It's No Big Deal Ch. 02

Tina awoke from her sleep still curled in a ball and half remembering a dream. Light was beginning to fill her room and she could hear movement downstairs. She felt funny as she got up and looked at herself in her vanity. The air seemed still and her muscles felt like they needed to warm up before they'd be any real use to her.

Slowly she descended the stairs and sat at the table watching her family eat breakfast. Her slightly overweight father was reading the news on his phone while he ate. Her mom greeted Tina with a good morning while still wearing her jogging outfit that looked like it was designed more for showing off the sexiness of the wearer instead of aiding in the activity and then turned again to discuss details of something with Daniel.

Daniel.

The memory was coming to her and as she looked at him use his toast to soak up the yellow from his sunny side up eggs, Tina felt herself have to swallow. Was it getting hot already? She wanted to fan herself. She looked at him and if she could see herself in the mirror at that exact moment she'd see her pupils dilate. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly and started to get light headed.

"Good morning, pumpkin." said her father and Tina was pulled out of her daze.

"Morning, daddy."

Tina's mom was putting a plate of pancakes in front of her just as Daniel was getting up and grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.

"See you later." his mom said to him as he went for the door to the garage.

Automatically Tina got up and followed him without paying much notice to anything else. She stood at the door frame for a moment as she watched Daniel put on his jacket, zip it up, and get on his motorcycle. She tried to walk over to him in a nonchalant manner and realized she was barefoot and was still only wearing her skirt from the night before.

"Hey, Danny."

"Hey." he answered as he was putting on his gloves.

Tina felt awkward. She felt uncomfortable in her body. She felt like she wanted to fidget. What was she doing? What was her plan?

"I think we need to talk."

"Ok." he answered but then added, "Can you pass me my helmet?"

"I mean it. I think we need to sit down and have a proper serious talk."

"Ok. As soon as I get home."

She wanted to delay him. It was suddenly dawning on her just how dangerous this motorcycle was. She had never really seemed to care before but now she did.

"Don't you think it's getting a little hot for this?" she said as she grabbed at the zipper of his jacket.

"Not when the wind hits you at 45 miles per hour."

"Oh. Right. ... Anyway. Um."

"You want to have a talk. Cool. I'll be home later."

"Sure. It's not urgent or anything." Tina was lying. It was urgent. It was very urgent.

He waited and just looked at her. She saw his eyes trace the outline of her body. She knew what he was thinking. If she had seen him do that the day before then she might have felt differently but in her mind she discovered that she wanted him to think that. It was a thought that was becoming less and less of a shock to her.

He looked up at her eyes again. "My helmet?"

She smiled and let out an embarrassed laugh. She grabbed it and handed it to him. It was a boring helmet. Just white with no other interesting colors. His motorcycle wasn't fancy either. It wasn't one of those big bikes you see mean looking bikers ride. Daniel's license only let him ride up to 125cc so it had to be one of those.

He put on his helmet and started up the bike but before he pulled out she felt the need to fasten the strap on his glove and give him a once over to see if anything was out of place. Daniel tilted his head as if to ask why she had done that. Tina waved and he waved back and then rode off.

As Tina watched him leave she found herself biting her nails. She'd never done that before.

Tina returned to her pancakes but as she ate she found the corner of her eye looking up at Daniel's plate still on the table. Why was she staring at it? She was loosing her mind. Yet she couldn't look away. Even when her mom picked it up and brought it into the kitchen, she couldn't look away.

...

Historic downtown was lame. The town was only founded back in the 1970's. How 'historic' could it possibly be? The city council had decreed that all the buildings downtown had to have an old-timey look to them to attract tourists but as of yet that industry was still very much not happening.

Talk. Tina wanted to talk. That was something that Daniel couldn't let happen. Not yet. Talking would lead to analyzing and that could lead to an emotional explosion. It was best to let it all cool a while. The ball was back in his court and for now he wanted to maintain control of the clock.

