Winter Break l

-- THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2004, WINTER BREAK --

"Dammit, Ben. Did Adrienne not fix the shocks before she gave you this thing?" Dawn groaned from the seat beside me in the Mustang as we hurtled down the 5 freeway at 80mph.

"Um, sorry?" I winced, glancing over at my girlfriend. I then checked the rear-view mirror, meeting Brooke's eyes where my little sister sat in the back seat.

"Do I want to know?" Brooke asked.

"My ass hurts like hell and the sport shocks on this thing are NOT being very nice to me right now," Dawn groaned.

I felt a very vague sense of déjà vu. Brooke looked to me for an explanation, and I shrugged. "Uh, well, in our whole thing with Chevelle, we never actually got around to doing her ass. So after she left, Dawn wanted to be the good girlfriend and lubed herself up."

Brooke winced. "The night before a six-hour drive?"

"Oh, NOW you warn me," Dawn grumped.

Fortunately, I had an idea. "I'll make it up to you."

"Sex is NOT at the top of my wish list right now," she warned.

I chuckled and shook my head. "No, no. This is really special to me that you're coming to stay with my family for Winter Break. So as soon as we get home, I'm going to give you a full body massage and a nice bath. Sound good?"

Dawn sighed and closed her eyes. "You'd better. Or I'm going to spend the entire vacation in Brandi's bedroom."

Unfortunately, Dawn didn't get her massage and bath right away. Even though Dawn was practically family, my parents still wanted to politely greet our guest.

While not as effusive as Deanna and Jack Evans, Mom and Dad were still quite warm. Mom hugged Dawn and so did Dad. They brought us into the living room to sit down and chat. And Brooke raced herself upstairs to poach the bathroom ahead of us.

Twice, I tried to deflect the conversation so I could get Dawn out of there. Seriously, how many things could my parents ask Dawn about her parents when our moms talked on the phone like every day? But Dawn was the epitome of politeness, always ready with a smile and an alert answer. Amazingly, she also looked perfect, covering up any discomfort she must have felt from the long drive and appearing as fresh as if she'd just awoken.

Was there anything my girlfriend couldn't do?

The twins came home while we were still talking, having been out Christmas shopping. They stopped by us to say hello and exchange hugs. And both girls squeezed me a little extra tightly, no doubt having missed me that extra bit since I had not spent the past summer with them at all.

I practically didn't recognize my baby sisters at first, even though I'd seen them briefly on their way back from Camp in July. Now nearly fifteen, Eden and Emma were growing up to be quite the blend of their older sisters, with Brooke's curves built on top of Brandi's lean and leggy frame. Indeed, when a freshly-showered Brooke came down to hug them, all three of my younger sisters appeared to be the same height. And in near identical voices, they chattered on about something and moved away to another room.

Fortunately, the twins' arrival seemed to break the momentum of my parents' conversation. And at last, they let us go to get cleaned up after the long drive.

"I'm giving Dawn a bath," I informed Mom, indicating with my eyes to where the twins had gone off to. I half-expected her to veto the idea.

But Mom glanced over and shrugged. "They're almost grown up now. I'm sure they can handle the concept."

I grinned, Dawn grinned, and then tired or not, both of us hurried up the stairs.

Five minutes later, I reclined naked in our whirlpool tub with an equally naked Dawn lying back against my chest. I happily fondled her floating breasts, and together, we let the warmth take us away.

On Friday's Christmas Eve, by family tradition, we all stayed home to hang out together. Brandi had stayed up in San Francisco, so while my family had added Dawn this year, the Evanses had effectively swapped daughters by keeping Brandi for the holidays.

Even better, Adrienne had flown down for the weekend. Between her sizable inheritance and the big bucks she was making as an international model, she could afford to jet from place to place whenever she wanted. Her limitation was more a problem of time, and indeed she would have to leave again on Monday morning. But for a couple of days at least, we had her with us. After all, there was nowhere else she would rather be for Christmas.

Family poker had never been so intense. Adrienne was the expected card shark; we'd gotten wise to her skills last year. But Dawn's skills took most of my family by surprise. She always had such a serene, content look on her face. Truly, to the casual observer she seemed to be an innocent angel, thoroughly incapable of deception.

Only I knew that her look of serenity was merely Dawn's perfect poker face. She used to get Bert, Gwen, Robin, and even Kim to bite on her bluffs with that face, although my crew had learned to ignore it over the past couple of years. And tonight, she was using it to get my family to practically GIVE her all their money.

An hour later, there were only four of us left at the table: Dad, Adrienne, Dawn, and me. Five minutes after that, Dad nearly had a heart-attack when he laid down his pocket Kings only to find that Dawn had bluffed him with nothing but an empty straight. And his short stack was quickly consumed by the rest of us in the ensuing two hands.

