The Family Room Ch. 05

Lance dropped his keys on the floor when he saw us. The chink of those keys hitting the concrete just about scared Julie to death, she went white and red at the same time. I had confessed everything to Lance, but it hadn't prepared him. He saw who I was with and where my hands were. He could see what we had done by the looks on our guilty faces and our disheveled clothes. If he couldn't see it, he could definitely smell it. He took off his glasses and examined the lenses, he rubbed them with his sleeve as if we were a smudge that would go away. I was still holding Julie when he placed the glasses back on his face.

"Oh my God!" She buried her head in my chest, like an ostrich in the sand.

Lance couldn't speak, he just stood there, watching us. I stroked Julie's long brown hair as she shuddered and whimpered.

I cleared my throat, wondering how to tell her. I figured the honest approach would get me in the least amount of trouble. "He knows."

She looked up at me, then to Lance, who's skin color would have made a lobster jealous, then back to me. Her eyes were narrow and her dark eyebrows scrunched. Oh crap, I had seen that look before. I had received it from my sister more than a few times in her nineteen years. I was in trouble, major trouble.

She took off from the back room like she had been propelled from a cannon. I had to race to catch her. When she didn't make a sound in the parking lot I knew that this would be bad. She wouldn't answer me or look at me. We were on the road when she finally spoke. "Pull over," she said, her tone was pure ice. She pointed to a little city park.

She shot out of her seatbelt and cut through the playground, scattering sand and cypress mulch and dodging a group of preschoolers. I apologized to the mothers and their small children as I followed. She headed for a walking path, a gravel trail that ran in a circular pattern around a shallow pond. "Julie where are we going?" She didn't answer, just ignored me, crunching gravel beneath her sandals.

She didn't stop until she reached the far side of the pond. There was no one else on the path, the only other souls in the entire park were back at the playground.

"How could you Rick?" she was crying again. God, I hated it when she cried. I hated it more when I was the cause. "I trusted you, I loved you.!" I was disturbed by her usage of past tense. "Don't you understand that I can never be the kind of girl that you can brag about to your stupid buddies! God, you're such an idiot! We're not normal Rick." I didn't know if she was just venting or if she meant what she said. "We can never be normal. If you want someone normal, someone you can bring home to mom and dad, and tell all your friends about, it can't be me."

"Just listen a minute." I tried to put my arms around her but she backed away. "He's been my friend forever." I realized that was a terrible defense, considering what Erin was putting us through. "Julie, I love you more than anything on this earth. Sometimes I think I love you too much. No one has ever made me feel the way you do, no one ever will. I was just so confused, I had to tell someone. Lance won't say anything and neither will I, not again."

She seemed to soften. "Next time you're confused, come talk to me. Okay?" Just like that she had forgiven me, unconditionally. I nodded, taking her into my arms. Since there was no one around I pressed my lips to hers. We kissed, if not quite in public, then at least out in the open. The warm breeze was invigorating, as was the even warmer body I held close.

"Rick." She pulled away from my lips. "Promise me you won't ever screw this up."

That evening my family gathered in the dining room. My mom had found a recipe for jalapeno meatloaf. Sometimes when mom found a new recipe it could be an adventure. This stuff wasn't bad, but my appetite was still puny and Julie's wasn't much bigger. I was literally on the edge of my seat, Erin could call at anytime. Julie and I had been home a few hours, still not so much as a ring.

"So, Rick are you teaching tonight?" my mom asked. I wasn't paying attention. I sat on the hardwood chair, lost in my thoughts. I pressed the bare fork tines against my bottom lip while she repeated her question.

"Oh, uh, no," I said. "the community college and the rec center have dropped the program. Money problems, I think."

"That's terrible, you loved teaching that art class," my dad said as he sawed a slice of meatloaf.

"Yeah, but there are things I love more." My eyes darted to Julie as she sipped a glass of ice water. She blushed as she sat the glass down.

"Think of all the disappointed little kids, deprived of art, and creativity, and my baby boy as their teacher." Mom stabbed a spear of broccoli.

"Yeah, but think of all the janitors, spared---" The phone chose that second to ring.

"Hang on honey." My mom sprang to the kitchen to answer it. She returned a few seconds later. "It's Erin." Julie started to get up. "She wants to talk to Rick."

