The Ninety-Ten Rule

"But..." somehow, Cleo grew even redder. "Wouldn't it be wrong for my first kiss to be with my sister?"

"That doesn't count. You kiss Mom and Dad all the time."

"Well, but it's different with Mom and Dad. It's like a quick little peck. This would be..." she trailed off.

"It would be what, sis?"

"Like, aren't I supposed to use my tongue and stuff for this kind of kiss?" Jade stopped herself from laughing.

"Not if you don't want to. Plenty of people kiss, romantically, without using their tongues. Besides, using your tongue your very first time seems like a lot."

"I agree." Another beat. "So, um, how do you do it?"

"Me?" Jade asked. "I usually use my tongue. But if it's my first kiss with somebody, I like it to be soft. I keep my lips kind of slack, open my mouth just a little bit, and then fit my lips in between the other person's like a jigsaw puzzle. Then I close my lips around their lip, and they do the same to mine."

"How do you know when to break it off and start a new kiss?"

"That happens kind of naturally. Here, it'll be easier to show you." Jade leaned over toward her sister, and Cleo--abashedly, hesitantly--mirrored her sister's movement. Soon, their faces were in closer proximity than either one was used to. "Is this okay with you?" Jade asked. Cleo nodded the tiniest bit. Jade could hear and feel her sister's bated breath. The older sister leaned in to close the distance.

Their lips touched. Cleo's didn't move at all, which made the kiss awkward but sweet. "Close your lips around mine," Jade whispered. She peeked at her sister. "And close your eyes. It's all about feeling." Slowly, Cleo tried to follow Jade's advice. Jade could feel her sister starting to use her lips more. "Good," she said. "Just go with the flow." Gradually, Cleo's lips became firmer and more participatory. Jade smiled as they kissed, encouraging her sister's slowly-building self-assuredness.

Suddenly, the kiss transformed into something different. Cleo's lips moved more quickly, almost desperately, as she brought her hands up to cup Jade's face. Jade was taken by surprise, and it took her a minute to pull back.

"Oh gosh," Cleo said. "Was that...? I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," her sister quickly said. "Just, be sure to ask first. Communication is extremely important."

"I've never seen anybody ask for permission to kiss harder."

"Well, yeah. Once you get good at it, it's like dancing--a conversation without words. You can read the cues and build up toward something together. It's not bad that you wanted to practice more intense kissing, but you should always signal that somehow and wait for the other person to signal back to you." Cleo nodded. "And take your time. I promise that it's worth doing it slowly."

Jade leaned back in, starting the kiss again. She took her sister's top lip and offered her own bottom lip by jutting it out a bit. Soon, Cleo was softly closing her lips down around Jade's, accepting the offer. Cleo stuck her lips out a bit, too, as she kissed. "Good," Jade said between kisses. "Now watch." Jade made her lips firmer, clamping down harder on Cleo's lip for just a second before pulling her head back the tiniest bit. "You see? I asked a question. Now, you answer." Cleo leaned in to find Jade's lips once again, mirroring their firm movement from earlier, before Cleo herself pulled back a bit.

"Can I answer with my own question?" she whispered. Jade smiled and nodded. As with just about everything, her sister was a very quick learner. The two leaned in toward each other, barely brushing their lips against the others', while taking turns pulling back and pushing closer, all without saying a word. They were dancing now.

Suddenly, Jade leaned back too far for Cleo to follow. Jade's expression changed to an unaffected one. "See?" she said, "Practice makes perfect. You did good, sis." While Cleo sat in stunned silence, Jade relit her joint and took a hit. "This is almost gone." Puff. "Come on, it's probably about time for us to catch some sleep." Jade squashed the end of the joint on the small table between them before flicking it down into the bushes below. It took Cleo a minute to follow Jade back inside.

The two got under their respective covers. "Goodnight, sis," Jade said.

"'Night."

Oh, God, Jade thought. Oh man oh man oh man. Shit. That kiss... she thought it would just be a nice gesture to help her sister practice; she didn't anticipate feeling like this. If she had, she never would've offered. This--this was wrong.

Jade lay in her bed, the slightest bit illuminated by the moonlight peeking into her and Cleo's room, and stared up at the ceiling. She should not be feeling this way.

Maybe it would all go away in the morning. Maybe she was just stoned, and she needed to sleep it off. Maybe...

Shit.