And then there were three, which were quickly whittled down to one. Maybe it wasn't fair. Adrienne certainly didn't think it was fair. After all, love has no place at a poker table. But Dawn and I did it anyways. Mentally nudging each other with winks and other non-verbal communication, we teamed up on my adoptive sister and proceeded to sink her to the ground. The hand after Adrienne went belly up, Dawn went all in with an unsuited two and four. And I became the last man standing.

Adrienne was pissed. That was okay. We all stayed up until 12:01am so that we could open our first presents. And instead of Adrienne spending the night in Brandi's room, Dawn and I invited her into mine so that we could make it up to her.

It was a great Christmas.

-- SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2004, WINTER BREAK --

I felt something tickle my balls; and with a start, I jerked awake.

"Mmph!" a girl moaned and I realized I'd just shoved my dick an inch into somebody's throat. She took it like a trouper, gagging only slightly and keeping her head down, breathing heavily through her nose until I pulled back. And then she resumed rhythmically pumping my shaft in her hands and sucking on the mushroom head as if I'd never interrupted her.

My eyes fluttered for a brief second, giving me just enough time to see the dark-haired head bobbing up and down in my lap before my heavy eyelids closed themselves. I was tired, like really-really tired. The family Christmas had been pretty action-packed this year, and the action hadn't stopped when Dawn and I went to bed. After all, it was only Adrienne's second night here as well.

But Adrienne had left to conk out in Brandi's room sometime around 2am. My bed at home just wasn't big enough for three adults to sleep comfortably. Now, as I turned my head to the side and cracked my eyelids open, the clock on the nightstand told me it was barely past 6am. I'd gotten little more than 4 hours of sleep, and despite the heavenly pleasure of a warm, sisterly blowjob, I wanted nothing more than to return to slumberland.

"Mmph!" a girl squeaked beside me in surprise. The second voice had not come from my crotch, and the voice was instantly familiar as NOT belonging to one of my sisters. Still with my eyes closed, I flipped my head around and gingerly re-opened them. And my vision cleared just in time for me to see Dawn half-sitting up/half-crawling out from under the covers. "What the-?" she stammered as she turned on the bedside table lamp.

"Morning!" Emma cheered from underneath my blanket, smirking as she took in my girlfriend's fully naked body. Her chin glistened in the little bit of illumination the single bulb cast, no doubt from Dawn's pussy juices. And only then did my eyes dart to the right so that I could see the face continuing to bob up and down my morning wood.

"Eden!" I hissed, reaching down to grab her head and pull upwards, but my baby sister resisted and continued making 'nom nom' noises on my erection.

"Holy shit!" Dawn gasped at the realization of who had just been licking her.

"You taste like Ben," Emma chirped. "You guys were doing it last night, huh?"

"Eden!!!" I growled with actual anger in my voice, and this time, she pulled off me with a pout.

"Whaaat?" she whined. "It's not THAT early. We waited all the way until six o'clock!"

Emma giggled. "And it's so kinky that you brought Dawn for this, too."

"For what?" Dawn gasped, still looking quite bewildered. While my girlfriend had played around with both Brandi and Brooke from time-to-time, the twins had never been a part of our sexplay. To wake up with only four hours of sleep and find little Emma tonguing her slit had to be quite the shock for my girlfriend.

Eden furrowed her eyebrows, clicking her eyes back and forth between Dawn and me. Setting her jaw into a deep frown, my sister exclaimed, "You didn't tell her?"

I blinked rapidly. "Tell her what?"

I don't think I'd ever seen Eden become so angry so quickly. Flames shot out of her ears and I seriously thought I could see ripples in the air above her head from heat waves. Her jaw quivered for a few seconds while the fury built within her. And like an exploding volcano, her entire head trembled for a few seconds before she screamed, "YOU FORGOT!!!"

In an instant, I remembered. Today was December 26. Today was the twins' fifteenth birthday.

Oh, SHIT.

Eden immediately threw aside the bedcovers she'd been hiding inside. She dismounted the bed and immediately stomped over to the door. I glanced over at Emma, who just looked up at me sadly with big doe eyes and a disappointed expression. She huddled under the covers for a little longer before sliding backwards and disappearing from view. Immediately after, she slipped off the foot of the bed and stood up, sighing heavily before turning around to join Eden by the door.

"Girls ... It's not that I forgot..." I began, grimacing and searching for the right words. "It's just ... I..."

"You forgot." Eden shook her head, still looking angry, and yet more... hurt ... than anything else. Setting her jaw, she turned and walked out of the room.

Emma looked at me glumly, and then followed after. She started to close to the door silently, but before it shut, Eden ran back and jerked on the handle, slamming the door loud enough to wake the entire house.

Now fully awake, but still in shock, Dawn turned to me with wary eyes and trembling hands. "Ben ... What's going on?"

