Annie: 'Twas The Season

My sister's life-changing approach to the Holidays

Author's note: This is my entry for the Winter Holidays Story Contest 2022. Like its predecessor tales, it could easily fit in First Time, Exhibitionist and Voyeur, Humor and Satire or Erotic Couplings, but it is in Incest and Taboo because the main protagonists are sister and brother. Also like its predecessor, it is meant as a light look at certain Rites of Passage and I hope you enjoy it. Regardless of any contest, voting and constructive criticisms are how I learn how better to please you, the Reader.

Additional note: the largest criticism received about Annie: Floating Along was that it involved more than just Brian and Annie; the largest criticism received about Annie: Settling Down was that it was a letdown from the intensity of Floating. Just a heads-up, this one does include others, does have a group scene, and has some familial drama as well. It is also Fantasy, and requires a Willing Suspension of Disbelief. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the story.

*~*~*~*~*

"Aw, nuts!"

"What's the matter, this time?" I asked. This time, I was at my desk and she was on the couch, looking at her phone.

"They just posted the schedule for Finals," she explained, swiping through her phone.

"Let me guess," I told her. "You have morning finals towards the end of the week, like every other Freshman."

"They should draw and quarter the guy that figured out this time-block thingie," she groused.

"What if it was a girl?" I teased.

"They should draw and quarter the person that figured out this shit," she shot back. "Who in their right mind schedules an English final for 8am on a Saturday???"

"Some sadistic Teaching Assistant, getting even for years of abuse?" I answered, sounding apologetic. Annie just glared at me.

"It could be worse," I pointed out. "You could have three on Saturday..." Annie hurriedly checked her schedule to make sure my pronouncement hadn't just materially altered her end of term. "You watched too much Young Frankenstein," I added.

"It's bad enough to have one final on Saturday. That means I have to miss the ONat's Friday night bash, and we're leaving Sunday for Christmas break."

"You'll still have Saturday night, and we aren't leaving for Christmas break," I told her. When she gave me a very confused look, I explained, "I'm driving you home for Christmas break. Then I'm coming back here, where I have a job, break or not. I'll be back up for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The day after, I'm driving back down. One of the disadvantages of working and going to school. Be glad Dad is paying your way, plus whatever the scholarship is doing, and enjoy it while you can."

"Well, that really sucks," she decided, putting her phone away. "You want spaghetti for dinner? Or creamed hamburger with rice?"

"I like both, the way you make them, but tonight I'd like to go with the spaghetti."

"On it," she smiled and headed for the kitchen. I headed back into studying network theory and asymmetrical object relations. It had been a long quarter and it wasn't over, yet.

* * * * *

After the adventure at Halloween, Jill had become a regular at our place, usually staying over a couple of nights a week. She told us it was easier to study at ours than at the house with Abby, Becca and Barb, mostly because it was quieter at ours. Most of the time, she slept with Annie and I slept separate. Maybe once a week we'd do a threesome and honestly, it was the best sex I'd ever had. Annie owned me, but Jill was becoming special, too. The combination of my feelings and their expertise made for an interesting time. Of course, when Jill wasn't staying over, Annie tended to sleep with me.

We were coming up on Thanksgiving when Jill sat me and Annie down.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing here, so please listen and don't jump on me," she'd started. I'm sure Annie was as surprised as I was, and I was giving Jill a very confused look.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," she told us. I looked over at Annie because I presumed Jill meant she was falling for my sister. Annie, apparently, thought differently.

"Of course," she smiled. "I love him, too."

"Not just him," Jill clarified. "You, too. I'm falling for you, plural. And that's the problem."

I had so much swirling around in my head, I went to my default: I shut up and waited.

I hadn't had a Significant Other in my life since Sophomore year when she decided she preferred the All-State starting linebacker with the big dick. Except Annie. Since the float trip, I'd realized she really had become the most important person in my life, even more than Mom and Dad. I really had fallen in love with her.

I guess maybe I shouldn't say fallen. More like grown. Quickly. She had blown away my uncertainties on the trip, and by the time we'd decided to live together, I'd realized she was the closest girl to me, and probably the best for me. Jill, being a little older and more experienced than Annie, was coming in a close second.

