Arianna

Laughing at how well Sophie knew me I said, "Fine," to get her off my back.

With that she handed me a classy thigh length black dress with a pair of cute high heel sandals and commanded, "Change," as she sat down on the bed.

Turning away from her I did off with my outerwear, and began to put the dress on.

"No, no, no," I heard her say as I had the dress halfway on. I stopped and turned around as she made her way toward me. "Your bra is going to stick out," she said. I stood motionless as she reached around and effortlessly unstrapped me. I stood still as she looked me up and down. I guess I had always known that Sophie was gorgeous, but in that intimate situation it was even more apparent. She was a few inches shorter than me around 5'6", but her fit frame was accentuated by a blue cutout dress that exposed parts of her midriff. Her dress also managed to draw the eyes downward to her beautifully toned legs. Her vivid, pale skin and golden hair were nothing short of angelic. She had an extremely gorgeous face, and when she smiled... It could only be described as duckish. On someone else it would have looked awkward; however on Sophie it somehow augmented her indescribable beauty. After a few moments I found myself staring at her while I was exposed myself.

She grinned as she said, "Well you do have a great pair of tits, but I think the look will work better if you pull the dress all the way up."

Laughing at myself I pulled the dress the rest of the way up and turned back to the mirror to examine myself. I had to admit, Sophie certainly knew how to make me look good. Though I wasn't sure I would be happy with the result once we got to the party. Giving in I followed Sophie back out into her living room where I met Percy. As per Sophie's description, he was fairly handsome, and certainly seemed nice. I found myself looking forward to the night much more than I had imagined I would.

The house we arrived would have been more accurately described as an estate. Eyeing the impressive two story mansion, I got out of the car and followed my way through a very ornate entryway. Keeping close to Sophie, we made our way through the house, past a large area with flashing lights devoted to dancing. We eventually found our way to a dining room laid out with a good assortment of snacks, and an even larger supply of liquor.

Percy decided to start off boldly, and brought us all glasses from what looked to be a very old bottle of scotch. Holding his glass up for a toast, he said , "À votre santé."

Not really knowing what to do I looked to Sophie for a cue, she just smiled, shrugged and raised her glass before downing her drink. Following her move I made to do the same, but Percy stopped me. "No, you're supposed to say, 'À la votre.' He corrected. What I said means to your health, and À la votre means, and to yours."

I gave him a raised brow and said, "Umhhh huh." Before raising my glass and draining it. He looked irritated as I looked away, and I couldn't help but wish my sister was there. She would have chastised Percy with no hesitation for being a snob.

The night progressed and Sophie and John split off from us to go dance. I got more and more annoyed with Percy as he tried too hard to be classy, while the party around us was devolving into a bacchanal. Eventually I insisted that we go to the other room where I saw drinking games being played.

"Really now," he said, "There are much better ways to enjoy your time than playing foolish games to see who can get drunk the fastest."

"Well I'm going to play some foolish games," I countered, "You can join or not, your call." He gave me a dismayed look, and at that I left him and walked to the other room, asking to join a group of people playing never have I ever. I was welcomed enthusiastically. After a few rounds I saw an attractive young woman in a black halter top dragging over the familiar form of my sister. Anna was wearing her torn jeans, a t-shirt and a sweat band that held her hair back out of her face. Somehow she still managed to look classy, and outshine every other woman in sight.

Though I was in truth jealous of the girl pulling my sister along, I gave her a friendly smile and tried to catch Anna's eye. She met my eyes for a moment before giving an annoyed shake of the head and looking away.

Realizing that the contact wasn't likely to be friendly, I focused in on the game and the drinking, trying to leave the thoughts of Anna out of the situation.

Going around the group, a petite blond girl said, "Never have I ever... Eaten pussy."

At that, most of the guys, my sister, her friend and I all took drinks. We all got enthusiastic cheers from the boys before the game could continue.

A few more questions had various members of the group drinking before it was Anna's turn. "Never have I ever," she said looking over at me, "Pissed myself in public."

I rubbed my brow for a moment before taking a drink and hastily putting my hands up defensively, explaining, "Okay, I was five when this happened." That got laughs from most everyone, and I shook my head at my sister before giving an exasperated smile.

