We're Close for Cousins Ch. 01.5

I'm going to admit this from the very beginning, this is not an erotic story. I wrote "We're Close for Cousins" without a sequel in mind. I have since begun writing the sequel, "Like a Real Family", and have made some notable changes to a few story elements. Of course, "Cousins" can still be read as its own story, and if I write "Family" well enough, it should be able to as well. The problem is, since I intend for "Family" to be a continuation of "Cousins", I need to explain these elemental differences between the two. That is the purpose of this story. Again, you should not have to read either story to understand the other, but if you want to understand how both fit together, this story is here to explain the differences and set up the changes.

I sincerely appreciate your consumption,

-AR2

*****

I looked at my phone in disbelief. I reread the conversation over and over, as if not comprehending it, or as if it would change. Anna was coming here. Not to visit, certainly not for vacation, but she was moving out here. She had just earned her Bachelor of Computer Science degree from University of Richmond and had, with her sterling grades (she had graduated with a 3.98 GPA in just three years) and non-stop internships (like the one she had been working during her mom's most recent wedding), pretty easily secured a position at a small tech company based in downtown Cincinnati. She had already rented an apartment and was leaving in a week to get here.

My mom and I waited patiently with the landlord for Anna to arrive. She was running a little late due to construction, but she did finally show up. There was no amount of pomp or circumstance to her arrival whatsoever. She pulled up in front of the building as if she had always lived there and got out of her car with a bag under each arm already. After making sure Anna was the new tenant, the landlord let us in and handed over the key.

We spent the next couple hours pulling stuff out of Anna's car and setting it up in her apartment. We ordered a pizza and a 2-liter of coke for dinner, and then mom left because, quote: "She's a young, single woman with a life to live." Anna and I had the decency to wait until she drove off before we busted out laughing. Mom might have looked good for her age, but she was still a conservative single mother in her mid-forties. To put it nicely, there wasn't much worry of us having to bail her out of jail later tonight.

Anna and I went back inside and finished unloading the last few boxes she had. We killed the last of the pizza and sat down on the couch (which, along with the rest of the furniture and appliances, came with the apartment). Anna set up her laptop on the coffee table, connected to the in-house wi-fi, and booted up Netflix. We watched a couple movies, commenting through all of them and making each other and ourselves laugh.

Finally, I felt it was about that time of night to head home. I stood up to leave and Anna stood up to walk me to the door. We hugged, and I said, "Good to see you, Anna."

Anna repeated the courtesy line, "Good to see you, too, Alex."

I let my hands slide down her back to her hips and pulled back enough to kiss her. She kissed back, but I could tell she was definitely resisting. Confused, I let go of her. She stood there silently for a second. In private at least, we had been all over each other earlier that summer. A move like this was typical for our relationship, so why was she acting like this was coming out of the blue?

"I know we had a thing in Virginia earlier this summer," she said, "And I'd be lying if I said I didn't come out here kind of hoping to continue it, but if we're going to keep doing this, it's going to have to be different."

I waited for her to go on. "Different how?" I asked, "And if it's not too much, why?"

Anna sat back down on the couch. I sat back down next to her. "I had my first real boyfriend in college," she began. I could tell this was going to be a lengthy one. I didn't want a life story, but I had sort of inadvertently asked for one. She continued, "I guess I inherited my mom's taste in men a little, because he was a real piece of work.

"His name was Richie, he was a year ahead of me, and he was convinced he was some kind of sex god. I didn't really think anything of it, but he kept pushing and pushing for sex and one night it finally just happened. We were in his dorm room, I had had a little to drink and we were making out. He groped me through my clothes, which I didn't particularly like but I wasn't fighting very hard. He pulled off our clothes and pushed me onto the bed and..." She trailed off.

I tried to read between the lines. Remembering that this was all, supposedly, relevant to why she was hesitant to my advances, I tried to see every angle. I landed on one I didn't really like. "He didn't rape you, did he?" I asked.

"No!" Anna said quickly. "I mean, not really, I didn't say no, it just kind of happened. And he was my boyfriend and we had sex more after that so-"

"I don't think that's how it works," I said uncomfortably. "And even if you want to say you were ok with it later, that doesn't make it ok for him to do that."

"I know, but...I know." She was clearly also uncomfortable with this particular subject. She continued anyway.

"We had more sex after that and he was into a lot of stuff I didn't even know was a thing...A lot of stuff you did too, actually..." She paused but continued before I could ask. "The thing is, like I said, he considered himself a sex god. He just measured his god status from his ability to get himself off. It's not that he wasn't good in bed, it's just that he didn't really care if he pleasured me. When he had sex, it was for him. I was just...there."

