like every day? But Dawn was the epitome of politeness, always ready with a smile and an alert answer. Amazingly, she also looked perfect, covering up any discomfort she must have felt from the long drive and appearing as fresh as if she'd just awoken.

Was there anything my girlfriend couldn't do?

The twins came home while we were still talking, having been out Christmas shopping. They stopped by us to say hello and exchange hugs. And both girls squeezed me a little extra tightly, no doubt having missed me that extra bit since I had not spent the past summer with them at all.

I practically didn't recognize my baby sisters at first, even though I'd seen them briefly on their way back from Camp in July. Now nearly fifteen, Eden and Emma were growing up to be quite the blend of their older sisters, with Brooke's curves built on top of Brandi's lean and leggy frame. Indeed, when a freshly-showered Brooke came down to hug them, all three of my younger sisters appeared to be the same height. And in near identical voices, they chattered on about something and moved away to another room.

Fortunately, the twins' arrival seemed to break the momentum of my parents' conversation. And at last, they let us go to get cleaned up after the long drive.

"I'm giving Dawn a bath," I informed Mom, indicating with my eyes to where the twins had gone off to. I half-expected her to veto the idea.

But Mom glanced over and shrugged. "They're almost grown up now. I'm sure they can handle the concept."

I grinned, Dawn grinned, and then tired or not, both of us hurried up the stairs.

Five minutes later, I reclined naked in our whirlpool tub with an equally naked Dawn lying back against my chest. I happily fondled her floating breasts, and together, we let the warmth take us away.

On Friday's Christmas Eve, by family tradition, we all stayed home to hang out together. Brandi had stayed up in San Francisco, so while my family had added Dawn this year, the Evanses had effectively swapped daughters by keeping Brandi for the holidays.

Even better, Adrienne had flown down for the weekend. Between her sizable inheritance and the big bucks she was making as an international model, she could afford to jet from place to place whenever she wanted. Her limitation was more a problem of time, and indeed she would have to leave again on Monday morning. But for a couple of days at least, we had her with us. After all, there was nowhere else she would rather be for Christmas.

Family poker had never been so intense. Adrienne was the expected card shark; we'd gotten wise to her skills last year. But Dawn's skills took most of my family by surprise. She always had such a serene, content look on her face. Truly, to the casual observer she seemed to be an innocent angel, thoroughly incapable of deception.

Only I knew that her look of serenity was merely Dawn's perfect poker face. She used to get Bert, Gwen, Robin, and even Kim to bite on her bluffs with that face, although my crew had learned to ignore it over the past couple of years. And tonight, she was using it to get my family to practically GIVE her all their money.

An hour later, there were only four of us left at the table: Dad, Adrienne, Dawn, and me. Five minutes after that, Dad nearly had a heart-attack when he laid down his pocket Kings only to find that Dawn had bluffed him with nothing but an empty straight. And his short stack was quickly consumed by the rest of us in the ensuing two hands.

And then there were three, which were quickly whittled down to one. Maybe it wasn't fair. Adrienne certainly didn't think it was fair. After all, love has no place at a poker table. But Dawn and I did it anyways. Mentally nudging each other with winks and other non-verbal communication, we teamed up on my adoptive sister and proceeded to sink her to the ground. The hand after Adrienne went belly up, Dawn went all in with an unsuited two and four. And I became the last man standing.

Adrienne was pissed. That was okay. We all stayed up until 12:01am so that we could open our first presents. And instead of Adrienne spending the night in Brandi's room, Dawn and I invited her into mine so that we could make it up to her.

It was a great Christmas.

-- SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2004, WINTER BREAK --

I felt something tickle my balls; and with a start, I jerked awake.

"Mmph!" a girl moaned and I realized I'd just shoved my dick an inch into somebody's throat. She took it like a trouper, gagging only slightly and keeping her head down, breathing heavily through her nose until I pulled back. And then she resumed rhythmically pumping my shaft in her hands and sucking on the mushroom head as if I'd never interrupted her.

My eyes fluttered for a brief second, giving me just enough time to see the dark-haired head bobbing up and down in my lap before my heavy eyelids closed themselves. I was tired, like really-really tired. The family Christmas had been pretty action-packed this year, and the action hadn't stopped when Dawn and I went to bed. After all, it was only Adrienne's second night here as well.

But Adrienne had left to conk out in Brandi's room sometime around 2am. My bed at home just wasn't big enough for three adults to sleep comfortably. Now, as I turned my head to the side and cracked my eyelids open, the clock on the nightstand told me it was barely past 6am. I'd gotten little more than 4 hours of sleep, and despite the heavenly pleasure of a warm, sisterly blowjob, I wanted nothing more than to return to slumberland.

