Thankful

The movie was a hit with everyone. Even Olivia pulled the stick out of her ass to laugh at parts.

When it was over, 'Dirty Dancing' was supposed to come on next. There were several loudly dissenting voices as Uncle Billy reached for the remote.

"It's not what you think, Daddy," Laurell said. "I mean, they do dance. But, not like that. It's set in a fifties style vacation resort. How bad could it be?"

"I lived through the fifties, young lady! Ask me a different question!"

I didn't really care, so long as it wasn't sports or news and pitched in my nickel.

"Kelly was watching that the other morning," I said. "It wasn't bad."

Kelly wasn't in the room as she and Olivia had gone to rinse off the long dried sweat by popular motion. But, her name conjured magic and the channel was left where it was.

"Oh, I like this movie," Kelly said as she came back in. Her hair was wet and she'd changed into a pair of shorts and a loose shirt.

"That's what I hear," Uncle Billy said. "But, I'm telling you now. If this Patrick Swacky character takes his shirt off to dance around, I'm changing the channel."

Cushions from the Cheer Couch pelted him at his pronouncement and were slung back and forth several times as the movie played. Even Mom and Aunt Regina got in on the act when Patrick Swayze actually did take off his shirt to practice and Uncle Billy grabbed for the remote.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. Even more so as Kelly was pressed against my side for the entirety of the second show, giggling at the antics of the others in the room.

"Well, we need to hit the beds," Aunt Regina said as the final credits rolled. "We've got a lot of ground to cover to make up for today."

For the first time in my life, I was sorry to see my family filtering back to the bedrooms leaving me in sole possession of the living room. If they had left Kelly behind, I would have been even happier to see them go than I'd ever been. I still wanted to know what she meant with what she said in the kitchen.

But, maybe she would come back.

She didn't.

Not until after I fell asleep.

Sleeping sitting up on the couch, not to mention fully clothed, Thanksgiving night hadn't been very comfortable. Once I gave up on seeing Kelly again before morning, I'd folded out my bed and changed into the shorts I used for sleep attire while we were visiting.

I'd lain on the bed and read until I felt sleep coming to claim me and dozed off with a book on my chest, as usual.

My dream that two hours and fifty-seven minutes was erotic as hell. And went on ten minutes longer than I'd ever slept in my life!

For the first time in my life, I didn't mind leaving a dream behind to return to the waking world because Kelly was in bed with me.

It took me a moment to register that I wasn't dreaming and when I did, I flew into a full-blown panic. And right off the bed.

"Oh, my God! This is bad. This is bad. This is bad." I repeated as I pranced around in a small circle.

Mom, in addition to teaching elementary school during the week, taught Sunday School and sang in the choir at the church on Sunday.

Uncle Billy and Aunt Regina weren't particularly religious so far as I knew, but they also had pretty staunch views about morality as well.

Nothing had happened... At least I didn't think anything had happened.

I paused and looked down at my still fully tumescent, and still dry, tented shorts. Nope. Nothing had happened.

But, if my family had found me half naked in bed with a girl, they wouldn't have stopped to ask the question!

"Kelly!" I hissed, reaching out to shake her. "Kelly, you've got to wake up. Kelly, you've got to wake up now."

Watching Kelly stir and stretch, and the way the sheet was pulled lower, giving me a bird's eye view of the way she was filling out that t-shirt that I'd thought had been a whole hell of a lot looser the night before watching movies, wasn't going to help.

"G'morning," Kelly said.

"Good morning," I said quickly. "Hi. You've got to get up and help me fold up the bed before anyone sees us."

"Why?"

"Why? Why?! Because Uncle Billy will shoot me! That's why!"

"Oh, Uncle Billy wouldn't shoot you," Kelly said. But, at least she was moving and sitting up.

And stopping to pull shorts on over her panties retrieved from the floor on her side! Oh, my God, this was so bad! I'd been next to naked and next to an almost naked Kelly!

Samantha Fox was on the television swinging out over the crowd singing "Touch Me". God, how I wanted to touch Kelly. How I wanted to crawl back in that bed with her.

And how the parental units would make everything Olivia had ever done to me pale by comparison if they caught us.

"Okay," I gibbered. "Okay. We can salvage this. We weren't caught. No one knows except us. No one needs to know. Help me fold up the couch."

