In Hot Water Pt. 06

Then Alex calls me, "Sis," which might as well be, "This is not my girlfriend."

Like fucking hell, I'm not.

Now empowered, the girl inches closer to him and asks for his number.

So I shove my brother's hand inside the neck of my dress and kiss him. Alex cups me and kisses me back. He does what he's told. We swap saliva for a minute, and the girls don't say a word.

When I pull away, the pink whore asks me, "You do that with your brother?"

I say, "Yes, don't you?"

It's fun to get Alex worked up when we're around other people, and he can't do anything. The strangers in the park get a show by way of my jealousy, but we're more discreet around family. I do everything I can to get him going, and today is the perfect event, since it's all day long. I tease him, flirt with him, tell him what to do. He touches me when he can, but I don't let him have much. By the time I get him to myself later in the evening, he's about to burst. It's a game I play.

Back at the house, I'm marching across the gravel, pain shooting up my legs. Mom's trunk pops open, and a croquet set is hiding inside, just like she said. I cart everything up on the porch, and let it fall with a thump. We're painting the whole exterior of the house next year, after the inside remodel is done. I'll be more careful once that's finished.

Jane thrusts a bubbling drink into my hand. "Your mother said you lost yours."

Before I can take a sip, Mom's voice from inside the kitchen says, "Jessica, take this bottle out to Phil and Lorna." The screen pushes open, and my mother's disembodied arm holds a dripping, still-corked bottle.

I groan, and set my new glass on the porch railing, so I can steady myself as I descend. I take the longer, more comfortable route across the lawn. My hair sits up in a French knot, so the sun bakes my exposed shoulders and back, as I approach the trees at the end of the driveway. Phil and Lorna sit in plastic chairs on the other side, and I can hear them talking. I quiet my steps, and slow my walk the final few paces, while I'm still out of sight.

"It's coming along nicely," says Phil.

"What about the other stuff?" asks Lorna

I stop behind the trees.

"I try not to think about it."

"Has she threatened them or anything?"

"You know that's not her style. You couldn't tell if you didn't already know."

"It's just so... weird."

"They've been through a lot. I try to cut them some slack."

"Yeah, him being locked up isn't helping either."

"Any idea on parole or that stuff?" asks Aunt Lorna.

"Last I heard was it would be a couple years before--"

I've heard enough, so I walk around the driveway side of the row of trees, making as much noise on the rocks as possible.

I say, "Heard you were thirsty," and slam the bottle on the wobbly card table in front of Lorna. A sky blue version of my mother's dress drapes over her sister. In what must have been a significant lift, her bright blonde hair rests on her head in a silly Princess Leia bun. Nothing shows at the roots, so it's recent.

"Thank you dear," says Lorna. "How's your summer going?"

"Okay. I'm writing this paper for school. Well, it's technically for an internship."

Phil stands and fastens the top button of his navy blue jacket. He hides behind aviator sunglasses, over a jet black Van Dyke beard. Most people call it a goatee, but that's just the chin hair. He has the whole thing. Phil twists off the metal cap, and points the bottle away from us. The cork rockets off with a bang, and lands somewhere under the trees. I'll have to clean that up later.

"Do anything fun lately?" asks Lorna.

I have to be careful with my answer.

"We've been going to the beach a lot."

Alex and I actually just got back from the beach...

We were hanging out down on the sand, and my brother somehow made friends with some stoner types around a fire. They're telling him about shotgunning weed, and Alex wants to try, so he comes to get me. He's such a good boy. But he fucks it up the first time, and coughs right away, so I have to take the hit, then kiss him, and blow it into his mouth. This is a perfect opportunity, so I make an announcement.

"I have to teach my brother everything," I say to the crowd.

The guy who passed Alex the joint coughs. "I thought you said that was your girlfriend."

"She's my sister," he says. "Same thing. Whatever."

"You do that with your sister?"

"Don't you?"

