Rachel's Research Ch. 02: Ellie & Mark

"I didn't realise it was so bad for you," she told her brother.

"For a long time I thought all brothers felt that way," he continued. "But the more I talked to my friends who had sisters, the more I realised my reaction was different from theirs."

"In what way different?"

"Stronger for a start," he replied. "And fiercely jealous."

"You wouldn't speak to some of the boys that came to see me," Elaine remembered. "Even if they were just friends."

"I didn't want anyone to hurt you," Mark explained. "Actually, I didn't want anyone else to have your attention at all, but I didn't understand what my feelings meant at the time."

"How did you feel about Mark's girlfriends?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Elaine replied. "There were so many of them; probably because of his good looks. When he did have a girl in tow, it always looked as if she was besotted with him, but he was somehow semi-detached; as if he was just going through the motions."

I turned to look at Mark.

"Maybe I was," he admitted. "Certainly I didn't feel about any of them the way I felt about Ellie. They just didn't measure up. Maybe that's why none of them lasted more than a few months. "

"Were they romantic relationships or just based on sex?" I asked.

Mark's face gave me all the answer I needed.

"I wasn't ready for romance or a long-term relationship," he replied. "I was mostly interested in sex."

"And were you successful?" I asked.

"Oh yes!"

It was Elaine who had given this determined response.

"Once he was in the Upper Sixth form, a good number of my friends were throwing themselves at him," she said by way of explanation. "And he didn't put up much of a fight. I suppose that made me see him differently too."

Mark blushed. His sister seemed strangely proud of her brother's previous promiscuity in a way no unrelated wife I had ever met would have been about her husband.

"Was your sex life equally active?" I asked her.

At first Elaine seemed reluctant to answer so her brother filled in the gap.

"Ellie has had five lovers, including me."

The girl stared at her brother open mouthed.

"She lost her virginity to Andrew Campbell on Thursday the first of August at three thirty in the afternoon, jut after her eighteenth birthday."

"Mark! How the hell did you know all that?" his sister burst into life, horrified.

"I heard it happening," he replied.

"Were you were spying on me again?"

"I was in my room listening to music with my headphones on. That's why you didn't know I was there. When I heard you both come in, I switched them off, opened my door and listened. I thought it would be hard to hear but you made so much noise I couldn't miss what was going on," he said. "And you were very strange afterwards."

"I never knew."

"You did it twice more with Andrew then he dumped you for Wendy Taylor."

Elaine looked stunned as her brother continued.

"I hated him for what he did to you. When the rugby season started in September..."

"You broke his nose." She finished his sentence for him in a quiet, slow voice as if only now realising what had occurred years ago. "I thought it was just an accident."

"Everyone thought so. He was off school for a fortnight. I got into trouble for tackling too high but it was worth it."

There was silence for a full minute.

"I was so upset..." Elaine began.

"So upset that you let Gary Graham into your knickers within a week," Mark interrupted.

"Oh God! Did you hear that too?"

Mark shook his head.

"Gary told everyone he'd had you, the little shit!"

"It was only the once, whatever he said," Elaine protested.

"You mean it wasn't a threesome?" Mark asked his sister.

"What? Did he say that I... Oh, I get it!"

Mark was grinning; he had been teasing her. She punched him on the arm.

"Bastard!" she said affectionately. "Anyway it was just the once."

"I think that was when things began to change between us," Mark said in a voice that made it more of a question than a statement. "I could see how hurt Ellie was and it upset me too. I remember feeling very protective, but it was more than that. I think that was when I began to have more... inappropriate feelings for her."

"He became much more thoughtful and considerate," his sister agreed. "Actually he was really lovely. I couldn't tell Mum much of what had happened in case it got back to Dad. Mark didn't seem to need to know. He was just there for me when I needed him."

"I didn't need you to tell me because I already knew," Mark explained, reaching out for his sister's hand.

"But you didn't mention it. That's what mattered. You didn't pass judgment."

They squeezed hands and gave each other looks which would have had my two kids pretending to stick their fingers down their throats.

"After that, I felt I'd had my fingers burned enough for a while," Elaine continued. "Gary's stories were giving me an undeserved bad reputation, so I stopped going out on dates altogether," she grunted. "This meant either staying in on Friday and Saturday nights, doing things with my girlfriends or being with my family - which was a non-starter."