Daniel met up with Kate after parking his bike. She was the girl he had been trying really hard to convince himself that he liked. She was pretty. She was polite. She was intelligent. She was ... Boring. Still, it wasn't as if he had absolutely zero feelings for her. She was a good friend and an excellent conversationalist. She seemed to really like Daniel and he appreciated that. Now that he thought of it, she had a vague resemblance to Tina. They had the same kind of hair and were about the same height. Tina.

"I haven't seen that in a while." she said.

"What?"

"That." she pointed at his face.

"What?"

"You, smiling."

"Oh. Why wouldn't I be smiling? I have you."

"Uh huh. You mailed off your acceptance letter didn't you?"

"Busted."

"I knew it. I knew you were just getting moody about having to make a decision."

That's not what was really going on in Daniel's mind but he usually just let Kate think as she liked.

"Well, I'm all smiles for you today. So what do you want to do?"

"Oh, I have a list." she said as she tried to be cute.

This felt good. It was easier to be with Kate than it ever had been. Maybe Daniel could kiss her today. He still wasn't completely feeling that way about her but on a day like today he felt he could do anything.

"Do you know what you want to major in?" Kate asked as they walked.

"No."

"You better think about it."

"I have plenty of time for that. You don't even have to decide until second year."

"I'd start early though if I were you. They say college is the time you finally have to decide who you want to be and you don't want to waste time taking classes that in the end won't help you."

"I don't know about that. There's something to be said for setting goals and all but what if you want to be an astronaut and find out you're scared of heights?"

"Well, that's why you have to think hard about it."

"But it isn't all your choice." Daniel countered. "College is also about finding out who you really are. You may choose this or that for yourself but then one morning you wake up and discover you are a certain way and there's nothing you can do about it."

Kate stopped and Daniel turned to look at her. She seemed to look at him as if some big revelation was hitting her.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." she said. "Do you want to tell me something?"

Why was she asking this? Was Daniel letting something on? She couldn't possibly suspect the truth. He couldn't tell her either. Even if he neglected to mention that it was his sister, she'd probably think going down on another girl was cheating. If he did say it was his sister she'd think he was a monster. The more he thought about it the more he realized he was probably starting to look guilty.

"What do you mean? I'm just speculating here."

Her mood seemed to change. There was a new look on her face that Daniel didn't recognize.

"So, what are you going to major in?" he countered to get the mood back to where it was.

She paused for a moment and then gave in to his question. "Engineering. The starting salaries are huge."

"Good to know. Maybe I'll do that too then."

There were lots of other things Daniel thought to say. If they had the same major at the same college they could date all through college. They'd stay friends and stay a couple. But he didn't say them. Somehow the idea that he'd be able to kiss her that day had been soured. He could do it if put on the spot of course but he wasn't feeling it. Maybe he'd feel better later.

...

"How did it go?" asked Amanda.

"How did what go?" Tina responded as she tried on different hats in the store to see how they went with her sunglasses.

"Your date with Sir licks a lot."

"It wasn't a date."

"Well? What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that. You've been acting funny all day. Who is he?"

"You ... You don't know him."

"Did you get yours?"

"Stop. I don't want to tell right now."

"Come on. I'd tell you. Did you go to his place or yours?"

"Right, like I could do something like that at my parents' house."

"So he lives in town."

"Drop it."

"You had to put out, didn't you? He fooled you and now you're embarrassed."

"No."

"Yes. I can see it all over your face."

"No, that's not what happened."

"Then what?"

"He did exactly as he said he would. He didn't ask for anything more and he just left. Ok. Nothing more happened. He was completely honest."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"No."

"Why not? Is he ugly?"

"I think he has a girlfriend."

"Ew."

"Maybe, not a girlfriend but I thought he was seeing some girl."

"I knew it was too good to be true."

"Look, he was a perfect gentleman if you must know."

"Then why won't you see him again?"

"It's complicated."

"How big is his thing?"

"What? I don't know. I didn't see it."

"He didn't try to take it out at all?"

"No."

"But you must have gotten a feel or two. How big do you suppose..."

"No. I didn't get a feel. He didn't take it out. I didn't see it."

"And he didn't try to do anything more than just go down on you?"

