A Flirting Workshop with My Sister

"Landon sent me this," said Z as she showed me a selfie of Landon on a mountain bike in the woods somewhere.

"Nice," I said after I barely looked at the picture.

What if after Z and I break up, Mom notices that awkwardness between us and asks Z what's going on? And Z tells her? What would my parents think of me? That I was some kind of monster?

A little bit later, Z showed me a pic Rob had sent her. I said, "Cool," after glancing at it.

Z asked, "You okay? You're very quiet."

"It's a big change." I felt like I shouldn't share my doubts. It was too late to say Maybe we shouldn't have done that.

"Yeah. It is." I felt Z could tell I was having doubts. "I should have told you that I have an IUD. So we don't have to worry about that."

I kicked myself yet again. I was so hot to trot that I forgot to ask an incredibly important question. Knocking up my sister would have been a disaster.

I felt like I needed to express my doubts to some degree. "Should we have talked about it more?"

"I don't think it's something you can discuss rationally; make a list of pros and cons about. We either loved each other enough to take that step or we didn't. "

We had taken that step. Time to try to make the best of it. I squeezed Z's hand. "I love you, Z."

"I love you, too."

The doubts and guilt were still there, but Z had beaten them back some. We were quiet for the rest of the drive to our house. Once we were inside, Z took my hand and together we went up the stairs to Z's room.

Z started stripping down. She said to me, "Take your clothes off," and I followed suit. I didn't know what was going to happen.

Z stripped to her panties and then put on the v-neck nightshirt from last night. "When Katharine bought this for me, I thought I'd only wear it at the workshop. Now, I think I might wear it regularly." Z gave me a coy smile.

I had stripped down to my underwear. Z pulled back the covers and got into her bed. I joined her. She guided me to lie on my back, and she put her head on my shoulder. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and said, "I love you."

"I love you too."

I started running my fingers through her hair. I hoped Z found it soothing. I did. Holding Z like this made me feel warm and happy. There was nothing sexual about it, only love. Suddenly, a loving relationship with very little sex didn't seem so far-fetched.

Could we have done a trial run of me being her secret boyfriend? Just doing kissing, hugging, and this? See if we liked it and could handle the secrecy?

I thought about it for a little bit and decided it would have been worse than what we had done. Z and I were both sexually experienced. A G-rated relationship would have felt very shallow, and one of us saying that we didn't want to continue would have been as painful a rejection as if I were to say that now.

It didn't take Z long to fall asleep. I cuddled with her until I started feeling painfully stiff. I slowly slipped out of bed, managing to keep Z asleep. I pulled up the covers over her. I gathered my clothes and quietly exited her room.

* * * *

I called my best friend from high school Seth and asked if I could come over. We talked for a while, went out for lunch, and then went back to his house to talk some more. Seth was pissed about spending a week at home. He had a girlfriend at college and hated being apart for a week. They were serious, but not serious serious. He hated being back in our smallish town and felt trapped in a cage. He loved being what I considered to be a normal student in the dorms, so home held no appeal for him. I was thrilled to be home. I loved getting totally away from my pre-med studies. Saturday night, Dad and I had spent several hours in a remote field studying the heavens. That was something I couldn't do at college. Then last night was the flirting workshop. And this morning...

Around four, I headed home. I doubted I'd visit Seth again. We had once been so close but now were too different.

Z was in the shower when I came home. It felt very weird to step into the bathroom while she was in there. It was something so forbidden that it was hard to break the taboo. Z gave me a wet kiss, and I went downstairs to wait for her.

When Z came down, we sat on the couch together holding hands. I told her about my visit with Seth. We talked about our plans for the evening. After dinner, I'd go over to walk Bart, and Katharine would come here to visit. Z emphasized that we need to keep on our typical schedule - no spending extra time together. We talked about what we felt was safe to do tonight after Mom and Dad went to bed. Mom and Dad almost never came upstairs. A family joke was that they'd board up the stairway when Z and I moved out for good. But Z and I decided to play it safe and make no rhythmic bed sounds that they may be tempted to investigate.

On a weekday, Dad usually got home a little before five. With Mom covering all of Dr. Harrington's appointments, she'd work until all the patients had been seen however long that'd take. When Dad got home, I was reading my book in the living room. Z was upstairs.

"Hey, Eli! Play some pool?"