"Mum and Dad had a lot of friends," Mark explained. "And Dad usually worked at least one day each weekend. They were always out."

"So I spent a few weekends on my own," Elaine continued. "Soon I noticed Mark seemed to be around more at the weekends than before. We began to watch movies together on the TV. It was much better than being on my own. Mark was into horror movies at the time - you know, the gory, slasher kind - so I used to cuddle up to him on the sofa and we'd watch two movies back-to-back like a double feature."

"She likes a big strong man around," her brother joked.

"More like if I was close to you I knew you couldn't sneak up on me and scare the life out of me," Elaine laughed.

"As if I would!"

She gave her brother another look. This time it was stern and accusing.

"Okay, okay! So I did try to scare you at first. Then I realised how nice it was to have you so close."

There was a loud cry from somewhere out of sight followed by an angry shout in French in a boy's voice. Mark sighed.

"You carry on," he sighed, hauling himself to his feet and disappearing into the garden out of sight.

"It's probably good he's gone," Elaine said furtively. "I'm not good talking about some things in front of him."

"Whatever's easiest," I insisted.

Elaine continued to tell me how they went from sitting in different chairs to sitting on the sofa as the movies progressed. How they went from opposite ends of the seat to cuddling up close. How she used to curl her legs underneath her bottom and lean against his chest; how he used to put his arm around her at the scary parts.

"How long did this progression take?" I asked.

"It seemed ages but it can't have been more than a couple of months," Elaine replied. "Then one night he kept his arm around me for a whole movie," she continued. "I thought it was really sweet of him. It happened the next time too; I snuggled up to him and he stroked my arms and shoulders."

There was a pause.

"One evening he began to stroke my boob through my top. It was very gentle at first; so gentle I thought it was an accident; that he hadn't realised it was my boob not my arm he was touching."

"What did you do?"

"I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to make a fuss and spoil the evening, so I ignored it and carried on watching the movie. Then he began to touch me much more confidently and I began to realise it wasn't an accident at all."

"How did you react then?"

"I froze," Elaine replied. "I didn't know what to do. I knew it wasn't right, but it felt really good. I know it sounds stupid now, but I just let him carry on. By the end of the first movie his hand was cupping and fondling my boob and my nipple was hard. Mark couldn't have failed to notice it."

"Didn't you say anything at all?" I asked.

"No. By then it was too late. If I'd stopped him straight away it would have made sense. But I could hardly start objecting after letting him fondle me for best part of an hour."

"Did you let him go any further? Did you want him to?"

"I didn't know what I wanted. When the movie ended, I was all embarrassed and made an excuse to go upstairs to the toilet while he searched Netflix for a late night horror. That's when I found the damp patch."

"You mean?" I asked, looking briefly down towards my groin.

She nodded, blushing.

"I was soaking; he'd turned me on big time."

"What did you do?"

"I was all mixed up. Having my boob fondled by my brother was weird enough but wetting my knickers over it was something else. I should have gone straight to bed. If I had maybe it might all have ended there and then."

"But you didn't," I stated.

"No. I didn't," Elaine said, looking straight into my eyes. "I honestly can't tell you what was going through my mind, but I just changed my knickers and went back downstairs."

"Wasn't that sending out quite a message?" I suggested.

"I thought it was," Mark interrupted as he returned with another bottle of wine.

"Then I suppose it must have been. It certainly ended up that way," Elaine smiled.

"What happened when you went back?"

"More of the same at first," Elaine said a little shamefaced. "It took a little while but eventually he began to fondle my boob again. This time he moved much faster and before I knew it, he had slipped his hand under my top and was touching me through my bra."

"Did you even want to stop him this time?" I asked.

Elaine blushed again.

"I think we were both a little drunk but I'm not blaming the alcohol. I knew at the time it was wrong, but it felt so nice I just let it happen."

"Is that as far as it got?"

"That night, yes" she blushed deeper. "But the next time, he began to stroke my tummy too, then the top of my legs. Then he moved to my bottom and ended up touching me down there," She nodded in the general direction of her groin, embarrassed. "His fingers were inside my shorts but not inside my knickers."