"No. I told you. He was completely honest."

"Or maybe he wasn't a he."

"What? What are you on about?"

"Maybe he only went down on you because that's all 'he' could do." said Amanda making quotation marks in the air with her fingers when she said the word "he".

"You're wrong. No."

"I've heard it could happen. A girl meets a guy, or what she thinks..."

"It absolutely wasn't like that."

"Meets him on the internet and then they do it and it turns out it was a woman."

"Fine, now that I think about it, I did see his thing. I remember now. I didn't see it last night but I have seen it before."

"So mysterious. Who is he? Ex-boyfriend?"

"I can't tell you. I promised."

"Come on. If he's giving out tongue lashings then I want mine."

"I don't think it works that way. Anyway, that's enough for now. Drop it. Please."

"Ok, But are you going to see him again? Just answer that."

"I told you. No. I may see him around town but what happened was a one time thing. That's it. It's over."

"You're going to see him again." Amanda taunted and Tina threw a hat at her.

...

Breaking the law was so simple. Daniel was supposed to wait four more months before he'd officially be allowed to carry passengers on his bike but there was no way for a cop to know that if they just saw him riding with one. Unless Daniel ran a stop sign or went too fast there would be no reason for a cop to stop him and without that even if the cop did somehow just know Daniel wasn't supposed to have a passenger yet, there was nothing they could do about it. Of course, they didn't know, which made it easier. No harm, no foul.

Kate held on for dear life in her pink helmet as Daniel went a good five miles under the speed limit just to be safe. She really didn't need a jacket since she was behind him but he let her wear his since her helmet had eaten up his pocket money. As long as he had his gloves to keep his hands from getting too cold he would be ok.

Daniel had gotten increasingly frustrated with the passenger law the longer he owned his bike. It was much more practical than a car for a lot of reasons but when it came to doing things with Kate it was a problem.

A lot of days, he would actually use the fact that he couldn't take her along as a reason to cut dates short. Today, however, he felt like he had said too much and maybe he was feeling just a little guilty about going behind her back. He made the decision to try to make it work with Kate. He could do that. He could choose to do that. It wasn't like Tina was going to let him do any more. Maybe she would but he couldn't depend on that. Besides, he had been wondering if he hurt her. For now, he needed to choose Kate.

"I don't know how they make that look cool." said Kate when the bike finally came to a stop in front of Daniel's house.

"What's wrong?"

"I really think you should buy a car."

"I thought you wanted to ride."

Kate's legs wobbled as she tried to walk. "How do you stand it?"

"You get used to it." Daniel opened the door for her and then she paused and looked around.

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't know. They must be out." he answered as he was trying to get her into the house.

"Is this ok?" Daniel had almost predicted the question. Kate came from a religious family and he sometimes had to ease her into things that everyone else just accepted as ok.

"Yeah. We're adults. Why wouldn't it be ok?"

"It's just. ... I don't know. Are your parents ok with this?"

"If they're not I can always move out."

"Yeah, but I don't want to make them mad."

"Don't worry. You've been in my house before. They know who you are and I told them a long time ago that I might invite you over from time to time."

"But even when they're not here?"

"Even when they're not here. They trust you and they trust me."

"Ok." she said and went in. "It's just so strange to see such a new side of you."

"You ain't seen nothing yet."

...

Tina was in her room trying on her selections. Her father had taken her car to the mechanic just for a check up so she was without a way to get around for the rest of the day. It was a hard fight but she had finally gotten her mind on something normal. She had made plans for the rest of the week and she did have a mountain of homework to do after all. There really wasn't any more time for foolishness. Break would be over before she knew it and then it would be the last stretch to finals.

She was about to change into a little summer dress she thought might look nice at the beach that summer when she heard Daniel come in and it sounded like he had a girl with him.

What was that feeling? She couldn't be mad. It was her brother and she knew very well that he dated girls. She didn't know just how much he was doing with girls but she figured he was doing all the things that any other guy his age was doing with girls. She wasn't jealous. That would be ridiculous. He was her brother. She had no claim to him. There was nothing more to be said about it. Let it go.

