Christmas with My Brother

She snickered at that, but said nothing. A few minutes later she said, "I'm between girlfriends myself."

I nodded. "Well, mom will be relieved." I chuckled and she grinned.

We pulled into the driveway a few minutes later, and I hauled her oversized suitcase up the stairs and into the living room. Both of our parents were there to exchange hugs and smiles and gushy sentiments. I rolled my eyes as my mom commented, "It's ok that neither of you brought a date this year. We didn't get any presents for anyone else!" That was her way of saying, "I'm just really glad I get to spend more time with you two."

A few minutes later, the explosion I was expecting to occur occurred.

"Mom? Where is my room???" Danielle yelled from upstairs. I was sitting in the living room, and my parents were both in the kitchen. I glanced over at them and saw a guilty look on my mom's face. She quickly went upstairs to try to calm Danielle down. I followed.

Danielle was standing in the doorway to her old room looking furious. Her suitcase was lying on the floor in the hallway and she had her arms akimbo, glaring from the room to my mom. My mom had her hands in front of her, trying to calm her.

"I'm sorry dear. We just really wanted to make use of the extra space," my mom was saying.

"Where the hell am I supposed to sleep?" Danielle asked vehemently.

"Well, your father thought you could sleep in the living room...," her voice trailed off as she probably realized how big Danielle's suitcase was.

Danielle's face turned ugly. "The LIVING room? Are you KIDDING ME?" Yeah, she was not happy.

I heard my father coming up the stairs. I was wedged in between everyone. My mom said, "It'll be ok sweetie. The pull out couch is really comfortable."

"No," Danielle said. Everyone fell quiet.

My dad squeezed past me and said, "Won't you just try it, at least for a night? It might not be as bad as you think."

Danielle growled in frustration, and stormed past everyone, leaving me with my two poleaxed parents. I turned and followed her downstairs. She was in the kitchen, a fifth of whiskey already open and pouring a glass. I heard my parents following slowly behind me.

I decided to try to diffuse the situation myself, so I offered, "Uh, hey Dani? Why don't you just sleep in my room? I don't mind sleeping on the couch."

Danielle stopped with her glass half way to her mouth. She frowned and then said, "You'd seriously do that for me?"

I nodded, "Yep. You have way more stuff than I do anyway."

Danielle set down her glass and walked around the counter until she was standing right in front of me. She pushed herself up on her tiptoes and gave me a peck on the lips and whispered, "Thank you." My parents walked in slowly, my dad's hands raised as if protecting my mother from Danielle.

I turned toward them and started to say, "I'm going to let Danielle—."

"Ky said I could sleep downstairs with him," Danielle interrupted me half way through.

My parents both looked at each other and shrugged. Then Danielle burst out laughing and said, "Well Merry Christmas everyone!"

That seemed to break the awkward moment and the rest of the day was enjoyable.






=DANIELLE=

It was a fun evening. I felt bad for blowing up at my parents. But they could have warned me about my room before I went upstairs and saved me from dragging my suitcase all over the place. Instead they had both run into the kitchen like cowards and let me find out for myself. Oh well. Kyle had saved the day. I glanced over at him and smiled. He was sitting on the floor a few feet away from me. For just a second, I admired his physique. He was more muscular than the last time I saw him. And he had a neatly trimmed beard covering his face. Altogether, he was fairly hot.

My parents were both on the couch and there was a table between us that was covered with a deck of cards. Kyle was teaching them how to play Texas Hold'em. I already knew how to play, but wasn't very good. It didn't matter, though. We were all drinking spiked eggnog and having a gay old time. Oh, that was not meant to be a pun. I laughed out loud at my own private joke, but nobody noticed.

After my parents went to bed, Kyle and I switched to straight rum. Too much sugar mixed with alcohol was a surefire way to end up in the bathroom all night. We switched up the game from Texas Hold'em to an old drinking game called Up and Down the River. There really wasn't any strategy to it. Especially not with only two people. But we got lit, and that was the point.

I was really loving hanging out with Kyle. It had been almost two years since we had seen each other, which really sucked. That was partly why I had asked him to come home this Christmas. I figured we were due to catch up on life.

After more than an hour, I leaned backward on a big pillow that was behind me, and noticed that the room was no longer straight. Oh goodie. Dani got a little tipsy. I giggled and Kyle looked at me, smirking. "What's so funny?" he asked.