My heart had to be audible to everyone, it was the only thing I could hear. My parents exchanged a conspiratorial smile as I creaked out of my chair. "I'll get it in my room." Another smile from my parents. Julie wasn't smiling though, to her credit, she adopted a face of stone.

"Hello," I squeaked into the phone.

"Mm, hello sexy," Erin's voice was a slow purr. "Have you been thinking about me?" I had, but not in any flattering ways. "I've been thinking about you and what I'm going to do with you. You don't know how many times I've fucked my fingers pretending they were you. I want to see your dick so bad, I want to touch it and taste it. Oh Ricky, I'm going to slobber all over it."

"That wasn't the deal," I said, "the deal was sex, just one time, then you get the hell out of my life."

"That's still the deal," she hissed. "If you can satisfy me." This wasn't good, she was already waffling. "Who knows, you might forget all about fucking your little sister. I'm a real woman, Rick, one you don't have to be ashamed of."

That was enough for me. "God damnit Erin, if you don't leave my sister out of this---"

"You'll tell on me?" she asked. She had me by the balls and she knew it. "Look Rick, I'll be home alone tonight. Daddy is working nights and Sam is out with the boys. Get here at ten, I'll unlock the doors."

My fingers clenched around the handset of my telephone. "I don't know---"

She was quick to interrupt. "I'll lay down on the bed with my face down and my ass up. You won't even have to look at me, you can just fuck me full of your sperm or lick my asshole. I don't care how rough or kinky you want to get, as long as I get to cum."

"Alright." I wanted it over with.

Erin squealed like a spoiled child. "Ten, Ricky," she said, "and you only get one chance."

I hung up. There was a twinge in the pit of my stomach, like I was going to be sick. I lay down on my bed and covered my face with a pillow. After ten minutes the phone rang. "Hello," I said, more than a little agitated.

"Hey Rick," Lance said. "I'm sorry about walking in on you today, did Julie ever forgive you?" I told him she had. "I take it tonight is still on with Erin." I relayed the last conversation. "Ten o' clock, huh? Look, just hang in there."

I lay on my bed, alone, as the hours ticked away. The clock on my VCR taunted, green LED counting down to the apocalypse.

It was past nine when I went to say goodbye to Julie. She was already asleep. I wondered how she could sleep so soundly tonight of all nights, then I saw the bottle of Nyquil on her dresser. There was a wastebasket full of wadded up Kleenex beside her bed, poor little thing. She breathed softly through her nose. Laying like that, with her long brown hair draped beneath her body like a second mattress, she looked even more beautiful than usual. I leaned over and covered her lips with my own.

I stayed that way, pressed to her mouth. I was a condemned man enjoying a final kiss from his sweetheart before heading to the gallows. I lingered at her door for a minute, watching her chest swell and fall and thinking how much I loved her. I shut the door and turned to find my dad in the hall.

My pulse quickened, had he seen me? I shrugged it off, no and even if he had it was just a little kiss.

"Kind of a strange situation you've gotten yourself into, isn't it son?"

I was going to have a stroke, twenty-four years old and I'd be eating from a tube. "Dad I..." This was it, doomsday.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. Erin is a very pretty girl and I think she has always had a bit of a crush on you." Good old imperceptive dad. "It must be weird for your sister though, her brother and her best friend."

"Oh it's weird alright." I agreed.

"Well stay safe tonight," he patted my shoulder, "and remember, I'm too young to be a grandpa." When did my dad become Dr. Ruth?

I stayed in my car for awhile after the engine shut off. I looked up at Erin's duplex. The paint was peeling and the windows were open. There was movement between the curtains in her room. She was waiting.

True to her word the front door was unlocked. My legs were rubber as I climbed the stairs to her room. The house was heavy with the smell of air fresheners, and backed-up plumbing. My jaw and hands trembled.

The door to Erin's room was cracked open. I rested my forehead on the cooling wood and peeked inside. Dirty clothes and discarded papers were strewn about the floor, as I entered I had to practically leap over a pile of dirty thongs. As promised Erin's face was buried in the mattress, her skinny butt was thrust upward. I could see the smooth lips of her pussy peeking out from between her legs, she wagged her ass back and forth.

