Unintended Results

Author's Note: Thanks to LizHaze for editing and catching some of my dumb mistakes.

****

My sister Zoey and I ended up going to the same university after high school. She was a year ahead of me and it wasn't planned exactly for me to follow her, but the university in question happened to be in a convenient location just far enough away that we'd be out of our parents' immediate reach. Far enough that we'd be living in the dorms on campus rather than at home.

What was perhaps more of a coincidence was that we ended up in the same dorm, although on different floors. I didn't mind and I didn't think my sister did either since, despite being in the same building, we could easily go days without seeing each other if we didn't want to. At the same time we were close enough that we could be there if the other needed something. In some ways it was an ideal setup.

We ran into each other somewhat frequently as it turned out, but mostly we left each other's rooms alone. It was a couple months before the first time Zoey purposefully came to visit me. I couldn't say I was expecting it to be her when I heard the knock on my door that evening.

"Oh, hey," I said after opening the door and finding her standing there.

"Hey dude," she said. "Listen, if you're busy that's cool but if not can I hang out here for a while?"

"Sure, if you want. I don't exactly have a lot of space...."

"That's fine. I don't have that much space either and your room has the advantage of not having a sexually active roommate in it. Like, currently sexually active."

"Your roommate's having sex in your room?" I guessed, based on the rather blatant hinting.

"Yeah. Which is fine, and I don't mind letting her have some fun in there, but it's been getting harder to think up ways to occupy myself. Sometimes I just don't feel like going out you know?"

"I understand. I guess I don't really have that problem."

"No I know. Lucky bastard, getting your own room."

"That's what happens when you put more effort into your scholarship applications and shit."

"Whatever. Nothing I can do about it now."

Zoey sat down on my bed while I resumed my position at my desk. It really wasn't bad for a dorm room, though it was typical enough in it's lack of space. I'd had some trouble even getting my tv to fit without blocking off something I'd need to get to, but there was no way I was going to go the whole school year without my video games. I assumed my sister would watch a movie, or maybe play some Mario Kart since that was pretty well the one game she actually admitted to liking. Instead of amusing herself though she just sat there for a couple minutes while I worked on some stuff for my classes.

"So how's it going so far?" she asked. "I mean the whole living on your own and your classes and everything."

"Wow, you are bored aren't you?" I said.

"Partly. I'm also looking for a distraction. I kinda accidentally walked in on my roommate and her 'boyfriend' right before I came up here. They weren't wearing quite as many clothes as I would have liked."

"Ooh, yeah. Rough. Is she hot?"

Zoey tilted her head and gave me a crooked smile.

"If I say yes are you going to go down there pretending to look for me? Actually don't answer, I don't want to know. But yeah, I think you'd like her. I'll maybe introduce you sometime."

"And if she didn't already have a boyfriend I might be excited about that."

"Good point. But as far as I can tell they aren't serious, it might not last that long anyway."

****

It turned out that Zoey was wrong about her roommate's relationship to some extent, as I found out next time she came to see me. It had probably been a couple weeks, though I wasn't really keeping track.

"She having sex in your room again?" I asked, assuming I'd get a yes and that would be it.

"Actually no. She, well, I guess they broke up. Or he broke up with her or something. She's taking it kinda hard."

"Oh. So you're just avoiding that then?"

Zoey gave me a dirty look. "Yeah, 'cause I couldn't possibly be trying to help. I'm just completely self-centered. Jerk."

"I didn't mean that, it's just that you're here and not, you know, with your roommate. That's where I would have expected you to be is all."

"I was. Now I need backup. She's doing the whole 'no one's ever going to love me again' thing and I can't seem to get through to her."

"How am I supposed to help? I'm way worse at this kind of thing than you."

"All I need you to do is pretend to be into her, or actually be into her if you want, so she cheers up."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because that'll go really well if she finds out that's what we're doing. I'm pretty sure it's going to make things worse. Possibly a lot worse for you since you'll have a roommate who hates you."

Zoey sighed and flopped down on my bed dramatically.

"So what do I do? She'd driving me crazy. And I want to help, but I can't."