I said the first thing that popped into my head, "Oh, I was just thinking about how I wish you had brought a girlfriend so I'd have someone to hit on."

"Har har," he said sarcastically. "That's the drink talking, sis."

I sat up, and then acted like I couldn't hold my balance so I fell onto the carpet. "I don't think so. I feel perfectly normal."

Kyle laughed at me, scooping up the cards and shuffling them. "That makes sense. Normal for you is drunk for everyone else."

"Hey!" I said, acting offended. I knew I wasn't drunk, but I also knew I wasn't sober.

As he laid out the cards again, I slid closer to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and said, "Take me to bed."

He laughed. We had this thing that we used to do with each other where we would act like we were a couple. It was endearing. It was a big inside joke between us. And we still did it whenever we were together.

I felt myself falling over as he stood up, but he caught me. I looked up at him and grinned. Then he leaned down and cradled me in his arms and started walking toward the basement. I nuzzled against his chest, pretending to purr. "You have such big muscles," I murmured. He laughed again.

When we got downstairs, I instantly felt a pang of anger at the loss of my old bedroom. Kyle's room was freezing! He noticed it too and quickly walked over to the wall and turned on the heater. Then he left the room for a minute, and came back with a pile of blankets. While I rummaged through my suitcase to find my pajamas, he put together a makeshift bed on the floor with pillows and blankets. It actually didn't look that bad.

I found the pajama bottoms I wanted, but couldn't find the top. So I just kept the same shirt on. I figured I could change my pants under the covers so I wouldn't have to walk to the cold bathroom. As I turned to get into the bed he had made on the floor, I saw him sliding in it himself.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You can have the bed. Just don't turn off the heater or you'll find a frozen bro in the morning," he said. He already had a pillow propped under his head.

I looked over at his bed, then back to the floor. Then I kicked him. "Ow!" he yelped. "What the hell?"

"Get up," I demanded.

"Why? What is it?" he asked.

"I am not sleeping in your bed. Now get up," I repeated.

"Fine," he said, throwing the blankets off himself. Oh! He wasn't wearing a shirt. When the hell had he taken his shirt off? And where the fuck did he get those abs?? I stared at him as he walked over to his bed and pulled back the covers. He slid into bed and said, "Happy?"

I nodded, shaking off my surprise at his well toned body. Come on, Dani. Let's keep it together, ok? You're gay. Not to mention the fact that he's your brother. Yeah yeah. Whatever. I hopped onto the floor and pulled the blanket up over myself. Aww crap. It was freezing on the floor! I suddenly wished I had tried the bed before offering it to Kyle. That made me laugh again. Shit. Maybe I really was drunk.

"What are you laughing at?" Kyle asked, propping himself up on one arm. One very muscular arm. Fuck! Knock it off, Dani!

"N-n-nothing," I chattered. Damn, it was going to take ages to warm up. My nose was already starting to feel frozen.

"Cold down there?" he asked, a smirk on his face.

I threw a pillow at him. A cold one from on the floor. He held his hands up defensively, saying, "Hey, you're the one who turned down the offer for this nice comfortable bed."

I muttered to myself. I was not normally a grumpy person. But I was tired. And freezing. And probably drunk. I closed my eyes and turned my head the other way. I heard a click and realized that he had pulled the string to turn off the light. Instinctively, I opened my eyes again. It was pitch dark in his room. I guess that was one of the benefits to having a basement room. At least my dad wouldn't wake me up with his morning shenanigans.

I shivered, huddling into a ball. It felt like the last of the warmth had left the room with the light. I played with the blanket until it was completely covering me. I didn't want to let any air in. I heard my teeth chatter. Ah jeez. It wasn't that cold down there. Must be the booze. I rolled over on my other side and said, "You got another blanket?"

Kyle said, "No. I grabbed every one I could find."

"Fine," I answered, turning back over.

It was quiet for several minutes, but I was having a hard time falling asleep. I was still shivering. Suddenly Kyle's voice made my eyes snap open. He said, "You know what? Bring that blanket up here. It's a lot warmer. There's plenty of room if I move over."

