My thanksgiving tradition was not to sit at home with my family and eat turkey and stuffing and then lay around watching TV all night. That's because I have no family, other than my 26 year old sister, Alana. Our parents were only children, and we lost them years ago. So for a significant part of our lives, it has been just Alana and I.
It might have been lonely if not for Style, my late mom's friend who also owned a small beauty salon. Style was a committed bachelorette, as were many of her friends and employees. And Style didn't have much more family than Alana and I did. So each year Style threw a big Thanksgiving party for all those people she knew who might otherwise be alone. Alana and I had gone every year since our parents died, and this year was to be no different.
Except this year it felt different, at least to me. Though I had no aunt, Style seemed as close as I'd get, and particularly in those early years after the accident, she was almost a mother figure to us, helping in every possible way. For that reason I felt nervous about facing her this year--and I knew exactly what triggered my anxiety.
It was because Alana and I had been intimate. To say the least.
As I prepared for the evening out, I could tell from Alana's withdrawn attitude and silence that the same thing was bothering her.
We lived together in the house my parents left us. I had the upstairs of the house, which was great for any 18 year old guy, and Alana had the basement. We didn't have to run into each other at all if we didn't want to, yet we both ended up in the upper floor bathroom. Alana had always said my bathroom had the best light, but she still used it rarely, so I was suspicious of her being up here. We crowded the small bathroom, looking over each other's shoulders for better looks at the mirror and ducking and reaching to use the sink.
Alana was, for once, ready ahead of me. She had on some nice slacks and a very dressy top. She looked good, and her hair was perfect--she'd just had it done at Style's place earlier in the morning. Now Alana was just adding her make-up, something she rarely used except for special occasions. In fact, I think this was the first or maybe second time I'd seen her with make-up since Style's party last year.
I had my dress pants on and an old t-shirt, but I was less than half ready. Though Style was the laid back type in many ways, this party was an exception. Everyone always dressed up, not overdoing it, but looking nice. The rest of my outfit was on a hanger behind the open bathroom door. As nice as my sister looked, I couldn't help but notice that, for the first time, I was going to be more dressed up than she was.
I looked at my watch while I shaved with my other hand. We were running late. I felt like, though I intended to hurry, I was moving in slow motion. It was because I wanted to say something to break the tension in the room, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, nor did I have the right words. I could tell, somehow, that Alana was having the same problem.
I had been obsessing about my sister for months now. And finally we had done it. Really done it. We'd fucked. Alana had sucked me, let me inside her body, and savored my seed. I had tasted her and filled her. We had made love.
It had happened more than once, but the last time was different. Unlike our other brief flings, starting on a flight to Las Vegas, this last event was more like a beginning to something than an end, and we both felt it. After wanting each other for so long and not letting it happen, we finally seemed to be in sync. We were ready to give in.
But, with the holidays here, something was tainting us. This was a season of family time, and it reminded me who Alana really was. It made me wonder about how my parents would feel about the terrible things we'd done with each other. I feared their judgment, but worse, I feared what Style would think, since she was the best representation of a parent either of us had, and that fact hadn't hit me until recently. And Style could always tell. Whatever it was you were keeping from her, somehow, she would know.
For months I had wanted nothing more than to have my sister as my lover, and here, when that was closer to reality than ever, I was having second thoughts. Not because I didn't want it to work, but because I didn't think it could work. Fucking your sibling was one thing. But getting away with it was another. I feared the consequences of our relationship if this thing really took off.
God, we were late. And that would only make Style give us more attention. We had to hurry up. I finished shaving and took off my t-shirt.
"I think we need to talk," Alana said. My heart stopped, but somehow I kept moving as if nothing was amiss. So did she, fixing her lashes like this was going to be a normal conversation.
"I'm okay with what I did with you," she said. "I want you to know that. And...all those times I acted like I didn't want...that to happen...well, I did."
"I know," I said, just because I felt that I needed to say something.
She turned to me and looked me in the eye, her face was a mask, unreadable.
"I loved being with you Gavin, and I love you. But...I think you know we....we'd never get away with it."
She turned back to the mirror and her make-up, not wanting to believe her own words. I didn't want to believe them either, even though I had been trying to say the same words to her for too long now. She was right. Even if we didn't get caught, being in a secretive, sexual relationship would hurt our social and professional lives. We'd be paranoid, closed off, and eventually we would fight. But as brother and sister we couldn't exactly break-up. It was a tragedy waiting to happen.
"I think we'll be okay if we just accept what we did, and leave it at that. We were never really together, so it should be easy."
She didn't sound convinced, though again she was right. Our moments together were never really just about the two of us. There was always someone there, or just around the corner. The thrill of having sex with a sibling added with the thrill of doing it around a stranger overshadowed the simple pleasure of just being together and sharing each other. We had never really taken that step, which now looked like a good thing, because it made it easier to back away.
"That is exactly what I've been trying to stay for the last hour," I told her. "I just..."
"It's weird, isn't it?" she stated more than asked. When I nodded as I threw my tie around my neck and began tying it, she continued. "Which is exactly why we need to stop now. For the past few days I felt like we needed to do it. You know, get together. But it never was something that I wanted. I don't know if that makes sense..."