"And you still didn't stop him?" I prompted.

She shook her head.

"I didn't actually open my legs for him, but I didn't make it difficult either. Eventually he gave me a little orgasm. Mark's very good with his fingers. I was surprised."

"I could feel your body shaking," Mark whispered. "You were leaning really hard against me. It was the most amazing thing in my life up till then."

"Did you kiss?"

"That's the odd thing; no we didn't. Not on the lips anyway. Mark kissed the top of my head lots of times but for some reason I couldn't raise my mouth to his. After the film finished, we were both really embarrassed. I was burning with shame and my knickers were soaking wet again. We went upstairs without really speaking to each other. I didn't get much sleep I can tell you!"

"Neither did I," Mark added.

"Did you set out to seduce Elaine?" I asked him directly.

"I've often wondered that," he pondered. "There's no doubt I touched her on purpose, but I think I was on autopilot. The two of us were so close together; she's a very sexy girl so I just did what felt natural."

"Did you grope all the girls you sat with?" his sister challenged.

"I suppose I did back then," he confessed. "In my experience, a girl that cuddles that close to a boy does so for a reason. And I never forced things; she could have stopped it any time you wanted. She just didn't seem to want to."

"So you saw me as just another of your conquests?" Elaine asked provocatively.

"Of course not; you're my sister!"

"Most brothers don't finger their sisters," she countered softly but insistently.

"Most sisters don't let them do it then come back for more."

There was a pause.

"So how was Elaine different from the other girls you'd been with?" I asked, hoping to move things on while they were in a confessional mood.

Mark thought for a moment.

"Well I felt a lot more emotion for a start; a lot more involved than just wanting to get my end away." He turned to his sister with a cheeky grin. "Don't get me wrong Ellie; I thought you were really sexy and I very much did want to get my end away with you. But I knew everything would have to be different from the start. If nothing else, we lived in the same house. It's not as if I could do the wham-bam trick and disappear."

"So what happened next?"

"I wanted to go into Ellie's room and say sorry - or at least say something, but I wasn't sure what I could say. I went to see her anyway but when I crossed the landing she'd locked her door and wouldn't answer my knocking. When I woke in the morning she'd already got up really early and gone to school so I couldn't talk to her then either."

"I couldn't face him," Elaine explained. "I was so embarrassed that he'd touched me. I was even more embarrassed that I'd just let him do it and worst of all that he'd actually made me cum. What kind of sister lets her little brother finger her to orgasm?"

"It wasn't until the next afternoon before Mum and Dad came home that I managed to get her alone," Mark said quietly.

"What happened then?"

"I went to her room; she was in her school uniform. I told her how sorry I was that I had touched her. She seemed more embarrassed than angry so I tried to hug her. She closed her arms tightly around her chest but I hugged her anyway. She smelled so sweet and sexy I got a hard-on straight away."

"What did you make of that?" I asked.

"I could feel it. It frightened me to be honest," Elaine replied. "But it turned me on too. I felt ashamed of feeling that way about him but couldn't help it. The next thing I knew he was kissing me on the forehead and hair again, telling me how sorry he was, how much he cared and that he didn't want to hurt me.

"I'm not sure how it happened. I know I raised my head and suddenly he was kissing me on the lips. It seemed to stun him for a moment. It certainly stunned me."

"I wasn't sure whether she'd done it on purpose," Mark took over. "I was very surprised but for some reason didn't stop. Ellie relaxed a bit; I kissed her again and then suddenly it was all happening; we were snogging like we were still two teens."

"We were still two teens," Elaine grinned.

"So we were," her brother smiled in return.

"After we'd kissed for a while, he began to touch me again," Elaine continued. "I was still nervous and didn't respond much but I didn't need to. Mark turned out to be quite an expert. Before I realised what was happening, he had my shirt off, my bra was unfastened, my boobs were bared and my school kilt was round my ankles."

"Like I said, I don't remember you putting up much of a struggle," Mark snorted, amused.

"Maybe not," his sister agreed. "But you took the lead big time."

"Did you have sex that day?" I asked.

They looked at each other.

