[Standard Disclaimer: All of my stories, including this one, are purely works of fiction, and any similarities to real world persons or events are purely coincidental. All characters involved in any sexual content are 18 years of age or older at the time such content occurs.]
For as long as I can remember, my little sister, Nikki, was always scared of thunder. When she was little, she got into the habit of sleeping in my bed and snuggling close during thunderstorms. This began to get awkward when she kept doing so even as a teenager.
Eventually, I moved out of my parents' house at the age of twenty-two, but four years later, when my job began laying people off, I was forced to move back in with them.
My sister turned eighteen soon afterward, and re-established her habit of sleeping in my bed during thunderstorms. This time, however, she initiated a routine of increasingly sexual "snuggling" which led to us both admitting our true feelings to each other. We teased each other by telling each other things like "brothers aren't supposed to do that to their little sister", which started a habit of trying to phrase things as if they were innocent or appropriate sibling activities. Eventually, our amorous activities culminated in us making love for the first time. Afterward, Nikki admitted that she'd overcome her fear of thunder when she was twelve.
However, after our Mom and Dad basically caught each other cheating, they split up, and the house was sold. Mom and Nikki moved into a two-bedroom apartment near where my job was, and I got my own apartment nearby. Nikki and I saw each other nearly every day, and even went on dates occasionally.
For the most part we only did things that normal siblings would. We would eat lunch or dinner together, go see movies together, and sometimes just go for a walk together and catch up. We never did anything more romantic than holding hands and kissing (which almost got us kicked out of a movie theater or two), but it felt more romantic to us. We'd still have fun playing with the pretext that we were "just siblings" and phrased things in as innocent a context as we could to each other, even though we knew it was more.
We had done well to keep our incestuous relationship a secret; that was, until one fateful weekend camping trip with our cousins...
*
"How long until we get there?" Nikki asked, a dour expression on her face.
"We've still got another hour," I replied after checking the GPS.
We'd been driving for almost three hours of the four hour trip. We'd originally planned to spend the weekend at a closer campground, but our cousins, who were joining us, wanted to go to a different campground nearly half a state away. They lived less than an hour from us, so I wondered why they insisted on going so far.
"I still can't believe we're finally going on the camping trip we've been talking about, and we won't even be able to sleep in the same tent. Is what we've been doing so wrong that the universe wants to keep us apart?" I could see she was beginning to dive into her seemingly unending river of self doubt again, so I had to pull her back.
"It's not the universe that ruined our original plans. It was Mom and Dad."
For the last six months, ever since Mom moved out and Dad had to sell the house, Nikki and I had been limited to only "appropriate" or at least "semi-appropriate" sibling activities. She moved in with Mom in her new two-bedroom apartment, and I got my own apartment not too far away, but we hadn't been able to spend the night together since then.
Earlier that year, we'd decided to start planning a camping trip for when Nikki was out of school for the summer, following up from an idea Nikki had when we knew things might get bad between our parents. However, after we told Mom, she told our dad, who she still talked to for whatever reason, and Dad told his sister, whose children, Max and Michelle, were two of the three cousins we were going camping with. Apparently they'd been wanting to go to this new campground for a while, and decided the four of us, plus our other cousin (Dad's brother's daughter), Morgan, should go on the trip together.
So there we were, in the middle of May, on our way to a fun, proper, totally appropriate camping trip with our cousins.
"You're right," Nikki sighed, regaining her composure, "Thanks, Nate."
She placed her hand gently on mine, a habit she'd picked up to help calm herself when we're in the car together.
"Any time,
little sis
."
She smiled when I grinned at my intentionally overused habit of calling her
sister
, knowing full well she was so much more than that.
*
When we finally pulled into the campground, I was surprised to see that it was nearly empty. Despite the reasonable price of renting a campsite, the secluded location of the site must have deterred many a would-be camper from choosing this campground. That would have made this a perfect spot for us to go camping, were it not for our cousins who should already be waiting for us.
Pulling up to the site our cousins had rented, Max's bright red Honda Accord stood out amongst the greens and browns of nature. Nikki's green Ford Focus, which we had used for the trip, on the other hand would be right at home.
As we parked, I noticed two things right away. First, the campsite was rather large, with plenty of space for our tents, and second, only two tents were currently set up. I supposed that if Max had his own tent, the girls could share a tent, and that would be pretty normal. Nikki and I had brought two tents, one for each of us, just to try and present the facsimile that we're just normal siblings.
"Nate, Nikki! It's so good to see you!" Morgan greeted us as we stepped out of the car.
Morgan was the oldest of our cousins, just one year younger than me, her being twenty six to my twenty seven. She was just a bit taller than me, but only by an inch or so. Her long, dark brown hair hung loose over her shoulders. She was wearing a sweater which did little to hide the massive melons on her chest.
"It's been too long," Morgan said as she hugged me tightly.
I could see Nikki glaring, but she lightened up when Morgan hugged her just as tightly.
"I'm so glad we decided to do this," Michelle commented as she and Max walked up to us from the campfire.
Max and Michelle looked very much alike. They were two years apart, Max being twenty four and Michelle being twenty two, but they acted as if they were much closer in age, often being mistaken for twins. They both were about the same height as me, maybe a little shorter, with light brown hair. Max often let his hair grow out to just past shoulder length, as it was now, and Michelle's hair always came down to the middle of her back. Unlike Morgan, Michelle had very little in the way of boobage, and the long-sleeve T-shirt she wore made her appear almost as flat chested as her brother.
"Yeah, you two have changed so much," Max added as they hugged us, "and Little Nikki's all grown up."
At eighteen, Nikki was the youngest of the five of us, and was often playfully picked on by the others.
"Not so little anymore," Morgan agreed, eyeing Nikki's chest.
Even though Nikki was wearing a jacket over her very modest sweatshirt, it was obvious that her coconuts were well formed.
Michelle stared at Nikki's chest as well, "I suppose not. I guess I'm the 'little' cousin now."
"Anyway," Nikki changed the subject, her face bright red, "It is good to see you guys again."
"Yeah," I agreed, "It'll be good to have some experienced campers with us for our first time."
We all walked back to the campfire. They had already set up several seats around the campfire, which blazed warmly, as well as a canopy overtop of the picnic table.
"I can't believe you two have never been camping before," Morgan stated.
Dad's parents had taken their family camping at least once a year since Dad was a kid. Even after they'd grown up and had families of their own, my aunt and uncle had continued taking their families camping, separately and as a group. We had often been invited to a family camping trip, but Mom was never keen on going, and Dad didn't want to upset her, so we'd never gone.
"Yeah, our parents aren't that big into family trips," Nikki stated as we all sat in the chairs by the fire.
"I remember that one trip we took to six flags when you were, what, nine?" I added.
"I was eight," Nikki corrected, "and Mom and Dad barely rode anything. They just let you take me around the park while they sat back and did nothing."
"You're right," I agreed.
"It
has
been a while since we've all been together, too," Max noted.
"I can't even remember the last time we were together," Michelle agreed.
"It was Christmas 2023," Morgan stated, "Grandma and Grandpa held their annual Christmas gathering. Nate drove Nikki there because their parents had other plans, and the two of you," she pointed to Max and Michelle, "came with your parents. I drove myself since I was living on my own, and my parents showed up late because they had a flat tire."
Michelle laughed, "You and your eidetic memory."
"You guys should probably set up your tents soon, so you won't have to do so in the dark," Max suggested.