"Mmph!" a girl squeaked beside me in surprise. The second voice had not come from my crotch, and the voice was instantly familiar as NOT belonging to one of my sisters. Still with my eyes closed, I flipped my head around and gingerly re-opened them. And my vision cleared just in time for me to see Dawn half-sitting up/half-crawling out from under the covers. "What the-?" she stammered as she turned on the bedside table lamp.

"Morning!" Emma cheered from underneath my blanket, smirking as she took in my girlfriend's fully naked body. Her chin glistened in the little bit of illumination the single bulb cast, no doubt from Dawn's pussy juices. And only then did my eyes dart to the right so that I could see the face continuing to bob up and down my morning wood.

"Eden!" I hissed, reaching down to grab her head and pull upwards, but my baby sister resisted and continued making 'nom nom' noises on my erection.

"Holy shit!" Dawn gasped at the realization of who had just been licking her.

"You taste like Ben," Emma chirped. "You guys were doing it last night, huh?"

"Eden!!!" I growled with actual anger in my voice, and this time, she pulled off me with a pout.

"Whaaat?" she whined. "It's not THAT early. We waited all the way until six o'clock!"

Emma giggled. "And it's so kinky that you brought Dawn for this, too."

"For what?" Dawn gasped, still looking quite bewildered. While my girlfriend had played around with both Brandi and Brooke from time-to-time, the twins had never been a part of our sexplay. To wake up with only four hours of sleep and find little Emma tonguing her slit had to be quite the shock for my girlfriend.

Eden furrowed her eyebrows, clicking her eyes back and forth between Dawn and me. Setting her jaw into a deep frown, my sister exclaimed, "You didn't tell her?"

I blinked rapidly. "Tell her what?"

I don't think I'd ever seen Eden become so angry so quickly. Flames shot out of her ears and I seriously thought I could see ripples in the air above her head from heat waves. Her jaw quivered for a few seconds while the fury built within her. And like an exploding volcano, her entire head trembled for a few seconds before she screamed, "YOU FORGOT!!!"

In an instant, I remembered. Today was December 26. Today was the twins' fifteenth birthday.

Oh, SHIT.

Eden immediately threw aside the bedcovers she'd been hiding inside. She dismounted the bed and immediately stomped over to the door. I glanced over at Emma, who just looked up at me sadly with big doe eyes and a disappointed expression. She huddled under the covers for a little longer before sliding backwards and disappearing from view. Immediately after, she slipped off the foot of the bed and stood up, sighing heavily before turning around to join Eden by the door.

"Girls ... It's not that I forgot..." I began, grimacing and searching for the right words. "It's just ... I..."

"You forgot." Eden shook her head, still looking angry, and yet more... hurt ... than anything else. Setting her jaw, she turned and walked out of the room.

Emma looked at me glumly, and then followed after. She started to close to the door silently, but before it shut, Eden ran back and jerked on the handle, slamming the door loud enough to wake the entire house.

Now fully awake, but still in shock, Dawn turned to me with wary eyes and trembling hands. "Ben ... What's going on?"

But I couldn't answer her. I was still rather shell-shocked myself at what had just happened, and I stared at the closed door feeling a rather intense sense of dread. Dawn waited for me expectantly, but all I could mutter in response was, "Ah, hell."

My shock wore off pretty quickly, burned away by a driving sense of urgency. I had to get to the girls and explain before something terrible happened. I remembered my own teenage years, and they were often filled with gross overreactions and boneheaded decision making. And however much the twins looked grown up now, they were just barely fifteen.

Dawn sighed again, waiting for an explanation. "Ben?"

"Gimme a minute," I said hurriedly, sliding out from under the bedsheets and hopping myself into my pajama bottoms. "I'll explain, I promise."

I ran to my bedroom door, yanking it open and then sprinting down the hall. But almost immediately, I skidded to a halt, lest I bowl over the three people standing in the middle of it.

"Good morning, Benjamin," Mom said politely, but there was no mistaking the dead seriousness in her voice.

I panicked, thinking of my disheveled, half-naked appearance. Immediately, I started babbling, "This isn't what it looks like-"

"I know it isn't." Mom held her hand up for me to stop. "I know exactly what day today is. I was up early and I heard when the girls went to your room. Believe me, I would have barged in if I suspected you were going back on the decision we'd agreed upon before."