I don't know if Kelly was enjoying the show as I danced around in my shorts, trying to get the bed folded back up and getting in the way more than I was helping. I was certainly enjoying the show as she calmly put it all in order. Far too much.

"Okay," I said, once a couch stood in place of the bed. "Okay. Um, clothes. I need to put something on. We're just sitting here, right? Just sitting here watching television. And talking. Just talking. Sitting upright. Both feet on the floor. Sure. That's the ticket."

"Nick," Kelly said. "Nick. What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" I asked, laughing hysterically. "What's the matter? We were in bed together, Kelly."

"So, we slept together-"

"Gah! Don't say it like that! Wait," I paused. "Did I... Did we... When you say we slept together, you do mean we slept, right? Please, don't tell me I slept through anything... more."

"Well, I did touch myself a little while I was laying next to you."

"I... You..."

I couldn't decide whether to feel yet more panic at the revelation, excitement at what she claimed to have done, or pissed I'd missed it. The dizzying emotions were too much for my brain to process and it went for a reboot.

"Jesus, Nick! Are you okay?"

I opened my eyes, Kelly kneeling over me where I was laying flat on my back on the floor.

"Was it good for you?" I asked muzzily.

The material of the shirt Kelly was wearing was really thin. I could see everything with her backlit by the lamp. She might as well not be wearing a shirt at all.

Oh shit!

"You've got to change," I gabbled as I sat up. "I've got to change. We've got to change. Then, we can sit and talk and no one can say 'boo'. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Go shower and get dressed. And I'll shower and get dressed. Not together. No, that would be awesome, but so much worse. We shower separate. Then, we can meet back here and sit together and talk and they'll never know."

I was hustling Kelly up the hallway, pushing her from behind with both hands. At the juncture where it turned to pass the kitchen, I found myself unable to let go of her hand.

Kelly turned and faced me as my panicked chatter died out and I just stared at her for a long moment.

"If you want me to go, you need to let me go," Kelly said.

"Don't want you to," I managed. "But, we need to. We need to be presentable when Aunt Regina wakes up to marshal the forces."

As if my words had summoned her, I heard a door open in the far hallway. I hurriedly let go of Kelly and scurried back for the bag I'd forgotten to bring.

I was already pulling out my med kit when it dawned on me I hadn't eaten anything. Shit.

I met Aunt Regina in her nightgown and covering robe coming around the corner as I was heading for the kitchen.

"Good morning, Nick. Did you have pleasant dreams?"

Oh, God! She knew!

"Oh, you know," I feigned nonchalance poorly. "I slept about the same as always. How about you? Are you ready to face the day of bargain hunting?"

Instead of answering, Aunt Regina stepped closer and caught my chin in her hand to peer in my face.

Could she see the nervous sweat beading? She had to know something was up. Why else would she be looking at me so closely?

"Your eye looks worse," she said. "And you don't really look like you feel well. Did that experiment cause you problems?"

"Uh, what?"

"The special meal I made for you," Aunt Regina said. "Is it causing you problems? You're sweating and seem a little shaky."

"Oh, no. No problems. I just need to eat and take my meds."

"Ah. Ok. If you're sure."

With Aunt Regina bustling around in the kitchen, I forced myself to use a spoon, although I didn't bother with a plate, scooping my breakfast straight from the jar to my mouth.

Aunt Regina wandered off, most likely to start the process of waking up the others in the household. I quickly finished up, washed my spoon, and fled for the bathroom while she was otherwise occupied.

In the bathroom, I hit a snag while I was showering after dealing with my meds, shaving, and the usual. Specifically, my cock was at full mast and giving no indication of going down. After a few minutes of wrestling with my conscience, I decided to take the matter in hand. As a consequence, my shower was much longer than usual. But, I did feel significantly better when I opened the door.

Until that is, I almost ran into Kelly, standing there in the same clothes I'd last seen her in, holding a bundle in her arms.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, glancing around. "You were supposed to shower and change before we were caught together and then come sit with me so we could talk while we waited for everyone else."

"I had to get my clothes, and when I came out, your mother was in the other shower," Kelly said, not looking at me. "I made the mistake of coming around here to wait for you and your sister took the next when your mother got out. But, don't worry. I'm going to shower and cover up now. If you'll excuse me."

Wait. What? She thought...

