The Twins Go Camping

"Like we didn't make out last night."

I intended that as a joke along the lines of Michael and Jenny would never do anything. But Michael took it seriously. He sighed before saying, "Last night, for reasons beyond our control, the rules got suspended. But they won't be suspended again."

I asked pointedly, "And you were okay with the rules getting suspended?" I was still upset that Michael had never said last night if he had felt disgusted when he kissed me.

Michael said sharply, "You were the one who chose to suspend them."

"I chose to suspend them?" I was in disbelief. "I don't remember you making a big fuss about kissing me."

Michael raised his hands and said, "Hey, I wanted to kiss the other girls. I felt that if you could handle kissing me then I could handle kissing you. But I let you make the choice."

He was right. He had left it completely up to me. I hadn't asked his opinion. There hadn't been time.

I had been wrong to get angry at Michael. He had gone to the party even though he didn't want to, and he had made out with me even though he had probably found it disgusting. To try to make up for getting angry at him, I said, "Thanks again for going to the party. I had a great time."

Michael smiled impishly. "It was okay for me. I made the best of it." He chuckled.

"Made the best of it, huh?" I poked Michael in the ribs. He busted up laughing.

He stopped laughing long enough to say, "It was tough kissing all those good-looking girls, but the sacrifices I'm willing to make for my sister." Michael cracked up again.

I waited for him to stop laughing. "You hated the start of the party."

Michael nodded his head. "Yeah, I did. But the second half was great. I was satisfied overall with the party."

"I owe you. Do you want me to try to set you up with Maria? Or Teagan? Or Becky?"

Michael thought for a moment with a smirk on his face, and then said, "If I want to go out with a girl from the party, I'll ask her myself."

Was he thinking of asking out Maddie? Was he smirking at me because he knew that I'd disapprove, but would he do it anyway?

Maddie would never go out with him. Michael was not the type of guy she went for. Maddie had a Lexus, and Michael didn't even have a car. Maddie had dated guys outside of The Gang, but they had always been guys with money. No way she'd go out with Michael.

Michael was the type of guy she made fun of. Maddie's pet name for him was "The big, orange golf ball" as she had somehow thought his short, thick red hair made him look like a golf ball. She had ridiculed Michael's dates with Jenny. Other kids in The Gang had made fun of Michael, but Maddie's mockery had hurt so much more.

But Michael thought Maddie had gone out of her way to protect him at the party. And she had vigorously made out with him during the second set of kissing. I could see why Michael would think he had a chance with her.

What if Maddie said yes? Michael was the type of guy she loved to fuck with. Their relationship would start all passionate, and then Maddie would get bored and begin playing mind games with Michael. She'd get him to embarrass himself before tossing him away.

Should I warn Michael about going out with Maddie? He wouldn't listen to me. He had his own opinion of Maddie. He'd probably warn me right back about going out with Jason. But I knew Maddie and Jason well, and he didn't. No way would I let Maddie hurt Michael.

Mom and Dad were definitely slowing down. This was the longest wait yet.

I asked, "Is there something else I can do for you?" I really was grateful for all that Michael had done for me lately. He had been there for me when I broke up with Drew. I hadn't been there for him when he broke up with Jenny.

Michael said, "You could buy me a car."

I snorted. Neither of us could afford a car and the accompanying insurance.

Michael added, "Can you sneak Jenny away from her parents?"

"I can't do that." I wished I could.

Michael shrugged. "I don't really want anything else." Then after a second, he added, "You could give me a foot rub or a shoulder massage when we get to the campsite."

"Okay."

Mom and Dad turned the corner of the trail and moved slowly toward us.

"Beautiful day for a hike," said Michael once our parents reached us. They practically collapsed once they did.

"It's a little warm for me," gasped out Mom.

Michael had an impish grin as he easily lifted his pack onto his back. "I think we're getting close to the campsite. Would you mind if Heather and I kept going until we got there?"

"Not at all," panted Dad. He looked like a fish flopping around out of water. "We'll rest here for a bit before we catch up to you."

I pulled on my backpack and set off up the trial. I looked back at Mom and Dad. They looked like they wouldn't be moving from that spot anytime soon.