While I was wrestling with all of this, Annie was looking at Jill, confused.

"You're falling for me?" she asked, I guess trying to process the concept.

"Yeah, I am," Jill told her. "You're smart, friendly, caring, sexy as all hell and just plain fun to be with. You push all my buttons, and in ways most people, male or female, don't. Brian's another one that gets to me, but he's more in the serious partner range than the fun accomplice group."

Annie fell silent, obviously thinking, like I was. The silence lasted a few moments before she broke it.

"And that would be a problem how?" she asked. "I mean, 'cuz it seems like I've fallen for you, too."

"Because you two have a special relationship that I don't want to mess up," Jill explained, then let it hang out there. Annie and I looked at each other for several long moments.

"I don't see how you could mess anything up," Annie told Jill, turning back to her. "Unless you were trying to split the two of us up. Then it'd be, Sorry - You're Outta Here and an escort to the door."

"Would it be 'splitting you up' if I wanted to spend more time with your brother? Which would mean less time with you?" Annie looked thoughtful at that one.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "As much as I want to monopolize his time, the term so far has taught me I need to back off, give him room. Whether it's a job or class or something else, I know I can't be selfish. But that doesn't stop me from wanting him, a lot. Then there's you... I love spending time with you and it makes it so much easier to give Brian his space when I have you... I guess I'm just confused."

"Would you be jealous if I wanted to sleep with Brian some nights... maybe once a week or so... without you?" Jill asked. She was doing a great job of drilling down to what was probably the major issue -- Annie's possible jealousy.

"I don't know," Annie answered her honestly. "When I'm sleeping alone it's because you're not here and Brian needs alone time. I'm sort of used to that. I don't know how I'd feel if I were in my bed and you were in his."

"We could try it sometime," the problem solving side of me suggested before I could shut him up. They both looked at me like I'd sprouted additional heads. I suddenly felt I'd better clarify what I'd meant.

"I'm not talking about tonight," I hurried to tell them, "or anything in the near future. I just think if the opportunity presents itself... if you're busy with something, Annie, like end of term stuff or something... maybe Jill comes to bed with me. To sleep. I mean, you don't have a problem with the three of us sleeping together after we've all three gotten it on together."

"That's true, I don't," Annie agreed, "but that's also all three of us there. As in, I'm there, too. I'd like to think I wouldn't go all green-eyed, but I really don't know."

"So Brian's never getting married while you're around," Jill observed -- with a smile on her face, but the idea obviously bothered Annie, a lot. And Jill noticed.

"Look," she told Annie, "I'm not meaning for us to get all bent out of shape tonight. I just wanted to get it out there how I feel about you so I didn't feel like I was hiding something. Que sera, sera. I'm not horning in on your relationship and I'm not pulling out of what we've got, either. And unless you kick me out, tonight I'm in your bed. After helping with the dishes and finishing my chapter review."

Annie visibly relaxed at Jill's reassurance and I was damned glad she could read Annie so well. I didn't need some kind of civil war firing up. I wasn't going to tell Annie, but Jill's comment about marriage did get to me and got me thinking. There was a lot to that 'future' that wasn't 'ours to see'. In the meantime, I had studying to do as well.

* * * * *

The three of us pretty much just let it ride. We were busy with school and work, and daily life, and it was convenient to just ignore any issues. When we got to the week before Thanksgiving, Annie asked me if I was going home for it. I pointed out my schedule wouldn't let me, but she was welcome to take Deathtrap home to spend Thanksgiving with our parents.

That got me almost a minute of hard look and stony silence.

"I guess I just call Mom and let her know that for the first time in forever, she and Dad get to spend Thanksgiving alone. Unless Kerry or Joel will be there, which I doubt."

If she was going for the guilt, it wasn't going to work. I'd already missed three family Thanksgivings and another one was going to be par for the course.

"Oh, gee," I told her a bit sarcastically, "they'll just have to suffer with having some quality alone time together instead of slaving over a hot oven and entertaining the hordes."

Annie sighed, then told me, "yeah, you're right... but I'm going to call Mom and tell her I'll be staying here for Thanksgiving, anyway. So she knows she and Dad aren't forgotten."