Fortunately it was after this point that Sophie and her boyfriend came over to join us, sitting down next to me, leaning in and giving me a chastising look. "You couldn't have put up with Percy for one night?" she scolded me, giving me an irate frown.

"God, I know. I'm sorry Soph, but he is dreadful," I explained giving an emphasizing eye roll, "He wouldn't stop talking in French, and he was talking shit about basically everyone here because they're enjoying themselves at a party."

"Well fine, but you're going to run out of excuses some day," she said with her patented grin. Had I not been head over heels for Anna, I might have had trouble keeping away from Sophie's magnetic personality. Breaking away from her gaze, we both returned to the game.

A few more people went before it was my turn. "Okay... Ummm, never have I ever, had a threesome." With that, several girls and boys around the circle drank, including Sophie. I knew Anna would be among them, so I gave her a teasing grin, but she was stone faced as she took her drink.

After that Anna gave me a long uncomfortable stare before returning her attention to her cute partner. Sophie didn't fail to notice and gave me a quizzical look nodding to Anna. I shook it off and pretended that I was interested in the game to avoid talking about it.

Soon enough it was again Anna's turn and she turned to glare directly at me as she said with a heated look, "Never have I ever fucked my sister's girlfriend."

I gave her a look of surprise that quickly turned to hurt. I had indeed done this, but not in the way she made it sound. At a party a couple of years ago I had experimented with a pretty girl named Chelsea who had been coming on to me for most of the night. I only found out later that Anna had recently started seeing her, and she hadn't told me yet because she was unsure if it was going anywhere. I did my best to explain my side, but still felt that I had betrayed my best friend. As was common with our relationship though, when one of us made a mistake, it was immediately understood and forgiven. But in this situation, I had been the one to hold onto it. I ended up getting into a decent brawl with Chelsea for betraying my sister, and I spent months kissing the ground Anna walked on before she finally made it clear that my groveling was annoying. Since she was bringing it up again, it was apparent that she was trying to get a rise out of me.

Several people in the circle had questioning looks, especially Sophie as I stood, fists clenched and walked away from the group. I made my way to the table of alcohol and grabbed the first full bottle that I found, and began to head out of the room. Sophie caught up to me as I was near the door, "Hey," she called, grabbing my arm when I didn't stop. "Hey, what was going on back there? Is that your sister?"

"Yeah... Look Soph, I really don't want to talk about it," I told her honestly. "Just go have fun okay, I'll catch up with you tomorrow." With that I left her, barely registering where I was going. Before long I found myself upstairs where there were many closed doors with sounds of passion filtering through into the hallway. Eventually I walked through an obscenely large bedroom and found myself on a tiled balcony overlooking the front yard of the mansion.

I opened the bottle, which turned out to be Captain, and downed a good portion before setting it on the railing. My mind was swirling with thoughts of Anna, torn between being angry at her and myself. "FUUUUCKKK!" I let loose before taking another large swig from the bottle. After that, it became easier to let my mind go blank. I sat down in a wicker recliner with comfy padding, drinking smaller mouthfuls every now and again.

Eventually, half of the bottle was gone as I watched the dark, cloudy sky roiling above me. In the distance I could see bright flashes cutting across the horizon. I watched, thankfully thoughtless as the storm moved in my direction. Before long I heard voices coming from the cracked door to bedroom behind me.

"Why do you need to find her anyway?" I heard a girl whine.

"Oh come on, you saw her grab that bottle. She's gonna drink herself to death," I heard the familiar sound of my sister. Not knowing what to think yet, I downed another good mouthful of liquor, hoping I wouldn't have to confront her in this condition.

"Well she's not going to die just yet, and we are in my parent's bedroom. And they would freak if they knew we hooked up in here," the other voice said seductively as I matched it to the pretty girl with Anna earlier. Pleading I heard her say, "C'mon lets have some fun." Next I heard a shrieking giggle, and the sound of fervent kissing.