I lay there quietly for a minute, pondering the ramifications of sleeping in the same bed with my brother. No, pondering the ramifications of sleeping in bed with abs like those. True, I was a lesbian. But that never stopped me from enjoying some masculine eye candy from time to time.

I shook my head, decision made, and climbed to my feet. I tossed my blanket onto the bed and then crawled in next to my brother. He scooted over so I had room. It was like crawling into heaven. I think I even moaned a little bit as I felt the warmth from his mattress seep into my skin. He chuckled. I couldn't see anything in the dark, but I didn't need to.

We lay there in silence, and I enjoyed the dark warmth of his tiny room. My buzz was wearing off but I was still feeling really good. After a while, I realized that he was asleep. I could hear his breathing coming in long, deep breaths. It sounded peaceful.

I shivered one more time and realized there was an opening in my blanket as it hung over the edge of his bed. I slid further away from it, pulling the blanket with me. I felt my butt bump against Kyle's hip. He was really warm. Oh my. And I suddenly had a very twisted thought in my head that I wanted to know what his abs felt like. It really wasn't any sort of sex motive. I just wanted to feel them.

Remember when I mentioned earlier about a fork-in-the-road? Well, I'm not there yet with this story, but pay attention now. I slid closer to Kyle, careful not to wake him. And then I did the thing that everyone knows you should never ever do. Like ever.

I touched my brother.

Oh I know what you're thinking. Who cares? So you touched him. Of course you touched him. You're sleeping in his bed because he's super nice and he offered you a warm place to lie down. Uh huh. Sure.

No. I touched him. I touched his stomach. With my fingers. On purpose. And I ran my fingers slowly down his abs, feeling each smooth ripple. The tips of my fingers tickled at the touch. His skin was super smooth and warm. His stomach flinched and I froze. I tried to peer at him in the dark, but it was useless. He made a noise, and I panicked.

Carefully, I pulled my hand away from his stomach. And then I scooted a few inches away so our bodies weren't touching. I laid my head back down on my pillow, and realized I was breathing rapidly. I lay there worrying that he had woken up and noticed me touching his stomach. I listened intently into the darkness, but his breathing was slow and deep.

I let out a relieved breath and stared upward into the darkness. For some reason, my mind started racing with different concepts. And something suddenly dawned on me. I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from exclaiming out loud. You remember that noise I said he made, when I thought he was waking up? Yeah well, it was a moan. Oopsie. Well, wasn't I just the naughty little sister? I almost laughed. And somehow, beneath the surface of my moral conscience, I felt something I wasn't expecting. I felt a little bit turned on. Interesting, right? I definitely thought so. I couldn't decide if it was the alcohol, or... whatever. I turned the other way and slowly fell asleep.






=KYLE=

Danielle was already gone when I woke up the next morning. I stretched and got out of bed. I grabbed some clean clothes out of my suitcase and started walking toward the door. I noticed Dani's suitcase was open. It looked like she had already picked out her clothes for the day.

I was just about to turn away when I saw something. I leaned down for a closer look and then laughed. It was a purple dildo. For a brief second, I considered picking it up and taking it upstairs to tease her, but I didn't want to make the entire trip miserable for everyone in case my mom saw. That explained why she was so upset about not having her own room with more privacy.

Chuckling, I headed up to the bathroom and took a shower. Danielle's bra and panties were lying on the floor when I walked in. I couldn't seem to get away from reminders that my little sis was a woman. I kicked her undergarments to the side and got ready for the day.

Half an hour later, I walked into the kitchen to find both of my parents sitting with Danielle and eating breakfast. My mom got up when she saw me and hurried to the counter to start making me a plate. I sat down next to Dani and said, "Morning everyone."

"Did you sleep well, son?" my dad asked.

"Yeah, I did. My bed is smaller than I remember, but it was ok," I glanced at Danielle with a grin, but she wasn't paying attention.

"Dani said you let her sleep in the bed with you. That was really nice," my mom said as she set down a plate of eggs and sausage in front of me. I nodded as I started to dig in. It was really good.

Danielle said, "Sleeping on the floor felt like sleeping in a freezer. I think my nipples were poking through two blankets."

I spit out my food and glanced at my dad. He looked poleaxed. I looked at Dani and she was just stirring the few remaining eggs around her plate. She didn't even notice the effect she had on my parents. I tried to change the subject, so I asked, "What are your plans today, dad?"