Shaking my head furiously, I stammered, "We didn't-"

"I know," Mom cut me off again. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think it's time I had a little chat with my daughters."

My eyebrows furrowed. I still felt a great sense of responsibility for what was going on. After all, I was the one breaking a promise to my little sisters. They were severely disappointed in me.

"I can do this," I insisted. "I need to apologize to them. I need to be the one to explain why..." I hesitated for a second. Even though I was sure Mom was fully aware of my carnal activity, it was never comfortable uttering the 'sex' word around a parent. Still, I finished, stating, " ... explain why I won't have sex with them."

"What?" Eden shrieked. "Why not?"

"You won't?" Emma whined at the same time.

"But you promised!" Eden yelled.

Mom's expression turned to confusion, and she glanced down at her daughters before looking back at me. "You didn't tell them? Then why are they so angry?"

"I, uh..." I blushed, now feeling even worse under the disapproving gaze of all three of them. "They're sorta mad because I kinda forgot about this day entirely."

"You forgot?" Mom arched her eyebrow skeptically.

"He forgot!" Eden complained like a tattle-tale before belatedly clapping her hand over her mouth. Perhaps she was still in the mental state where she thought she and Emma were sneaking into my bedroom for sex without Mom's knowledge.

Mom put that notion to rest immediately. "I'm going to lay this all out for you girls. I've known since you were thirteen that you were planning to lose your virginities today. I've always known that you wanted Ben to do it. But I'm telling you now that I never had any intention of letting that happen."

"WHAT?" Eden whined. Emma just pouted.

Mom took a deep breath, then glanced up and down the hall. Her actions made me realize that by now, everyone in the house had surely been awakened by the commotion and was now eavesdropping. So after exhaling, she pointed to the stairs and stated, "Downstairs. We're going to your father's office."

Cowed by Mom's imperious tone, the girls bowed their heads and immediately started shuffling away like a pair of death row prisoners with chains around their ankles walking the green mile. I found that my own head was bowed as I followed after.

"Not you, Ben."

I picked my head up. "But, I need to explain to them."

"No you don't."

"But it was MY decision," I said, anguish in my voice. "I let them down, and I need to tell them why."

"You're their big brother, but I'm their mother. Whatever else you might think, this wasn't your decision. I would never have let you do it anyway."

"But-"

"These are MY daughters. I'll handle this. Go back to your girlfriend."

It was an order, not a request. Mom just shrugged, and then turned to go down the stairs. I stared after her until they were all out of sight, and then I went back to my room.

Dawn got the cliff notes version of what happened exactly two years ago, on the twins' thirteenth birthday. Early blowjob attempts and makeout sessions had ultimately led to a promise to deflower both twins on their fifteenth birthday. At the time, I'd fully intended to keep that promise. After all, I'd given Brooke her first sexual experiences when she was fifteen, and that had turned out... relatively well. At the very least, I didn't want the twins fooling around with dumbass high school boys before they were ready.

But then last Spring Break, I'd changed my mind. I'd come to realize how old I was getting, and that teaching the twins about sex wouldn't be the same as teaching Brooke. For one thing, Brooke and I were only two years apart, whereas the twins were five and half years younger. But more importantly, I was there in High School with Brooke, nearby to continue her sexual education and also to protect her. Three weeks from now, I would be back in Berkeley, and the twins would be loose in High School with all those dumbass boys.

For obvious reasons, I hadn't told the twins of this decision. I'd told Mom and Brandi, and I'd assumed I would have nine months to figure out how to break the news to Eden and Emma themselves.

But a lot had happened in those nine months: I'd broken up with Cadence. Paige's parents disowned her. There was all the Dawn and Ryan drama. And finally Dawn and I had gotten back together. Plus there was everything I'd already gone through THIS semester. Yeah, you'd think I would never have forgotten the virginity pledge, but I had.

Plus, for over a year, I'd thought the twins had both moved on from their sexual pursuit of me. Certainly, there hadn't been any sexual activity with them since the summer I last went to camp. That meant that for sixteen months, the twins and I had done nothing beyond a sibling-level kiss. No makeout sessions. No blowjobs. Nothing other than what normal brothers and sisters did with each other.

Until this morning. I'd assumed the girls had moved on, focusing their sexual attention on boys their own age (and outside of their family). I'd assumed the girls had gotten over their childish infatuation with me, and perhaps recognized that the age gap and time apart were important factors that couldn't be ignored.

But I'd assumed wrong. I had no one to blame but myself. Mom had certainly drilled into my head enough times that to assume was just to make an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'.