As if on cue, thunder sounded in the sky, and rain began falling down on the balcony, slowly at first. I decided that I needed to get out of there now before things went any further. But as I stood poised to race through the room, I caught sight of my sister leaning over her prospective lover through the window. She was in the process of slowly removing her tight shirt. I stood frozen as it came up over her head, revealing her perfect, perky breasts, accentuated by the low light filtering in from behind her. She threw her shirt to the side as she resumed her passionate make out session.

Fire ran through my body, pulsing toward my loins as I stared on jealously. She seductively removed the girl's pants and lace thong. As she slowly leaned in and began to tongue her lover, I felt my stomach roil. I stumbled to the edge of the balcony and let loose over the railing as rain began to pound down heavily. Slowly, my stomach settled and I fell to the tile floor, curling myself into a tight ball, sobbing heartily as the downpour ensued before I passed into a dark oblivion.

*****

"God, just help me get her into the bathroom. Look, you head home, I'm going to stay with her tonight. I promise I'll make it up to you later hon." A voice sounded at the edge of my consciousness.

My fuzzy brain eventually reasoned that Anna had found me on the balcony and come to my rescue. Soon my clothes were removed, and I had a vague impression of being helped into a bath. The shower came down with heavenly hot water that helped my limbs regain some feeling as I experimentally moved them about.

"You awake finally?" With no forthcoming answer I heard an exasperated sigh, "Well, you won't die anyway."

With my eyes closed I worked out the words, "Anna... I love you so much,"

"What? Oh is that your..." her voice was cut off as I grabbed her face and pulled her into a deep kiss. Drunk as I was, I poured as much passion through my lips as I could, probing my tongue and finding hers. I carried on for as long as I could before I sank back into the ecstasy of the warm shower. Smiling, I was blissfully unaware of Sophie standing shocked above me. Eventually she said to herself, "What... the fuck..."

*****

The following morning I came slowly to consciousness as the thudding of my heartbeat reverberated throughout my skull. I took my time, pitying myself, before eventually gathering the willpower to get out of bed. Seeing that I was dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top, I made my way to the kitchen I saw someone covered up on the couch. Frowning, I continued to the fridge, I did my best to remember what had happened last night.

I remembered the party, my ridiculous date, my sister's jibes, getting drunk... and seeing her...

Shit, that must be Anna on the couch. She must have found me on the balcony. Fuck, well hopefully she will think I was passed out before she got there. At the very least I'll have an opportunity to talk to her now.

Taking it as a good sign, I downed as much water as my stomach would allow, popping a bunch of ibuprofen I kept handy. Feeling slightly less like my brain was melting, I took some eggs out of the fridge and cracked a bunch in the skillet, scrambling them as I threw some bread in the toaster.

As breakfast was finishing up I heard someone enter the kitchen behind me.

"Hey there," I said turning around. Seeing Sophie sitting there in the same dress from last night, I gave her a confused look before giving half a laugh. "Well I'm gonna need you to tell me what happened last night," I paused before going on, "But you should make yourself more comfortable, there are some clothes you can borrow in my room, breakfast will be done in a minute."

"Thanks darling, this dress is killing me," she responded as she headed back toward my room.

As I finished cooking, I split the eggs onto two plates and gave us each some toast before adding a generous amount of Tabasco to my plate. At that point, Sophie came back in a pair of sweats and a loose t-shirt.

We ate for a few minutes in silence before Sophie asked, "So, do you remember much from last night?"

"Not much, just drinking too much and waking up feeling like death," I laughed.

She joined in, "Well you definitely did that." She took a moment, "So, your sister kind of set you off or something, and I didn't see you till she and her friend brought you back half drowned, and basically unconscious. After that John was sober enough, so he brought us back here."

"Shit. I'm sorry to ruin your guys' night," I said ruefully.

"Hey, I get it. Family shit is rough," she placated me. "So... You don't remember anything else?" She asked with a strange look in her eye.

I thought about it, "No not really anything after puking off a balcony." She gave a small smile at that before we returned to our food. As I ate, thoughts came to me, and I had a vague flash of kissing Anna. I thought about it for a few moments, hoping desperately that it had been a dream. "You said you and John brought me back last night," I stated before asking, "My sister wasn't here at some point was she?"