"What? Oh, I don't know. Shelia?" he turned toward my mom.

I looked at her and saw that she was scowling. Then she said, "How many times are you going to forget, Ed? We have tickets for the Magical Holiday Musical, remember?"

"Oh right, that's it. Sorry dear," my dad was backpedaling. Then he looked at me and said, "Did you two want to go to that? Maybe we can still get more tickets."

My mom picked up my dad's plate and started walking toward the sink. Over her shoulder she said, "They don't need tickets. It's a general admission show."

I looked at Danielle and saw that she was looking at me. We both shook our heads at the same time and I laughed out loud. "Uh, no thanks," I said to my dad.

"Suit yourselves," he responded. "I hear it's magical!"

My mom slapped his arm as she gathered the rest of the dishes from the table. We all laughed, and then Danielle got up and left the room. I asked my mom when they were leaving, and she said around three. Then I asked if I could borrow the Lincoln. She gave me the keys, and I headed back down to my bedroom.

When I got there, Danielle was tidying up the blankets on the floor. They were folded into neat piles. I noticed that her suitcase was closed again, and zipped shut. I smiled to myself, but didn't say anything. "Hey, you want to go out to eat tonight?" I asked her.

She looked at me with eyes wide, in mock surprise. "Why, Kyle, are you asking your homely little sister on a date?"

I grinned, but played along, "I guess I am, aren't I?"

She strode over to me and put one hand on my chest while circling around me. Then she whispered, "Offering me your bed? Taking me out on dates? You almost make a girl think you're flirting with her!"

I swallowed, then laughed. Even though we had been playing this little game with each other forever, now that we were both grown up, it felt a little different. I didn't really mind. It was cute. I just had to be careful. Danielle was a very pretty girl, and I was susceptible to being turned on just like most people.

To offset the playing field a bit, I reached up and ruffled her hair, saying, "Nah, I wouldn't flirt with you. You're too gay for my taste."

Danielle threw back her head and laughed at that. She circled to the front of me and looked up into my eyes. Then, while looking slowly down my body and then back up, she whispered, "For you, I might just make an exception."

I swallowed, trying to hide it from her. Then she laughed again and backed away, finishing up her folding. I went over and sat on the edge of my bed. A few minutes later, she sat next to me and asked, "So where are you going to take me, anyway?"

"Hmm, I don't know. You want to try a sushi place?" I suggested.

She shrugged, "Sounds good."

My parents left a little before three, leaving Danielle and I to a quiet house. I plugged my phone into my dad's stereo, and started playing some music. It was some new electronic music I had picked up recently. Danielle came into the room while it was playing and she leaned against the couch staring at me. "You like this?" I asked her.

"Uh huh," she nodded.

"Me too. It's all the rave right now down in Austin these days." I started dancing to the rhythm as it got to one of my favorite songs.

Danielle started dancing, too. Before I knew it, we were both dancing around the living room, laughing. The song ended and we both froze in place until the next one started. Then we were jumping around again, acting like teenagers. I loved it.

I switched it off after several more songs, and we both leaned against the couch catching our breath. Danielle turned to me and said, "Yes, I would totally let you take me dancing tonight."

I smiled at her and said ok.

A few hours later, we were sitting at a sushi restaurant waiting for our food. We decided to just share everything. It was more fun that way with sushi. I ordered a bottle of Saki, which was half way gone already. As we sat there, we were grilling each other with questions to get caught up on each other's lives.

Danielle asked, "Seriously though, why don't you have a girlfriend?"

I shrugged defensively and said, "I was being serious! I really don't have time for a girlfriend right now."

She had a big smirk on her face as she said, "But are you sure you're not secretly becoming attracted to men?" She winked at me.

"No!" I said. "I just haven't had time to meet anyone since I broke up with Carol."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about Carol. What happened with her?" Danielle asked.

I thought about it for a minute and then answered, "She had different goals than me. I think she started realizing that I wasn't going to be ready to settle down and start having kids for a long time."

"Oh really?" Danielle leaned closer to me over the table. "How long do you plan to wait?"

"At least five more years. Maybe ten. I don't know. Most of the time, I just don't even think about it. I don't think I've ever really had 'plans' about kids. I just figured that one day I'd be married and it would happen. You know?" I didn't know what else to say.