Rugby Sisters

Author's Note: All characters over eighteen.

****

I took my usual seat on the bleachers with Claire, Zelda, and Bridget. We were there, as we often were, to watch the rugby game. All four of us had brothers on the university team, and as the only one still in high school I was pretty sure it was the only reason the other girls had so easily and warmly welcomed me into their little group. I'd regularly walked over from my school and sat shyly on my own until they realized Jack was my brother.

As soon as I was included, invited in as another in a small clique of girls who came to support their brothers, I was firmly part of the group. After watching only a few practices and games with the girls, I felt as comfortable with them as with any of my oldest friends. Which was really saying something, given that I was emphatically the youngest and shyest of the four of us.

"I don't know what it is about rugby boys," Claire, our unofficial leader, was musing as I made myself comfortable.

Zelda snorted. "Yes you do. Bunch of athletic guys in shorts playing grabass out on the field? Don't know what's confusing you about that."

I giggled. "Jack would hate you describing it like that."

"Ha, yeah," Bridget said. "Brothers. What can ya do?"

Zelda smirked. "I know. Big manly men. Who incidentally do a lot of forceful cuddling for our pleasure."

I hugged myself and kept snickering at the way the girls talked. They got really quite pervy at times, which was a delight to me and my somewhat sheltered existence. Even with my best friends at school I didn't often feel comfortable being horny around them or getting quite as vocal about boys.

I'd had my fair share of crushes over the years, which I'd of course shared with my besties, but I'd never felt like it was such an easy thing to be obviously horny about them. My new friends either had the advantage of age and experience, or maybe they were just a different crowd from the type I would normally hang with.

It was certainly true that there was something new in the feelings I got watching my brother's practices and games. Not always straight up horny necessarily, but it was pretty fun to lean into that when it happened with friends that understood and felt the same.

Partly I just liked the excitement of it all. The actual sport spectating. I mostly understood the rules these days, though some details continued to elude me. I understood plenty to watch with mounting nerves and adrenaline as Jack's team came from behind in the last part of the game and scored enough to just eke out a victory.

The crowd near us erupted in a frenzy, and I found myself caught up in it as well. I leapt to my feet cheering and clapping, then darted down with Claire, Zelda, and Bridget, and indeed the various girlfriends hanging around, meeting the players as they headed for the locker room.

I found Jack, or rather he found me and made a little space for us as I hugged him. He laughed, high on his fresh win, and spun me around. I gave a ferociously giddy laugh, enjoying being held and swung around perhaps even more than the excitement of the celebration.

Rather oddly, I could have sworn as I was spinning about that I saw Claire and Malcolm, her brother, getting even more caught up in the thrill than Jack and I. Which was to say they were definitely hugging too, but I could have sworn they briefly kissed as well. Probably it was my imagination, and she'd kissed him on the cheek or something. It really didn't look that way to me though.

I forgot about it pretty quickly as Jack set me down again.

"That was a great game," I told him.

Jack smiled, beaming the way he sometimes did when really happy. I loved that cheeky grin on him.

"Almost a disaster," he said.

"That's why it was great," I said. "No fun if you crush 'em too easily."

"Ha, you might be right, Court. Gets the fans all worked up this way," he said, gesturing to the crowd.

I giggled. "The boys with girlfriends are gonna have fun, huh?"

Jack snickered. "Probably. You're too young to know about that though."

I made a face and punched his arm. I may as well have punched a tree, but at least he acted like he felt it.

"I'm barely two years younger than you, you ass," I said.

"I know," he teased, putting a hand to his heart. "I'm such an innocent I thought surely you must be even more so."

"Har har. Like you haven't hooked up with any babes who think you play really good."

Jack made hurt, soulful eyes. The kind that fooled mom, but hadn't worked on me in... well, probably ever. "I shudder at what you must think of me. That I would stoop so low as to consort with attractive girls who want to spend 'alone time' with me."

"This is why I like my new friends," I said. "They just admit to being horny sometimes and don't make such a production of it."

Jack's eyes widened for real, if only for a second. "I'm gonna have to keep you away from bad influences, you know. You have to watch out for rugby boys. And girls, for that matter," he added thoughtfully.

Zelda sneaked up and put an arm around me. "Don't worry," she grinned. "We'll keep an eye on Court for you. She's in good hands."