Did she think that would entice me? I didn't think she could even get me hard, a theory that was disproved by a stirring in my jeans. I started toward her then stopped. She was so hot, a breathing fantasy offering herself to me. What was I doing? I couldn't allow myself to lose control.

"Come on, Ricky, fuck me." She turned her head, her blue eyes and white teeth sparkled in the dimness.

"No talking," I reminded her, "and keep your face down." She nodded and reassumed her position. I crawled on the bed, unzipping my fly as I eased up against her. Erin's smell was so thick in the cramped little room I almost choked. I reached through my boxers to catch my half hard dick. She was mewling and moaning and thrusting that little bottom against me. It was hard to control myself, to not just give in and let myself go, like I did with Julie.

With my right hand I took my penis and put it against her vagina. I rubbed my sensitive head between her warm, wet lips as my dick reached full solidity. My left hand caressed her butt cheeks. She felt so different, where Julie was soft and supple, Erin was more toned and rigid.

I would push in and ride her rough, that's what she deserved, that's probably what she wanted. The cheeks of her ass tensed and relaxed as the first inch slipped inside her vagina. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I groaned and doubled over falling against Erin's lean body, we tumbled to the mattress. She giggled and ground her backside into my hardness.

I rolled off of her, she was still thrusting her butt and her hands were stuffed between her legs. God, my stomach was killing me. I crawled out of her bed and zipped up my jeans, all the while bent and clutching my gut. "You can't be done yet," she said turning around.

"Head down," I ordered. I fought against the pain and the guilt, but together they were too much to overcome. "I forgot a condom. I'll go and get it." I ignored her reminder that she was on the pill and stumbled to the driveway. The fresh air did wonders for my stomach. I reckoned the distance from Erin's bedroom also helped.

I gorged my lungs on the night air. It was fresh and clean, I felt anything but. All I could think about was my sister. I would betray her if even a little part of me enjoyed myself with Erin, there was no way I could do that. I took out my wallet and made sure I was carrying my bank card. I could make a stop at the ATM and withdraw just enough cash to get me the hell out of Saratoga Spring. Julie had offered to come with me once, I hoped that offer still stood.

Someone moved out in the street, two someones actually.

It was Sam, home early with one of his trash friends. "Rick?" Sam's friend asked in a quiet voice.

I knew that whisper, it was Lance. "What are you doing here?" I asked, matching his tone.

"Looking out for my best friend." Lance towed a black bag. Every few seconds he took a nervous glances at Erin's window. I stuffed my bank card back in my wallet.

"This guy," Sam said putting his arm around Lance, "this guy is one hell of a pal. He wanted me to tell you that." Sam slurred half the words, belched the rest. He looked at me for a second, as if trying to recall my name, then stumbled off to his front door.

"I'll take care of everything," he said, eyes fixed on Erin's window. "Go home, Julie must be worried sick about you."

I nodded and started to put my key in the door lock.

Lance cringed and took a quick peek at Erin's window. "Why don't you take my car, it's parked down the street." We exchanged keys.

"Lance---"

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "Just remember, this guy is one hell of a pal," he emulated Sam's slurred speech.

I didn't ask what was in the bag, I didn't question how Lance would take care of things. I just wanted to go home.

I never checked the clock, so I had no idea what time I had gotten in. Julie sat up as I entered her room, her sheets were clutched in her slim fingers. She plucked her watch from her nightstand and squinted at the little numbers.

"Didn't go through with it?" she asked. It must have been relatively early.

I sat down on her mattress. Her bed was soft and pink, it's inviting warmth was where I wanted to be. "Julie, when did my life deteriorate into some big melodrama?"

"Probably the moment you first kissed me." Her voice was weak and groggy, effects of the Nyquil.

"Probably," I agreed as I scooted closer. I leaned down and kissed her again to show her I didn't regret any of it. I settled down next to her. There was a chance our parents might intrude, but I was fully clothed and on top of the covers so we looked innocent enough.

My mind wandered for a moment to Erin. I wondered, for the first of many times, just how Lance figured on procuring her silence. I wished a capful of medicine would allow my troubled soul to sleep. I rested my head against Julie and breathed deep. I allowed the smell of her hair and the softness of her skin to be my lullaby.

To be continued