"Sure."

As Dad and I played pool, we talked about our days. Needless to say, I didn't tell him that Z and I had awesome sex in the Harringtons' hot tub. But I did wonder how he would react if I did tell him. Throw me out of the house? Make me promise to never do that with Z again? Call the cops?

After fifteen minutes of playing pool, Dad said, "Time to start on dinner." He did most of the cooking.

"What are we having?"

"Eggplant parmigiana." Z's favorite dish.

"You want help with that?"

"Sure."

Dad got out the recipe, and I started getting out of the ingredients. Dad asked me, "Where's Z?"

"Upstairs."

"Doing what?"

I made a 'who knows' gesture.

"How are you two getting along at college?"

I fucking hated lying to my dad. "Okay. She's friends with a few of my friends. I see her regularly, but I'm so busy studying that I don't have much time to talk with her."

"Good to hear. Your mom was afraid she wouldn't make friends at college. She's glad you're there to take care of her."

Man, I felt like dog shit. Mom should have seen me taking care of Z this morning.

I got all the ingredients out and opened all the cans. Having done all I could, I went back out to the living room and read my book. After a while, Dad came out, and we played pool. While we were playing, Z came down. She told me the latest she had heard from Landon and Rob.

After a while, Dad said, "Time to for the next step of the eggplant parmigiana." Z and I trooped behind him into the kitchen. Z and I breaded the eggplant slices, and Dad fried them. Z and I hung out in the kitchen with him as he finished getting the eggplant parmigiana ready to go into the oven. He'd pop it in when Mom called to say she was heading home.

Dad and I resumed playing pool. Z went upstairs. After a while, Mom called Dad. I went into the kitchen and put the eggplant parmigiana into the oven. Dad came in and pulled out a bottle of wine from the small wine rack on the counter. He said, "I think some red wine for tonight," as he proudly displayed the bottle. He gave me a wink. As he grabbed wine glasses, he said, "I think you and Z are old enough to have a glass too."

Dad and I played pool until Mom came home. She staggered through the back door. "God, what a day. I'm exhausted. I'm ready to collapse."

I happened to glance over at Dad, and he was crestfallen. I guessed he was hoping to get lucky tonight and now knew it wasn't happening.

Z came downstairs, and the family moved to the kitchen table. We made small talk until the eggplant parmigiana was done.

After a few bites, I said, "This is incredible, Dad. Thanks so much for making it."

Z added, "Ditto. It's so great to have your cooking after having to subsist on dorm food."

Dad gave us his aw-shucks look.

I stuffed myself silly and then went over to take Bart on his walk. As we walked, I told him about Z and me, and how I already hated hiding our relationship from our parents. Bart's message for me was to stop bitching and smell the mailbox posts.

* * * *

At 9:30, Z and Katharine came down the stairs. I took a break from playing pool with Dad to talk with Katharine.

"Hey, Katharine."

"Hey, Eli. Bored out of your gourd yet?"

"How could I be bored with you in town?"

Katharine smirked. Z left us and headed toward the couch where Mom was. Katharine moved her head to indicate she wanted us to move to the 'back hallway'. Once we did, she turned serious and said quietly, "Remember - not a word about last night."

I nodded. Keeping my voice low, I added, "I visited Seth this afternoon and didn't mention it." I gave Katharine a grin. "If I had told him that you told me to cop a couple of feels and then you frenched me, he wouldn't have believed me."

Katharine gave me a big smile. She grabbed a strand of her hair and started twisting it around her finger. She looked slyly at me and said, "If you get me alone sometime, I may let you do more." She gave me a coy look. "Does the no-dating edict of this morning apply to me too?"

I knew she wouldn't date me and was trying to bait me into asking her out. I said, "What I learned from last night is to let you do what you want to do."

Katharine laughed a deep, sexy laugh. It was more a come-on than an expression that she found what I had said funny. She arched her eyebrows and said, "What if what I want to do is to break your heart?"

"You've broken it a thousand times already. What's one more?"

Katharine gave me a warm smile like I had passed a test and she was giving me her approval. She then gave me a quick kiss on the lips, walked to the door, said bye to Z, and left.

Z was sitting on the couch with Mom and watching whatever show she was watching. I looked at Z as I walked toward the playroom to make sure she was okay with my flirting with Katharine. She smiled at me to let me know she was okay with it. In the playroom, I picked up my cue and started sizing up the table.

