Sleeping with Ellie

Eventually I decided I should try to fix Ellie's shirt. I was pretty sure it was stuck underneath her, and hopefully it would come out with a simple tug. If I was able to free her shirt then I could rearrange it so that it would both cover her tummy and drape more loosely across her breasts.

I tried pulling on her shirt from my side, only to find out that it was caught on the other side instead. That made things more difficult. Short of getting up and walking around, I wasn't sure that I could dislodge it without disturbing her. I reached over her as far as I could and tugged gently, but had no success. All I accomplished was waking Ellie.

"Whatcha doing?" she murmured sleepily, her eyes flicking open.

"Fixing your shirt," I answered honestly.

"Sure you were." Ellie didn't sound like she believed me, but she also didn't sound upset. She stretched lazily, once again drawing my attention to her chest. "Because there's no way you would have taken the chance to get in a quick feel of your unconscious little sis, is there?"

"I didn't," I said, trying not to sound defensive. "I was just... your shirt's all weird."

I pointed at her torso as though she might not have known where to look. She didn't so much as glance down at herself.

"Whatever. I don't mind. It's not like I'd feel it anyway. It's kinda like a victimless crime."

"But I really didn't do--" I stopped mid-sentence as I detected a crack in her otherwise neutral expression. "Oh, you're just messing with me again, aren't you?"

"Maybe." The smile that had been threatening to break out on her face finally did. "Okay, yeah, I am. Sorry."

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am. It's just so hard to pass up an opportunity to get a reaction out of you. I honestly don't plan these things, they just kind of happen."

I sighed. "That's actually plausible."

I reached over and pulled on her shirt, this time with more force. The part that had been trapped beneath her came free, and I straightened it out so that she was covered properly. My fingers ran along her skin a little in the process and I found myself wanting to linger. I resisted the urge.

"So," Ellie said, glancing at her alarm clock, "do we get up, or do we choose to be lazy for a while?"

"Well, I don't want to get up, but... yeah, I probably should. I'd kinda rather be up before anyone has a chance to catch me in here. You know."

"That's fair. I wouldn't really want to explain why you were sleeping in here either. I think I'm gonna get a few more minutes of lazy time."

I nodded and took her hand for a second, squeezing it gently. Then I rolled out of bed with a groan and stumbled to the door. I listened briefly to make sure there were no obvious sounds of movement outside, then exited into the hallway. As long as I seemed to be the only one up, I decided I might as well get a shower in while there was no one else waiting for it. Living with my three sisters for so long had taught me the value of grabbing the bathroom when it was available.

****

I assumed sleeping with Ellie would be a one-time deal and didn't give it much more thought. However, I realized that wasn't the case when she crawled into bed with me the next night. I kind of liked having her next to me as I fell asleep, and waking up beside her in the morning was nice too, so I allowed us to slide into a new routine. We didn't sleep together every night, but it became fairly common for us.

My only real concern with the arrangement was that if we kept it up, someone was bound to find out sooner or later. I was mostly worried about Mom finding out, since she usually woke earlier than either of the twins. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be, and I didn't want to find out. The best case scenario I could come up with involved an awkward conversation at the very least. She was generally pretty understanding about personal things, but that didn't make them any less embarrassing to talk about.

Still, aside from the slight change in my relationship with Ellie, family life continued. I tried not to get too comfortable and let my guard down, but it was tricky to constantly stay on alert when there was nothing to watch out for. Mom, Lily, and Alice all went about there lives seemingly oblivious to anything strange going on.

I came home late one evening after hanging out at a friend's house to find that everyone else had gathered in the living room. I wasn't sure what that was about, but from what I could hear they seemed to be having a good time. I ran into Alice in the kitchen before I could go find out what was going on.

"Oh, hey Neil," Alice said.

"Hey. What's up with the whole... that?" I asked, gesturing toward the living room.

Mom, Ellie, and Lily all burst out laughing at the same time, as if to emphasize my question.

"Girl night," Alice said. "Sort of. Not officially, but... well, you might want to stay clear. Mom's letting us all have some wine, and we're talking about, you know, girl stuff. I think she's been missing Dad again."

