Act 01

My eyes were still closed as I relished the post-sex sensations coursing through my body and filling my mind. I thought nothing of feeling Bryce finally leave the bed, and I was not at all surprised when I heard the shutter of his digital camera. But soon the pictures were done and he was releasing me from the headboard at last. I simply lay there on the bed, still on my back, my legs still spread, the blouse still unbuttoned and completely opened, my bra still lowered to expose my breasts. I felt exhausted, but in a very, very, very good way.

Bryce turned off the ceiling light before rejoining me, and we cuddled for a long time in the semi-romantic illumination of the emergency light atop the dresser. We were brother and sister, of course, but most importantly, we were two fully-consenting adults who had found much-needed pleasure and satisfaction in each other.

...and, as Bryce reminded me, I had apparently been a very good student.

*****

Despite everything that we had done that evening, when it was finally time for bed, Bryce again suggested that he should sleep on the futon. "Nonsense!" I said, and he thankfully slept beside me. In fact, we held each other close, sharing a few brief kisses before finally sliding into slumber together.

Saturday was essentially a normal day. We continued my tour of the city, including an excellent hole-in-the-wall Chinese place which I would have missed if Bryce had not specifically taken me there for lunch. While we walked a little closer to each other than in the past, we never touched until we were in a movie theater, his hand resting for a while on my thigh under the cover of darkness.

After dinner, we finally returned to my brother's apartment, and we spent much of the evening playing several rounds of Scrabble. Yet throughout the games, I felt a very tangible uncertainty between us.

The uncertainty was still evident in bed, although fortunately Bryce did not attempt to sleep on the futon instead of with me. Although we held each other close, it just did not quite feel right.

"What do we have, sis?" he finally asked. "Is it something romantic, or something strictly sexual, or just... something different from anything else?"

I thought for a moment. "Definitely something different from anything else I've ever known," I replied. "Could I love you romantically? Probably. I think that sexually there's definitely something there between us. I guess I'd say we're somewhere in the middle."

I felt him nod against me as a hand stroked my back. "I guess we'll truly know what this is later," my brother offered, "once you're gone, when we're both in our own beds, alone."

"Maybe so," I responded, "or maybe it'll take a few days or even a few weeks for us both to sort things out for ourselves."

Bryce was silent for a moment, so I kissed his forehead. "Whatever happens from here forward," I informed him, "I'll always remember what happened here this weekend, especially last night. It was good, definitely very good, and I certainly want the pictures, and part of me really hopes that last night was just the first of many nights that I'm bound and helpless for you."

It was his turn to kiss my forehead. "I know. Same here."

And with that commonality, we both drifted into slumber with happier, more hopeful hearts and minds.

*****

The trip to the airport was a sad one, but it was also hopeful. "There's a small conference the department is having the week after Thanksgiving," I said as the train approached the airport, "so I may well be back then."

"You're welcome to drop in anytime you want," Bryce assured me.

Once inside the airport, it took a while to get through the crowd to the line for the Security Checkpoint. That was where Bryce and I hugged one last time. I had to fight back the tears, but one still emerged nonetheless, and when he saw it, my brother lovingly wiped it away with a single finger, smiling at me and making me feel, just like always had, like the most important person in his life.

"E-mail me when you get back, so I know you arrived safely, okay?"

"Yes, dear."

My response apparently surprised him, given how his eyes widened briefly, and then he smiled again while I moved into the long, snaking like for the Security Checkpoint. I was leaving him, of course, but somehow, it felt like it was only the curtain closing on Act I.