Breakfast was awkward, to say the least. Both siblings tried to act nonchalant, but the occasional eye contact between them kept penetrating the façade of normalcy. Luckily, their parents were too oblivious (or apathetic) to notice the tension in the air or the blush in each sister's cheeks.

One by one, the rest of the family filtered out of the house. Cleo was the first to go; she had morning classes at the university. Some of the tension left with her, but Jade still felt awkward. Once she had the house to herself, she tried to stay distracted. Video games, TV, and music were her methods of choice, but none of them could keep her mind from wandering back to the previous night for very long.

Maybe these are just big sister feelings, she reasoned. I want to protect Cleo and make sure she doesn't get hurt. There's nothing wrong with that. The train of thought wasn't all that believable, but Jade clung to it nevertheless. It was better than the alternative: admitting to having thoughts she shouldn't be having about her sister.

Her wandering mind was interrupted by a buzz on the bed to her left. A text, and it was from Cleo. Oh God, Jade thought for a split second before seeing the content of the message: "can we practice again tonight? it was really helpful," the text read.

Oh God, she thought again, but it was different this time--it was underscored by excitement rather than dread. Then, immediately, came a feeling of guilt. She shouldn't have been excited by this; her sister really needed her help, and here Jade was, getting off to the thought of it. You sicko, she thought to herself. She knew that she should cut it off now, before it got any worse.

"sure thing," she texted back. "glad i can help." Shit.

It was only another hour or so before Cleo got back home. "Afternoon class get cancelled?" Jade asked, trying to alleviate the tension by making conversation.

"I decided not to go," her sister replied casually. "This way, we have the house to ourselves for a while." So much for alleviating the tension.

"Okay, before this goes any further, we need some ground rules," Jade found herself saying. "Words are helpful for me. So, if either one of us gets too uncomfortable, how about we just say 'red,' and that'll mean stop immediately. Deal?"

"That makes sense," Cleo said. "...Are you, um, uncomfortable?"

"I don't... not really, no."

"Do you want to keep, um, helping me practice?" God, Cleo was cute.

"Uh, I mean, sure, whatever you need," Jade said as casually as she could muster. That's how she was going to play this--she was the big sister, her little sister needed her help, and she was going to be there for her. It didn't have to be weird. After all, she was the one who had initially offered to help. She should be able to stand by that.

"Okay," Cleo said. "I've been thinking, and there's something I need specific help with."

"What's that?"

"How do you know when to kiss someone? Like, is there some kind of universal signal?"

"Hm. That's a tough one, sis," Jade replied. "If it's going really well with a person, you're both laughing a lot, and there's a lull in conversation, that could be a good time."

"That makes sense....But, what if I kiss them and they don't want to kiss me back? I'd feel really awkward just planting one on somebody and hoping they'll be into it."

"Yeah, that awkwardness is always going to be there, but that's part of what makes it fun. But it's all about questions and answers, remember? You don't just go all in and kiss somebody right off the bat," Jade explained. "I like to call it the 'Ninety/Ten Rule:' you lean in ninety percent of the way, and you let the other person close the last ten percent. That way, you're not kissing someone who doesn't want to kiss you. You just give them the option, and they can choose to take it or not."

"Dang, that's smart," Cleo replied. She looked attentive--the perfect student. "Where did you learn all this?"

"The internet, mostly."

"Do you think I should learn from the internet?"

"Oh, hell no, sis. There's a lot of bad stuff on there. I had to sift through a lot of shitty advice to get to the good stuff. Lucky for you, you have a real live person to walk you through it."

"Yeah, lucky for me." Cleo smiled genuinely. "Thank you so much for your help with this, Jade."

"No problem, Clee." There were a few beats of silence.

"...So, um, hypothetically... now would be one of those lulls in conversation?" Cleo asked.

"Hypothetically... yes."

"And, so, now would be a good time to try out the 'Ninety/Ten Rule?'"

"Asking kind of defeats the purpose," Jade chuckled. "You've just gotta go for it."

"Oh." A few more seconds of silence passed between the two. Then, Cleo stood up from her bed and slowly walked part of the way over to Jade. She stopped, awkwardly, in front of her sister, who was sitting on her own bed.

"Uh, Clee? Whatcha doin?"

"I walked ninety percent of the way over to you." This made Jade giggle. She patted the spot beside her on her bed.

"Come sit by me," she said. "It works better when you're sitting close to somebody."