"Oh. Well thanks for the heads up."

"No problem. Do you know what we have for snacks around here? I'm supposed to get some. Actually I kinda volunteered. I've been trying not to seem too much like I just want to go do something else."

I smiled and gave her a quick hug.

"Be strong, little sister. They'll all get tired and drunk soon enough."

"That's what I'm hoping. I kinda wish wine didn't taste so gross to me. Seems like it'd be more fun if I wasn't the only sober one in there."

"That's probably true."

I helped Alice find some suitable food to keep the other girls satisfied, then retreated to my room. I admired her ability to put up with the rest of them, but not enough to try and emulate her. Besides, it would probably just ruin the mood if I tried to join them.

It wasn't that much longer before bedtime, and it was easy enough to keep myself amused until then. I heard the occasional sound of laughter from downstairs, but nothing else. I had no idea when they'd wrap up their evening, but they weren't making enough noise to keep me from getting to sleep, so it probably wouldn't end up mattering that much.

I lay in bed for a little while, slowly drifting off to sleep. I was still awake when my door cracked open. I opened my eyes and lifted my head just enough to see Ellie closing the door behind her before padding over to me. Wordlessly she lifted the blanket and slipped in beside me as I scooted over to give her some space to lie down.

"Hey," she said with a faint giggle. "I was hoping you were still awake."

"It was a close thing," I said. "How drunk are you?"

"Only a li'l," she said, holding her finger thumb about an inch apart.

"Uh huh. Did you drink some water?"

"Yeah, I did. You prolly shouldn't make me drink too much though, or I might pee the bed."

She giggled again, a bit louder this time. I was kind of surprised when she snuggled up to me, though I supposed her inebriated state might have had something to do with that. She didn't seem drunk enough that I had to worry though. At least, I hoped she wasn't. I really didn't want to have to clean up after her if she threw up or something.

"I'm kind of surprised everyone else is in bed already," I said instead of pursuing the subject of her physical well-being any further. "You all seemed to still be pretty rowdy not too long ago."

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know if they are. I mean, they probably are now, but I didn't want to have to wait. It could have taken a while."

"You at least made sure no one saw you when you came in though, right?"

"Duh. I'm not stupid."

"Okay, just... we shouldn't take unnecessary risks like that. I don't think either of us want to deal with the questions we'd get."

Ellie was quiet for a moment. I actually started to wonder if she'd abruptly fallen asleep on me.

"Is it that bad that we're sleeping together?" she asked softly. "I mean, they'd understand, wouldn't they? Even Mom would, I think."

"Yeah, but do you really want to find out?"

She paused again, then shook her head. "No, not really."

"Okay. So let's try to make sure it doesn't become an issue. Alright?"

"Mm-hm." She snuggled a little closer, then fell still. "Neil?"

"Yeah?"

"G'night."

"Night, El."

****

Ellie and I were in almost the same position when I woke up the next morning. She was still cuddled up against me, possibly even closer than I remembered. I thought she must have spent the whole night like that until she shifted slightly and I realized she was already awake. That made it more likely that we'd separated during the night and she'd simply moved back to me upon waking. It would certainly explain why my arm didn't feel like it had been trapped under her for several hours.

"You're allowed to leave before I get up, you know," I said.

"Mmm, yeah, but that would deprive me of precious snuggle time," she countered.

"It would be safer."

"Well... I s'pose it would. I can't help remembering that you never snuck out on me though. That's a little hypocritical of you."

"Fair point." I yawned and stretched my free arm off to the side, then let it fall back onto the mattress. It wasn't really a proper stretch without both arms. "What time is it?"

"I dunno. Doesn't matter 'cause it's the weekend."

"Whatever. You're the one who has to sneak out of here without being caught."

Ellie grumbled and lifted her head, propping herself up a bit with her arms. Her hair was tangled and sticking out at funny angles on the side she'd slept on, but she didn't seem to notice. It was kind of a cute look on her.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she asked. "Because you sound like you are."

"No, I'm not. I can't help worrying is all."