* * * *

Michael and I reached our usual campsite. I stripped off my pack and sat down to rest. I was glad to see that no one was at our site. The site was the right size for the four of us. There was a fire ring, and next to it was a log and three-foot-high stones with flat tops. Michael inspected them to make sure they would be good to sit on. Michael emptied packs and then started setting up camp. I got up and helped Michael set up the two pup tents next to each other in a spot where we knew that the smoke from the fire didn't blow.

"My feet and back are killing me," I said.

"You want a foot rub and a back massage?"

"I thought I was supposed to give those to you?"

Michael laughed. "I'm fine. You're the one who needs them."

"Then what am I supposed to do for you?"

"Surprise me."

I moved to the log by the fire ring, faced away from the fire ring, and took off my shoes and socks. Michael knelt down, grabbed my right foot, and started massaging it. It felt great.

Michael said, "I read recently an interesting Harry Potter fan story."

We were both huge Harry Potter fans. "Tell me about it."

Michael related the adventures of Harry and Luna Lovegood as he continued working on my foot. He massaged the heel, then my arch, then the ball, and finally the toes. As he finished my toes, I said, "It feels so much better."

Michael smiled as he switched to my left foot.

"You know, Michael, you're the best brother ever."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Leave it, Heather."

Michael went back to the Harry and Luna story as he gave my left foot another great massage. As his fingers turned my pain into pleasure, I wondered why he had refused the compliment. It had been like my calling him the best brother had pushed on a sore spot. I'd used to call him that a lot long ago. Why would it bother him now?

Michael released my foot and moved behind me. He said, "So Harry and Luna go to Flourish and Blotts to find a book about what to do about cursed dragons..." as he started working my shoulders. I moaned my pleasure. To give Michael better access to my shoulders, I pulled down the straps of my bikini top so that they were horizontal.

At one point, I arched my back, and then I had a thought - how much of my tits could Michael see? From his position, he could definitely see down into my top. He couldn't see my nipples, but he could see a good amount. Was he staring at my tits now? There was no way I could know.

"So Harry and Luna start making out..."

"Harry and Luna made out? Isn't he dating Ginny at this point?"

"No. He's still in his Hogwart's-most-famous-student-can't-get-a-date phase."

I laughed. "Are you implying that's unrealistic?"

"Something in a story about witches and wizards is unrealistic? Pshaw. There's some spell that's been cast that the books haven't mentioned."

I said, "Like there's a spell at Hogwarts that kills the students' sex drive until they graduate?" That was Michael's theory for why the teenagers in the story never do anything more than kiss and hold hands.

"Exactly."

I asked, "What's the spell in this case?" I loved discussing Harry Potter with Michael. He discussed the books with the right mix of seriousness and silliness.

"Oh, I don't know." Michael continued massaging as he thought for a moment. "How about in book two when Ginny was under the power of Tom Riddle, she cast a spell on Harry that he wouldn't be interested in any other girl."

Michael stopped his massage as we discussed his idea, but he continued to stand behind me. By this time, I had decided that I'd not worry about if Michael was checking out my tits. He'd take whatever view I was giving him the right way. He knew I wasn't coming on to him like I knew he wasn't coming on to me by giving me a massage. When he resumed the massage, I arched my back again.

Michael was still working on my shoulders when we heard our parents approaching. Michael stood up, and I put my straps back on top of my shoulders. When our parents arrived, they collapsed. Michael got out the camp stove from Dad's pack and then hiked down to the creek to get some water. I got some food out of my parents' pack for dinner. I worked on dinner as Michael set up the sleeping bags.

The first day was always the roughest. We would spend the week camping here. We had brought inner tubes to float on in the creek near our campsite. We would take some day hikes, but nothing as long or as hard as today's hike. On Saturday, we would break camp and hike out.

Once dinner was ready, Mom and Dad finally stirred. Dinner tasted awful as backpack dinners always did, but everyone ate their whole serving since we were so hungry. Michael and Dad started a fire, and the family talked around it for a while. Mom and Dad sat on the log and held hands as they always did while Michael and I sat on rocks on each side of them. Soon everyone was ready to go to sleep. Michael and I went into our tent. I took off my shoes and socks, removed my bikini top from under my shirt, and got into my sleeping bag. Michael was also wearing a shirt, shorts, and underwear for night clothes. He got into his bag and was soon asleep.

