Bedtime Stories for Grownups
Prom Date
IT WAS A MAD SCRAMBLE to get ready for the prom. Bradley’s about three inches taller than Eric so the pants legs dragged on the floor when he put them on. Mom came to the rescue. It was too late to take them to be altered so Mom basted in a new hem. The jacket was okay, but the shirt looked ridiculous on him.
“No. Don’t tell me you picked that shirt out for Bradley,” I said when we looked at everything.
“I tried to talk him out of it, but after conceding the white tux he wasn’t about to budge on the ruffled shirt,” Eric said.
“Let’s go,” Mom said. “I agree. You cannot go out in public wearing that atrocity. At least we can buy a formal shirt that fits you. And let’s find something besides that lavender cummerbund. You’ll clash with your sister’s dress.” So, while I went to the salon to get my hair and makeup done, Mom took Eric to the mall and got him a shirt, a tie, a nice vest, and new shoes.
I was getting dressed when Mom knocked on my door and came in to help.
“Your makeup and hair look perfect,” she said. “Let me help you into your dress. That side zipper keeps the line of the dress looking nice, but it’s not easy to zip up by yourself.”
It was a little embarrassing because I’d chosen a strapless dress and it had a built-in bra. I had to shake my bare boobs into the cups with my mother standing right there holding the dress up. She got to see the garter belt, hose, and thong I was wearing, too.
“Okay, princess. Let’s get your feet into your shoes. Just sit there. Are you sure you’ll be able to dance in these?”
“Yes, Mother,” I said. “They aren’t that high. I might kick them off, though. Eric isn’t as tall as Bradley.”
Mom sat back on her heels with my foot still in her hand and looked at me.
“Hillary, you know your brother is in love with you, don’t you?” I was shocked! My mother knew Eric’s fantasy life?
“Um… Mom…”
“I know you don’t feel the same. But I’ve also noticed that you’ve become… How should I say this? You’ve become gentler with him the past few weeks. I’d have to say that you’ve become aware of how he feels. Am I right?”
“Yes, Mom. But he’s my brother.”
“I know. It’s probably my fault it worked out like this. I thought that I’d be doing the two of you a good service if I kept you very separate and distinct from each other. Your own rooms, your own styles, your own friends. I was very conscientious about not forcing you together and about making sure you each had your own lives. For you, it worked. For your brother, not so much. To him, you are more like the beautiful girl next door. To you, he’s just your brother.”
“Why are you telling me all this, Mom? He’s just doing this as a favor. I made sure he understood there was no chance that I was falling in love with him. It’s just not like that.”
“I know that and you know that. I’m not completely sure that he knows that. I just want you to be careful, honey. Don’t accidentally do something that might hurt him. I know you love him as your brother. In many ways you are far more mature than he is, but in others… I don’t know. It’s like he has his own unique view of the world. When he decides what he’s going to do with his life, he’ll be brilliant at it. Until then, it’s like he lives in a fantasy world.”
Oh, if she only knew. Then it struck me. Maybe she does know.
“Let’s go meet your date,” Mom said as she finished slipping on my other shoe.
“Wow!” Eric and I said at the same time. We laughed. We don’t often think the same kind of thoughts in my experience. We were just standing in the living room staring at each other. He really looked good. If I didn’t look right into his eyes, I could almost imagine he was just a really nice—really hot-looking—guy I’d agreed to go out with. Of course, the place I kept coming back to was his eyes. He was drinking me in. I had that flitting thought that my brother was looking at me. Only this time, I didn’t mind. I kind of liked it.
We went up to the hospital and Bradley slipped the corsage—that Eric had picked up and brought with us—onto my wrist.
“You two look great,” Bradley said. “You’d look really good in that ruffled shirt and lavender cummerbund, though.”
“Uh, they just didn’t really fit me,” Eric said. “Have they figured out what you’ve got yet?” Bradley nodded.
“They think it’s Crohn’s Disease.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Basically, my intestines are digesting themselves. They figure they can control it with some heavy-duty drugs. Said it should have been diagnosed months or maybe years ago. I’ll probably be in here another week before they get things stabilized. They’re trying to decide if they need to do surgery now or if it can wait.”
“What kind of surgery?”
“Re-sectioning my bowel. Sounds gross, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. I hope they don’t need to do that,” Eric said.
“Look, friend,” Bradley said. “You’ve helped me a lot in the past. Thank you for helping me tonight. Take good care of my girlfriend and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He grinned and I kissed him tenderly before we left.
Thanks a lot, Bradley. If my brother got to do all the things I’d planned to do with you tonight, he’d flip out.
It was easy to forget about Eric being my brother at the prom. We didn’t do much together under normal circumstances and I’d guess that other than our reasonably close friends, no one even knew we were related. Sure, we had some classes together in high school, but we’d been in separate classes all through grade school. We just never made a big deal about being brother and sister like some kids do. I guess that’s what Mom was talking about in my bedroom. To Eric, I was just the cute girl next door, or in this case, across the hall. I was really having a good time.
Our closest friends knew that Bradley was sick and Eric had stepped in so I wouldn’t have to miss the prom. Nobody else cared. Becky Adams slipped up beside me and whispered in my ear.
“I see you found the right girl to take your brother to the prom,” she giggled. “Now I understand why no one else could compete.” Becky had been a contender, but the thought of her spreading her legs—which I knew she’d do—and Eric getting between them just screamed NO at me. My poor brother. Now that I knew how he felt about me, no one I could think of was good enough for him.
