I was fourteen when my mother died. Her last months were pretty hard on Dad and me, especially Dad, and it took him a couple years to get his feet back under himself. He did get his life back together, and I was happy for him when he could finally bring himself to start dating again. It wasn't long before he was regularly seeing a woman named Michelle, who had been divorced a year or two earlier, and had a daughter my age. I knew things were starting to get serious when Dad introduced me to her. And even more serious, when Dad and Michelle planned an all-day picnic outing to a campground on the lake, so the four of us could 'start getting to know each other'.
I had to say, I couldn't complain about Dad's choice. Michelle was certainly a nice enough lady, and she wasn't pushy about becoming my 'new mom', or anything like that. By the time I was 17, I wasn't in the market for a 'new mom', but I also knew that, if Dad went ahead and married her, like it seemed he was inclined to do, that the two of us would have to get along. And that wasn't going to be hard at all.
I also knew I was going to need to get along with her daughter, at least until one or both of us grew up and moved out. But I really had no idea who her daughter was, until the four of us got together at the lake.
I actually knew Kelly from school. I should rather say, I knew who she was; we'd barely had any direct contact with each other, even though we'd been in the same classes for several years. Kelly was one of the 'popular kids' -- a cheerleader, her friends were the other cheerleaders, and the guys on the sports teams. I, on the other hand, was kind of a nerd -- I had a reputation as a 'brainiac', and a math-science geek. So my 'sphere' and Kelly's didn't overlap a whole lot.
Once I knew who my would-be stepsister was, I was a little nervous about how it was all going to work out. Would Kelly play the typical 'social dominance' games against me, or would we work out a decent way to live together under the same roof? At least at first, she seemed inclined to treat me pleasantly enough, and as our parents' courtship proceeded, and we were starting to act more and more like a family-to-be, we actually came to like each other.
*****
Once Dad and Michelle were married, and the four of us were all living together under the same roof, there was a brief period of adjustments to be made. Both Kelly and I had been 'only children', and so it was different -- and not unpleasant -- to have a sibling for the first time in my life, even if the bathroom wasn't quite as available as it had been my whole life before then.
Kelly and I came to a really good way of 'living together', now that we were step-siblings. I was happy to help her with her homework; her grades actually improved after we started living together, and she seemed genuinely grateful for my help.
For my part, Kelly was helpful in showing me how to be a bit more 'social' than I'd been accustomed to being. Her 'popular' friends would come over to the house, and I got to know them better, and we all kind-of came to realize that we weren't so 'foreign' to each other as we'd supposed. Not at all that I was glad my mother had died, but I was really enjoying the ways my horizons were expanding in our 'new family'.
*****
Kelly and I both turned 18 the fall of our senior year; our birthdays were just over a week apart (just for the record -- she's older than me). "See," she smiled, "we have even more in common than we thought!"
The night of my birthday, after all the candles were blown out, and birthday presents opened, songs sung and cake-and-ice-cream eaten, Kelly and I were chatting in her room. Kelly cocked her head sideways and said to me, "You know, you're nothing like what I expected you'd be."
I laughed. "And just how did you 'expect me to be'?"
"Well, I thought you were kind of a nerd, and that you'd be kinda weird, and awkward, and hard to relate to. But you're not like that at all."
"Well, I'm glad I could exceed your expectations. I suppose I should say, since we're on the topic, that I was worried you'd be all, 'I'm so cool, and you're not' with me, and you're not at all like that, either. You're a really neat person, and I like you a lot."
Kelly stopped and looked at me, thinking about what I'd just said. "Thank you for saying that. It means a lot to me. I don't want to be all 'stuck-up', just because we've had different friends. I think you're pretty neat, and I like you, too."
I went over to her, and gave her a hug -- as brotherly a hug as I could muster up, even though I was still pretty new to the whole 'brother' thing. "I think we're gonna be just fine," I said quietly.
"Me too."
*****
The other adjustment that needed to be made was simply having women in the house. Of course, I'd grown up with my mom, but Dad and I had been living a pretty Spartan existence for the past few years, and it was different -- in a good way, for sure -- having 'feminine touches' around the house again, and I'd never had a sister before, so that was all new. Even just having people in the house who smelled nice. There were the little 'daily life' things like the women's underwear hanging in the bathroom, that were definite markers that my life was different than it had been. And I didn't mind those at all, either. In fact, in an odd way that I couldn't really put my finger on, I found them interesting; exciting, even.
One evening, shortly after my birthday, I was in the shower, when I heard the door open. "Who's there?" I called out.
"It's just me," answered Kelly.
"Um. . . I'm in the shower."
"I know; I have to pee really bad. Hope you don't mind. Besides," she said, "we can't see through the curtain, anyway. You stay on your side, and I'll stay on mine."
From the other side of the shower curtain, I could hear the sound of Kelly peeing. My penis stirred at the image in my brain.
"Okay," I finally answered, "you stay on your side, and I'll stay on mine."
I heard the toilet flush. Then, light appeared from around the end of the curtain.
"I lied!" Kelly said, grinning wickedly as she peeked in on me, while I tried in vain to hide my nakedness, and the fact that my penis was semi-hard, from her. "Oooh!" she giggled, pointing at my cock. "Is that your. . . thing?" She only peeked for a few seconds before closing the curtain and leaving the bathroom, but it felt like she was checking me out for hours. And yet, oddly, once she'd left, I found myself more excited than flustered.
*****
A few days later, Kelly and I were sitting in the living room watching a show on TV, when Michelle wandered through, dressed only in a filmy nightgown. Backlit by the light from the kitchen, it was completely see-through. I could clearly see her large, round boobs, with dark nipples at their tips, and how they bounced when she walked. I could see the curve of her hips, and even the cleft in her butt. And the dark, triangular patch at her crotch. I tried not to be too obvious about checking her out -- she was my step-mother, for heaven's sake! -- but even so, I could feel my breathing getting deeper and quicker, and blood rushing to my penis. It was the closest I'd ever been to seeing a real-live naked woman.
When Michelle wandered back down the hall, Kelly ran after her. "Mom!" I heard her say, in a loud whisper, "Tim can see right through your nightgown!"
"Oh, just settle down, dear," I heard her mother whisper back. "I doubt he was even paying attention."
Kelly harrumphed. "Maybe," she said, "but I wouldn't be so sure."
"I'll try to be more careful, dear," I heard her mother reassure her. "And thanks for looking out for me."
Kelly came back to the living room, shaking her head and muttering. "I swear, it's like she forgets that it's more than just her and me living here."
*****
Circumstances seemed to be conspiring to keep my sexual temperature elevated, all in the first few days after my 18th birthday. A few days after my step-mother's unintentional peep show, Kelly and I were talking in her room, with the door open. Her room was at the end of the hall on one side; mine was just up the hall from, hers. Dad and Michelle shared the master bedroom, which was next to Kelly's, on the other side of the hall.