"I don't know, but I think you understand as well as I do that if you try to manipulate her it could backfire really badly on you."

She thought about that for a minute while I simply tried to figure out how to stop her doing something stupid.

"Okay, how about you just go on your own?" she suggested. "Pretend I never even talked to you about the problem. Hell, you can even pretend to just be someone from one of my classes or whatever, she wouldn't know the difference. Say you need to borrow my notes maybe."

"Well, that's a little better. Except it means she'll figure it out if she ever catches us together and we forget to act properly."

"What are the odds? The two of us talk maybe once every week or two. It'll be fine."

I still wasn't convinced, but I was giving in and Zoey could tell. She had a lot of experience persuading me to her way of thinking.

"I guess... maybe I could just go down there and see what happens. I might not even have to try anything and I could just come out and tell her I'm your brother."

"Whatever seems best," Zoey agreed, not doing a very good job of hiding her satisfaction at winning. "I'll wait here."

****

It wasn't a long way to my sister's room, but it was long enough for me to regret giving in to her. The more I thought about it the more I realized I had no idea what to do once I got there. I couldn't go back though or Zoey was just going to tease me about chickening out. Ditto for abandoning the plan altogether and finding somewhere else to be.

All I could do was carry on and hope I came up with something. Even as I knocked on the door I was completely blanking on what to say when it opened.

"Hello?"

The door swung about halfway open to reveal Zoey's roommate, and my first impression was that my sister hadn't been kidding about how she was taking the breakup. The girl in front of me, partly hidden by the door, was definitely the sort I'd find cute, maybe even hot, under normal circumstances. Circumstances where her hair wasn't a mess and she didn't look like she'd been moping around in her room all day for instance.

"Um, hi," I said. "I'm Adam. Zoey's brother."

"Oh, hi. She's told me about you. She's not actually here right now though, she said she had to meet someone. She might be back soon though."

"Okay," I said, mentally cursing myself for immediately giving away my identity. I might have done so anyway, but it would have been nice to at least test out some different ideas first. Still, I was under too much pressure to be all that hard on myself. "I, uh, it's none of my business really, but are you alright?"

"I'm..." she started, trying to put on a fake smile before giving up. "Actually, no. Not really. I just had kind of a rough breakup."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Thanks." She took a moment to study me. "I'm Mara by the way, I guess I didn't say that yet did I?" she said, belatedly extending a hand to me.

We shook hands a little awkwardly, but I did notice at least a small upward curve on her lips. It could easily have been nothing though.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"I wish it could been when I wasn't such a mess," she told me. "But yeah, nice to meet you too. I really don't know when your sister's going to be back, she just said she was supposed to meet up with someone for an assignment or something and she had to go reschedule. Something like that. You can wait for her here if you want. Or I can just tell her you stopped by if that's easier."

Of course I actually did know where Zoey went, though I wasn't entirely sure how long she'd be either. It wasn't a hard decision to wait until she showed up again since that had been the plan to start with.

"Yeah if you don't mind me hanging out for a few minutes that'd better I think," I said. "Not that it's all that urgent if you're just being polite and would rather I went...."

"No seriously," she said, waving off my concern, "I'd actually rather have someone around right now. Keeps me from thinking too much."

"Fair enough."

I entered the room that was bigger than mine, but of course it was meant for two people instead of just one. It still wasn't anything I'd call spacious and I could see how there would be nowhere near enough privacy for my sister to be able to ignore it if her roommate was having sex.

"So, uh, were you guys together long?" I asked, awkwardly steering the conversation back to the subject I was supposed to help with.

"Not really I guess," Mara said. "Not long enough that it should be bothering this much, we never really got as serious as I wanted. I think maybe I liked him more than he liked me."

She gave me a weak smile and sat down on her bed. I debated taking the other bed, but they were just far enough away that it felt silly so I sat down beside her, though not too close since I didn't exactly know her that well.

"That does kind of suck, but if that was the case maybe it's better that it happened now and not later," I said.