"Oh," Cleo said, accompanied by a blush. She followed Jade's instructions. We've sat together on my bed a hundred times, Jade thought, so why does this feel so different? Before she could think any more, Cleo was leaning in toward her. "Like this?"

"Close your eyes," Jade cooed. "Trust." Once again, Cleo did as she was told. Jade paused for a brief second, taking in the view: here was a beautiful girl, her pale, freckled face so close that Jade could feel her breath. Oh, God. Cleo peeked open one of her doe eyes.

"Um, Jade?" she whispered.

"Oh. Right." Jade closed the distance between their faces, and immediately the two were dancing once again. This time, Jade went for Cleo's bottom lip, kissing it a few times before sucking on it lightly and grazing it with her teeth.

"Oh, wow," Cleo whispered. She took a shaky breath in and out. Her breath felt warm against Jade's lips.

"You okay?" Jade asked. In lieu of an answer, Cleo leaned in to kiss her sister once again, this time mimicking Jade's earlier sucking and light use of teeth. "Good," Jade said softly. As always, her sister was a quick learner. They kept kissing back and forth, each chasing the other's lips. Questions. Answers. Jade absentmindedly put a hand down on her sister's leggings-clad knee; she wouldn't have even realized she'd done it but for Cleo's sharp, shaky intake of breath. "Oops," Jade whispered. "You okay?"

"Yes," Cleo whispered with a smile. "You keep asking that--isn't that why we have a word? So that we can say if we're uncomfortable?"

"Oh. Right." They leaned back in toward each other. More questions and answers. More dancing. After a minute, Cleo pulled back a bit.

"Everything okay?" Jade was about to ask, but she caught herself. "What's up?" she offered instead.

"Um, I'm wondering what happens... Next?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, kissing is really fun," Cleo said. "But, where do you go from there?" Jade smiled.

"Sometimes it's just kissing for kissing's sake. Other times, it... builds up to something more."

Just then, the sisters heard the front door open downstairs. "Jade!" their mom called out. "You home? I'm home early--I brought donuts!" Their parents were really making an effort to treat Jade more kindly after her break-up. It was cute.

"Coming!" Jade yelled back as she stood up. She looked at Cleo and nodded toward the door. "C'mon," she said. In the split second before Cleo smiled and nodded in return, Jade could've sworn she saw something on her sister's face. Sadness? Disappointment? Maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. In any case, the smell of warm donuts lured the two out of their room and down into the kitchen.

"Oh, Cleo," their mom said. "Class get cancelled this afternoon?"

"Yep," Cleo responded.

"Lucky you," Jade said. "You get to eat these donuts with me while they're hot."

The mood in the house was substantially less awkward now that the sisters had talked more. They would still occasionally look away blushing after making eye contact with each other, but it seemed less intense and more playful.

When their dad got home, he brought a bounty of Taco Bell. It was Friday, which was junk-food/movie-party night, so Jade and Cleo helped set up TV trays in the den. The sisters ate their quesadillas side by side, huddled together on the couch under one blanket. Jade didn't pay much attention to The Hobbit; it was much less interesting than the sensation of her sister's arm against hers. Once they finished eating, the two snuggled up like they usually did, but something felt different about it this time. More intimate. Jade was splayed out on the couch, and Cleo lay between her legs, resting her head on Jade's chest.

Jade took the initiative to lightly run her fingers over her sister's scalp. She heard a very soft moan come from Cleo's direction, and she froze. Without moving her head, Jade scanned the room. Her mom and dad were cuddled up together on the loveseat, focusing intently on the movie. Phew. Jade moved her hand again, running her fingers through Cleo's hair. After a few strokes, she let the backs of her fingers lead down the length of Cleo's arm, barely making contact, and down under the blanket. Jade's hand found her sister's, and their fingers closed around each other. There they lay, unmoving, each feeling the other's breathing: in, out, into each other's bodies. Cleo squeezed Jade's hand. Jade squeezed back.

"Are you two packed?" their dad asked as the movie was drawing to a close.

"Oh, shoot, that's tomorrow, isn't it?" Cleo asked in turn.

"Family camping day," their mom said as she stood up. Jade took the movement as a cue, and she moved to get up as well. It took her sister a minute to release the grasp she had on Jade's hand. "Be ready by eight thirty," their mom added. "We want to get some good hiking in while the sun's still out."

"We'll be ready, Mom," Jade said, now disentangling herself from her sister. "Thanks for the Taco Bell, Dad. I'm gonna go get packed." She stretched as she stood, realizing that some of her muscles had stiffened from the position she was in earlier. Worth it.