Dad asked, "What was that between you and Katharine?"

"We were just saying 'Hi'."

Much better for Dad to be wondering what was going on between me and Katharine than to be wondering what was going on between me and Z.

* * * *

At ten, Dad announced, "Time for bed." Mom turned off the TV. Z headed upstairs. Dad put his pool cue up and walked over toward the couch where Mom was now standing. "How are you feeling, Honey?"

"Refreshed after such a marvelous meal." Mom kissed Dad and then walked with a little swing in her hips to their bedroom. Maybe Dad would get lucky tonight.

I wanted to rush up the stairs to Z's bedroom. Even with Mom and Dad gone to bed, I knew I shouldn't do that. They'd hear my footsteps on the stairs. What did I normally do in this situation? I disliked having to think about what was normal. I wanted to give Mom and Dad plenty of time to settle down for the night before going to Z's bedroom. I decided to eat some ice cream.

* * * *

At 10:30, I walked as quietly as I could into Z's bedroom. She was already in bed. She pulled back the covers for me to join her. She was wearing her V-neck nightshirt. I was wearing my usual sweatpants. I kissed her, and we started talking.

Z said, "I was totally fine with you flirting with Katharine. It's what you normally do, and we have to keep things normal."

We continued talking and kissing. Then mostly kissing as our hands roamed. Z tossed the nightshirt. I lost the sweatpants. I removed Z's panties and then ate her out while trying to make no noise. I wanted to fuck her. I wanted to fuck her until she screamed out my name. But instead, Z quietly gave me a blowjob. She was inexperienced, but I came and she swallowed, so a good blowjob in my book.

I had actually liked that Z had been inexperienced about giving head. This was about love, not sex. If it was about sex, it wouldn't work. Z had done what she thought would make me happy because she loved me. And that made me love her even more.

After lots of kisses and I-love-you's, we both got on our left sides and Z spooned against me. I was naked and she was wearing her panties. Her skin felt so good pressed to mine.

A lot of the doubts were gone. Mom and Dad tonight had reminded me of when I had dated Tracie - I had almost never been in the mood during the middle of the week. I was just mentally and emotionally exhausted from studying. I felt bad about that. Now with Z, I wouldn't have to worry about that. When I was working my butt off, we couldn't have sex. But when I was away from school and ready to make up for lost time, Z would be there for me.

It was worth it; all of the lies and misleading of my parents. I didn't like doing it, but it was the price of heaven.

* * * *

Tuesday morning, Z woke up first. She normally took the first shower. I went across to my room and dozed in my bed while Z showered.

After we had taken care of Bart, we went back to our house and Z's bed. We cuddled and kissed; made love; cuddled, kissed, and talked; and then had a long, slow lovemaking session. When we were done, I was totally satisfied. I laid on my back with an arm around Z, who had her head on my shoulder.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you too."

"I could definitely get used to this. Sadly, we won't have too many more chances to do this before we go back to college."

"True, but I didn't wanted to be your girlfriend for the sex. The sex is great, but the feeling of being loved by you is far more important to me."

I kissed Z's forehead. "And the feeling of being loved by you is the most important thing to me."

Z kissed me. "We shouldn't spend all day in bed. Katharine has some adventure in mind."

"Okay."

* * * *

After lunch, I went to Walmart to look for Christmas ideas. I ran into Giselle there. She was wearing jeans, a loose sweatshirt, and a baseball cap. It was like she was playing down her good looks.

"Aren't you Z's brother?" she asked me, feigning to barely know me.

"I am. You were at the sleepover Sunday, weren't you? I only saw you for a moment."

"I was. Z said you were a pre-med student."

We pretended to introduce ourselves. Giselle had also come to Walmart to Christmas shop. We wandered around the store, bouncing ideas off each other. I had the feeling, that like me, she was more killing time than Christmas shopping. She told me about her family and her dogs. I told her about my parents. We talked about college. Giselle was a pleasure to talk with; someone I instantly trusted.

When we had seen all we wanted to see in Walmart, we drove over to McDonalds, ordered a snack, and ate it in my car.

"Thanks again for doing the flirting workshop," said Giselle.

"It was a lot of fun. At least for me."