"Nope," Sophie answered matter-of-factly. At that a relieved smile came to my face. I was dreaming. A few heartbeats later she looked directly into my eyes and said with a sly grin, "But you thought she was."

With that, a colossal pit formed in my stomach. I stared at her horrified with my fork halfway to my mouth. It wobbled for a moment before I dropped it to my plate. "Soph," I begged, "Please." That was all I could manage for a minute. She sat still with that smile still on her face. Finally gathering my wits I continued panicked, "Please, you can't tell anyone! I'm so sorry. Look, I know I'm a freak, I will leave you alone, but please, PLEASE, don't tell anyone."

Finally she gave a triumphant giggle. "Don't worry hon. I had been figuring you were a lesbian, but I guess there's a little more to it than that. As for whether or not you're a freak, who am I to judge? So no I won't tell..." She paused before giving a big smirk and continuing, "As long as you give me the whole story."

Surprised by her seeming understanding, but unconvinced of Sophie's intentions I was quiet for a bit while I gave her a puzzled look.

"Look, dummy. I promise I'm not going to tell anyone," she said more empathetically this time, "As far as I'm concerned, who you like is your own business, and if you really don't want to tell me... I guess you don't have to." With that she reached across the counter taking my hand in her own and flashing her smile, "But you're my friend, I'm not going to kick you out of my life because you're a little bit different. So tell me, I need something exciting to occupy my dull days," she finished dramatically shaking her head, as if her life were so boring.

Sincerely surprised, I found myself believing her. "God Soph... If you're playing me I will break you," I warned. She just gave me an honest laugh and looked on, waiting for me. I resumed eating, thinking on how to best explain myself. After a few minutes, I found my voice.

"Okay, to start, you have to understand that Arianna has been my best friend my whole life. We have always done everything together, always confided in each other. Until recently, there was nothing in the world I didn't share with her," I paused for a few moments to think. If Sophie was going to comprehend this she had to get why our relationship had been so strong.

"She's straight forward, takes what she wants, never afraid to be herself. And she knows me like nobody else. I'm not like her, I don't always say what's on my mind, but she always knew, and would say what I couldn't. Not that I didn't look out for her. If there is one thing I won't put up with its people fucking with my sister. We just... complete each other," I explained before pausing again.

Okay, now it would be tougher to articulate. "I don't know exactly when my feelings for her changed, but I do know that every relationship I've had has felt forced. Nothing comes as naturally to me as being around Anna... So when I came to college, I met you and had some good times. Honestly, I tried to emulate your effortless interactions," that got a raised brow from Sophie. I continued, "But it kept getting clearer that I wanted something different."

"Not long after I began to think of my sister when I was with the few guys I could bring myself to hook up with. And when that didn't work, I tried working things out with girls from our dorm, but they always fell short, and it made things worse than ever," at that I left things silent for a moment.

Sophie looked at me to see if I would carry on, so I started again, "That's why I've been kind of depressed lately... I couldn't bring myself to face Anna with these feelings for the longest time, which pissed her off. She always forgives me when I explain myself to her, but I can't this time. I don't know how to fix things," I said solemnly.

Sophie was quiet for a long while. "So she has no idea how you feel?"

"No," I laughing despairingly, "Think of how it would be trying to tell your best friend that you're into her. And on top of that, she's my sister so I'm never even going to get the chance."

She gave a small grunt in agreement. With that we both finished up our breakfast mutely. I couldn't stop myself from wondering what Sophie was thinking. If I thought that I was fucked up for my feelings, what was she thinking?

*****

Eventually we moved to the couch, and I turned on the TV, dreading our next interaction, understanding that things would probably never be the same. We sat in silence for a few minutes before Sophie excused herself to use the bathroom. I sat with my mind racing, staring at the ground next to me, ignoring the TV. After a good while I heard Sophie come back into the room, but I didn't look up.

Hearing the TV shut off brought me out of my reverie, and I looked up at Soph. I was curious when I saw she had replaced her sweats with an old pair of torn jeans I never wore, her hair pulled back with a sweat band. "Uhhh, Sophie, what's up?" I questioned.