But I couldn't answer her. I was still rather shell-shocked myself at what had just happened, and I stared at the closed door feeling a rather intense sense of dread. Dawn waited for me expectantly, but all I could mutter in response was, "Ah, hell."

My shock wore off pretty quickly, burned away by a driving sense of urgency. I had to get to the girls and explain before something terrible happened. I remembered my own teenage years, and they were often filled with gross overreactions and boneheaded decision making. And however much the twins looked grown up now, they were just barely fifteen.

Dawn sighed again, waiting for an explanation. "Ben?"

"Gimme a minute," I said hurriedly, sliding out from under the bedsheets and hopping myself into my pajama bottoms. "I'll explain, I promise."

I ran to my bedroom door, yanking it open and then sprinting down the hall. But almost immediately, I skidded to a halt, lest I bowl over the three people standing in the middle of it.

"Good morning, Benjamin," Mom said politely, but there was no mistaking the dead seriousness in her voice.

I panicked, thinking of my disheveled, half-naked appearance. Immediately, I started babbling, "This isn't what it looks like-"

"I know it isn't." Mom held her hand up for me to stop. "I know exactly what day today is. I was up early and I heard when the girls went to your room. Believe me, I would have barged in if I suspected you were going back on the decision we'd agreed upon before."

Shaking my head furiously, I stammered, "We didn't-"

"I know," Mom cut me off again. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think it's time I had a little chat with my daughters."

My eyebrows furrowed. I still felt a great sense of responsibility for what was going on. After all, I was the one breaking a promise to my little sisters. They were severely disappointed in me.

"I can do this," I insisted. "I need to apologize to them. I need to be the one to explain why..." I hesitated for a second. Even though I was sure Mom was fully aware of my carnal activity, it was never comfortable uttering the 'sex' word around a parent. Still, I finished, stating, " ... explain why I won't have sex with them."

"What?" Eden shrieked. "Why not?"

"You won't?" Emma whined at the same time.

"But you promised!" Eden yelled.

Mom's expression turned to confusion, and she glanced down at her daughters before looking back at me. "You didn't tell them? Then why are they so angry?"

"I, uh..." I blushed, now feeling even worse under the disapproving gaze of all three of them. "They're sorta mad because I kinda forgot about this day entirely."

"You forgot?" Mom arched her eyebrow skeptically.

"He forgot!" Eden complained like a tattle-tale before belatedly clapping her hand over her mouth. Perhaps she was still in the mental state where she thought she and Emma were sneaking into my bedroom for sex without Mom's knowledge.

Mom put that notion to rest immediately. "I'm going to lay this all out for you girls. I've known since you were thirteen that you were planning to lose your virginities today. I've always known that you wanted Ben to do it. But I'm telling you now that I never had any intention of letting that happen."

"WHAT?" Eden whined. Emma just pouted.

Mom took a deep breath, then glanced up and down the hall. Her actions made me realize that by now, everyone in the house had surely been awakened by the commotion and was now eavesdropping. So after exhaling, she pointed to the stairs and stated, "Downstairs. We're going to your father's office."

Cowed by Mom's imperious tone, the girls bowed their heads and immediately started shuffling away like a pair of death row prisoners with chains around their ankles walking the green mile. I found that my own head was bowed as I followed after.

"Not you, Ben."

I picked my head up. "But, I need to explain to them."

"No you don't."

"But it was MY decision," I said, anguish in my voice. "I let them down, and I need to tell them why."

"You're their big brother, but I'm their mother. Whatever else you might think, this wasn't your decision. I would never have let you do it anyway."

"But-"

"These are MY daughters. I'll handle this. Go back to your girlfriend."

It was an order, not a request. Mom just shrugged, and then turned to go down the stairs. I stared after her until they were all out of sight, and then I went back to my room.

Dawn got the cliff notes version of what happened exactly two years ago, on the twins' thirteenth birthday. Early blowjob attempts and makeout sessions had ultimately led to a promise to deflower both twins on their fifteenth birthday. At the time, I'd fully intended to keep that promise. After all, I'd given Brooke her first sexual experiences when she was fifteen, and that had turned out... relatively well. At the very least, I didn't want the twins fooling around with dumbass high school boys before they were ready.

But then last Spring Break, I'd changed my mind. I'd come to realize how old I was getting, and that teaching the twins about sex wouldn't be the same as teaching Brooke. For one thing, Brooke and I were only two years apart, whereas the twins were five and half years younger. But more importantly, I was there in High School with Brooke, nearby to continue her sexual education and also to protect her. Three weeks from now, I would be back in Berkeley, and the twins would be loose in High School with all those dumbass boys.

For obvious reasons, I hadn't told the twins of this decision. I'd told Mom and Brandi, and I'd assumed I would have nine months to figure out how to break the news to Eden and Emma themselves.