Dad had loaned Michael's and my sleeping bags to a friend, and they had come back ruined. Dad had bought us new ones for this trip. I couldn't get warm in my new bag. I lay awake for a long time. As I lay there, I heard a sound that I couldn't identify at first. Eventually, I figured it out; it was Mom saying "Ah, Ah, Ah" rhythmically while Dad occasionally grunted in time. Mom and Dad were making love! I listened to their performance, and, after a while, I heard Dad snoring. I finally drifted off, but I could never fall deeply asleep. I woke up several times shivering. It was the worst night's sleep I had ever had.

The next morning when I decided to get up, I felt awful. I slowly climbed out of my sleeping bag and out of the tent. Mom was cooking breakfast. Dad and Michael had gone to get water and firewood. I told Mom about my poor night's sleep. Mom looked panicked when I told her that it had taken me so long to fall asleep.

"Yes, Mom, I heard you and Dad making love last night."

"Oh, I am sorry, honey," Mom said as her cheeks turned red. "Your Dad gets frisky when we camp. We won't bother you again."

"That's okay, Mom. I think it's sweet that you still love each other so much."

After breakfast, we went for a hike. I didn't have a lot of energy for it. When we got back to the camp, I napped until lunchtime. Michael inflated the inner tubes and after lunch, we hiked up the trail until we got to a good spot to enter the creek. We then floated down the creek for a while until we got to a large pool in the creek that we always used as a swimming hole. There, we swam around for a while. That was where we spotted our first "bares" - people who were partially or fully nude. In this case, it was two topless girls about my age who came floating by on inner tubes. They were with two guys.

We continued playing in the swimming hole. Actually, Michael, Mom, and Dad played, and I mainly watched. Then we floated down the creek for a while until we got to an exit near the trail. From there, we hiked back up to the camp.

I was tired again and napped until it was time to eat. After dinner, we sat around and talked. I didn't join in much because I was grumpy. I had been grumpy all day. Despite two naps, I was tired early. Not sleeping well two nights in a row had caught up to me. It was dark now, and Mom didn't like walking in the woods alone in the dark and always took Dad when she made her final pit stop of the night. When Mom and Dad went back in the bushes to our makeshift bathroom, Michael pitched an idea to me.

"Tonight, why don't you snuggle with me for a while to get warm? I can zip our sleeping bags together so you can come snuggle with me whenever you get cold."

"I don't know..."

"Look, we didn't have a very good day today because you were so tired and grumpy. You owe it to the rest of us to get a good night's sleep."

At this point, Mom and Dad came back. Dad suggested I sleep in jeans and extra shirts to keep warm. I promised to do that and went into the tent to go to sleep. I put on the jeans and extra shirts, but I found them almost as uncomfortable as being cold. When I took them off, I was cold again.

Later, Michael came into the tent. I whispered to him, "Okay, let's try your idea."

Michael slowly unzipped the sleeping bags so that our parents wouldn't hear and slowly re-zipped them together. We got into the combined sleeping bag. We were both wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and underwear. Michael lay down on his left side facing me while putting out his left arm. I backed up to him and put my head on his arm.

This is definitely much warmer.

I said, "In the morning, this didn't happen. Right?"

"No one saw it, and we won't discuss it."

"And I'll be in a much happier mood."

I knew I shouldn't be sleeping with Michael like this. It gave me a little thrill to think that Michael and I were sleeping together so intimately with our parents ten feet away in their tent. I thought of Jenny and Michael making out with her mother in the house.

I was comfortable with my head on Michael's arm and was warm enough to fall asleep. I hoped that I'd fall asleep right away, but I didn't. I felt like I was in the terrible position of being too tired to be able to fall asleep.

I turned around and faced Michael. I whispered, "I wish I had some music to listen to." I always listened to music when I went to sleep at home.

"Let's try something," Michael whispered. He lay down on his back. "Come here." I put my head on his shoulder and my hand on his chest. "Are you comfortable?"

"Yes."

"Warm?"

"Toasty."

I felt very safe and secure snuggled with Michael like this.

Michael whispered, "Now listen."

How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from the hills of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
Not one of them is alone.