"Don't you, like, call her, religiously, every week?" I asked. She and Mom could spend an hour talking with very little effort. "I seriously doubt Mom thinks you've forgotten her. Or them."

"Yeah, well..." she muttered as she headed off for her bedroom, to make her call. I went back to studying. It was the predictable hour later that she emerged, with a smile. That kind of surprised me.

"Mom and Dad are coming down to visit us for Thanksgiving," she informed me. "And I'm cooking a turkey."

That surprised the hell out of me. "Whaaat??" was my confused response.

"Mom and Dad are coming down to visit," she iterated. "Kerry and Joel won't be there, so it's no big deal for them to come down Wednesday, spend Thanksgiving with us, and Mom and Dad and I can hit the Black Friday sales, and we can all hang around on Saturday and they drive home Sunday. Mom hasn't told Dad, yet, but I think he'll be okay with it.

"Mom said they'd get a room at a hotel and I told her bull... they could take my room, and since it's only, like, four nights, I could use your bed. You're working Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, anyway. She asked if that wasn't presuming a lot about how you'd feel about sharing and I told her I'd just play the Helpless Sister card and you'd cave, and we'd be fine. She didn't seem all that reassured, but she did say she'd check with Dad. I told her if it was a real problem, they could still use my room and I'd just sleep on the couch or something."

I sat there looking at my sister like she had just materialized from a different planet.

"You told Mom and Dad we'd be sleeping together???" I was incredulous, to say the least.

"Yes. Sleeping. Like that thing you do in pajamas on a family camping trip. Sleep-ing."

I just shook my head. This was inviting a disaster and I knew it. I wanted to believe it was just Annie's naïveté clouding her judgement (or judgment, if you only spell in American). She'd have to be one hell of an actress to fool our parents into thinking it was all innocent.

"Brian, really... don't worry about it," she went on before I could answer her. "They'll come in Wednesday night. I'll be here. When they crash, I'll head to your bed in a damned burka or something. You won't get home until after midnight, you'll grab a bite of leftovers and come to bed. I'll be up and doing breakfast for all of us. We don't have classes on Thursday or Friday, so you can sleep in. I'll have the turkey in and everything set up so we can eat around two. You and Dad can watch football until you need to go to work.

"I'll do the same thing Thursday night, but I'll be getting up way before you to hit the Black Friday sales with Mom and Dad. We'll hardly see each other. You've got to work Friday again, so it's lather, rinse, repeat. Saturday gets interesting because you don't work, but I think we're probably pretty good at being Brother-Sister enough to allay any suspicions." She obviously had thought about it.

"Rock Cornish Game Hens," I told her.

"What?" I guess I kind of derailed her.

"Rock Cornish Game Hens," I repeated. "Instead of a turkey. Easier to do for just four of us, just as tasty and they can be stuffed the traditional way. Or you can Stove Top 'em."

"Okay," she agreed, catching on. "And mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn off the cob and black cherry Jell-O?"

"All good with me," I told her. "No candied yams, though. Shall I look for a thaub to go with your burka?"

"Very funny," she told me, in a tone that told me it wasn't. "If you come to bed in boxers, it'll be like a chastity belt, as far as I'm concerned."

"Got it," I told her, deciding to just cave and go with the flow. I'd still be on speaking terms with my parents after this stunt, or I wouldn't.

* * * * *

As planned, Mom and Dad showed up Wednesday evening, after I'd gone to work. I got home at my usual midnight-thirty and found Annie's usual note.

Mom brought down one of her shrimp casseroles. It's in the fridge. They're in my room. I'm in yours. Mom's pretty happy with the apartment. ~Annie~

That was a nice surprise. Mom made an awesome shrimp casserole. I fished it out of the fridge and served myself up a big bowl. She'd brought down a lot because there was at least enough for another meal for the four of us. I thought about what tomorrow was going to be like. I was going to have to be the detached but supportive older brother, doing whatever I could to help Annie be successful. She'd have to be playing the newbie younger sister appreciating my help.

Regardless, we were going to have to play it asexual. Our current course loads and my work helped with that. I finished dinner, finished loading the dishwasher and setting it to run, hit the head and went -- quietly -- to my room. I guess I was running on autopilot, because I stripped off my clothes and slipped into bed.