She found herself, once properly covered, peeking out her door and she got a glimpse of Kate going into Daniel's room.

So what? It's his life. She's a nice girl. Tina didn't know her all that well but the couple of times she had met her Tina liked her well enough. Good for her. She was lucky to have a guy like Daniel. Any girl would be lucky to have a guy like Daniel.

Tina sat on her bed and found her knee going up and down. She stopped herself.

Maybe if Daniel can do what he needs to do with a proper girlfriend then there wouldn't be any repeats of ... She didn't want to think about it. But she couldn't not think about it. It was eating at her.

She needed something to calm her nerves. One part of her mind immediately knew what it would like to have calm her but the other part of her mind told her to not even think it. That couldn't happen again. It was over.

Tina was very quiet about it as not to tip off Daniel and company that there was someone else in the house. She went to the kitchen and made herself a glass of wine. She usually didn't like alcohol that much but it was growing on her.

The glass was empty and now Tina had a choice. She could make another glass and then be drunk off her ass when her parents finally came home or she could try to act like a decent human being and go be friendly with her brother, who was only just her brother and nothing more, and his girlfriend who Tina was positive she was not jealous of.

A text came to her phone. It was Amanda. "I know who your knight with the golden tongue is."

Tina looked at the message as she leaned against the fridge. "Impossible. Who?"

Amanda texted back a link to a news story about a woman who pretended to be a man on dating sites in order to seduce women.

"Wrong" answered Tina.

"You have to tell me." pleaded Amanda.

"Not today."

"You're with him now?"

Tina didn't answer. No matter what she said, this was a conversation that would only end badly. New messages were coming in but Tina didn't look at them. She set her phone to mute, and then got back to the matter at hand.

What was Daniel doing up there with her? None of your business she answered herself.

She settled on a plan. She would go say hi, welcome the girl to her home, not slap her or call her names, and that would let them know that someone else was in the house.

Then an idea struck her.

...

Daniel had Tina ... no she wasn't Tina. She was Kate. Daniel had Kate sitting on his bed and they were talking. It was very light chat about innocuous subjects of no importance. The talking wasn't really what was important. He was trying to build up to kissing her. He had started to formulate this idea in his head that if he could just kiss Tina ... No, if he could just kiss Kate. KATE. She was Kate. He was going to kiss Kate. Kate.

He liked her. He really did. He wanted to choose her. If maybe he could just break through and kiss her then maybe everything would be ok. He could go back to normal. He could go back to before he knew he wanted to fuck his sister.

Tina. Her name was on his mind and her image filled his sight every time he closed his eyes.

I can do this he said to himself.

Kate looked ready. She looked welcoming. He had his best shot with her. Tina would never let him kiss her. Tina. He hoped she wasn't mad at him.

What if Tina wasn't hurt? What if she wanted more? What if he was hurting her by bringing Kate into the house? But Tina wasn't here. And she could hardly say anything. She sneaked out to see guys before. What he did with her last night was just that. They never agreed to anything more. He remembered well.

Daniel had to try. He had to try. He moved in close to Kate. They held each other in embrace. Her lips were right there. If nothing else, he could pretend they were Tina's and he could get through it. This would be an important step for him.

Daniel's lips were at the very cusp of coming into contact with Kate's. He was going to be soft and gentle about it. There was no need for them to overpower each other. Soft, slow, and gentle; that was the way to do it. That's how he could get it done.

He closed his eyes, saw Tina in his mind and started to press his lips to Kate's.

And then his door seemed to open with the force of an explosion.

Kate pulled away and blushed with shyness. Daniel felt the typical rage of being cock blocked and it only subsided when he saw who was at the door.

"I'm surprised at you, Daniel." said Tina.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"After all your talk yesterday about reading up on how to be a good host, you invite someone into the house and didn't even offer her anything to eat."

"I'm fine." said Kate.

"Well, come on. I made some refreshments downstairs."

Kate tried to decline but Tina insisted. "You two can get right back to whatever it was you were doing just as soon as all the proper decorum has been satisfied."