But a lot had happened in those nine months: I'd broken up with Cadence. Paige's parents disowned her. There was all the Dawn and Ryan drama. And finally Dawn and I had gotten back together. Plus there was everything I'd already gone through THIS semester. Yeah, you'd think I would never have forgotten the virginity pledge, but I had.

Plus, for over a year, I'd thought the twins had both moved on from their sexual pursuit of me. Certainly, there hadn't been any sexual activity with them since the summer I last went to camp. That meant that for sixteen months, the twins and I had done nothing beyond a sibling-level kiss. No makeout sessions. No blowjobs. Nothing other than what normal brothers and sisters did with each other.

Until this morning. I'd assumed the girls had moved on, focusing their sexual attention on boys their own age (and outside of their family). I'd assumed the girls had gotten over their childish infatuation with me, and perhaps recognized that the age gap and time apart were important factors that couldn't be ignored.

But I'd assumed wrong. I had no one to blame but myself. Mom had certainly drilled into my head enough times that to assume was just to make an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'.

Now I was the ass. And I was going to have to find some way of fixing things...

... without having sex with the twins.

Quietly, Dawn and I got dressed and went downstairs to get some breakfast. It was still early, but neither of us even thought about going back to sleep. Mom had bought a big box of Costco pastries for the week, and coffee was easy to make. I settled down in the family room, waiting for the rest of my family to arrive with the expected avalanche of questions.

Turned out, I was expecting wrong. It wasn't an avalanche that dominated that morning, it was a tsunami. Around the same time last night that Dawn and Adrienne were quaking orgasmically, so were the tectonic plates off the coast of Sumatra. The resulting tidal waves had destroyed coastlines across Indonesia, Thailand, and India. And several hundred thousand people were missing and presumed dead.

It was like 9/11 all over again, with blanket wall-to-wall coverage on all the morning news networks. Mom had family in Southeast Asia, and she was quickly on the phone trying to get a hold of distant relatives.

For some reason, I found myself surprisingly engrossed by the coverage. Perhaps I was just trying to avoid the Eden/Emma matter for a little while. Perhaps I was maturing and becoming more aware of world matters. Certainly, I hadn't paid much attention to 9/11. I had just started my Senior Year of High School at the time, and I was far more worried about my long-distance relationship with Dawn and the beginnings of my "nottogether" relationship with Adrienne.

I wasn't the only one distracted by the Asian Tsunami. Brooke made only one comment of "So you didn't go through with it?" before turning her own attention to the TV. Adrienne seemed quietly proud of me, though she didn't say anything. And even the twins distracted themselves by joining in the family conversation over the "global disaster"...

... to a point.

Eden couldn't contain her anger with me, and after making a call, she announced that she was going out with friends. She made a very deliberate point of hugging everyone goodbye except me. She even hugged Dawn. All I got was glare.

"Just give her some time," Dawn reassured me quietly, after Eden had stormed out and deliberately slammed the door (again). "She'll get over this."

I just pinched my lips and nodded my agreement, hoping she was right.

Curiously, Emma didn't go with her. After all, Eden's group of friends was also Emma's. But then Eden had always been the headstrong one while Emma was more deliberate and thoughtful. Indeed, rather than run off in a fit of pique, my youngest baby sister came up to me, took my hand, and asked, "Can we talk?"

I glanced at my Mom, who had noticed Emma's approach and was watching us intently. And then I returned my attention to Emma and nodded. "Always."

Emma took my hand and led me upstairs to her bedroom. I hesitated just outside the door, but my baby sister smiled at me and said, "Relax. I'm not going to jump you."

I wasn't totally convinced, but I nodded and followed her inside.

For a moment, I looked around the room and marveled at how much it had changed over the years. I still remembered when the twins were in elementary school, sharing a white bunk bed that had been placed against the far wall. It had created extra space in the middle of the room where they could sit and play on the floor. Now, the room seemed almost evenly divided, with a desk and bed on each side. Eden's mostly green bedspread and accessories gave way to Emma's yellows halfway through. Various stuffed animals that I knew to be near and dear to the twins' hearts had been pushed into dark corners in favor of music and movie posters that now adorned the walls.

The rugrats had grown up.

Emma, herself, had certainly sprouted. Even though she was much younger, my baby sister was already as tall as Brooke's 5'7", and would likely surpass Brandi's height before she was done. She still had a gangly teenager's frame, but her hips and bosom were definitely expanding. And when she turned to face me after closing the door, little Emma gave me a smoldering look befitting a mature seductress that belied her earlier pronouncement that she wouldn't jump me.

"Emma, you just said..."

In a flash, the sultry look was gone, replaced by a youthful grin. "Sorry, closing the door to leave the two of us alone just gave me a momentary fantasy." She looked down at her feet, reaching up to brush a lock of her long hair back and over her ear before demurely looking back up at me.

