"Why don't you girls get ready for bed first," dad suggested.
"Sure, what do you say, Hannah?" Katarina asked, looking at me in the flickering candlelight. The nylon lines clanked against the metal mast above, a sound that I associated with these family sailing trips. It's familiar ring always provided a feeling of comfort and safety.
"Yep, I'm exhausted."
The space below-deck would have been too tight for the four of us to maneuver around, so we got ready while our parents enjoyed their last glass of wine on the rear deck. We brushed our teeth in the small bathroom and I looked at Katarina's bronzed face in the mirror and noticed her red cheeks.
"Looks like you got some sun today," I said.
She looked up at me then opened her lips and let a bubbly white blob fall out of her mouth and plop into the metal sink. "Yeah, so did you, it looks like," she responded while wiping a hand across her face.
"Yeah, I guess so. But your cheeks are burnt. You should use sunscreen."
"Now you sound like Mom."
"Didn't mean to."
"That's okay." She kissed me softly on the cheek with minty breath.
Although the night air had cooled down considerably, it was still hot down below from the heat of the day. We peeled off our clothes then crawled into the converging space of the bow sleeping compartment wearing only our panty bottoms. I watched her swaying breasts.
"Your boobs got bigger, is that what happens to girls after their first year of college?" I asked.
"Yeah, it'll happen to you, too. Just wait." Her sarcasm was a way of telling me to shut the hell up.
I lifted up my breasts then let them drop. "Not sure if I can wait another year," I replied. I was in my final year of Swedish high school "gymnasium" but wasn't sure if I wanted to go directly to college afterwards. I needed some time to get my head straight and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I never had the confident sense of purpose that she had. She was home for the summer, and aside from the bigger boobs, I noticed some noticeable changes in her; the biggest one being an aloofness that I had never seen before, like something was constantly on her mind. Whatever it was, she was less interested in me which made me sad since we had been so close growing up.
"My God, it's stuffy in here," I said through heavy breath.
"Make sure these things are open," she instructed me using that big sister voice, as she slid the small oval window above her bed to the right. I did the same, but only a trickle of fresh air found its way inside telling me that we were going to be in for a sticky night. I pulled back the flower-patterned comforter and slid onto the foam mattress. Ever since I was little, I always slept well on the boat, but I wasn't sure about tonight. I fluffed up the pillow then lay my head down and reached for my book. Katarina looked over at me. "Listen, dear sis, since it's so freaking hot in here, do you mind if we sleep head toe? That way we won't breathe on each other and maybe it will be a little cooler."
"That's fine, I can switch."
""No, you're good, stay where you are. I'll sleep with my head down there," she said, pointing in the direction of the stern. I watched as she rearranged her bunk. Her tits were definitely bigger and she had a more pronounced swell of her stomach. Her skimpy black panties had slid down her hips a bit allowing me to study the rest of her. She had definitely put on a little weight, but she still had that knockout body that I was sure contributed hugely to her self-confidence. When she was done fixing her bed, she turned to me and said, "Stop looking at my ass."
"I wasn't looking at your ass," I replied.
"Yes you were."
"No, I wasn't."
She let it drop, then climbed into her bunk. I wondered how much sex she was having while away. I was still a virgin, but was pretty sure she wasn't.
When I awoke, light was coming in through the small windows and the temperature inside had cooled to the point where I had pulled the comforter back over me sometime during the night. I looked over at Katarina. She was totally nude and facing towards the side of the boat with the comforter twisted around her legs. The black panties were bunched up on the floor. I reached down and picked them up by hooking them with my pinky then brought them up to my nose and inhaled deeply. There was a flush between my legs as I took in her musk.
She pulled in her knees, opening her ass and exposing her butt hole. The dark, mysterious tunnel was just an arms reach from my face. I never thought that looking into my sister's butt was erotic before, but something about it was both repulsive and enticing. Her hand slid over the curve of her hips then down across the cheek of her tan-lined ass. Did she know I was watching? I thought about the comment she made before we went to sleep about me looking at her ass. I froze. Her hand continued its journey toward her opened ass then she slowly extended her middle finger while curling the others in towards her palm. Carefully she stuck her finger into her asshole and wiggled it around. After a few seconds, she pulled it out then brought it around to the front of her body where I could no longer see it. I heard the sound of an inhale and realized she was sniffing her fingers. Her hand returned to her ass, but this time she had both her middle and ring fingers extended then stuck them inside. She plunged them deeper then started to move them in and out. After doing this for a bit, she pulled her hand back and I heard a sniff. She reached again for her ass, inserted her fingers, then kept them there. After a while, she pulled them out then played them along the rim of her opening with her fingernails. Her hand went back to her front. Another sniff. When she was done, she pulled the comforter from her legs then covered herself. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep while concentrating on the sound of the gentle waves lapping up against the hull.
"Watch for jellyfish," Katarina warned as we approached the edge of the wooden-planked raft. The water was flat as glass and the round gray rock formations were lit up by the morning sun on the other side of the jetty.
"Oh my God, they're everywhere!" I returned.
"Here, over here. There aren't any on this side," she said, leaning over the water holding back her long blonde hair as she peered below the surface. I could see about a half meter down before the water turned a murky green and nothing was visible. I was wearing my black bikini with white cut-off jeans over them. She wore a dark red bikini with a white top. The bottoms were cut so that they showed about half of her ass; not really a thong, but not full cut either. I replayed the scene from this morning, how she had played around in her butt. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to suck her fingers.
I looked down into the water, then not seeing any jellyfish, jumped in. The shock of the cold water made me heave.
"Shit, it's cold!" I jabbered.
"No guts, no glory!" she yelled as she dove off the raft and crashed through the surface of the water. Her head popped up and I was instantly reminded of the canon-ball contests we used to have as kids at this very spot. And how we laughed at each other's wedgies when we climbed up the ladder after each attempt.
"So, how does it feel, to be back here?" I asked through shivering lips.
"Nice I guess. Brings back memories."
"Did you miss home?" I asked.
"Sometimes," she replied before sinking below the surface and swimming over to me. I felt her hands grab my ankles then she yanked me under. I kicked loose then popped back up to the surface.
"Hey, stop that shit! We're not kids any more," I yelled.
"Oh, is that so?" she replied as she swung her legs up and wrapped them around me while paddling her hands through the water to keep us afloat. Her thighs were soft and warm. "See, how I still have to carry you?" she continued through a grin.
"Shut up," I shot back.
Her breathing had become hard and labored, so I started to work my arms and kick my legs in order to relieve some of her strain. She stared at me through serious eyes with little droplets of water decorating her long lashes. I met her gaze, then she leaned forward and kissed me on the mouth.
"Did you like that?" she asked.
Without saying anything I pushed my mouth again into hers and we found each other's tongues. It was hard to continue like this, so we swam over towards the shoreline where the water was shallow enough to touch bottom. When our feet grazed against the tops of the soft kelp growth, we stopped and stood in the mushy bed. Years ago, wading in this part of the bank would have grossed us out, but right now we had other things on our minds.