The Twins' Plan

"One-ten," his sister called out.

In a matter of seconds, his heart rate had jumped almost thirty beats per minute, and he could feel a cold sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

"Aiden, we've avoided each other for long enough, haven't we?"

He swallowed. Hannah's lips were slowly getting closer.

"Tell me what you're thinking, Aiden," the Baker twin said. "Tell me what you think of me..."

"One-twenty-five," his sister called out.

He tried to steady his breathing. This was only Hannah mimicking Ashley's voice. He reminded himself that he'd come a long way in the last few months, he could handle this.

"Aren't you going to say anything, Aiden?"

"You're not Ashley," he said in a surprisingly steady voice.

"But I look like her, and I sound like her, don't I?" Hannah narrowed the distance between them so their faces were only inches apart.

"Yes, but I know you're not," he said.

"One-nineteen," his sister called out, almost sounding disappointed.

He had this.

Then, Hannah placed her cheek against his and whispered into his ear. "But, I could be, Aiden." She reached out and placed her right hand on his knee. "Don't you want me to be Ashley?" Her hand was reaching up his inner thigh.

Was touching allowed?

He swallowed. She couldn't be serious. What would she do if he said yes?

"I could make you really happy," she continued to whisper. Her hand was inches from his crotch and she was so close that he could practically feel the warmth of her lips against his ear.

"You and I, Aiden. We would be great together, create something special."

Her left hand took his and pulled it up to her chest. She was pressing his palm against one of her large breasts.

"Do you want me, Aiden?"

"I want--"

"One-forty-five," Madison interrupted. "You lose, Aiden." She sounded annoyed, even though she'd proven her point that Ashley could still trigger him.

"You can stop touching Hannah's tit," Madison said.

He pulled back not even realizing that he still held a handful of Hannah's right breast in his hand.

"Sorry," he said.

"Don't be," Hannah said, then winked at him.

"So as we can all obviously see," his sister said, staring down at his crotch. "You should stick to our plan."

He glanced down and saw what he'd only just realized he was feeling: his hard-on stretched against his pants, forming a bulge along the left side of his upper thigh.

He looked up at Hannah. She was staring at it too, her lips slowly spreading into a predatory smile.

"Sorry," he said again, before jumping up and penguin-walking to the bathroom.

He closed the door and leaned against it, trying to process what had just happened.

Then he heard Madison and Hannah whispering.

"Why'd you go that far?" Madison said.

"We need to keep pushing him, right?" Hannah said.

"Maybe," Madison said. "But Ashley made everything more complicated. Let's talk later, he might be able to hear us."

What didn't his sister not want him to know about Ashley? Maybe he could confront her later, but for now, he had a bigger, more immediate problem to deal with.

The next morning, Madison was brushing her teeth when he walked into their shared bathroom.

"Mads, about last night..." he said. "I heard you and Hannah talking."

She watched him through the mirror as she brushed, then she spit out a mouthful of toothpaste and rinsed. "I figured you'd heard us."

"Why did Ashley make the plan more complicated?"

"It's hard to explain," she said, evasively. "Look, don't worry about Ashley. Focus on Hannah. For you to completely get over your Ashley triggers, we need to deal with the event that started them all, the source of all those insecurities."

He had a feeling he knew what that would be.

"That disastrous date," Madison said. "You need to overwrite any negative associations you have about what happened that night with Ashley."

"And how do I do that?" he asked.

"You'll re-do the date with Hannah acting as Ashley," Madison said, "But instead of everything going wrong, everything is going to go right."

This raised a lot of questions.

"You want me to relive the worst date in the history of dates, but with Hannah?"

Madison nodded. "It should go better this time, in theory."

"Hmmm..." he said skeptically. "How soon?"

"Soon," she said. "Originally, we weren't planning on that part for a while, we thought you needed more time, but recent events have accelerated things. We now know you're dealing well with seeing Ashley, which means the plan is working, but now it's time to increase the difficulty and make one final push. This is the final step in resolving any lingering negative emotions linked to that night."

"Relive the disastrous date," he said out loud. The thought of it seemed daunting, but Madison had a point; the exposure therapy was having a positive effect, and it did feel reassuring that it would just be Hannah on a re-do of the date-from-hell.

"Okay," he said. "I think I can handle it."

