Twelve and a Half Hours

Sabrina had yet to be heard from, she'd deal with that when she had to. In the mean time, she filled the void that Sabrina had left with her friend Anne. They were in a lot of the same classes and were working together on some English homework that they had been assigned over the weekend. They were supposed to partner up and write an essay from two different points of view. Heather excused herself for a second to answer her cell phone. It was Mark.

"Hello?"

"Hey, kid. How's it going?" Mark asked.

"Not bad. Working on an English paper with Anne." she replied.

"That just sounds sad. Amy and I were bored so we went to the pawn shop and bought a Wii. Want to come over and bowl with us?"

"I don't know. That sounds at least as sad as what I'm doing. I really want to hang out, but we kind of have to finish this. Are you still going to be there in a couple hours?"

"Sure, just come over when you get the chance. Give me a call if you need a ride."

"Okay, see you soon."

Anne looked over at her from the computer screen as Heather put her phone back in her pocket. "Was it a boy?"

"Kind of..."

"Well you should just go then, I can finish this."

"It was my brother, gosh. He just got a second hand Wii and wants me to go over to his apartment and play it with him."

"Oh. I didn't even know that you had a brother. Is he cute? You should totally introduce us" Anne suggested. She was only half kidding, being much in the same boat as Heather when it came to guys.

"Heh, I guess he can be cute enough. You wouldn't know him from school, he graduated before we got there. Besides, he's been going out with this girl named Amy for like forever."

"That's a shame."

Anne gave Heather a ride over to her brother's when they were done with their writing project, which as she had predicted over the phone, took them a couple of hours. She said 'goodbye' to Anne and ran into Amy coming down the stairs while she was on the way up.

"Hi, Amy. I was just on my way..." she began.

"Yeah, listen, I'm on my way, too," Amy said quickly, not bothering to stop.

Heather could sense trouble. She made her way to Mark's door and knocked on it gently. It opened almost immediately.

"Heather, I thought...it doesn't matter what I thought. Come in." Mark held the door open as his sister stepped inside.

"I just ran into Amy, she seemed like she was upset. Is everything okay?"

"Well, let's put it this way. That was probably the last time either one of us will see Amy."

"Oh Mark. I'm so sorry. Was it because of me? Because I was coming over?"

"Don't be silly. But I guess, yeah, partly it was because of you." Mark flopped down on his couch before he explained further. Heather was perplexed. "I kept thinking about all the things that we talked about last weekend. I got to thinking that I wanted something more than what Amy and I have. Or had, I should say. She didn't want to talk about it."

Heather sat next to him. "So you just broke up with her? You've been with her for years. It seems a little sudden."

"It wasn't sudden, believe me. Things have been about to come to a head for a while now. I didn't think it was the worst thing in the world to ask her if she loved me. I love her. She never seemed to want to answer the question. What's really been bugging me lately is that she's been constantly texting with her friend, some asshole that she works with. It seemed like tonight that we couldn't say more than two sentences without her having to stop and type out a message on her damn phone. I suggested that she might as well go over to his house rather than sit around here and pretend to listen to me. Evidently, she thought that was a great idea."

Heather didn't know what to say. "I'm so sorry." She could see the pain in his face. It reminded her of how she felt when she sat alone on the swing in front of her house the week before. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. More than I thought it would," he replied with a weak smile. "Here I am all old and wise, been giving you all this big talk on romance. The first time that I give any serious thought to it I end up emotionally crippled and alone. Maybe you shouldn't listen to anything that I say."

"I'll always listen to you. I just might not take you as seriously."

"At least you'll listen, I guess."

The two didn't end up playing any video games that night. They did a lot of talking and watched some television. Mark showed his gourmet skills by making some burnt microwave popcorn. When the credits began to roll after the movie that they had been watching was over, it was late and Mark realized that he could barely keep his eyes open. He was about to suggest to Heather that she just sleep over rather than him taking her home when he noticed that she was already sleeping.