"Could be. But now I just keep wondering what's wrong with me, you know? Like was there something about me he just couldn't stand or something. And if I meet someone else is it going to happen again and--"

"Look," I interrupted, "I mean we just met and all, but I really don't think it was your fault. Zoey told me a little about you and...." I shrugged. "I guess I don't know what I'm getting at. But I think you'll be able to find someone else, someone who really likes you, and it'll work out even better."

"You think?"

"I don't see why not. Like, you're obviously ho-- I mean, you're not unattractive or anything," I said, suddenly feeling out of my element. I wasn't one much for knowing how to compliment girls I'd only just met.

"See, normally I'd find that sweet except I know I look terrible right now so you're clearly just trying to make me feel better."

"I'll admit it's not a great look for you, but I wouldn't say it's terrible."

"Uh huh? And what would you say it is?"

Without visibly moving Mara seemed closer to me than she had been. I tried to lean away a bit without being obvious.

"I don't know. But, you know, if it was a more normal day for you or something... like if...."

She was definitely leaning toward me now and looking far more sure of herself than the sad girl who'd met me at the door a few minutes ago. At the same time, I was becoming decidedly less comfortable with the situation and unsure what I'd managed to get myself into.

"Do you have a girlfriend Adam?"

"Um, not so much."

"Then you'd better tell me now if you didn't really mean what you told me," she said, her voice lowered almost to a whisper.

"I...."

I swallowed hard and accepted the inevitable as she got close enough to kiss me. Not that I tended to mind if a girl wanted to make out with me, but the situation was a bit on the weird side. I almost felt like I was taking advantage somehow, even though I'd had no intention of doing so and she was the one making a move.

Truth be told it was hardly unpleasant, not that there was any particular reason it should have been, and I found myself relaxing and just enjoying the experience. There was even something about Mara's bedraggled look that was working for me now that she was showing enough confidence to make it somehow sexy. And if she had that confidence that was a good thing right? That was what I was supposed to accomplish here, or something like it anyway.

"Probably shouldn't be doing this," Mara said as she climbed nearly into my lap.

"Well you-" I said, getting cut off quickly as her lips closed on mine again.

She was most likely right about it being a bad idea in some ways, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out what they were at that particular moment. I had a girl on top of me aggressively kissing me and pressing her breasts against my chest; it was the sort of thing that could easily derail my thought process.

"Zoey's gonna kill me," she said. "Jesus, her little brother. She's not gonna like that."

Despite Mara's words she didn't seem to be too worried. I, on the other hand, was once I remembered that Zoey could show up at any moment.

As though summoned by my thoughts, the door to the room opened to reveal my older sister just as I started thinking about what I was going to do if she showed up. At first she just looked confused, but that didn't last long before turning into something less neutral.

"God dammit," Zoey said. "I leave you alone for a minute and...." She gestured at Mara and me, allowing us to make her point for her.

"Sorry," Mara said. "I know I shouldn't have... well it just kind of happened."

"Here I was planning on helping you get through your breakup and everything and it turns out you can manage that just fine on your own," my sister continued. "I actually thought you were taking it hard but you can't be that broken up over it."

"Hey! Look I shouldn't have jumped your brother like this, I know that, but it's only 'cause...." She shrugged. "Okay I don't know why. But it helped, I seriously was in bad shape."

Zoey sighed and sat on her bed.

"Could you at least get off him," she said. "At least wait for me to leave again if you insist on doing that kind of thing."

"Zoey," I said, feeling like I had to add something at that point. "I didn't mea-"

"Oh I don't blame you," she said. "Neither of you, not really. It's not like I should expect anything different at this point. I should be used to walking in on something I don't want to see by now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mara interjected. "You have a problem with me having sex in here, is that it?"

"Well yeah, since you bring it up. It's my room too, I'd like to be able to use it whenever I want and not work around your schedule."

The argument had taken a different turn and left me behind. I started seriously eyeing the exit, particularly when Mara climbed off me and made escape a more viable option.

"Have you seriously been upset about that?" Mara asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Oh yeah right," Zoey said derisively. "What, like ask you not to have sex in here anymore? I'm sure that would have gone over well."

