I washed the dishes and glanced up at the TV from time to time as John and Jeff cheered at the game they were watching. I smiled. I didn't really know anything about the game they were watching but I didn't care. That wasn't important. What was important was how natural this felt. Comfortable. Simple. But it was more than that. I felt like me. As I scrubbed at the frying pan to get off the rest of the egg residue I realized that I always felt on the outside looking in. It wasn't that people didn't like me. I knew I was different and even weird about how I interacted with people. But I thought that is how everyone felt. At least I told myself.
But now, at this moment, it was like that entire narrative I had worked out for so many years just wasn't true. There was a moment of belonging or comfort that other people had and I never did. I never belonged anywhere. If I was honest I didn't know that I cared. The proud part of me wanted to say I didn't care. I wondered if other people did that. I wondered if other people told themselves not to care about things that they really cared about. Who knows? The point is that now that I feel the way I did, I realized that I did want to belong. I needed to belong.
As I stood there in front of the sink in my bra and underwear washing dishes with my brothers watching TV, after being with both of them at the same time an hour or two before, I knew I belonged here. Like this. There were no secrets between us. There wasn't any side conversations or things I wasn't supposed to say. I realized that I spent so much of my mental space trying to figure out what to say and who to say it to and who to not say it to. For the first time, perhaps ever, I was just washing dishes and not thinking about that. I was free.
I am a zero.
"A zero is free," I whispered as I wiped the pan off and put it back on the stove. "A zero is free," I muttered again.
I opened the cupboard and started putting the clean coffee cups away when I felt a hand on my hip. I turned and John was standing there very close to me. His thumb stroked the skin of my lower back and the elastic on my underwear.
"How is the game?" I asked him, looking right into his eyes.
"We are winning," he replied evenly. "But I got distracted."
I frowned slightly and asked, "Are you still hungry? I just cleaned up but..."
"No," he said directly.
His tone was strong and I felt a tingle run through my spine. His other hand caressed my cheek but he didn't say anything.
I just looked at him, then turned fully to face him.
His fingers caressed my cheek and then he moved his thumb down to my lips and touched them gently, pulling down a little on my lower lip.
My body tingled starting at the base of my spine and I felt myself getting wet. There was something in his look. John was very kind, considerate and gentle. He was very compassionate and caring. But he did not look at me like that. His look was different. It was direct. It was very even. But it was also a hungry look.
I felt his thumb push into my mouth and I started to suck it. Softly at first but then harder and harder. My thumb roaming over his smooth thumb nail. At the same time I his other hand took mine and he led my hand to the waistband of his sweatpants and I pushed my hand down his pants. He was fully erect.
I gripped him firmly.
He swallowed dryly as I continued to suck his thumb.
I looked into his eyes and I realized that he saw me. He was looking past the facade of what I put forth and instead looked directly into me. I was not Katie, his sister and friend. I wasn't the girl at the bar or the one that helped balance his checkbook or was good with numbers. I wasn't pretty or ugly or sexy or beautiful. I wasn't those things. I am a zero. In this moment, I was a mouth.
He pushed me firmly down to my knees and pulled his thumb out of my mouth. He stepped forward and I let go of his erect penis as it entered my open mouth.
I closed my eyes.
"Look at me," he said almost immediately.
I looked at him.