"It all happened so fast," Elaine continued. "Mark was like lightning; before I knew what was happening I was on my back on the bed, my knickers were off, he'd spread my legs with his knees and was on top of me. A moment later he was inside me and we were having sex. Real sex! He sort of overwhelmed me; I'd never come across a boy who worked so fast before. There was no way I could have stopped him even if I'd wanted to."

Her words were a little resentful but when she looked at her brother, her face told another, sweeter story.

"It wasn't quite like that..." he began.

"It was exactly like that," his sister insisted. "Wild horses couldn't have stopped you."

There was a pause while the two looked at each other. Their looks were mostly of love but there was an undercurrent of something else there too.

"Do you mean he forced you?" I asked, a little unsettled.

"No-o," Elaine replied hesitatingly.

"You don't sound sure," I challenged.

"No really," she insisted. "I wasn't forced at all. It was something I wanted too, I just hadn't realised it until it happened. Mark has a really effective technique. I'd never known anything like it."

"He's a fast mover?"

"Very fast. But he somehow makes you feel as if you're the one forcing the pace; as if you're seducing him not the other way round."

I looked for Mark's reaction. He smiled broadly and blushed.

"I didn't actually plan to go all the way but once we got started..."

His sister snorted comically at the idea.

"You were a man on a mission, Mark," she chided him. "Taking no prisoners. You didn't even think of birth control, did you?"

"I suppose I assumed you were on the pill," he agreed. "Besides I don't remember you putting up much of a fight," he said in self-defence. "Quite the opposite in fact. Surely if you could have got pregnant you would have said something."

"You really don't get it, do you?" Elaine said quietly, her face soft and very young-looking. "If she's turned on enough, a girl doesn't even think about that sort of thing. In the heat of making love, birth control just doesn't feature. Once you were inside me, I didn't care if I got pregnant or not; the thought didn't cross my mind. I just wanted you whatever the consequences."

Mark took his sister's hand in his and squeezed it.

"Mark's right; I didn't put up any resistance," she conceded.

"You put up even less when we did it again," Mark said softly. "Or the third time. I was worried Mum would find us, but you wanted one last go, remember?"

Elaine blushed scarlet.

"We were lucky I didn't get pregnant."

"We were still in Ellie's bed when Mum came home from work," Mark eventually continued. "Christ, we had to move fast."

There was a pause in the conversation as they remembered the moment. The memory brought broad smiles to both their faces, making the similarities in their attractive features even more obvious.

Mark reached out his hand, Elaine took it and they squeezed each other's fingers for a moment.

I was about to ask whether they had ever come close to being discovered, but at that moment the two boys returned from wherever they had been playing or hiding and demanded refreshments so the conversation had to pause.

After the drinks and a small but delicious-looking snack had been provided, the boys began to play close to where we were all sitting.

"Shall we...?" Elaine asked, nodding towards the far end of the garden where four old wooden chairs stood alongside an old rustic table.

The three of us went for a brief walk around their pleasantly large, fragrant garden, the two siblings holding hands romantically as we walked.

"So what happened next?" I asked once we were had settled in our new seats and were away from prying ears. "Did your relationship start there?"

"It did, but it was far from steady," Mark replied. "The shock of having had sex threw us for a while. After we'd done it, we were both unsettled and for a few days we hardly spoke to each other."

"Was it guilt?" I prompted.

"God yes!" Elaine said forcefully. "And shame. How many sisters have sex with their younger brothers?"

More than most people think, I thought inwardly.

"I was worried I'd just become another notch on the bedpost too," she added. "I thought maybe Mark believed the stories about me and wanted a piece of his slut sister. I didn't know that he already knew the truth."

"It was never like that," Mark insisted.

"But I didn't know that," Elaine insisted. "Anyway, when we did finally talk about it when Mum and Dad were out, it was horrible. We had a massive row."

"Followed by amazing make-up sex," her brother smiled.

There was a pause.

"It was good, wasn't it?" Elaine stated, looking him in the eye, both of them sparkling.

"The very best!"

"After that it became difficult rather than terrible. I went secretly on the pill, we had 'dates' at weekends when Mum and Dad were out, but the rest of the time we had to behave as if we were a normal brother and sister."