Now I was the ass. And I was going to have to find some way of fixing things...

... without having sex with the twins.

Quietly, Dawn and I got dressed and went downstairs to get some breakfast. It was still early, but neither of us even thought about going back to sleep. Mom had bought a big box of Costco pastries for the week, and coffee was easy to make. I settled down in the family room, waiting for the rest of my family to arrive with the expected avalanche of questions.

Turned out, I was expecting wrong. It wasn't an avalanche that dominated that morning, it was a tsunami. Around the same time last night that Dawn and Adrienne were quaking orgasmically, so were the tectonic plates off the coast of Sumatra. The resulting tidal waves had destroyed coastlines across Indonesia, Thailand, and India. And several hundred thousand people were missing and presumed dead.

It was like 9/11 all over again, with blanket wall-to-wall coverage on all the morning news networks. Mom had family in Southeast Asia, and she was quickly on the phone trying to get a hold of distant relatives.

For some reason, I found myself surprisingly engrossed by the coverage. Perhaps I was just trying to avoid the Eden/Emma matter for a little while. Perhaps I was maturing and becoming more aware of world matters. Certainly, I hadn't paid much attention to 9/11. I had just started my Senior Year of High School at the time, and I was far more worried about my long-distance relationship with Dawn and the beginnings of my "nottogether" relationship with Adrienne.

I wasn't the only one distracted by the Asian Tsunami. Brooke made only one comment of "So you didn't go through with it?" before turning her own attention to the TV. Adrienne seemed quietly proud of me, though she didn't say anything. And even the twins distracted themselves by joining in the family conversation over the "global disaster"...

... to a point.

Eden couldn't contain her anger with me, and after making a call, she announced that she was going out with friends. She made a very deliberate point of hugging everyone goodbye except me. She even hugged Dawn. All I got was glare.

"Just give her some time," Dawn reassured me quietly, after Eden had stormed out and deliberately slammed the door (again). "She'll get over this."

I just pinched my lips and nodded my agreement, hoping she was right.

Curiously, Emma didn't go with her. After all, Eden's group of friends was also Emma's. But then Eden had always been the headstrong one while Emma was more deliberate and thoughtful. Indeed, rather than run off in a fit of pique, my youngest baby sister came up to me, took my hand, and asked, "Can we talk?"

I glanced at my Mom, who had noticed Emma's approach and was watching us intently. And then I returned my attention to Emma and nodded. "Always."

Emma took my hand and led me upstairs to her bedroom. I hesitated just outside the door, but my baby sister smiled at me and said, "Relax. I'm not going to jump you."

I wasn't totally convinced, but I nodded and followed her inside.

For a moment, I looked around the room and marveled at how much it had changed over the years. I still remembered when the twins were in elementary school, sharing a white bunk bed that had been placed against the far wall. It had created extra space in the middle of the room where they could sit and play on the floor. Now, the room seemed almost evenly divided, with a desk and bed on each side. Eden's mostly green bedspread and accessories gave way to Emma's yellows halfway through. Various stuffed animals that I knew to be near and dear to the twins' hearts had been pushed into dark corners in favor of music and movie posters that now adorned the walls.

The rugrats had grown up.

Emma, herself, had certainly sprouted. Even though she was much younger, my baby sister was already as tall as Brooke's 5'7", and would likely surpass Brandi's height before she was done. She still had a gangly teenager's frame, but her hips and bosom were definitely expanding. And when she turned to face me after closing the door, little Emma gave me a smoldering look befitting a mature seductress that belied her earlier pronouncement that she wouldn't jump me.

"Emma, you just said..."

In a flash, the sultry look was gone, replaced by a youthful grin. "Sorry, closing the door to leave the two of us alone just gave me a momentary fantasy." She looked down at her feet, reaching up to brush a lock of her long hair back and over her ear before demurely looking back up at me.

Even though it didn't seem like she was still trying to seduce me, the effect was quite dramatic. One thing I'd noticed as the girls grew up was how beautiful they were becoming. The twins had our mother's almond eyes, just like Brandi, although their irises were a slightly lighter shade that seemed to glow with an inner brightness. Their hair, too, was a noticeable shade lighter, and combined with their stronger cheekbones, they had an exotic beauty that set them apart from their older sisters. They seemed to get all the best physical attributes from our family, from height to curves to lengthy frames, and I knew that my baby sisters would be quite the stunners as they became adults.