Even though it didn't seem like she was still trying to seduce me, the effect was quite dramatic. One thing I'd noticed as the girls grew up was how beautiful they were becoming. The twins had our mother's almond eyes, just like Brandi, although their irises were a slightly lighter shade that seemed to glow with an inner brightness. Their hair, too, was a noticeable shade lighter, and combined with their stronger cheekbones, they had an exotic beauty that set them apart from their older sisters. They seemed to get all the best physical attributes from our family, from height to curves to lengthy frames, and I knew that my baby sisters would be quite the stunners as they became adults.

If I'd been a horny 15-year-old boy, I'd have been all over Emma. Even now, as a fully-formed 20-year-old who got WAY more than his fair share of sex, I was terribly attracted to the willowy teenager. So I knew with certainty that the twins had been getting a whole lot of male attention. It must have taken some restraint for them to maintain their purity for this long.

I sighed rapturously, realizing that my baby sisters had gone and become young women. I thought about what it must have been like to be in Emma's shoes: basking in all the male attention, boiling in my own hormones, aching for total and complete sexual release ... and then having your long-planned deflowering not happen the way you'd been hoping for. I empathized with the crushing feeling she must have inside, and I held my arms open with an apologetic face. "I'm so sorry, Emma."

A wellspring of emotion popped up behind my sister's eyes. She fought back a sniffle and then rushed over to me. I caught her easily against my chest and hugged her fiercely while she buried her nose against my shoulder and began sobbing.

Nothing was said for a full ten minutes. We just stood there, in the middle of her room for a long time, me holding and her crying. There was still some tension between us, sexual and otherwise. But my hands never roamed beyond her shoulders. She never tried to kiss me. I was just her big brother, and she just my baby sister.

But at long last, Emma's tears dried up and she began to slow her breathing. Deep, deliberate inhalations eventually turned into calm breaths. And with red-rimmed eyes, she tilted her face back to look at me.

"It's okay," Emma said softly, looking straight into my eyes. "I understand."

I blinked quickly, not quite sure how to react.

Emma continued. "Mom explained. I don't like it. I..." she choked up a bit. "I really don't like it. My heart feels crushed into a million pieces right now. But my head understands."

"Emma ... baby..." I took a deep breath. "I never meant to hurt you."

"I know."

"This isn't because I don't... want to ... You know you're really sexy now." I winced, not sure how to explain sexualizing my baby sister. It was somehow still different to me, with Brandi and Brooke being so much closer in age to me.

She smiled at the compliment anyway.

"I just ... I can't. I mean, if I was going to be sticking around. If I was going to be here more than just a couple of weeks then-"

"I know, I know-" she cut me off. "Eden was really mad about this particular reason. She still thinks that one hour would have been enough. But ... I think we both understand that there's more to our virginities than just having sex once. This is a big step. It's something important. It's something special."

I nodded. "There's no going back."

Emma's lips trembled, and I thought she was going to start crying again. "I love you, big brother."

"I love you too, little one."

"I still wish it could be you."

"We both know it can't."

"Why not?" she pouted quietly, and suddenly I felt her hands tightening their grip on me. "Ben ... Please? Just ... right here. I'm ready. I've been ready. I've been waiting for this moment, and now I have you here. Please, big brother. I NEED you."

I closed my eyes and turned my face away. I couldn't look at her, couldn't take the tension. It felt like such a moment of déjà vu, in a way I couldn't explain. A beautiful girl wanted me to sleep with her, wanted it to be the greatest, most perfect moment of her young life. But my conscience knew better.

And then I suddenly remembered. Had it only been a few days ago? Was it really so recent that I let myself ignore my conscience and give in to Chevelle?

And hadn't it been the biggest disappointment?

My own hands tightened around Emma's shoulders, and I firmly but gently pulled her away from me. She whimpered, but only gave me momentary resistance before letting me take her face in my hands and tilt it to look up at me. "I'm sorry. Really, I am."

Her lip trembled, but now she looked resigned to the decision.

I tried to put on a smile. "Look, I know that in a moment like this, you're probably not going to believe what I'm saying. But sometimes you can overhype a moment."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she backed away from me.

I let her go, and then asked with a smirk, "Okay, let me put it this way. How long have you and Eden been thinking about today?"

"About today? Well... forever."

I chuckled. "Maybe not forever."

She shrugged. "You promised us when we turned thirteen. So two years, I guess. Feels like forever."

"I know that even though you and Eden backed off me for a while now, even though we haven't really done any, uh ... stuff ... together for more than a year, this day was something that the both of you have been thinking about ever since you were thirteen. That's a lot of time to build something up in your head. That's a LONG time to be formulating a fantasy. You're convinced that this is going to be the BEST. THING. EVER. And the reality is: it would be almost impossible for the real thing to measure up."

"You never know until you try..." she ventured with a faint note of hope.

I shook my head. "This had disappointment written all over it."

"Like I'm not disappointed now?"