The bathroom door closed in my face before I could say anything and Uncle Billy came around the corner, so shouting through the door wasn't a very good alternative. I wandered off to sit on the couch while Uncle Billy took command of the remote and switched Jon Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" for the "news", which was a rerun of the last seven or eight days except for a hurricane that had hit the Philippines.

How could I fix this? How could I get Kelly to understand that I liked the way she looked and I had really liked her being in bed with me, if only it hadn't been for the risk of us getting caught? True, we were nineteen and legally adults, but still. There are some things that just aren't done. And giving my moralistic family the idea that we were sleeping together, even if all we'd done was sleep, was one of those things.

Time ticked on and Pris and then Michelle joined Uncle Billy and I. I wondered what was taking Kelly so long. But, at least it gave me time to figure out what to say to her. If that is, I could get rid of the family to give us a little privacy to say it.

To say I was astounded when Kelly came out in her workout clothes and, not only sat down beside me but took my hand in hers would be a vast understatement. I peered into her smiling face, but couldn't tell just what may have changed.

"You're looking chipper," Uncle Billy said. "Did you sleep well, Kellster?"

"You know what?" Kelly said. "I slept better than I ever have, thank you. How was your night?"

"Short," Uncle Billy said with a yawn. "Nights like this, I envy your youth."

Aunt Regina and Mom came in with an honest to God map and the plotting began in earnest.

"I found the present you left for me in the shower," Kelly whispered.

The pr-... Oh, shit. My face suddenly threatened to catch fire and I squirmed uncomfortably as I glanced at her face again.

"At least I assume I caused that," Kelly said, questioningly.

I nodded. What else could I do? I was well and truly caught. To deny it would make matters worse. And, besides, it was a simple truth. It had been thoughts of her that caused me to leave behind a trace I thought I'd taken pains to erase.

"What would you think of staying behind, Nick?"

"Huh?" I glanced over to see Mom and Aunt Regina looking at me. Was this a trick question?

"Your eye doesn't look so good, and you look a little flushed still," Mom said.

While true that I would have been more than willing to forego the pleasures of being dragged along while Aunt Regina schooled the rest in how to really power shop, I wasn't all that wild about missing out on a chance to be around Kelly.

"Actually, if it's all right, Ollie and I should probably stay behind, too," Kelly said. "We really should put in the hours lifting. We skimped yesterday and the day before."

Okay. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but if she wasn't going either, the only allure the expedition had for me was removed.

At six, the rest of the family paraded out the door leaving myself and Kelly behind. And Olivia, of course. Damn it.

And someone had evidently put thistles in Olivia's bed. She was in an, even more, foul mood than usual. Which, for Olivia, was really saying something.

Kelly and I tried to escape, and perhaps have some time alone, by going for a walk. Olivia decided to follow. It would have been hard enough to carry on the conversation I wanted to with her present, much less wheezing like creaky bellows after the first quarter mile.

Kelly took pity on Olivia when I wouldn't have. The pair of them left to go hit the weights in the garage. As much as I wanted to follow, I had my own requirements I needed to meet and kept churning around that dirt track.

I had very limited experience with women, not counting relatives. But, if Kelly meant what I thought she meant, that I'd somehow missed cleaning up some of my cum in the shower and she'd found it, and she wasn't repulsed; that had to be a good thing. Didn't it?

Back at the hacienda, I found Olivia and Kelly right where I thought they would be. In the garage, shoving around bars with a whole bunch of plates on either end. They both saw me peering through the window in the door. Kelly just kept lifting, strong and smooth. Not even a change of expression. Olivia dropped her bar and turned to face me with her hands on her hips, scowling.

Not feeling encouraged to hang around and spectate, I wandered away to the couch to read. I hoped that I would have at least some time to talk to Kelly before the herd returned.

Help came in a most unforeseen form.

There was a knock at the door, causing me to look up. With it not being my home, I was debating whether I should answer the door or go get Olivia to answer it.

And, hey! Maybe I could have a brief word with Kelly while Olivia was dealing with whoever was at the door!

Decision made, I was up and moving around the couch to go get Olivia when the door opened. Visions of armed intruders perpetrating a home invasion danced in my head for a split second as I froze.

"Knock, knock!" Tina called out as she let herself in. "Oh, hi, Rick. Where is everyone?"

God. Why couldn't it have been an armed robber?

"Nick, actually," I said. "Hello, Tina. Laurell and Michelle aren't here."