"Well we could have at least talked about it, and we've had to talk about other things so I know you're not too shy to say anything." Mara crossed her arms and looked contemplatively at my sister. "You know, there was this suspicion I had at one point, but then I forgot about it. Didn't think much of it. Except now it makes more sense, and it would explain some things."

"That so? What's your 'suspicion' then?"

"I think you're jealous."

Zoey laughed, but hesitated a second too long before reacting to make it convincing.

"Jealous of you?" she said.

"Me or my boy... ex-boyfriend, whichever. Maybe both of us. How long has it been since you've had sex?"

Mara pointed an accusing finger at my sister who rolled her eyes but didn't have an immediate comeback. For my part, thoughts of escape were being replaced by a morbid curiosity as to where the argument was headed. Like I was watching a figurative train wreck.

"None of your business," Zoey said.

"Well it kind of is," Mara said. "I'm your roommate and I have a certain amount of interest in keeping you happy. At least happy enough that you don't murder me in my sleep."

Mara was slowly getting closer to my sister as they spoke, much the same way she'd done to me. The main difference being that she pushed Zoey onto her back before climbing on top of her. Even as I watched her do it though I still didn't manage to catch on to what exactly she was up to. Probably because it didn't even register as a real possibility.

"Okay, now I'm just confused," Zoey said.

"I'm helping," Mara explained. "You need to get laid, I think we'll all fell better once you do."

"Oh come on!" My sister unsuccessfully attempted to push her roommate off. "You're being such a goof, I'm not even into girls."

"Mm-hm, I'm usually not either. It's a good time for experimenting though isn't it? University's a popular place for that sort of thing as I understand it."

"Whatever. Still not interested."

Zoey made another bid for freedom and once again was held down. Mara must have been stronger than she looked since my sister was used to dealing with me and shouldn't have had any trouble with the situation.

"Look, I'm your option right now, 'cept maybe for your brother," Mara said, nodding toward me. "But I don't think you'd be into that. If you are though...."

"Ew, come on don't be gross. And get off me already."

I understood where the sentiment was coming from, yet it still hurt a little when Zoey expressed her disgust at the thought of me and her in some kind of sexual situation. My instinctive fear of disapproval surfacing despite me knowing that it wasn't really anything I should be worried about.

"I don't think you really want me to get off," Mara said. "At least not in that sense. You haven't been fighting me nearly as hard as I think you could manage if you felt like it."

I couldn't see all that well, but Mara definitely looked like she was doing something to my sister with one of her hands. Some kind of rubbing motion. Her body blocked me from seeing any more than that without moving. Whatever it was, I was once again feeling like a swift exit might be in order before too long.

"Come on," Zoey said in a much less defiant tone. "Adam's, like, right there. Can we just drop this for now?"

Mara turned her head to look at me.

"He is right there, isn't he?" she said thoughtfully.

"Um, I can just, you know, go now," I said, taking that as my cue to leave.

"You could," Mara agreed. "Or...."

"No," Zoey said flatly.

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say."

"I don't need to. Besides, he'll say no anyway."

"Well then let me at least ask him. I mean, you said you wanted to help me over the breakup and everything right? This would totally do it." Mara turned to me again, and I got the feeling that I too had an idea what her question was going to be. "What do you think Adam, you wouldn't mind fucking me would you? No strings attached."

"Well... no, I wouldn't mind," I said slowly. "But you mean, like, right now?"

"Yep. Come on, a brother and sister at the same time? That'd be amazing. And Zoey I promise there'd be no more moping around from me," she said, as though it was enough of an incentive.

I finally forced myself to move and started to leave the room, knowing that I really, really needed to get out of there before things got any weirder, and as I did Mara's body no longer completely blocked off my sister from my line of sight. The first thing I noticed was the expression on her face was not one of someone being forced into anything, not nearly to the extent she was pretending at any rate.

"Yeah, I'm sure that'd be worth the permanent emotional scarring we'd get out of it," Zoey said. She looked at me as though she expected me to either leave as I planned to, or just say no, or... something. She seemed to actually be waiting for me to make the official decision and somehow that realization stopped me from acting.