I sighed. "I'd rather you be disappointed and nothing happened than to have gone through with it and come out disappointed."

Emma looked away and bit her lip. "Well ... I might've been okay with some disappointment if we still could've-"

"Emma..." I warned, cutting her off.

She sighed wearily. It had become fully clear that nothing she could say would get me to go through with it. And at last, she just took a deep breath and shook her head. "Okay, okay."

"I really am sorry that it came down to this. But I would have regretted it more if we had."

Emma was already done with this conversation. "Okay."

"And I'm sorry about 'forgetting'. It's not that I really forgot. It's just ... I mean ... you and Eden kinda stopped coming after me more than a year ago."

Emma frowned. "It's not that we didn't want to. But you've been away at college and we've been messing around with boys here. Is that it? You thought we'd lost interest?"

I nodded.

"No, never. I mean, we kinda knew you wouldn't let us do any stuff beyond what we'd already been doing. You were never totally comfortable with us. And with the boys at school, we knew we could kinda do whatever we wanted." Emma broke into a smile. "Besides, you were always away at school the whole last year. And the only times you came home, Brandi, Brooke, and Adrienne kinda monopolized you."

I chuckled, thinking of the past few breaks from college. "That they did."

"It's not fair," Emma whined, looking up at me, the color gone from her eyes. "They all got you. Only Eden and I get left behind."

"Sometimes that's life, little one. We're all grown up, and you're still in High School."

"S'not fair," she repeated, pouting even further.

I pulled her into another hug, and this time she was completely limp. There was no more sexual tension left. Patting her back, I stroked her hair like I'd done for my little sisters since they were just babies and sighed. "It's just the way it is."

Eden returned home after lunch with about as much subtlety as she'd left. That is: she slammed the door upon her return, made a point of walking up within a few feet of me, and then deliberately gave me the cold shoulder as she turned 90 degrees to stomp off toward the stairs. Even though a few hours had passed, my little sister was clearly still quite mad with me.

Dawn squeezed my hand to reassure me, and I fought to relax and keep my attention on the TV.

But Mom looked after her baby girl with quite the look of concern. She'd been in the kitchen with Adrienne, teaching the blonde some recipes for quick and easy meals for a girl on the go. With only a short, "Excuse me," Mom quickly left the kitchen and headed after Eden.

That prompted me to get up off the couch as well.

"Ben, let your mom handle this," Dawn soothed, grabbing my hand and arresting my departure.

I shook my head. "I have to talk to her."

Realizing that I wouldn't be able to let this go, my girlfriend sighed and released me. I headed to the stairs myself.

Halfway up, I heard Mom knocking insistently at the twins' bedroom door. "Eden, let me in."

"Go away!" came the plaintive reply.

"You're acting like a child!" Mom scolded. And she was right. Eden may have been 15 now, but her petulant behavior was pretty juvenile. Of course, that was easy for me to say now that I was 20. When I was fifteen and in love, I'd probably acted just as immaturely from time to time.

"Just leave me alone," Eden complained.

"I'm not leaving until you let me talk to you," Mom insisted.

There was a pause, and after a moment, the door unlocked. But just when Mom and I started to relax, Eden burst through and sliced right past us, heading for the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower. We'll talk later."

"Eden!" Mom wheeled around, too late to stop her daughter before the bathroom door shut and locked as well. Soon, we heard the sound of the shower water running.

Mom looked over at me, wide-eyed, with a shocked and pained expression on her face. She looked really upset by what was happening, and I reached over to touch her shoulder. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

Still shell-shocked, Mom just stared at the door for a few seconds. It was as if she hadn't heard me, but a moment later, she began shaking her head slowly. "No, it's not. I knew this day would come. If you'd gone ahead and slept with her, that would have been your fault. This ... this is something else..."

I frowned, hearing a rather haunted tone in Mom's voice.

In disbelief, Mom shook her head again, staring at the bathroom door as if her heart had just been ripped out. She closed her eyes and hung her head as her entire body seemed to sag. I bit my lip, now really worried for my mother. In a matter of seconds, she'd become... old ... or something. I didn't get it. Mom was taking Eden's cold shoulder routine rather harder than I thought she would.

But before I could really ruminate on that, Mom took a deep breath and then turned to go back for the stairs. I watched her go, and then looked back myself at the bathroom door.

What the hell do I do now?

Staring at the door, I tried to figure out what I would say to Eden. Already, I knew that apologizing and getting her to understand why I'd decided what I did was going to be much harder than with Emma. The younger twin had always been more laid-back, more flexible. She was more ready to accept what was happening and just deal with things as they came.

Eden, on the other hand, was decisive, stubborn, and steadfast in her own sense of how the world should work. She didn't forgive easily, and I knew she was quite capable of giving me the cold shoulder for the rest of my winter break if she really wanted to. I wondered if I was ever going to get a chance to talk to her.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried. Only a few minutes after she'd gone into the bathroom, the shower stopped. I was still standing there when the door opened, and Eden poked her head out to scan up and down the hall.

