Scared Sister Pt. 02: Nyctohylophobia

"Breakfast is served!" Max announced, placing a plate in front of Nikki and me.

"Wow, Max," Nikki exclaimed, "This looks and smells amazing!"

"Yeah," Michelle replied, sitting next to Morgan, "Max is a wonderful cook. He makes breakfast for us every day... um."

She dragged the end of her sentence, as Morgan half-glared at her.

"Every day?" Nikki asked, quizzically.

"Whenever we're camping," Max added as he placed a plate of food in front of Morgan and Michelle.

"Oh, okay," Nikki accepted the obvious cover-up at face value.

I started eating.

"WOW!" The word just slipped out of my mouth, "This is amazing!"

"I should hope so," Max stated as Michelle scooted over so he could sit between her and Morgan, "I can't open my own diner with just 'good' food now can I?"

We all continued our conversation while eating.

"You're opening a diner?" I asked.

"He wants to," Morgan answered.

"I'm actually working on trying to get enough capital to start one," Max retorted.

"Which means he's really just working two jobs to try and put money away," Michelle laughed.

"That's a great goal, though," Nikki replied, "I still don't know what I want to do with my life. I know I'm supposed to have that figured out by now, but I really don't."

"It's okay," Morgan assured her, "Most people don't know what they really want to do until they start doing it. The best we can do is stumble around until we figure it out."

"That's not very comforting," Nikki sighed.

"The truth rarely is," Morgan replied.

"Anyway," Max changed the subject, "what do we want to do today?"

"Well," Michelle suggested, "There are a few hiking trails in the area. We could explore one of them after lunch."

"Sounds fun," Morgan agreed, "One of them apparently passes by some really cool waterfalls in a stream."

"Sounds great," Max agreed, "You two good with that?"

He looked at me and Nikki expectantly.

Nikki smiled, "Sounds fun."

I nodded my approval.

"Great!" Max beamed, "How about we just hang out here and chat around the fire until lunch, then go hiking, and when we get back, we can cook S'mores."

"Hell, yeah!" Michelle cheered.

Nikki smiled excitedly, "I've never had S'mores before."

"Really?" All three cousins asked in unison.

"I've only had them cooked at home," I added.

"Oh, wow!" Morgan replied, "They're sooooo much better cooked over an open fire."

"I bet," I laughed.

We continued to talk about events going on in our lives, moving to around the campfire after we'd finished eating. Nikki told our cousins about her experiences at college, and Michelle revealed she was working on her Master's degree at the same University Nikki was going to, which was about half an hour from where she was living. Morgan was working full time at an Amazon warehouse that was recently built near where she lived. They never specifically said, but I got the feeling they all lived in the same town.

After a while, Max suggested we play a card game, so we sat at the picnic table and played a card game called Fluxx. I'd never heard of it before, but apparently it was another camping tradition of theirs. We all had a great time playing, and before we knew it, it was lunch time.

After a quick trip to the bath house to wash up, we quickly ate lunch, which included sandwiches and chips, then prepared for our hike. Max brought a backpack with several bottles of water and some light snacks in case we got hungry during the hike. As it wasn't very cold, we didn't bring our jackets with us, so we were all in just Jeans and T-shirts. We applied ample bug repellant before our hike, at Michelle's suggestion.

On the way to the start of the hiking trail, We didn't talk much. Nikki and I were walking behind the others, with Morgan in the front, and Max and Michelle behind her. Nikki stayed by my side as much as she could, although once we began walking on the trail, the path occasionally thinned out to the point we could only walk single file. As we continued down the trail, Nikki and I fell behind the others just enough so they couldn't hear us talking softly.

"I always wanted to go on a romantic walk with you through the woods," Nikki admitted, grabbing my hand in hers and holding onto my arm, "I just wish we were alone."

I kissed her forehead sweetly, "One day we will."

"Just not at night," Nikki added, "I hated the feeling I got last night, like the darkness in the woods was going to swallow me."

"I'm sorry this trip isn't what you wanted," I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, "Maybe we can try again with just the two of us later."

"Nate," Nikki stopped walking, turning to me and holding my hand in hers, "I appreciate you trying to do this, but I don't think I ever want to go camping again. I mean, I'm enjoying the hiking, and last night with the hot dogs, and even the drinking game. But the fear I felt in the dark... It's the same fear I had when I was young, during thunderstorms. The only reason I was able to get to sleep last night, was you."