Madison nodded. "Good, because tonight, you relive the worst night of your life."

Aiden couldn't stop laughing. He fumbled for his house keys as Hannah continued to make terrible puns about prolonged hard-ons. Hannah had somehow found a way to make the whole re-do date a light-hearted and fun affair. At every dreaded juncture of the evening, she found a way to disarm his anxieties using terrible puns, cheesy self-deprecating jokes, or some embarrassing anecdote about herself that put the awkwardness of that three-year-old date in perspective.

Hannah was amazing. He could see why Madison was best friends with her. But it hadn't just been her -- Aiden found himself more confident, and didn't let himself question every little action. He felt went with the flow and really had fun.

"Maddie, we're home!" Hannah said as if they were in some old 1950's sitcom.

Madison was waiting for them when they entered.

"Welcome back," she said. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty good," Aiden said without hesitation.

"Your brother was a perfect gentleman," Hannah said. "And this time there were no emergency hospital trips for prolonged erections. A pity, if you ask me."

"Hannah, don't tease him about that," Madison chided.

"Mads, it's okay," Aiden said. "What happened with Ashley three years ago was extremely awkward, but tonight Hannah showed me that it's okay to laugh about it."

"And laugh we did," Hannah said. "Best date ever."

For some reason, the word date caught him off guard. Sure, it had been a date, but not a real one, right? Hannah was just doing this to help him out as a favor to Madison.

"And now we celebrate!" Hannah said, skipping over to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of what looked like champagne.

Aiden looked at his sister, who seemed uncertain about something. Was it the alcohol? Their parents were pretty strict, so catching them drinking would be grounds for a very serious punishment.

"Hannah and I thought you deserved to celebrate," Madison said. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. "What about mom and dad?"

"The all-night church thing, remember?" she said. "They're not back until tomorrow."

He nodded.

It took them watching a few online videos before they figured out how to pull out the bottle's cork, but eventually they managed to get it off with a loud pop, which caused a few shrieks and giggles.

Hannah poured three glasses. "To Aiden," she toasted. "May he always follow his heart, and never again take dating advice from clueless idiots."

"Agreed," Madison said.

"And to Hannah and Madison," Aiden added.

They both looked at him.

"You're both kind of alright," he said, with a cheeky smile.

"We're both amazing," Hannah corrected.

"And humble," he said. "Super humble."

They all laughed, taking sips from their glasses.

"Hmm, it's bubbly and sweet," Madison said. "I think I like it."

Over the next hour they finished the bottle while Hannah gave a play-by-play recap of the evening's events.

"Mads, your brother is actually pretty funny," Hannah said, sounding a little surprised. "I can see why Ashley likes-- I mean, liked him."

Madison shot Hannah a strange look.

"What?" he said.

"Oh, nothing," Hannah said nonchalantly. "I was just saying that I can see why Ashley liked you back then -- three years ago -- when you were both freshmen."

"I really liked her too," he said. "She was a good lab partner," he quickly added.

"I'm sure it was her lab partnering that you were interested in," Hannah said, teasing.

"It's okay, Aiden, you can admit it," Madison said.

"Admit what?" he asked.

"Ashley was really pretty," Madison said.

"Was?" Hannah said, doing her best to sound insulted.

"IS pretty," Madison corrected. "Sorry babe. You know what I meant."

"I know," Hannah said. "But I'm glad Aiden didn't say he liked her tits. Do you know how many times I've heard guys say, hey, nice tits?" She cupped her large breasts right in front of him. "It's, like, this is all they're interested in."

"Well, to be fair," Aiden said, feeling a little tipsy. "I did also like her tits."

Hannah chortled. "Did like?" She groped herself again.

"Okay, DO like," he corrected, staring directly at Hannah's chest. Admitting it didn't bother him, probably because the champagne was really starting to take effect.

"Typical guy," Madison said. "All you can think about is boobs."

"Don't give him such a hard time," Hannah said. "It couldn't have been easy for him seeing those around the house all the time." Hannah pointed directly at Madison's chest.

Madison looked down. "They're not that big."

"They're HUGE on your small frame," Hannah said.

Hannah was right, Madison was just over five feet tall, which accentuated her breasts on her very athletic body.

"They do kind of stand out," Aiden agreed.