"Mom?" she asked neutrally.

"Went back downstairs."

"Uh-huh," Eden nodded. With a towel wrapped around her torso and her clothes bunched up in her left arm, she took me by the hand and nodded. "Let's go."

"Huh?" I wondered aloud, getting pulled off balance as Eden simply began dragging me down the hall.

She didn't answer. She just pulled me all the way to her bedroom and then closed the door.

For the second time that day, I found myself looking around the twins' bedroom. As I took in the neat divide, I wondered why one of them hadn't just taken over Brandi's or my room. They certainly would have had more space. But then the door latch clicked behind me. And as I realized Eden had just locked us in, I turned around in some alarm.

Wearing nothing but a towel, my little sister stood a little nervously by the door. She looked down at her feet, reaching up to brush a lock of her damp hair back and over her ear before demurely looking back up at me.

Immediately, I realized it was the same coy move Emma had given me this morning. But I was still taken aback at how effectively seductive the look was. Despite my firm decision not to do anything sexual with my baby sister, I felt my heart rate speed up, the blood specifically pumping southward to the wrong parts of my anatomy. Eden stood up straight and gave me a clear 'come hither' look, stretching out her shoulders and inviting me to drink in the view.

Her delicate limbs and frame spoke directly to all my naughty fantasies about seizing and powerfucking some poor, unsuspecting girl who didn't realize what was about to hit her. I couldn't help but notice how her growing curves stretched out the towel in very specific places. And then I really couldn't help but let my eyes bug out as Eden flipped open the tuck in her towel between her breasts, allowing the damp white terrycloth to slide down her body and puddle at her ankles.

My baby sister's tight, toned, naked body was a teenage wet dream. She had a golden tan and a rich glow from the shower. Her dark hair was damp and slicked back against her scalp. Her breasts were healthy mounds, full B-cups. And I couldn't help but feel a twitch in my groin when I saw her bare-shaven pussy.

I gulped involuntarily, but quickly reasserted mental control over my libido. Turning my head, I stared pointedly at an empty corner of the room and ordered, "Eden, put some clothes on."

"Bennn..." Eden whined plaintively.

"Now," I stated coldly, struggling to keep my voice even.

"Look at me. Just look at me."

"No."

"I'm a woman now."

"You're fifteen."

"That's not what I mean." Eden took a deep breath. I heard her pinching her lips, gathering herself to say what was coming next. And in a shaky voice, she repeated, "I'm a woman."

It took me a few seconds to realize what she was getting at. At first, I thought Eden was just trying to emphasize that she wasn't a little girl anymore. She wanted to tell me that she had grown up, and had the breasts and hips and hormones of a developed, fertile, potentially reproductive female of the human race.

But then everything clicked for me. The shell-shocked expression on Mom's face when Eden had raced past her in the hallway. Eden's abrupt departure this morning without Emma and return only a few hours later. And lastly, her hasty shower.

My jaw dropped, my eyes opened wide, and in abject horror I turned to look at my baby sister's naked body. She saw the realization on my face, and gave me a knowing smile that was years more mature than her actual time spent on this Earth.

"Ohmigawd..." I gasped. I'd known Eden was impulsive, but THIS?

Eden nodded as she recognized my realization. With a little smile, she slowly approached me. "I'm a woman now. Don't you see? The whole virginity thing doesn't matter anymore. So there's nothing stopping us. I want you, Ben. I want you sooo bad." And with that, she closed the distance between us.

"Eden-" I mumbled, still in shock. But before I could say anything else, she grabbed my head and planted a fierce kiss on my lips. My eyes jerked even wider as I felt her warm, still slightly damp naked body mold itself against mine. And I felt her leg rise up as she began to rub herself over the rough crotch of my jeans.

But I snapped out of my shock quickly. "Mm- NO!" I grunted as I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away.

"Ben, please!" Eden whimpered and tried to kiss me again.

"No! No!" I half-shouted, unable to control my voice as I continued to hold her at bay.

Eden fought me, batting my arms away with her hands for a few seconds before simply stretching her arms to the sides so that I unintentionally put my palms right against her naked breasts. She grinned with the minor victory as I jerked my hands away from her perky tits like I'd just touched hot lava.

"Eden, NO."

Finally, she let me back away. She planted her hands on her hips, cocking her head and daring me to stare at her body.

I averted my eyes again and stammered, "When? Just now?"

She sighed, folding her arms across her chest. "It ... it doesn't matter. Does it?"

"Eden..." I warned.

"Fine, yes. I've been holding out on my boyfriend for months. So we did it like an hour ago. That's why I had to take a shower."

"What, and you thought I'd want sloppy seconds?"