He called and left a message with his parents to let them know where their daughter was. They might have gone to bed early enough to where they wouldn't miss her at night, but no need to panic them when they woke in the morning and she wasn't there. Besides, if he took her home Sunday morning he might be able to get some pancakes out of it. He retrieved an old blanket from the closet, along with a pillow and arranged his sleeping sister on the couch into a more comfortable position. Standing over her for a moment before retiring for the evening himself, he reflected, not for the first time, at how she had grown into such a pretty young woman. As smart as she was, she seemed to have yet grasped the concept as to what this meant. One of these days, she was going to put it all together, and woe to the man that she set her sights on. Intelligence and beauty could bring just about any guy down.

*****

Opening her eyes, Heather realized that she was still at her brother's place. It was light outside, but a glance at her phone told her that it was very early in the morning. Hopefully, her parents wouldn't flip out too bad when they found out that she didn't come home last night. Really though, there was no telling when they would actually realize it, might not be until next weekend. They didn't seem to pay much attention to her. Still a bit groggy, she plucked the blanket off of her and shuffled off toward the bathroom. She threw the door open to find, shockingly enough, Mark standing there, naked.

Mark had just gotten out of the shower and was halfway through shaving. He was used to getting up and around early in the morning for work, it was just his routine. Sundays were usually for sleeping in, but after his break up with Amy, he just couldn't sleep any longer. His guts felt twisted, his heart rate was up, he was feeling restless. Focusing on how miserable that he felt, Mark just about jumped out of his skin when the door opened. He turned to see his sister getting a good look at all that he had to offer. Dropping his razor into the sink, he grabbed frantically for a towel. Heather didn't seem to be going away.

"Heather! Do you mind? Want to close the door?"

She snapped out of the shock that she was under, closing the door quickly in front of her. "Oh, my god, I'm so sorry," she shouted through the door.

"Didn't you see that the fucking thing was closed? Why didn't you knock on it?"

"I'm sorry, I'm still kind of asleep. I didn't think about it. Why didn't you lock the door?"

"I've never had to before. I didn't think about it, either."

A while later, after they had both pulled themselves together, they were on their way to their parent's house. Mark spoke. "Are you all right? Not traumatized or anything?"

Heather had to grin. "No, I'm fine. I've been wanting to see a naked man up close, but I always pictured it happening a little differently. You should have seen the look on your face."

"So you're saying that you did it on purpose then? I'm surprised that your jaw's still attached, the way it was hanging open," he responded.

"On purpose? If anything happened on purpose it was because of you not locking the door. You probably got some weird kick out of me walking in on you. You're the pervert here."

"Could have fooled me. You stood there for like an hour staring at me."

Heather did admit to herself that she probably looked a little bit longer than she had to, but it couldn't have been much more than a couple of seconds. "Give me a break, would you? It's embarrassing enough, and I...never seen one before, you know? Can we just forget about it?"

"Hey it's no big deal. No need to get upset about it, it was just natural curiosity," Mark said.

"Thank you."

"Just to make sure, I think I'll ask Mom what she thinks about it. Maybe you are weird."

"Mark!" If he hadn't been operating a motor vehicle and literally had her life in his hands, she probably would have slugged him. "If you do that, you're so, so dead."

"Relax. I wouldn't tell Mom, and you know it. It really wasn't a big deal and besides, I don't want to give her an excuse not to let you come over again. That was nice, last night."

"I really didn't do anything, just watched T.V. with you. And ate your rotten popcorn."

"Yeah, well, you were there with me. I didn't have to sit there alone with my sorrows and a whiskey bottle."

"But you don't drink," Heather pointed out.

"Well see, I may have started again if you hadn't shown up."

"So if you don't have a date or anything next weekend, do you want me to come over? You know, keep an eye on your fragile condition?"

"Only if you don't have one," he replied.

Heather calculated the chances of her having a date by the next weekend at being roughly the same as her chances of being struck by lightning. It was possible but..."I'll be over then."

*****

Unlike the week just after the dance, the following one seemed to move in slow motion for Heather. She was being tormented by dreams of her naked brother which she found to be both distressful and erotic at the same time. She had been looking forward to seeing him again, but as Friday hit, she realized that she was nervous. Heather had to face the facts; she was attracted to Mark. She didn't want to be, it was just sort of happening.