They both looked at him.

"I'm glad my brother notices these things," Madison teased him.

Hannah got up and walked over to the liquor cabinet. "Mads, just accept that you're super sexy and that most of the boys in school want to bang."

"Too bad they won't get that chance," Madison said.

Hannah came back with a bottle of what looked like red wine, luckily this one had a screw top. She sat down next to Aiden, leaned in, and lowered her voice. "Your sister is saving herself for someone special."

"I heard that," Madison said. "And I'm not the only virgin here." She stared directly at Hannah, who just grinned back at her.

"Guilty," Hannah said. "I just haven't found a single guy worthy of all of this." She gestured at herself like she was presenting some game show prize. Then she turned towards Aiden. "Why aren't more guys like you, Aiden? I'd totally give you my v-card."

"Ahem," Madison said. "I'm right here."

"Right," Hannah said, sounding a little inconvenienced. "Sex with Aiden would be a best friend no-no."

Madison gave a single exaggerated nod.

"Unless... I get her permission," Hannah whispered towards Aiden.

"O--kay," Madison said. "I think it's time for a movie, or something."

"Oh! Oh! Bed shotgun," Hannah shouted, getting up and rushing up the stairs with the bottle of wine in tow.

"Bed shotgun?" Aiden repeated, wondering what that was all about.

"She likes the right side of the bed," Madison said.

"So we're watching in your room?" he said.

"Yeah. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Like old times. I'll make popcorn."

"I'll get the projector ready and grab a few extra pillows from your room," she said.

By the time he got upstairs, the lights in Madison's room were dimmed and the two of them were nestled in a massive pile of pillows. They had also both changed into their pajamas.

"Leave the popcorn and go change," Hannah instructed. "This is a pajama party."

He looked at Madison, who turned towards Hannah. "Aiden doesn't wear pajamas."

"That's okay," Hannah said. "I brought an extra pair." She got up, rustled in her duffle bag and pulled out a matching short sleeve top and shorts that looked like the pink set she was wearing, except that it was in a lilac color.

He laughed, then stopped. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Them's the rules," she said.

He looked at Madison who only shrugged.

This whole situation should have sent his awkward meter into overdrive, but he stood there actually considering putting on a set of women's pajamas so he could watch a movie with his sister and one of the most beautiful women he'd ever known. Maybe he'd gotten comfortable enough around Hannah that a situation like this no longer fazed him. Or maybe, the buzz from the champagne had seriously lowered his inhibitions.

He traded the bowl of popcorn for the lilac pajama set.

"No pictures," he said.

They both nodded.

"And no one outside of us will ever hear about this," he added.

Hannah raised her right hand. "Tonight's events shall remain a Baker-Miller twin secret."

He nodded, then went and got changed.

The pajama shorts were a little snug around the crotch area, but overall they were an okay fit. Hannah was just a few inches shorter than him, so it made sense. The biggest problem was that his baggy boxers were a lot bigger than the pajama shorts, so leaving them on looked silly. He could go commando, but that meant that his crotch would bulge against the silky fabric. A small surge of euphoria hit him and he decided to go for it.

When he re-entered the room, it was dark except for the projector's light.

Hannah and Madison froze mid-popcorn-chew.

"I can change back--"

"No!" Hannah said. "You look good. Now come here and sit between us. You can hold the popcorn."

He got into his sister's bed and maneuvered to a spot in between them. Then he positioned pillows against the wall behind him so that he could lean back comfortably. Hannah handed him the large bowl of popcorn, which he used to conveniently cover his crotch. Madison pressed a button on the remote and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World began to play.

They watched, ate popcorn, and sipped at the sweet bottle of red wine. Madison took bigger and bigger sips as the movie went on, and by the end, her eyelids were closed and her head leaned onto her shoulder.

"Mads looks passed out," Hannah said. She placed the bottle of wine on the side table, then crawled over him to Madison's side.

"Help me get her comfortable," she said, shifting and moving pillows. "I'll pull her down and away from the wall. You make sure her head doesn't land awkwardly.

He nodded and gently supported Madison's head and neck as Hannah pulled her legs, but the sliding motion was causing his sister's pajama top to bunch up around her chest. Aiden did his best to keep her covered as she slid down along the bed, but by the time her head was clear of the wall and she lay flat, her top had completely shifted over her chest revealing a set of perfect breasts. Before he could think, he reached for the hem of her pajama top and tugged it back down over her breasts, but not before brushing up against their softness.