Ellie nodded, then sighed. "I kinda wish Mom would just burst in here right now, just so we could get all the suspense out the way."

"There's a fair chance she'd want us to stop sleeping together."

"Yeah, but at least then we'd know what we're up against instead of just guessing." I started to respond, but Ellie placed a finger against my lips to silence me. "I know, I know. Trust me, I understand we have to be all stealthy and shit. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

She laid her head back on my shoulder and let out a long, slow breath. I was still antsy about getting caught, particularly when I could tell the sun had been up a little while already, but I honestly didn't want her to leave any more than she did. It was nice lying there with her, sharing body heat and feeling her soft curves against me. I noticed her breasts pressing against me, and that brought a little guilt, but I soon stopped worrying.

****

We did eventually get out of bed, though it was late enough by that point that everyone else had beaten us to it. Luckily it wasn't too difficult to smuggle Ellie out of my room. We just had to be a little more careful about it.

I ran into Lily as I made my way to the kitchen. She was in the middle of a texting conversation with someone, but was apparently interested enough in my arrival that her phone briefly took lower priority.

"Are you just getting up?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," I said. "So what?"

"Nothing. Just wondering. Do you know if Ellie's up yet?"

If it had been anyone else I would have assumed she was just making conversation. Unfortunately, I sensed Lily was up to something. Maybe it had something to do with how quickly she'd dropped her texting in favour of talking to me. I didn't often rate higher than her phone.

"How would I know if she's up?" I asked, purposefully evading the question. "You've been up longer than I have."

"You're being awfully defensive."

"And you're being awfully annoying."

I grabbed Lily, pinning her arms to her sides before she could react. Despite her protests and kicks, I manhandled her toward the front door and shoved her outside. I closed and locked the door before she could stop me.

I ignored her as she swore at me and pounded on the door, opting instead to go back to my original plan of getting some food. It was a nice day out, so she'd be fine until she found a way back in. If nothing else, Ellie would probably rescue her when she came downstairs.

****

Lily didn't do anything else out of the ordinary for the rest of the day, though I wondered whether I had only imagined she was acting strangely because of my guilty conscience. I really hoped I wasn't becoming the sort of paranoid person who sees accusations everywhere. Maybe Ellie had a point about how getting things out in the open would make things easier on us.

Despite Lily being fairly passive after our first encounter, I still felt like she was giving me funny looks. Both Lily and Alice, actually. I wanted to attribute it to my own sense of paranoia, but I wasn't convinced that was all it was.

At least Ellie and Mom were both perfectly normal around me. That helped convince me that I wasn't just going crazy.

****

Ellie might have been the one who had needed me at first, but sleeping with her had become just as important to me. It was so comforting and safe to crawl into bed next to her. After spending the day worried that my younger sisters suspected something, I needed the reassurance of the one person I knew would never judge me for the secret that we shared.

I made sure everyone was at least safely in their rooms, though probably still awake, before going to Ellie. Even after telling her we needed to be careful, it was hard to follow my own advice.

As it turned out, I walked in on my sister just as she was getting changed. Things were so different between us lately that I hadn't even stopped to consider knocking first. It didn't feel like permission was necessary between us as far as entering each other's rooms. I'd forgotten that sometimes a little warning was still a good idea.

Luckily Ellie didn't seem to mind the intrusion. She'd been in the process of stepping out of her pants, and she kept on going once she verified that I was the one walking in on her. She was still in her panties, and I'd seen those before.

"You mind turning around for a sec?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, sure," I said, turning to face the wall. "Sorry. I didn't realize you were changing."

"That's okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later the way we've been going."

I heard the sounds of clothes being taken off and put on, as well as a drawer being opened and closed. I couldn't help wanting to look during the process, but I restrained myself. Whatever was going on between us, it didn't justify me trying to see my sister naked.

"You almost done?" I asked.

"Almost," she said. "I'm kind of surprised I haven't caught you peeking yet."

"I'm not sure how to respond to that."

"It was a joke. Obviously not a very good one. Anyway, I'm done now, you can turn around."

Ellie flipped up the covers and climbed into her bed. I turned off the light and followed slightly behind her.