"It's not like that. You think I wanted Albert to be my first? I wanted YOU. But Mom ... and you ... made it abundantly clear that you wouldn't take our virginities."

"Eden, it wasn't JUST about virginities. I can't have sex with you, PERIOD. Don't you understand that?"

"Why NOT?"

My mind raced through all the reasons I'd discussed with Emma, and what Mom had certainly discussed with both twins. About overhyping things and about how I wouldn't be there to support and guide them through the rest of their High School years. But I already knew Eden wasn't going to listen to reason right now. She was in full-on stubborn mode. She knew what she wanted and she was determined to get her way.

"No. I can't. I won't. Not like this."

"It's just sex."

"NO! It's NOT just sex. This is a BIG DEAL."

"My virginity was a 'big deal'. But that's history. That's out of the way."

I shook my head. "You're my baby sister."

"So? You had sex with Brooke when she was fifteen. AND you even took her virginity. It's not fair!"

"Don't even whine about this. If you're trying to convince me you're all mature, then whining like a little kid about 'fairness' isn't going to help. The thing with Brooke was a completely different situation."

"But I'm horny. And I want you!"

I shook my head again. "It's not that simple."

"Why not? Come on. I've been dreaming about this for YEARS."

"I thought you just tried to tell me this isn't a big deal?"

"You don't even have to do anything. Just lay there and let me hop on. Please?"

"Ohmigawd!" I gaped. "Do you even hear yourself?"

"What?"

I took a deep breath, several of them in fact. I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw, willing myself to calm down. And after shaking my head slowly, I finally opened my eyes and gave Eden a very measured look. "You're my baby sister. I'm your big brother. And our relationship is about MORE than this."

Her jaw quivered, and it looked like I was starting to get her to listen.

"Think about this. You don't like guys treating you like a sex object, do you? Well neither do I. 'Just lay there and let me hop on?' Is that all I am to you? A piece of meat?"

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Eden ... we can't do this."

"Of course we can," she pouted. "Please ... I want this. I NEED this. It's like a craving that just won't go away!"

I closed my eyes, and for the second time today I was taken back to Chevelle's desperate pleas. The memory only strengthened my resolve. "It's not happening."

"Come on ... I want YOU. Tell me you don't want me, too."

"I don't want you," I stated immediately, still with my eyes closed.

She paused for a moment, not expecting to hear such blunt conviction in my voice. She posed again, pulling her shoulders back to thrust out her bosom, and cocking one hip to the side. "Look at me and tell me that."

Shaking my head in disbelief, I nevertheless brought my eyes up to stare directly at my baby sister. "I don't want you," I repeated dully.

She frowned, clearly confused. "No ... Of course you do. Of course you do. You just didn't want to deflower us ... because ... because you're our brother ... I mean, this isn't fair! Fuck! I KNOW you took Brooke's virginity!"

"Not like this, Eden," I stated wearily. "And certainly not after ... after..." I grimaced, thinking about my baby sister giving it up to her boyfriend only an hour ago. The thought did NOT get me aroused, and in fact just made me want to track Albert down and beat the living shit out of him.

"But ... but..."

"Oh, fer crying out loud. Here!" I felt moisture in my eyes, and impulsively I unzipped my own jeans and jerked them down to my knees. I raised my shirt up out of the way and showed Eden my completely lifeless penis, as shriveled up and seeming as small as an 8-year-old boy's. "No, Eden! I didn't want this. I DEFINITELY didn't want this!"

She just stared at my junk in shock. All sense of seduction was gone from my sister. Instead, her jaw quivered and she looked ready to cry. Her entire sense of the world seemed to be crumbling around her, and I couldn't imagine what was going through her head.

But I couldn't comfort her. Not right now. I now understood the absolutely gutted expression Mom had shown in the hallway, because I felt exactly the same way.

What had happened to my baby sister? Where had her innocence gone?

Still in this state of shock, I pulled up my pants and walked past her, going straight for the door. I tried valiantly not to cry, and quickly I was out in the hallway and going down the stairs. Eden didn't try to follow.

Dawn caught me as I was going out the front door. "Ben? You okay? What happened?"

"I'm going for a walk," I mumbled, not even turning around to look at her.

"I'll come with you."

"NO," I barked, more harshly than I intended. Dawn flinched and retracted the hand that had been about to touch me. I closed my eyes, squeezing out a few droplets while taking a deep breath. And when I opened them again, I stated evenly, "I want to be alone for a little bit."

"Please ... Let me come with you..."

The anger I felt over Eden's loss of virginity suddenly roiled up in my core. Wheeling on my girlfriend, my eyes breathed flames as I stared her down. But despite my wrath, I did my best to keep it in check as I gritted my teeth, biting out deliberately, "I. Want. To. Be. Alone."

This time, Dawn took me at my word. She nodded and backed away.

And I left.