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, "I understand, Nikki. I would never ask you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. If you don't want to go camping again, we don't have to."

Nikki kissed me on the lips gently, "Thanks, Nate. Let's catch up to the others. We don't want them to think we got lost."

We quickly walked down the path toward where the others should be. We caught up with them after a minute, since they had stopped at a split in the path, waiting for us to catch up.

"What happened to you guys?" Michelle asked, concerned.

I was about to respond, but Nikki answered instead, "I had to stop and catch my breath. I'm not used to all this walking. Nate stayed behind with me, so I wouldn't be alone."

"Ah," Morgan replied, "Well, from the looks of it we could go either way to get to the waterfalls."

I noticed a sign at the intersection which showed that the rest of the trail was a loop that passed by the stream at the furthest part. The left, or rather "straight", path seemed to go uphill slightly, while the path to the right seemed to go slightly downhill.

"I recommend we go down the path to the right," Max suggested, " that way we'll be going down hill here, then uphill by the stream, and downhill on our way back, rather than going up hill here, then up hill again on the way back."

"That's fine," Michelle agreed, "We can stop by the stream and take some pictures by the waterfalls."

"Oooh, that sounds fun," Morgan beamed.

"Sure," I replied.

Nikki nodded her agreement.

We all followed Max down the path to the right. As we followed, Nikki and I again lagged slightly behind, allowing us to hold hands a good part of the trail until we got to the stream. As we approached the stream, the sound of the waterfalls got louder and louder. When we finally saw them, it wasn't what I was expecting.

The stream was about fifty feet across. There were about half a dozen little waterfalls, each about four feet high, with about fifty feet or so between each of them. There was a sign at each level of the stream which warned hikers that despite the shallow water, which was only about a foot or so deep, that varying weather conditions could make wading in the stream hazardous, and that they should "Enter at Own Risk". Each sign was accompanied by the standard "No Diving" warning sign and "Caution, Rocks are Sharp" signs. There were also a few benches next to the river, some facing it, some facing away.

"Who's coming in with me?" Morgan asked, already sitting on a bench, taking her socks and shoes off.

"Um, Morg," Nikki asked hesitantly, "Are you sure that's a good idea? The sign says the rocks may be sharp."

"So we'll walk carefully," Max replied, cheerfully, also taking his socks and shoes off. He'd taken the backpack off and sat it under one of the benches along with his socks and shoes.

"Come on, It'll be fun," Michelle added.

Nikki looked at me cautiously.

"It's okay, we don't have to if you don't want to," I assured her, gently rubbing her back.

"But... I kinda want to," Nikki whispered, "I just don't want to get... swept away?"

I laughed, "Come on, I'll hold onto you so you don't lose your balance."

We both took our socks and shoes off, then rolled our jeans up as far as we could, following our cousins out into the stream.

"OOooh," Nikki jumped as she first stepped in, "It's cold."

"You'll get used to it," Morgan replied., wading out further into the water.

As we followed them up to the bottom of the waterfall to our left, Nikki held on tightly to my arm, our hands clasped tightly together.

Max cautiously climbed onto the waterfall, then sat at its edge, "Isn't this great?"

"You'll be the one walking back to the campsite with soaking pants," Morgan chastised.

"Don't worry," he retorted, "I brought a change of pants in my backpack, along with a few towels."

"Smart," Nikki replied approvingly.

We all stood in the water taking pictures for about half an hour. We got wetter than we'd initially planned, but since Max had towels, we didn't mind as much. Once our cousins had played in the water enough, we started back to dry land. However, Nikki held me back for a moment.

"Nate," she blushed, "I want to kiss you by the waterfall... I just don't want them to see."

"Because Little sisters aren't supposed to kiss their brothers?" I teased.

Nikki laughed, "Duh."

I looked over at the others, who were almost to the edge of the stream, but looking away from us. I quickly, but gently, wrapped my arms around Nikki, holding her close, then softly pressed our lips together. Our kiss lasted only a moment, but I heard Nikki sigh pleasantly as we did. When we parted lips, Nikki still had her eyes closed. As cute as she was, I couldn't help but kiss her once more before we started back to the water's edge. As we did, the others had just started climbing out of the stream. Max turned around as he got out, to help Michelle and Morgan out, and looked up to see us walking back.