"Me, too," Cleo echoed, standing to follow her sister.

The two finished packing relatively quickly, which left them with the question of what to do.

"Wanna watch another movie up here?" Cleo offered.

"We should probably get some sleep," Jade replied. "Tomorrow's gonna suck if we're tired."

"Yeah, you're right," Cleo conceded. She sounded disappointed, which was cute.

"Goodnight, Clee."

"'Night."

The next morning, Jade wasn't ready until nine--it wasn't her fault that she needed a long time to shower--but almost as soon as she was finished, her mom was ushering the family out the door. They all filed into the van, parents in front and kids in back.

As they drove, Cleo slowly spread her legs out, one of them eventually brushing against Jade's own leg. An invitation. Jade opened her legs a little wider in return, and the sisters found their legs resting against each other. They were both wearing shorts; the sensation of skin on skin, even just their knees, was exhilarating. Jade--barely, almost imperceptibly--slowly moved her leg back and forth, causing the slightest amount of friction. She could hear her sister's ragged breathing. Cleo did not know how to be subtle.

"We're here!" their dad called out from the driver's seat. Jade pulled her leg away and hopped out of the van. Soon, everyone was loaded up with backpacks; their dad also carried a miniature cooler. "Couldn't ask for better weather," he remarked.

The hike itself was, in fact, beautiful; the family lived in a perfect area for these weekend excursions. The mountains weren't so high as to be insurmountable, but they were high enough that they frequently afforded incredible views. Jade and Cleo both thoroughly enjoyed the day, munching on beef jerky and trail mix and sipping on Powerade as they walked up and down the slopes of the mountains.

It began to grow dark, and the family looked for a place to set up camp. They came to a flat clearing where it looked like people had camped before, and they set up their tents and constructed a fire pit. Soon, they were roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and telling ghost stories. Despite how cheesy it was, Jade felt herself relaxing and having fun. It was a really nice evening.

Finally, night crept in. The crickets grew loud, and the fire was on its last legs. The family said their goodnights, and Jade and Cleo headed into the tent that they shared. A thin sheet of fabric was all that separated them from the wild forest night.

"I'm cold," Cleo muttered after a while. Admittedly, it was a chilly night. "Can I come share your sleeping bag?"

"Fine, c'mon," Jade said, unzipping her bag. Cleo shuffled a bit, and then Jade felt her sister's body pressing up against hers. She pulled the zipper back up, and the two were snuggling in Jade's sleeping bag. Jade moved her hands down Cleo's arms, stopping at her hands. "Your hands are freezing," Jade observed. "Here."

Taking Cleo's hands in hers, Jade guided them up and under her own shirt so that Cleo's hands were resting on Jade's belly. It felt incredibly intimate, but it also served the practical purpose of warming Cleo's cold hands. They lay like that for a while, neither saying anything, each breathing into the small space between them.

After a few minutes, Jade felt Cleo's hands begin to move. She expected Cleo to pull her hands out from under Jade's shirt, but what happened instead surprised her: Cleo's hands moved down the length of Jade's belly, finding their way to her pajama pants' waistband. Once they were under her waistband, though, Cleo's hands stopped. They stayed there, frozen in place, for what seemed like forever.

"Wh... What are you doing?" Jade whispered, intoxicated by the feel of her sister's touch.

"Going ninety percent," Cleo replied, not moving a muscle.

Jade understood. She gently grabbed Cleo's wrists and guided her hands down further. Soon, they were pressed up right against her crotch. The thin cotton barrier of Jade's panties still separated Cleo's hands from making bare contact. Jade held Cleo's hands there for a moment, reveling in the feeling of her touch. Even the cold of her sister's hands felt nice against Jade's warm mound.

Jade started to move the smallest bit back and forth--slowly, very slowly, but it did the trick. Her sister moved her fingers around, hitting different spots as Jade grinded against her ever so slightly. She found a particularly pleasant part of Cleo's palm and held her sister's hand there, changing her motions to incorporate a bit of rotation with each thrust.

The sisters breathed heavily into each other. Jade thrust her head forward desperately, willing her mouth to find Cleo's. Their teeth crashed into each other at first, but soon they found their rhythm. The sisters kissed each other hungrily while Jade rocked against Cleo's palm. "Fuck," the older sibling whispered. Her body was moving on its own now. It had lost all pretense of hesitation; her motions were erratic and unmuted.