"Oh, please! Laurell is never up this early," Tina said as she strolled on in and headed for the back. "Don't worry, Rick. I'll get her. Hey, Laurell! Valuable shopping time is wasting!"

"It's Nick," I said, chasing after her. "And they've already gone shopping."

Tina ignored me as I skidded to a halt at the kitchen door, almost a lifetime of indoctrination keeping me from stepping past it.

"Laurell! Hey, Laurell! Wakey, wakey. There is a top you will have to see to believe at..."

Rather than chase after Tina, I opted to get Olivia to deal with her and stepped into the kitchen to fling the door to the garage open.

"Ollie!"

"What?!" Olivia threw her bar down and turned to me with a fierce snarl.

Kelly paused in her fluid motion and just looked at me. No, not at me. Behind me.

Too large, too firm breasts poked into my neck. I fought the urge to lift both my hands in classic stick up pose.

"Well, there y'all are," Tina said. "Where are Laurell and Michelle?"

Olivia's face froze for a moment. Then her scowl became what must have been the evilest grin she'd ever aimed my way.

"Oh, hi, Tina," Olivia said. "Mom dragged them off around six in full power shopping mode. Nick should have told you that. You remember Nick, don't you? From the lake last summer?"

"Well, of course, I remember Rick," Tina said. "So, when are they going to be back?"

"You know, they didn't actually say, I don't think," Olivia said. "You're welcome to hang out and wait. Kelly and I are a bit busy, but I'm sure 'Rick' would love to keep you entertained."

"Ok," Tina said.

She captured my arm and pulled me away towards the living room. I heard the garage door shut on the sound of Olivia's laughter.

Tina didn't let go of my wrist until we'd reached the middle of the living room floor. Out of force of habit, I backed up and fell into my usual spot as she swiped the remote from Uncle Billy's chair and punched in the numbers to switch it to music videos.

I was at a loss. Just days earlier, if I'd been able to get past my mortification at Tina seeing me manhandled and thrown into the lake by Olivia, I might have enjoyed being alone in a room with her. She was cruel and couldn't even seem to get my name right, but she was fun to look at.

Or would have been before I'd seen Kelly.

Now, all I could see was Kelly's face. And the expression as I'd been hauled away hadn't been a happy one.

Samantha Fox came on singing "Touch Me."

"Oh, I love this song!"

It's probably a good thing that Tina was pretty and sexy and had a body guaranteed to feature prominently in virtually any heterosexual male's fantasies because her singing voice left a lot to be desired. At least I think that noise she was making was supposed to be singing.

Then Tina started to dance. I don't pretend to know for sure, but I think even Samantha Fox herself might have blushed at some of Tina's gyrations. I certainly did. Only two things kept it from being perfect. First, she insisted on continuing her caterwauling. Second, I really wanted Kelly, not Tina.

Now, if Kelly had been there with me, dancing like that...

Kelly herself came in just then and sat down beside me.

"Oh, thank God," I murmured as I captured her hand with mine.

Olivia flounced down on the far side of Kelly and folded her arms, looking like she'd been sucking on persimmons.

For about fifteen minutes, Tina "entertained" us, although I suspect mostly herself, by prancing and dancing like she needed a pole on a stage somewhere and making an awful racket as she went looking for the notes of the songs and didn't find them.

"So, do you like that?" Kelly asked at one point.

"Are you kidding?" I whispered. "Do you have any earplugs?"

"I meant her dancing."

"Well, if you were to dance like that for me, I wouldn't mind at all."

"I don't think so," Kelly said with a small smile on her face finally. "If I tried to do that, I would bust my ass."

"If you tried to do that, I'd bust my zipper," I said as we watched Tina somehow shake her tits while grinding her crotch against thin air.

Actually, one other person in the room beside Tina seemed to be enjoying the show. Olivia had uncrossed her arms and was leaning forward on her knees, breathing through her open mouth.

Several things clicked into place and I fought the urge to leap to my feet and shout "Eureka!" My hard boiled, muscle-bound, too masculine female cousin was gay.

"What?" Kelly asked.

I tore my open-mouthed stare at Olivia on the other side of her to see Kelly looking at me quizzically. I nodded my head towards Olivia, prompting Kelly to turn and look at her.

"And?" Kelly looked back at me after a quick glance at Olivia.