"Your hands are precisely what I'm afraid of," Jack said.

"Whatever. Go get showered, big sexy winner guy," Zelda said, slapping Jack on the butt.

He appeared unsure what to do with the gesture, but didn't seem to mind too much.

The rest of the guys had mostly meandered away as well. I glanced at Claire and Malcolm, narrowing my eyes as I watched him squeeze his sister's butt before heading to the locker room as well. Claire just smirked after him, tossed her hair, then wandered back over to us.

I just shook my head and told myself I was seeing things.

****

I arrived early for the next rugby practice. Mostly this meant bumming a ride from a friend rather than walking like I normally did.

I sat alone for a time, absently watching the very beginnings of warmups. Claire arrived next and settled in casually next to me, looking just as relaxed as I was tense.

"I thought a lot the past few days," I said.

"Sounds like probably too much thinking then," Claire said, eyes glued to one of the guys with particularly tight shorts.

"Maybe. But like last match, I'm pretty sure you kissed your brother."

Claire took a long time in answering. She never looked at me the whole time, but I could practically watch her mind whirring.

"So maybe I did," she finally said.

I edged closer. "Seriously?"

"You were there. You saw, I assume."

"I did. But like... how? Why?"

Claire shrugged. "If I don't, some other girl will."

I gaped at her. "What? That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm a jealous girl. What can I say?"

"Of your brother?"

Claire finally fixed me with eyes that were far more piercing than I'd ever noticed before. "He's my brother," she said softly, but with a hint of venom to her words. "Why would I let someone else have him?"

"That's insane," I whispered. "You're insane."

She laughed, which didn't help change my mind even slightly.

"Think what you want," she said. "But you're obsessed with your brother too."

"I am not!" I protested.

"So last match, when you leapt into his arms and let him twirl you and all, you'd have been fine if another girl got there first?"

My heart wrenched in a way I hadn't previously known it could. "He's not seeing anyone," I said.

"Sure. But what if he was?"

My insides tightened up even further. I didn't have an answer. I'd kind of always just assumed there wouldn't be anyone else competing for his attention. It was foolish in hindsight. Claire was right. Jack could start seeing someone at any time, really, and then where would I be? Not being swung around victoriously in his arms, that's where.

Bridget sneaked up and slid into her seat, making me blush and hope she hadn't overheard any of our conversation. Zelda wasn't that far behind.

I stayed locked up and silent as the other three carried on smalltalk and banter. My eyes tracked Jack out on the pitch and I tried to process some brand new feelings while hoping everyone would just forget I was there. Jealous? Was that really what I was? Because even though the concept wasn't entirely novel, I hadn't thought it all the way through before. I now felt a painfully stabbing pang at the idea that he'd find a girlfriend and she'd be the one watching him play instead, and celebrating with him, and going home to bed together, and--

A pair of snapping fingers in front of my face startled me back to reality.

"You ok there Court?" Bridget asked. "You're zoned out like crazy."

"Me?" I mumbled. "Yeah. Fine. Just... tired maybe."

"Are you?" Zelda asked. "You look deep in thought."

"I guess," I said.

I tried not to look at Claire. She had a faint little smirk going that was painfully obvious to me since I knew what I was looking for.

"That's kind of my fault," Claire said.

I screwed up my face, hoping she wasn't about to say what I was pretty sure she was going to.

"Why?" Bridget frowned. "What did you do?"

"You're supposed to be nice," Zelda reminded her.

"When am I ever not nice?" Claire protested, wincing as the other two immediately jumped in with examples. "I retract the question. I retract it ok?!"

I still felt tense, but I liked that attention was back off of me, and in a kind of amusing way.

"All I did," Claire said when she was given the chance again, "was warn Court that someone might try to date her brother at some point. These things happen."

I blushed and hung my head, hoping desperately that the conversation would stop there. To my surprise, instead of getting weird looks I just got sympathy. I cautiously raised my head again as Zelda patted my shoulder, and I found that she and Bridget were both giving me empathetic expressions.

"That can happen," Bridget agreed. "Ethan almost started dating someone last year. It was a close thing."

Zelda nodded. "You gotta watch them close sometimes. You know how boys are."

"Do I?" I asked.