She called him on the phone several times during the week, telling herself that she was just making sure that he was doing all right after his break up. She couldn't bring herself to admit that the sound of his voice on the other end of the connection was causing her heart to flutter, even when he was mercilessly picking on her. It was making her miserable and she was right on the edge of calling Mark and telling him that she didn't want to hang out when she heard his voice downstairs talking to their mother. She took a deep breath and made her way down to the kitchen.

Her mother was on her way out the door to go meet their father for dinner. "Heather, dear, it sounds like you two are going to have fun. If you're not here in the morning, I'll assume that you're staying with Mark. I've got to run."

Heather looked at her brother with some skepticism. "We are?"

"Sure. I told her that I have tickets to Richard III over at the Main Street Center."

"Oh? And what are we really going to do?" she asked.

"I'm taking you dancing."

"What? I don't know how to dance! I don't have anything to wear, and...and you shouldn't have lied to Mom," she stuttered.

Mark thought she was being silly. She was acting like he said that he getting ready to shave her head or something. He waved a set of tickets in front of her face. "I didn't lie to Mom, look I've got the tickets right here. They were giving them out at work. Just throw on some jeans and a decent shirt and you'll be fine."

"But I don't know how to dance. Do you even know how to dance?" She still didn't seemed sold on the idea.

"Where we're going, it's not that hard to blend in. Just put your hands over your head and flop around. You can watch me, I'm kind of like the John Travolta of my time. Seriously, it'll be fun. You planned on going to that dance with Whatshisname, and you didn't know how to dance then, either. And then, you were whining saying that you've never danced with a guy. Trust me, they'll be fighting one another to dance with you. It'll be like a buffet of men for you to pick from."

"Can I just start off dancing with you? And how will I even get in? I'm not old enough to be served. Maybe we should just go to the play."

"Oh please, don't make me barf. If I wanted to be bored to death I could sit home and watch PBS. You only need to be eighteen to get in the door, and unless your birthday party was a lie last month, you're old enough. You just won't be able to drink. Now stop making excuses and go get ready. We'll get some dinner first, then go hit the club."

Heather went back up to her room to change, both terrified and excited. She was terrified because she was about to be thrust into an unknown environment, potentially making a fool of herself. Excited because it was something that she always wanted to do. She didn't know if she wanted to run away from Mark or kiss him. How come everything that she did or thought of lately caused such conflicting emotions?

Mark sat in the kitchen, waiting for his sister. He was staring at the clock, wondering if he should go up to her room to check and see if she had slit her wrists or not. Before he had to, however, she appeared in the doorway. She had changed her hair and top and looked like she was ready to dance. The only problem was the look on her face.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"You look gorgeous, Heather. But tell me the truth now, are you scared?" She did look gorgeous, but perhaps slightly nauseous. There was fear in her eyes.

She didn't say anything but nodded 'yes'.

"Listen. Nothing to be scared of. I'll be with you the whole time, if you don't like it, we can just leave. You'll be fine, trust me. I wouldn't take you if I didn't think you'd like it. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah. I'm just, you know, I've never done it before. I always get nervous over stuff."

"Hey, no problem. There's only one way to get over it. Just do it. Now let's get something to eat."

Mark took his sister to a place downtown, taking some comfort in the fact that she seemed to be relaxing more as they ate their dinner. He thought this was something that she wanted to do, he didn't want to give the girl a heart attack. She was more of a nerd than what he thought.

"Now, I want you to have fun tonight, but I'm still your big brother and I'm responsible for you, so there's going to be some rules."

"Okay, what?"

"One. You can dance with all the guys you want, get all the numbers you want, but no going home with them. You're hot and naive, I'm not going to let you out of my sight, and when you leave it's going to be with me."

"Heh, okay."

"Two. No drinking. Don't accept any of the drinks that these guys are going to want to buy you. I don't want you getting wasted. And for god's sake, don't take any pills or anything like that."

"Okay, I won't. Do you really think people will try and drug me and stuff?"