If I'd been a horny 15-year-old boy, I'd have been all over Emma. Even now, as a fully-formed 20-year-old who got WAY more than his fair share of sex, I was terribly attracted to the willowy teenager. So I knew with certainty that the twins had been getting a whole lot of male attention. It must have taken some restraint for them to maintain their purity for this long.

I sighed rapturously, realizing that my baby sisters had gone and become young women. I thought about what it must have been like to be in Emma's shoes: basking in all the male attention, boiling in my own hormones, aching for total and complete sexual release ... and then having your long-planned deflowering not happen the way you'd been hoping for. I empathized with the crushing feeling she must have inside, and I held my arms open with an apologetic face. "I'm so sorry, Emma."

A wellspring of emotion popped up behind my sister's eyes. She fought back a sniffle and then rushed over to me. I caught her easily against my chest and hugged her fiercely while she buried her nose against my shoulder and began sobbing.

Nothing was said for a full ten minutes. We just stood there, in the middle of her room for a long time, me holding and her crying. There was still some tension between us, sexual and otherwise. But my hands never roamed beyond her shoulders. She never tried to kiss me. I was just her big brother, and she just my baby sister.

But at long last, Emma's tears dried up and she began to slow her breathing. Deep, deliberate inhalations eventually turned into calm breaths. And with red-rimmed eyes, she tilted her face back to look at me.

"It's okay," Emma said softly, looking straight into my eyes. "I understand."

I blinked quickly, not quite sure how to react.

Emma continued. "Mom explained. I don't like it. I..." she choked up a bit. "I really don't like it. My heart feels crushed into a million pieces right now. But my head understands."

"Emma ... baby..." I took a deep breath. "I never meant to hurt you."

"I know."

"This isn't because I don't... want to ... You know you're really sexy now." I winced, not sure how to explain sexualizing my baby sister. It was somehow still different to me, with Brandi and Brooke being so much closer in age to me.

She smiled at the compliment anyway.

"I just ... I can't. I mean, if I was going to be sticking around. If I was going to be here more than just a couple of weeks then-"

"I know, I know-" she cut me off. "Eden was really mad about this particular reason. She still thinks that one hour would have been enough. But ... I think we both understand that there's more to our virginities than just having sex once. This is a big step. It's something important. It's something special."

I nodded. "There's no going back."

Emma's lips trembled, and I thought she was going to start crying again. "I love you, big brother."

"I love you too, little one."

"I still wish it could be you."

"We both know it can't."

"Why not?" she pouted quietly, and suddenly I felt her hands tightening their grip on me. "Ben ... Please? Just ... right here. I'm ready. I've been ready. I've been waiting for this moment, and now I have you here. Please, big brother. I NEED you."

I closed my eyes and turned my face away. I couldn't look at her, couldn't take the tension. It felt like such a moment of déjà vu, in a way I couldn't explain. A beautiful girl wanted me to sleep with her, wanted it to be the greatest, most perfect moment of her young life. But my conscience knew better.

And then I suddenly remembered. Had it only been a few days ago? Was it really so recent that I let myself ignore my conscience and give in to Chevelle?

And hadn't it been the biggest disappointment?

My own hands tightened around Emma's shoulders, and I firmly but gently pulled her away from me. She whimpered, but only gave me momentary resistance before letting me take her face in my hands and tilt it to look up at me. "I'm sorry. Really, I am."

Her lip trembled, but now she looked resigned to the decision.

I tried to put on a smile. "Look, I know that in a moment like this, you're probably not going to believe what I'm saying. But sometimes you can overhype a moment."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she backed away from me.

I let her go, and then asked with a smirk, "Okay, let me put it this way. How long have you and Eden been thinking about today?"

"About today? Well... forever."

I chuckled. "Maybe not forever."

She shrugged. "You promised us when we turned thirteen. So two years, I guess. Feels like forever."

"I know that even though you and Eden backed off me for a while now, even though we haven't really done any, uh ... stuff ... together for more than a year, this day was something that the both of you have been thinking about ever since you were thirteen. That's a lot of time to build something up in your head. That's a LONG time to be formulating a fantasy. You're convinced that this is going to be the BEST. THING. EVER. And the reality is: it would be almost impossible for the real thing to measure up."

"You never know until you try..." she ventured with a faint note of hope.

I shook my head. "This had disappointment written all over it."

"Like I'm not disappointed now?"

I sighed. "I'd rather you be disappointed and nothing happened than to have gone through with it and come out disappointed."

Emma looked away and bit her lip. "Well ... I might've been okay with some disappointment if we still could've-"

"Emma..." I warned, cutting her off.