Michael continued on. It was nonsense, but it was soothing nonsense. I was soon asleep.

* * * *

The next thing I knew, it was morning. I had never slept with a guy before, and I had enjoyed it, even if the guy was my brother. I could hear at least one of my parents moving around the campsite. Michael whispered, "Go out there and distract them while I unzip the sleeping bags."

I climbed out of the tent. It was Mom who was up, and she was working on breakfast.

Mom asked, "How'd you sleep, honey?"

I couldn't very well say, Great! Michael was wonderful to sleep with. And I had to cover for the fact that I wasn't wearing my extra shirts and jeans.

"Better, Mom. Took me a while to fall asleep again. The extra shirts and jeans kept me warm, but they were very uncomfortable."

"Sorry to hear that."

"I dozed in them for a while until I felt warm enough to take them off. After that, I slept pretty well. I think tonight, I'll try just the extra shirts and see how that works."

"But you sleep better than yesterday?"

"Oh yeah. I'm feeling pretty good this morning."

Michael came out of the tent a little bit later. He opened the tent up to air out, and I could see the two sleeping bags were now separate.

I was helping Mom make breakfast when Michael came up to us and said, "I'll use the facilities in the woods and then take over for Heather." He gave me a big smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"Better. Took me a while to fall asleep, then I slept well."

He gave me his impish grin and took off. I couldn't help smiling impishly myself. It gave me a thrill to pull off sleeping with Michael right under Mom and Dad's noses.

* * * *

After breakfast, we did the family hike as usual. I had a lot more energy today. I took another nap before lunch, but that was more to catch up on the sleep I had missed on Saturday night. After lunch, we went tubing. This time, instead of spending a lot of time at the swimming hole, we did multiple runs on the creek. It was a great day and I was looking forward to another night sleeping with Michael.

The only bad part of the day was that while we were tubing, I frequently saw Michael staring at my tits or Mom's. Both Mom and I wore bikinis while tubing. I felt uncomfortable with Michael staring at me - it might tip off Mom or Dad that we had been doing some activities that siblings shouldn't do. And his staring at Mom was just gross.

I felt good enough that I was able to stay up late chatting around the fire with the rest of the family, talking about prior camping trips and other vacations. It was a great day. Finally, Dad said it was time for everyone to turn in.

When we got into our tent, Michael again quietly unzipped the bags and then zipped them back up together. We got into the sleeping bag, Michael laid on his back, and I lay along his side and put my head on his shoulder. I had such a great day that I was too excited to go to sleep.

"Michael, I'm going to ask you a question and I want a straight answer this time, okay?"

Michael resignedly said, "Okay."

"Did you enjoy kissing me at the party?"

"You tell me first if you enjoyed kissing me at the party."

Michael was being evasive again. I said, "I'm still freaked out about it. That's why I want to hear your feelings."

"Well...I enjoyed kissing you. I enjoyed kissing Maddie more..." Why the fuck was it always Maddie? "...but I enjoyed kissing you more than the other girls."

I asked, "And it didn't freak you out?"

"Well...At first, it did. And then..."

"Then what?" I was getting annoyed again about Michael not giving me a straight answer.

Michael said, "Then I..." He paused for a long while before saying, "Let me explain something. When I'd go over to Jenny's house, we both had to be thinking we were just friends. No happy looks. No secret smiles. We had to look as innocent as innocent could be."

I now understood the long pause. He was deciding how much to tell me about him and Jenny. I said, "Okay."

"We'd chat with Jenny's mom. We couldn't act antsy. We couldn't seem excited. We had to be boringly friendly."

I could picture in my mind Michael and Jenny pleasantly chatting with her mom. "I can see that."

"Then her mom would leave us to do some chore, and we'd throw the switch. We'd be all over each other. We'd make out like crazy. We had to keep our clothes on, but otherwise, we did whatever we wanted. When we knew that she was close to coming back, we threw the switch back. We went back to friendly but not too friendly."

So Michael finally admitted that he made out with Jenny.

I said, "That sounds so wild."

"So back to the party. I was uncomfortable for the first half of the first kiss, then I decided to throw the switch. To enjoy kissing the attractive, fun girl I was with. And as soon as the kiss was over, I threw the switch back."