Immediately running into Annie, who rolled over and curled up to me, very warm and very naked.

"I thought you said 'burka'..." I whispered.

"I thought you said 'thaub'," she answered, sliding her hand down to cup my cock and balls.

"Damn..." I moaned quietly, then pulled her to me and kissed her. She kissed me back and we melted into each other for a bit. Then I broke the kiss and laid back. "Sleep," I told her.

"Sleep," she agreed and curled up under my arm like she usually did. She made it to dreamland before I did, but I did fall asleep.

* * * * *

I woke up with sunlight battering the shades, morning wood and no Annie.

Actually, when I thought about it, that's pretty much what she said would happen. So I rolled out, threw on gym trunks and a t-shirt and headed out for the bathroom. I could hear Annie and my parents' voices coming from the kitchen, so I went ahead and hit the head, washed up and went to see them. I figured I could shower later.

When I came around the corner into the kitchen, I was met with huge smiles. And breakfast. A lot of it. Eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes and syrup, juice... and the all important coffee.

"Hey, son!" Dad greeted me. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, pretty good," I told him. "Late night at work and a stubborn problem, but I'm okay. Or at least, I will be when I..." I didn't get any farther before Annie was putting a big mug of coffee in my hands.

"Hey, Bro'..." she smiled. "I've learned at least that much about you this term!"

"You are a Scholar and a Gentlewoman," I told her as I took the cup and a sip of the Resume Human Form Potion.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," she jibed back. "Breakfast is on the counter... grab what you want. We've been up for awhile and are pretty much done."

"Thanks," I told her, then intentionally went to my Mom and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "It's really nice to see you. You, too, Dad..." and I turned and held out my hand.

"Are you kidding?" he asked with a smile, then came around so we could do a manly hug. When we broke it, I sort of cracked my neck, then turned to the counter, muttering, "fooooood..."

They laughed and I filled a plate. They were talking about the schedule for the day and I just stayed out of it and ate. Annie and Mom had commandeered the kitchen -- they were taking my suggestion about the hens -- leaving me and Dad to the living room. It had been a lot of years since I'd been in that situation, but it wasn't unfamiliar. Dad and I adjourned to the living room and settled into the two overstuffed chairs I used for gaming.

"I hope our arrival isn't an imposition on you, son," Dad started and I decided I'd better use the opportunity to set some expectations... the ones I wanted to set.

"Not at all," I told him. "When Annie told me she'd invited you, I had the obligatory moment of panic about sleeping arrangements, but figured she and I had shared sleeping space before and it didn't have to be weird. I told her I'd be coming in late and would want to sleep in, and she told me no problem... she could get up and deal with breakfast and all that stuff so I didn't have to worry about it.

"I told her I appreciated that and started to apologize that my work schedule was going to screw things up, but she stopped me and pointed out how everything could work out and I decided to just turn it over to her. She's pretty good at being organized when she wants to be."

"From what I've heard," Dad told me, "she's getting a big dose of Reality and you're buffering the worst of it for her. I'm glad she's got you to look out for her, son. In some ways, she's a little too innocent for her own good."

"I'm trying to see she has fun, safely, without it tanking her academics," I told him. "She making some solid friendships on campus and they're helping her stay out of trouble. I was hoping to have my degree by the end of this term, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. So I figure I'm here through Spring and Annie's pretty easy to live with. By the time next year rolls around, she'll be pretty solid on her feet."

"I was hoping you'd say something like that," Dad told me. "In fact, if you decided to go for your Doctorate, I'd be ecstatic."

"It's possible. I'm not thinking that far out, yet."

"Okay, so for the immediate future," he smiled. "Bears or Packers?"

"Bears, of course."

"Cowboys or Panthers?"

"The Panthers are playing on Thanksgiving? Um... Cowboys. Although it would be nice to see them lose."

"Yeah, first time for Carolina. Okay, Eagles or Lions?"

"Don't really have a pick," I told him. "Probably the Eagles. Mostly because I can't stand the Lions."

There's a reason I'm not a betting man. Bears won, barely, 17-13. The Lions walked all over the Eagles, 45-14. And the Panthers took the Cowboys down a major peg, 33-14. But it was still a great Thanksgiving.