Hannah crawled up and rearranged Madison's body so she was resting comfortably on her side, head on a pillow, and blanket pulled up to her shoulders.

"She must really be out," Hannah said.

"Mads is a heavy sleeper," he said. He started to get up to leave when Hannah got in front of him.

"Going to bed so soon?" Hannah asked. "We still have some wine left."

He looked over at the bottle, then at Madison.

Hannah crawled back over to her spot then patted the bed next to her. "Come. And don't worry, we won't wake her. Like you said, she's a heavy sleeper."

How could he say no to finishing a bottle of wine on a soft bed next to Hannah Baker? Sure, it was his sister's bed, who also happened to be in it, but Hannah's invitation seemed innocent and impossible to decline.

He returned to his spot next to her, his arm resting only inches from hers.

She took a sip from the bottle. "You know, Aiden Miller, you are not what I expected."

He thought about asking her what she meant, but decided against it. She handed him the bottle and he took a drink, then turned his head against the wall to face her. Her head also turned towards him and their gazes met.

They were so close.

"What about me?" Hannah said softly. "Am I what you expected?"

He shook his head without hesitation.

She smiled. "Tell me more."

"About what I think of you?" he said.

She nodded.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well..." she said. "I've only ever cared about Hannah and Ashley's opinions. But recently, I've found myself wondering what you think about me, too."

He continued to gaze at her as he searched for the right words. "You like to laugh," he said.

"You make me want to laugh," she said. "And not because you try. You just do."

She took the bottle from him and raised it for another sip.

"What else?" she said.

"Hmm... You're friendly and always say please and thank you, and you help people without expecting anything in return."

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

"You're helping me now, aren't you?"

She bit the bottom of her lip. "And what makes you think I don't want anything in return?"

Before he could answer, she continued. "Keep going. I like this game."

"Hmm... There's actually another thing that really surprised me about you, but I shouldn't say. I'd sound shallow."

"Now you really have to tell me," she laughed.

"It's an asshole-ish assumption," he insisted. "And I feel bad now for thinking it."

"Oh, I think I know what you mean," she said. "I'll forgive you, but only if you say it out loud."

He hesitated and looked down towards the bed.

"You can say it, Aiden," she reassured him. "I promise I won't be angry."

"I thought you were experienced... with guys," he finally said.

She smirked. "How experienced?"

"Not a virgin," he said.

"Oh, I'm definitely a virgin," she said. "But I do want to have sex, it just has to be the right guy. What else do you think I've done with guys?"

"Umm... blow jobs?" he said.

She shook her head. "Not yet, but I'd do it for the right guy."

"What kind of guy is that?" he asked, curious.

"Someone who I trust, and makes me laugh, and won't go off bragging about it," she said. "Not many guys like that around, unfortunately. Which is probably why I haven't even seen a guy's... you know."

He swallowed.

She took his hand and pulled it against her right breast. "I've only been to second base, which isn't far, but it's further than Ashley or Madison."

He looked over at his sister who was still passed out.

"Don't worry, she's asleep," Hannah reassured him.

For the second time in his life, his hand was on Hannah Baker's breast. He explored it through the fabric, squeezing it softly until he found her nipple. He rubbed it softly at first, then pinched it, making her moan.

"Aiden, would you like to go to third base with me?"

He nodded. "Should we go to my room?"

"Mads will worry if she wakes and I'm not here," Hannah said. "Plus, we'll wake her if we both move off the bed. Let's do it here. We'll be careful. You watch her while I go down on you, and if she starts to wake, tap me twice and we'll stop."

Even with his fuzzy head, that logic didn't make much sense, but it was easy to dismiss any hesitant thoughts when Hannah Baker was offering to give him his first ever blowjob.

"Okay," he said.

Hannah's head dropped under the covers and he felt her slowly kiss her way down to his rock hard dick. Then he felt a soft and warm sensation brush up against the tip, again and again until he finally felt the wetness of her mouth envelop him.

Suddenly, her mouth pulled away and she shoved the blanket covers off.

"I can't breathe under there," she said. "Leave it off."