"Maybe not," Zelda shrugged. "I assume you haven't dated any?"

"Why would you assume that?" I mumbled unhappily. "I mean you're right, but--"

"Sorry," Zelda said. "Just, you know. If you don't know how boys are, and you're here supporting your brother with us all the time...."

I blinked. "What about boys anyway? Why do you keep talking about them?"

"Well..." Bridget said, "they're kind of huge sluts for someone to cuddle and help them process their emotions. Generally speaking, I mean."

"Oh," I said. "I thought they wanted sex."

"That too," Claire said, smirking again. "Stuff that someone else is going to give them if you aren't careful."

I frowned, looking at my three friends in turn. "Well what am I supposed to do about that? I mean... I don't like that Jack's gonna date someone, now that you've made me think about it too hard, but I can't do anything about it really."

"Why don't you like it?" Bridget asked gently.

I balled up my hands, the tightness returning to my chest. "I don't know. I never thought about it much until today. Jack just never really dated anyone, and I think maybe I thought that's just how it was gonna be."

There were sympathetic noises all round.

"That's the thing about brothers," Claire said. "Can't keep them to yourself forever. Not unless you really put the effort in."

"What does that mean?" I asked. "Is this something to do with why you ki--"

I stopped myself short, realizing I shouldn't necessarily finish my sentence. Claire didn't hesitate though.

"Why I kissed Mal?" she asked lightly. "Yeah. He needs kisses sometimes."

Zelda and Bridget just nodded.

"You both knew about that?" I demanded.

All three girls stared at me.

"That's why we hang together," Bridget said. "Thought you knew that."

"I knew you didn't," Zelda said. "But... you know, you were pretty clearly one of us in spirit."

"One of what?" I mumbled.

"Girls who are... slightly more possessive of their brothers than usual," Zelda answered. "I know not every sibling relationship is close, but it still kind of baffles me how many girls just let their brothers date whoever they want."

"Downright irresponsible," Bridget confirmed. "They can be so vulnerable to manipulation and stuff."

"And like, they're our brothers to start with," Zelda said. "Other girls just think they can move in and do whatever they want."

I squirmed. "Well that's going to happen though, isn't it? Not much we can do. I... we shouldn't even be jealous, right?" I peered around worriedly. "Right?"

Claire, lounging calmly, shook her head. "Lots we can do," she said. "And I don't know about you, but I'm going to be jealous if I damn well please."

"Are you?" I asked in a small voice.

She smiled mysteriously at me. "I am."

I hugged myself tightly. "I don't know what to think about any of this."

I got some more sympathetic pats from the others.

"Join the club," Zelda said. "Brothers are... complicated."

"Simple, but complicated," Bridget nodded.

"Not so complicated," Claire said languidly. "Depending on what you're willing to do."

I let that thought simmer for a while as we all watched practice and engaged in some more usual and less emotionally intense conversation.

"What should I be willing to do?" I finally asked, minutes later. I immediately blushed as all three of my older friends turned to grin at me, almost as one.

"There you go," Claire said. "I knew you'd come around."

"Don't want him dating the wrong girl or anything," I mumbled, fully embarrassed at the attention all being on me, especially in context.

"Do you want him dating you?" Bridget asked, leaning close, eyes wide and intense.

"No!" I said. "That would be silly." I paused. "Right?"

"I kind of agree," Claire said. "Dating Mal would be weird. Mostly all he needs is some smooches and cuddles anyway. No need to bring dating into it."

I flushed again as she mentioned kissing her brother, this time for reasons other than embarrassment. It was intriguing, and perhaps exciting to think about something like that. Still ludicrous and insane of course. Except... I'd seen her do it. She'd done it. Probably way more times than that, too, and the propriety police had resolutely failed to show up and arrest her.

"Is it really, like, ok to do that?" I asked in a small, curious voice.

Claire shrugged. "Probably not. I do it anyway. What's stopping me, you know?"

Bridget cleared her throat. "I mostly don't kiss Ethan or anything. Head scritchies is enough most of the time."

Zelda nodded. "Boys like those. Head pats and scritchies. Or like scratching their back for them while watching a movie or something."

"Classic move," Bridget agreed.

I relaxed a little from the tension I hadn't even been totally aware I was carrying. "I could do that," I said. "Is that all? Then Jack wouldn't want a girlfriend or anything?"