"I wouldn't say it was fun for me, but it was very interesting. Katharine makes flirting look so easy, and it was quite eye-opening to hear how much thought she's put into it." After a pause. "And it was fascinating to see how much Z has changed. In high school, she had been a quiet nerd; okay to talk to one-on-one but didn't say a word in a group. Now, she's much more outgoing and self-confident. I could never pull off flirting like she did in the workshop." Giselle sighed. "Z has grown so much. I'm envious."

That made me feel good. Yes, Z had grown so much. Now, she was beautiful, confident young woman and a great secret girlfriend.

Giselle added, "And Katharine has grown so much too."

I was surprised by that. "What do you mean?"

"Sunday, Laurie, Katharine, Z and I went to the mall. On the ride, Katharine was very different than she had been in high school. She was so much more thoughtful and considerate. One the ride, she was funny and having a lot of fun, which wasn't too different than high school. But so much of that was playing off of Z. They're such close friends, and you can tell they both think the world of each other. Katharine had no close friends on the cheerleading squad. Occasionally, Z would say something to Katharine like 'We need to include Laurie more' and 'It's Giselle's special day', and Katharine would change how she was acting. It was like she trusted Z to be her conscience, that she wanted to act in a way that Z would approve of."

I had seen enough of Katharine and Z together to verify what Giselle was saying. "Z does think the world of Katharine."

"Tomorrow morning, I'm having them over to my house. My parents do not like Katharine. They're close friends with Becki Davis' parents, and Becki told them every bad story about Katharine that she could. After I broke up with my boyfriend, Becki called me a couple of times. It was all 'he wasn't part of God's plan for you' bullshit that didn't help at all. Katharine told me that I was better off without that loser, and she'd teach me at Thanksgiving how to get a much better boyfriend. She got me to laugh, and she boosted my spirits far more than anyone else. So tomorrow, I'm telling my parents that Katharine and Z are good friends of mine that I'm going to spend time with, whether they like it or not."

"I hope all three of you have a good time." It was surprising to me that Z and Katharine had earned such backing from Giselle.

"Valerie is still majorly bummed you said you wouldn't date her. She really wanted to date you. She'll be even more bummed when I tell her about us spending the afternoon together."

"There wasn't enough time to make it work. And there was no guarantee she could have gotten free to see me."

"True. She wanted me to lie to my parents and hers, and I didn't want to do that. Thankfully, you saved me from that." Giselle sighed. "Speaking of my parents, I need to get home before they start wondering what happened to me." Giselle gave me a warm smile. "It was great talking with you, Eli."

"It was great talking with you."

Giselle got out of my car and got into hers, and then I drove home.

* * * *

That night, I was up in my room reading when I heard door slams. Mom and Dad were already in bed. I came down the stairs to see Z and Katharine coming in the front door.

"Hey, Z. Hey, Katharine. What have you two been up to?"

Katharine said, "We went to the mall. I bought Z some things at Victoria's Secret. And then we talked about how she could let your friends 'accidentally' see her in them."

I looked over at Z, and she was blushing. I turned back to Katharine. "Did you buy anything for you?"

"A couple of things," she said coyly. "I already have so much."

"Let me know if you ever want to model them for me. I'd be happy to give you my opinion on how you look in them."

Katharine made a face like she had bitten a lemon. "Modeling lingerie for a guy? How droll. That wouldn't be any fun." She moved closer to me and said quietly, "Lingerie is for teasing, not modeling. Giving a guy a peek will drive him nuts far more than giving him a full view. And if he thinks you're accidentally letting him see it..." She gave me a knowing smile and then moved even closer and whispered in my ear. "Like wearing thong panties under a short nightshirt and then standing on stairs above him."

My eyes went wide at discovering that Katharine had known all along.

Katharine kissed me gently on the lips. She sultrily, "Goodnight, Eli." Then she turned to Z and said brightly, "'Night, Z."

Once Katharine left, Z and I went up the stairs to her bedroom. I asked, "Are you going to show me what you got?"

"Not tonight. Katharine has it. She's holding it hostage, so I'll see her again before we leave."

"Well, you'll see her tomorrow." I told her about running into Giselle. "Don't spend too much time at Giselle's tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon is our last chance to make love before Christmas break."

Z kissed me. "I know. Don't worry. I'll be back in plenty of time. I want our last time to be special. Now, go change into your sweatpants."