How did I feel about him now that I knew? I relaxed into his arms as we danced. I’d long since kicked off my shoes. Barefoot, we were the exact same height. Of all the things that we could be the same at as twins, we got 5'10". I always thought that I needed a man who was at least six-two. Of course, Bradley was only six-one, but that was close enough. And besides, we both knew we weren’t permanent. He was going to head to some college in California that was known more for surfing than for academics and I… wasn’t. I hadn’t decided what I was going to do, but Bradley and I agreed to break up after the graduation parties were over.
None of that answered how I felt about Eric. My head knew he was my brother, but I could see the whole perspective of being like next door neighbors and friends. No one had beat into us our relationship status and we were… I was going around in circles. And in the meantime, I’d tightened my grip on Eric as we danced. This time, I knew I was pushing my braless breasts into his chest. This time I knew I was feeling his erection pressed against me. I was loving the feeling of his hands on my bare shoulders. I liked what his breath on my neck was doing to my nipples. And I loved the way his lips tasted as I kissed him.
Kissed him? When did I start kissing him? And why didn’t I care?
As I broke away from his lips and looked at him, I could see him starting to say something. I pressed my finger against his lips.
“I know. I know, Eric.” I snuggled back against him and we did that slow shuffling dance thing where we were swaying and our feet were sort of moving but we weren’t paying any attention to the music at all.
“So do you have the tickets for the after-prom?” he asked me as they started bringing up the lights. The prom was ending.
“Um… We weren’t going to go to it,” I said. I could feel myself blushing. My brother knew Bradley and I were lovers. It shouldn’t embarrass me so much to admit that we’d planned to spend the night together. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“You just want to go home now?” he asked. I shook my head.
“Take me to Denny’s,” I said. “I don’t want the night to end yet.”
“Are you sure you want to go there?” he asked. “Or do you want to go here?” He pulled a hotel keycard out of his pocket.
“Where…? How did you get that?” I asked. Bradley said he was getting us a hotel room, but I didn’t think he could actually register.
“How do you think Bradley was going to get a hotel room? He gave me the money a couple weeks ago and I made the reservation. I went over this afternoon and checked in,” he laughed.
“Um… If we go there, don’t think that automatically means we’re going to make love, though. Okay?” I said. He smiled at me.
“I quit writing fantasies, Hil. I’m trying to live my life in reality now.”
“I know,” I said as he opened the car door for me. It was my car, but he was driving. “I kind of miss the stories. There are still a few I haven’t read.”
“More than a few,” he said. “I only posted about one out of five that I wrote.”
“Did you… masturbate when you wrote them? Thinking about me?”
“No.” I looked at him startled. He laughed. “I waited until they were written and then masturbated as I read them. Just like everyone else.”
“Is that what they all do? I just realized that you and I aren’t the only ones who read those stories. God! Eric, how many people have read about us having… making love?”
“Oh. They average around five or six thousand downloads each. Some—the longer ones—have gotten up to thirty thousand downloads.”
“Does that make us exhibitionists?” I squeaked.
“Hardly. Nobody on the site knows who I am. They don’t know who you are. They probably don’t even believe I have a sister. Some of them even think I’m a lesbian.”
“You’re kidding!” I said.
“Well, stop and think about it. We like the same things,” he laughed.
“You think,” I added.
We got to the hotel and went straight to the room. It had a big bed, a dresser, and a bathroom. There were two chairs next to a small table with a coffeepot on it. And a television on the dresser. It wasn’t like a bridal suite, but the only thing I’d been interested in when I told Bradley to make a reservation was a king-size bed. Now I kind of regretted not having a sofa where we could sit and talk. The only place we were going to sit was on the bed and…
“Oh shit!” I said.
“What?”
“I didn’t think about spending the night with you. I didn’t bring my change of clothes and… nothing to sleep in. I’m not sure I’m ready to be naked with you.”
“Oh. Wait a minute.” He went into the bathroom and came out a couple minutes later. He’d lost the jacket, vest, and tie, and his shirt was mostly open, showing his smooth young chest. I wondered if our older brother’s mother was hairy. Neither of us had been cursed with all that hair. He handed me his T-shirt.
“You went in and took off your T-shirt so I’d have something?” I asked. “You are so sweet. I know a hundred guys who would push their advantage in this situation and try to convince me it wouldn’t make a difference because we’d be under the covers anyway.” I reached up and kissed him. He put his arms around me and the temperature in the room started to rise. This time it was him letting me know he was serious. My whole body was tingling. “Wow! What was that all about?”
“I wanted to make sure that you knew and understood that I want to be under the covers naked with you. But I won’t try to trick you into it,” he said. “I’ve got boxers on. I won’t be wearing a shirt to bed because you have my T-shirt and this formal shirt is scratchy. Now go ahead and get comfortable.”
“There’s one thing, Eric.” He looked at me. “I can’t unzip this dress by myself. The zipper is under my left arm. Would you mind?” He grinned like he’d just won the lottery. Still, he was polite and didn’t try to feel me up much—not more than pressing the back of his hand against the soft side of my boob while he held the dress to unzip it. “Thank you,” I said when he was finished. I turned to kiss him again and my dress fell to the floor. Oops! I hadn’t intended that to happen. I almost tripped over it as I ran mostly naked to the bathroom. Damn it!
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