"Probably not. Especially around here, but anything's possible. I'm not trying to scare you or anything, I just want you to pay attention to people while we're out. It's supposed to be fun, remember? Ready to dance your ass off?"

"Ready as ever, I guess." She was feeling a lot better about the whole thing. It didn't escape her attention that Mark had referred to her as both 'gorgeous' and 'hot', either.

The club wasn't quite full, but there were more people there than usual for it being so early in the night. After standing in the shadows for a little bit, getting adjusted to the atmosphere, Mark took Heather out onto the dance floor. It didn't take her long to get over whatever trepidation that she had about dancing in front of other people. After a couple of songs, she fit right in. Mark, though not exactly living up to the self-proclaimed John Travolta status, seemed to know what he was doing.

"I'm gonna take a break. I'll get us something to drink," he shouted. Heather nodded in agreement and they were soon seated at a table near a relatively quiet corner.

"Oh my god, I'm sweating!" Heather exclaimed, fanning herself with her hands.

"Yeah, it's a workout," Mark agreed, sipping a Diet Coke. He was happy that his sister looked like she was enjoying herself. "How do you like it?"

"It's fun," she replied.

"See those guys over there?" he asked, nodding over to his right. Heather followed the direction of his nod and saw who it was that he was talking about. "They've been seriously checking you out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Do you like the looks of any of them?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you think you'd want to dance with any of them?" he asked. Mark always thought of his sister as the smart one, it was hard for him to believe that she could be so dense.

"I guess the one on the end looks kind of cute."

"Go ask him to dance."

"Shouldn't he be the one asking me to dance?"

"He probably won't, I imagine they think you're with me," he explained.

"I am with you."

"You came here with me, you're not dating me, just go ask him to dance," he insisted.

"What if he says 'no'?"

"Then ask the guy next to him."

"What do I say?"

Mark looked at his sister with a smile. "All right, listen up, this is important. Here's what you do. Walk over to the guy, then put your hand on his shoulder, kind of like this." Mark reached across the table and sort of half poked his sister on the shoulder. "Just to make sure you have his attention. Then say 'hey, wanna dance?'"

Heather had been concentrating on what her brother had been saying as though her life may depend on his every word. "Is that it?"

"That's all there is to it. You're not asking him to get married, just to jiggle around the room for a few minutes. Go get 'em."

Although Heather retained some doubt as to whether or not it could actually be that easy, Mark hadn't led her astray so far. She stood from the table and made her way over to the guys standing by the end of the bar.

Mark looked on with a mixture of apprehension and amusement. He really didn't want her to fail in her first attempt; she might not ever trust him again. It was a relief to see Heather lead the guy by the hand and out onto the floor. Success.

After a while, Heather was ready for another break and made her way back to the table where her brother was. Her dance partner went back to his buddies at the bar. Mark gave her a high-five as she arrived.

"How did that feel, huh? I'm proud of you."

"It felt great," she gasped. "I think I need to work out more. This is hard."

"Heh, I think you'll make it. Do you like him?"

"He's okay. He's not as good of a dancer as you. He doesn't smell as good, either."

Mark burst out laughing. "Well, throw that one back and try another one, then."

"How about you? You been sitting here the whole time? Why aren't you dancing?" she asked.

"Haven't had a chance, been watching you."

"Well I'm taking a break. How about her?" Heather was referring to a woman that was a couple of tables over.

Mark looked and wrinkled his nose. "I don't know how to go about that one. Hey Granny, you take your arthritis meds today? Wanna polka?"

"Oh my god, you're bad!" Heather sputtered, choking on her soda. When she had recovered, she surveyed the room closely. There were a couple of younger girls sitting over in the opposite corner. As far as she could tell, they were alone. "Okay, okay, how about one of those two over there?"

"Oh I don't know, this is supposed to be more about you than me," he replied.

"What, are you scared? Don't think you can do it?" she teased.

"Really? You're gonna try and play that card? I could have them back to my place making babies before you can finish your drink."

"Oh yeah? Prove it, stud. On the dance floor though, not the making babies part."