"Everything okay?" He asked as we approached the side.

"Yup," Nikki smiled, blushing a little, "All good."

We all dried off with the towels Max had brought, then put our socks and shoes back on. Max changed his pants behind a tree, then rejoined us at the bench we were at.

"Okay, it's just past four now," he announced, looking at his phone, "We should be getting back to the campsite right around five if we don't take too long. I put the Chili pot on the stove on simmer just before we left, so we should have dinner warmed up and ready by the time we get back."

"Awesome!" Morgan replied, "I'm starting to get hungry already."

"Here," Max pulled a granola bar out of his backpack and handed it to her, then handed out bottles of water, "Hydrate on the way back. Don't drink it all at once."

We continued down the path up by the stream, then it veered away from the stream and looped around. The hike back wasn't as difficult as the way up had been, since we were going mostly downhill. Even though Nikki and I stayed a little ways behind the others, we didn't get out of sight of them this time. By the time we got close to the campsite, it had started to get darker. Not by much, but I could tell Nikki was starting to worry.

"It's okay," I reassured her, taking her hand in mine.

Nikki smiled, then nuzzled my shoulder cutely before continuing to walk, still holding my hand.

When we arrived at the campsite, the fire had died down a bit, and we could smell the chili Max had mentioned. We all walked to the bath house to wash up, at Michelle's insistence, then returned to the campsite.

Morgan stoked the fire, adding a couple logs, as Max served the chili in paper bowls. We all sat around the picnic table again as we ate, talking about how good a cook Max was, among other mundane things. After we finished, Max pulled out the Marshmallows, Hershey's Chocolate bars, and Graham crackers.

"Now for the fun part of camping," Morgan announced.

"Hell yeah!" Michelle agreed enthusiastically.

We all sat around the campfire in the same seats we'd sat in the night before. Nikki kept her chair close to mine, obviously already uneasy with the darkening underbrush.

"Here, I'll show you the best way to roast a marshmallow," Max offered, handing us each a roasting stick and a marshmallow.

"The first mistake most people make is trying to roast it over the flame. The pictures you see of campers roasting marshmallows over the fire are all wrong. Instead, you want to use the hot coals, like down here, where it makes kind of a tiny oven," he placed his marshmallow close to the coals, and it instantly began to turn brown on one side.

"Once you find the best spot, you want to make sure to rotate the marshmallow to roast the entire surface evenly," He demonstrated, "And don't forget the end of the marshmallow."

Nikki and I paid close attention. Having something to focus on seemed to calm Nikki down a lot. She really began having fun, smiling and laughing as we all took turns roasting marshmallows while Morgan assembled the S'mores for us.

"WOW!" Nikki exclaimed with her first bite, "Dish ish shooo goodh!"

Everyone laughed as Nikki mumbled with her mouth full. She was so cute that, without thinking, I sweetly kissed her cheek as we laughed. Nikki blushed, but if anyone else thought anything strange about it, though, they kept it to themselves.

After we'd each had two or three S'mores (Nikki had five), we all sat around the campfire, enjoying the quiet. Well, except for Nikki, who started to get antsy again the moment we'd put the food away.

"Nate," she grabbed my arm lightly, "I'm... um... do you mind if we go ahead and go to bed?"

"You should probably wash up before bed," Morgan suggested, "Michelle and I were going to head to the bath house and take showers, if you want to come with us."

Nikki looked at me nervously.

"Why don't we all go together," Max suggested before I could, "We should all wash up after our hike today."

"Good idea," I agreed.

Nikki looked at me worriedly. I gently placed a hand on hers, which was still on my arm, "It'll be okay. We'll all walk there with you."

"O...Okay," she stammered.

We all got our bed clothes and toiletries, including towels and washcloths, and headed toward the bath house. Despite being with the group, Nikki held tightly to my arm as we walked. I noticed Michelle occasionally glancing at us, but she was always smiling, or maybe grinning, when she did. When we reached the bath house, Nikki again rushed into the "women's" side, followed soon after by Michelle and Morgan. Max and I went in the "men's" side, this time I closed the door slowly so it didn't slam.

The bath house had two showers, each with its own curtain and a bench inside, and one bench outside the curtain. Max and I each selected a shower and disrobed inside, tossing our clothes out to the bench outside them. The first blast of water was cold, but quickly warmed up as I began to lather my wash cloth with the body wash I had brought. As I began to wash myself, Max decided to start a conversation.