"Depends on your brother," Claire said. "You know him best. I have to say, keeping it platonic is a risk-reward game the same as anything else. And let's be real, nothing is ever certain in life."

I bit my lip. "It feels so weird to even think of being non-platonic with Jack. Like that's crazy. It'd be crazy. I wouldn't do that."

"Don't underestimate a good kiss every now and then," Zelda said. "It's not a big deal, but it really helps."

I went blushy and quiet again as I contemplated that of the four of us, I appeared to be the only one who didn't occasionally kiss her brother. It was an odd feeling. Somewhat bad, but also somewhat exciting. One of those nervous flutters that I got when thinking about something I'd never possibly do, but would be so brave and thrilling if I did.

****

My friends were bad influences. All I could think about for about a whole week was kissing my brother. It was dismissive at first. Chewing amusedly at the possibility but not giving it serious consideration.

It turned into a prelude to playing with myself. Not that I'd actually masturbate while thinking of Jack. Not at all. But thinking about kissing him led up to me being horny all too frequently. It was a disturbing thing to realize.

After coming to terms somewhat with that development, I found myself spending way too much time on my own thinking about my brother. Not dismissing anything out of hand this time. Just staring at nothing, twisting my hair in my fingers, and contemplating what I was actually going to do. What I wanted to do and what I was capable of doing were two different things, and I wasn't sure exactly where I landed on either.

I was driving myself a bit crazy, spinning out without any kind of easy exit path from my thoughts. I didn't know what to do, and didn't even quite dare bring it up again while watching the next game. Claire, Zelda, and Bridget would have understood, it seemed, but I wasn't sure I wanted their advice at the moment. Talking to them was what had given me my current problems in the first place.

The decision was, in a sense, removed from my hands after the game. That wasn't totally accurate, since my actions were my own, but they didn't feel it in the moment. The game was another nailbiter, with Jack's team only barely staving off disaster at the end and clinching a win.

I leapt down to meet him, grinning at his wide, joyous smile. I loved the feel of his arms wrapping around me and the way he could hoist me in the air like I weighed nothing.

Some of his other teammates were kissing their girlfriends. I very deliberately didn't look at my friends to see what they were up to, but I also clearly wasn't thinking too straight. I held on to Jack, my arms locked behind his neck, and picked myself up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

It was so easy, it turned out. It felt like it shouldn't have been so quick and simple, especially after all the internal strife. But it was. I just kissed Jack, and that was all there was to it.

He laughed and dipped me lower, kissing me all the more firmly. Like it was all just celebration. And it was, really.

Except as he and the rest of his team trotted away and I stood there panting, sensing my friends padding up behind him, my heart ached for something more.

"That a girl," Claire said. "That looked like a fucking good kiss."

"It was," I said, breathless and anguished. "Best I've ever had. By far."

My twisted insides got even worse as Jack drove me home. I knew the magic wouldn't last, and I was right.

"Sorry about kissing you," he said.

I frowned and crossed my arms, looking out the window instead of at him. "I kissed you," I said.

"Well... we both got one," he said.

"Acceptable."

"But, uh, you know. It was the mood of the thing," Jack said. "Got out of hand. Hell of a game."

"It was," I agreed. "You played really well."

"Thanks."

I risked a glance at Jack just to see that crooked, charming little smile of his.

"You didn't like it though," I said.

"Nah, it was a great kiss," Jack said. "Just, you know, people'll get the wrong idea. You know how it is."

"Not really."

Jack chuckled and patted my shoulder. "Sorry, I know it's a bit weird now. But we'll be ok."

I nodded absently. "If you say so."

****

"I don't think he wants to kiss me again," I complained.

"Not what I fucking saw," Claire said.

"Yeah, I only wish Ethan kissed me like that," Bridget sighed.

"No, it was a great kiss," I said, blushing furiously at saying it out loud, and indeed at the memory of it that still haunted my fantasies ever since it had happened. "He just thinks we got caught up in the moment. Doesn't want people to get the wrong idea."

"Ah," Zelda said. "Well, you know, Jack might need another nudge or two to get the right idea himself."

"I'm not doing more than kissing him," I said firmly. "None of this corrupting me any more than you already did."