I could tell she was really hating this story. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Should I have told her to stop talking about it, or did she need someone to listen to this? Should I have given her a hug, or did she not need any man to touch her for a while? I kept listening, hoping that was the right thing.

"We kept dating pretty much all through college. He started inviting other girls to join in and I...I didn't say no. I didn't complain when he focused on the other girls in our three-ways. I didn't complain with how close he got to them when we weren't all having sex. I figured he was allowed to have female friends, right? I was his girlfriend, he came home to me, right?

"As it turns out, he didn't just come home to me. I came back to campus early right after Christmas this past year. His family actually lived not far from the university, so he stayed in his dorm over the break. I thought I would surprise him. Come back, we could have our own little Christmas, and share our first kiss of the new year. I walked into his dorm room and came face to face with him cheating on me. Literally. One of the other girls he had been bringing in for three-ways was riding him right in front of the door.

"It just so happens that she thought she was his girlfriend. Almost all of the girls we had been having sex with thought they were his girlfriend. Actually, most of them knew about the whole situation and were ok with it. I was pretty much the only one who didn't know." Anna was starting to cry now. I remembered bringing in a few boxes of tissues, so I ran off to go grab one. I brought them back to her. And sat back down.

"I tried to be ok with it after that. I really wanted to believe that he was my boyfriend and he loved me and I loved him and this would all just go away if I loved enough and was strong enough. But he broke up with me. He dumped me. He said the other girls thought I was too much of a downer so they were kicking me out. And he just...he just let them. He let the other women in his life decide I didn't get to be a part of it anymore.

"I went on with my life from there. I tried to go out and have fun as much as possible, given my work and school schedule, but it was hard. I didn't really have the nerve to try dating or anything because I just kept thinking of Richie anytime I thought about it. When I met you in Richmond, you were such a breath of fresh air. I thought maybe this one might be worth something. Maybe he can keep me laughing and smiling. And then you and I went home and the rest is history."

Anna finished her story and wiped tears from her eyes. I find that most people get very unattractive when they cry. This was the same, but with Anna I genuinely felt sorry. I pulled her in for a hug and let her cry into my shoulder. After a few minutes, she more or less settled down and she turned to me.

"I know we did all kinds of things in Virginia, but would you mind if we didn't do them all here? I just...I can't stop thinking about him when it happens, the way he just used me and didn't care."

It was easy to see how hurt Anna was over all of this. "I will never use you like that," I said firmly. "If there's anything you don't want to do, you don't have to do it. I won't make you do it, and if I know better I'll try not to even ask." I kissed her for a second so she knew I meant it. "And if there's anything you don't want me to do, I swear to god I'll never do it again."

Anna looked in my eyes, I guess trying to see if I was lying to her. When she saw how serious I was, she smiled a little. She leaned forward and kissed me. She drew back and stood up, then went and got a pen and pad of paper. She wrote a few things down and handed me the note. She gave me another kiss and said, "I don't want to hold you up, I know you were just about to leave. These are the terms and conditions," she handed me the note, "If you accept, then we'll see about picking up where we left off."

I did get up to leave again. Anna walked me to the door again, we hugged again, and I kissed her again. But this time, when she kissed back, she melted in my arms. It was hard to leave that where it was, but I had other places to be. I waved goodbye as I hopped in my car and drove away.

Later, I opened the note to read it. It said:

#1) No more throat fucking. I don't mind giving blowjobs, but it's really pretty uncomfortable to actually take a dick into my throat. And it's hard to breath.

#2) Same thing with anal. I don't care if you play with my ass or even if you finger it a little, but a dick is too big to be going back there.

#3) Lots of dirty talking, but never call me a whore or a slut or whatever. I don't even care if you talk about how we're committing incest, but I don't want to be called that.

#4) No more three-ways. I can't stand the thought that you might be fucking her when I'm not there too. Actually, I prefer if you just don't sleep with anyone else at all.

#5) On second thought, slight exception. If my sisters come out to see us, I know there's no stopping Briana so you can sleep with her if she comes on too strong. And I don't want Cynthiana to get hurt the way I was so if she comes on to you, you can sleep with her too. I'm still not having another three-way with either of them though.

#6) Love me forever and never ever hurt me.

I reread the rules to make sure I got them all. I enjoyed throat fucking and anal, but I was definitely willing to let them go. I loved talking dirty, but I didn't normally pull out slut or whore unless a girl specifically told me she wanted me to call her that. I didn't have a problem with being faithful either, although the proviso about her sisters did make me a little happy even if I didn't think it was necessarily likely. And as for the last item, well that had been the plan all along.

I texted Anna, "I accept the terms and conditions".

She replied, "Congratulations on your purchase, we look forward to doing business with you".