For the record, my brother sees himself as "John Wick" Keanu, but he's really more "Ted 'Theodore' Logan" Keanu a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong, I love him to death. He just needs a bit of fixing. So I got to correct him in front of a bunch of people, then publicly kiss him. And he got to look cool. It was a triple win. Oh, plus we got high.

Back by the mailbox, Phil pours champagne into his and Lorna's flutes. "Do you have a glass?" he asks me.

"It's up on the porch." I turn and take the grassy route back to the house. When I get up the steps, a wet ring marks where my drink had been on the railing, but there is no glass anywhere to be seen.

"Here," Jane's arm forces the screen door open, and she stands in the doorway with a piece of flatbread covered in some orange sauce. "You can't just drink all day."

"I haven't had anything yet. Where did my glass go?"

"Jessica," says Mom, from inside. "Are you getting everything set up?"

"No, you told me to take drinks to Phil and Lorna." I lift the flatbread from Jane's waiting hand.

"Can you get it set, please? I want it ready when people get here."

Jane watches me roll my eyes, as I bite into the bread. Some of the sauce evades my lips, and runs down my chin, with a single blot landing on my chest. Luckily, it hits bare skin, and not my dress.

"This is a thing with you now, isn't it?" says Jane.

My BFF is referring to our last trip to the pub...

I'd made a similar blunder with some tartar sauce, and it was dripping down my chest. I screamed when the sauce hit my skin, and half the restaurant turned to look. Right before it reached my shirt, Alex grabbed me, and licked it off my tits, pulling back my shirt in the process. I may have flashed a lunch crowd at a McMenamins.

Then my brother says, "Thanks, Sis," like it's nothing, and turns back to his meal.

A girl at the table next to us says, "That's your sister?"

"Yeah," says my brother. "It's just tartar sauce. It's not like I'm doing something depraved to her. You know, gripping her between the legs like a bowling ball, while I lick her, and do my best to make her cum. And taking my time, so she cums really hard, but not so much that she gets too loud and wakes up our mom. It's not like I'm doing that."

The girl at the next table stares at us with her mouth open.

For the record, Mom works hard, and she has to get up early. We're not assholes.

At the house, Jane brings me a napkin, and I wipe the mess off my chest.

"Can you help me with this stuff?" I ask Jane, pointing to the pile of balls and mallets I left by the door. "I have to get these off."

"I'll go find The Oaf. Pounding stakes into the ground is right up his alley."

I hop on one foot, pushing past Jane, while I work the fastener on my shoe. The hardwood is heaven on my toes, and I tear off the other shoe. Four-inch Steve Madden heels scream across the living room, and land on the sofa.

The flaky paint of the porch gives way to smooth grass under my feet, first cool in the shade, then scalding hot in the sun. I hop back and forth between the two temperatures, as I round the side of the house.

He's right where I knew he'd be.

Standing there in a burnt grey pinstripe suit, and squishing grass under his dark wingtip shoes, with an adorable puppy next to his feet. The shoes shouldn't work, but they somehow do.

My brother leans against Mom's smooth blue birdbath, planted in the grassy side yard, several feet away from the bathroom window. The whole yard has been cleared and mowed, so Mom can work on her garden. But so far, all we have is the glazed ceramic birdbath. In the shadow of the pedestal, Will chews a stick he grips between his paws.

Alex stares at the phone in his hand, pointing his blond hair at me. He cut off the rest of the black dye when he had enough of his natural roots showing, but he left it too short for me to hold onto. I was going to tell him not to cut it for a while, but before I had the chance Mom cornered him in the kitchen, and he said he was growing it out. He didn't say why, or how long he planned to let it go, but he looked at me when he answered her. Sometime soon I'm going to grab him and push my tongue down his throat while we're riding the MAX. Just because.

I approach my boys along the cool grass next to the house, and stop under the window. Next to my brother, three full glasses of champagne sit in an arc, on the lowest rung of the birdbath. My M.A.C. Bronze Shimmer lipstick marks the edge of one flute.

"Robyn wants to know where they should park," says Alex. "She says Garrett is concerned about 'protocol.'"