"So," his voice echoed through the room, "You and Nikki seem to be as close as ever."

"I suppose so," I responded.

"I always thought it was cute how she would cling to you, her protective big brother," Max paused, possibly waiting for a reply, but when I said nothing, he continued, "Although it was cuter when she was six and you were fifteen," another pause.

"What's your point?" I asked, trying to avoid actually saying anything.

"No point. I just think it's interesting that you're still playing the role of the protective big brother, even though Nikki's obviously not a little girl anymore."

"Why is that interesting?"

Max laughed, "It just says something about you that, even though other people might find it weird, you still care about her enough to do so."

"You find it weird that I want to make my little sister happy?"

"No, I get it, man. Even though we're both adults, there's nothing I wouldn't do for Michelle. She'll always be my little sister."

"I guess we're both weird, then," I laughed, turning my shower off, having finished washing up.

"I guess we are," Max shut his shower off.

We dried off, grabbed our bed clothes and quickly put them on, then slipped our shoes on, placing our day clothes and toiletries into the plastic bags we'd brought them in. After leaving the bath house, we could still hear the girls chatting in their side, so Max and I silently waited until they got done, which took about ten minutes.

"You guys didn't have to wait for us," Morgan said as she came out.

"You know we'd never let you lovely ladies walk back in the dark alone," Max replied.

Nikki rushed to my side as she came out, "Thank you for waiting for us."

I took her hand in mine instinctively, "Always."

Michelle smiled again, seeing us holding hands, but said nothing.

"Come on," Morgan started back.

As we walked in our group, our flashlights illuminating the road ahead of us, Nikki held tightly to my arm. When we got back to the campsite, she nearly ran to her tent.

"G'night everyone," she said hurriedly as she again nearly jumped into her tent after unzipping it.

"You gonna sleep with your sister again?" Morgan asked, "You know, so she won't be as scared?"

Michelle glared at her, "You could phrase that better."

Morgan laughed, "Oh, right. I meant 'sleep in your sister's tent,' obviously."

Max ushered the other two to their tents, "Goodnight, Nate."

"Night, guys," I replied, ignoring Morgan's pretty obvious intentional attempt to imply something.

I tossed my toiletry bag into my tent, then zipped it up and crawled into Nikki's tent, zipping it up behind me.

"Come cuddle with me," Nikki whispered immediately.

I crawled next to her, and she pulled me into her sleeping bag as she had the night before. This time, she was still in her bed clothes, but she held me close, nonetheless.

"I wasn't sure you would sleep with me again tonight," Nikki whispered.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked quietly.

"Well," She sighed, "I think the others are getting suspicious of us. I don't want to jeopardize what we have."

"I won't let that happen," I assured her, holding her close., "But we don't have to do anything if you don't want to," I kissed her lips softly.

"Mmmm," Nikki moaned, pushing our hips together, whispering, "But I do want to do something."

I laughed softly, "I love you."

"I love you, too," She replied softly, kissing my neck. We rubbed each others bodies, then slowly began undressing each other. Once we were both fully naked, I began caressing Nikki's chest, playing with her breasts.

"Mmmmm," she moaned softly, "I've missed that."

"I kissed her neck, then her chest, sucking on her nipples gently as I positioned myself between her legs. The tip of my rock hard erection teased at the opening of her labia.

"I've missed being inside you," I whispered as I slowly pushed into her.

"But Nate," Nikki moaned, "Brothers aren't supposed to want to be inside their sisters."

"Oh, God, not this again."

Nikki and I both froze. I could see the color draining from Nikki's face at the sound of Morgan's voice from her tent.

"You two sound like a poorly written incest erotica," Morgan continued.

"Oh, shush," Michelle chimed in, "I think it's sweet they tease each other to make it sexier. All Max ever did to try and turn me on is pull out his cock and say, 'you know you want it.'"

"Well," Morgan retorted, "You always want it."

"So do you," Michelle fired back.

"Guys," Max interrupted, "I don't think Nate and Nikki want to hear about our sex lives right now. They're kind of busy."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then, Nikki broke the silence... by laughing hysterically. I could see tears pouring from her eyes as she laughed. I wasn't sure if she was upset, surprised, or happy because of what our cousins were saying. I started to pull out, but Nikki placed her hands on my hips and pulled me back into her.