"How bad is it that I kind of wanted to peek?" I asked once I was settled.

"Um... not that bad really. I mean, you didn't, so it's not like you actually did anything wrong. It's not like I could expect your mind to stay totally pure and innocent under the circumstances."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

"And let's face it, neither of us are exactly models of innocence anyway."

"No, we're definitely not. I know I lost any chance of being one a while back."

Ellie giggled and propped her head up on her arm. I emulated her movement so that we were more or less facing each other.

"Neil, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"It's just... it's kind of an awkward question. But it's something I've been wondering."

"You can ask me anything. I can't promise an answer until I know the question, but you can ask."

She hesitated and seemed to weigh her options in her mind. I was kind of curious about what she wanted to know, but not enough to try and hurry her.

"Do you ever think about me when you jerk off?" she finally blurted out.

"Wow. That's... not at all what I was expecting."

"I know. Kind of awkward, right? I did warn you."

Even in the darkened room I could tell she was blushing. Her voice wavered, also betraying her embarrassment.

"It's fine," I said. "It's obviously a little weird, but it's fine. I'm not really sure how to answer though."

"A yes or no would both be pretty solid choices."

"Uh huh. Okay, how about this. You've clearly given the question some thought, so I'll answer it if you do first."

"You want me to...." She trailed off and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "Well, I guess it would be fair that way. Okay." She paused again and took a deep breath. "I haven't really, you know, gotten off while thinking about you. Not exactly. But yes, I have kinda sorta had you in my head while I was playing with myself."

The nervousness and embarrassment that she felt were even more obvious than before. She wouldn't even look directly at me, and I could tell she wanted desperately to know that she wasn't alone.

"That seems pretty similar to me," I said. "Like, I can't help thinking about you inappropriately sometimes. I try not to but, you know, there are times like at the grocery store...."

"Can't help yourself, huh?"

There was a trace of humour in her tone and a general sense of relief in her posture.

"I think it's been getting pretty clear that there are things that we just can't help."

"No kidding."

Ellie shifted closer to me. She didn't get as close as she sometimes liked to, but it was enough that she must have felt somewhat reassured. I found one of her hands with mine under the blanket and squeezed it softly. She squeezed back a little more firmly.

We let go of each other a moment later, and Ellie moved her arm away. My hand was left resting on her tummy. I didn't immediately pull away, instead rotating my wrist slightly so that my palm was flat against the material of her shirt.

I could have slid my hand upward to her breasts if I wanted to. I wasn't sure where that thought came from, but once it was in my head I found I couldn't get rid of it. The closeness and intimacy we'd shared recently were affecting me. It was becoming all too easy to forget where the lines were that I wasn't meant to cross.

I briefly considered the idea of telling Ellie that we shouldn't sleep together anymore, that we needed a certain amount of separation. I didn't like the idea even in my head. I didn't want to sacrifice what we had, but I was afraid that maybe I wanted more.

After a moment I moved my hand down until I found the hem of Ellie's shirt. I slipped my fingers underneath it and slowly worked my way back to my original position. She didn't say anything about it, nor did I feel her tensing up at my touch. I let my hand rest on the bare skin of her tummy, unwilling to go any higher, but not wanting to pull away either.

I was drifting off. Neither Ellie nor I moved from where we were, and my hand stayed right where it was until we fell asleep.

****

Ellie and I woke up cuddled together even closer than we had been the night before. That was fine with me since I loved waking up that way. As usual, the experience was marred somewhat by the constant nagging feeling that we should probably get up sooner rather than later.

Ellie finally groaned and rolled away from me. She stood up and stretched as I watched in undisguised fascination. She smiled when she caught me looking.

"Gotta hit the bathroom," she said. "Should maybe take a shower too. Although I could just come back...."

"That'd be nice, but I should probably be getting up too," I said. "There's more chance of that happening if you aren't here with me."

She nodded and left me alone in the room. I lay there for a moment, too comfortable to move. I didn't really need to get up for any specific reason, which left me precious little motivation to do so. Part of me hoped Ellie would come back and snuggle with me some more.