"Tell them it's fine to park wherever."

My brother tilts his shoulders toward me, and drops the phone into his pants pocket. That stance. I still can't tell if he does this on purpose. He must. I want to tear that suit off him right now, and push him behind the rhododendrons.

Alex runs his eyes up the length of me, pausing at my chest. So the dress still works.

"What's with you stealing my shit and stacking it on birdbaths?" I step across the hot lawn, and lift the glass with my lip markings on it.

"They're usually secluded. It's a good place to hide."

Dog tags jingle behind me, but Will is calm and working on his stick at my feet.

"You want to hide from me?" I drain half the glass in one swallow. Wonderful sweet bubbles parade across my tongue.

"Other people, not you. I need your help with something."

Wingtip shoes pinch the grass by my toes, and I'm gazing up at blond and green. He wants to touch me, but he won't.

"Hey, Wonder Twins." Kevin's voice booms from behind me, along with jingling from a collar. "Where are we setting this up?"

"Anywhere out back," I shout, keeping my attention where it is. "Get creative. I'll be there in a minute."

Deep breaths.

Brilliant jade eyes track Kevin's retreat.

I unbutton Alex's jacket, letting it fall to his sides.

Then I scrape my nails down the front of his dress shirt.

And wrap my fist around his belt.

And my brother slides his hand inside my dress.

***

Alex is snoring on the bed behind me, wrapped in my purple duvet. It's 3AM, and I just finished reading his story. He's lucky he's adorable, or I'd wake him up and yell at him, then kiss him and yell at him some more.

I feel obligated to comment on a few things.

My brother doesn't know shit about cosmetics or shoes. Laughably so.

My dad and Donna are likely going to be locked up for a while. They did it to themselves, but it still makes me sad. I don't think it bothers Alex as much, but he didn't live with them, like I did.

It's weird to see my brother's perspective on me seducing him. In my mind, I wanted him, and I grabbed him. He doesn't see it that way, and it's cute how he takes part of the blame. Couples get together for all sorts of reasons, and maybe our origin story is on the unusual side, but I love him, and I know he loves me.

Jane's inquisition was the hardest thing I've ever done. Harder than French kissing your brother. I actually quite like doing that, so that may be an unfair comparison. Reading that section was difficult, as it's very much the same as my own memory, but it worked out in the end. Jane and I are as close as ever, and Kevin is probably the most open minded person I know. After Alex kissed me at the MAX station, Kevin just asked me, "so, you guys like a thing, or what?" I said we are, and he just went along, like I'd told him the weather forecast or something unimportant.

My brother still has his job, and goes to school. He wants to be like Garrett, so he's going for an engineering degree, and it keeps him busy. I'm going into year three of a biology degree, and have a lead for an internship at a veterinary clinic. He may need to change schools for his third year, for engineering pro school, and I may transfer too. Whatever we do, we're going to do it together. We're both looking at student loans for next year. I get to take organic chemistry this fall, which I'm not too thrilled about. Jane took it last year, and gave me her notes. She said it's the hardest shit she's ever done.

As to the elephant in the room, yes, I do all that stuff with Alex. The sex. We're not too different than most couples. I want to make him feel good, and he does the same for me. He actually left quite a bit out of his story, but he included some of my favorite moments.

My brother and I walk along a knife edge. We're brazen, but we're careful. I try to be mindful of sensibilities, but everyone knows. If they claim otherwise, they've stuck their heads in the sand, because it's uncomfortable to consider. My brother hasn't used his bed in months. He's always in mine, and I can't sleep when he's not there.

We have rules for family gatherings, but otherwise we play as much as we want. It seems to amuse our friends. Strangers either see us as an anonymous couple, or if they're in luck, they get a show. The "Hey, Sis" game never gets old, and we're always coming up with new ways to twist our floor show.

The person I care about most in this world escaped from my life, and I'm not letting go of him again.

So yes, I love my brother. And I do everything with him.

Don't you?