This story contains incest.
"Can my sister visit over Thanksgiving?"
It was our first semester in grad school. Bob and I hadn't known each other very well as undergraduates, mostly from taking the same courses in our major, agreeing to share a flat, when we both were accepted for the grad program in another university. I knew he had a twin sister, but she hadn't been mentioned since we had moved into the flat with two bedrooms just large enough for a bed and desk.
Sure, his sister could visit him in a couple of weeks – from wherever. I didn't even know her name. Why was he asking me? I shrugged and replied:
"Sure, of course; why did you ask?"
"I was wondering if you would mind her staying here."
I was sitting on the two-seat sofa in the small living room; Bob was sitting on the armchair, both of us were reading a magazine, and had hardly glanced up at each other. More lost in the article I was reading, I asked automatically: "Where?"
When Bob didn't immediately reply, I suddenly awoke to why he had asked and forgot the article. Where was she going to sleep, for how many nights? I didn't think it would bother me to have girl in the apartment; by then I had slept with a few – whole nights – so it was only a question of where she would sleep. He still hadn't replied. I looked over at him. His face was hidden behind his magazine.
"Where's she going to sleep?" I asked, recognizing that I was accepting that she would sleep in our little apartment. Was he blushing, when he raised his head from behind the magazine? It was still another moment before he replied:
"With me, I guess." He was blushing, and corrected himself:
"I meant in my room, I was assuming," then adding: "We're twins, you know."
Of course, everyone knew that twins were closer than other siblings, so I didn't have a problem with their sharing a room, but where would she sleep – an air mattress? But there wasn't space on the floor for one, just maybe, if part of it was under the bed. I asked:
"She has an air mattress?"
Bob shook his head. I hadn't known that an adult could blush like he was. He looked back at his magazine and murmured: "We have before, you know: twins."
He could only have meant that they had shared a bed before – a single bed like the ones in our rooms?! I knew what it was like to be in bed with a girl in beds like that. There had only been one reason to be there, and I couldn't imagine that it wouldn't occur to siblings, a male and female lying so close that they had to be aware of each other's body, touching each other, even if they were wearing pajamas or whatever his sister wore in bed. I knew that he just wore boxer shorts. I caught my breath and tried to reply evenly:
"If you want to; I guess so – twins."
Bob nodded, looking slightly less embarrassed, and murmured again: "We have before."
I shrugged, then smiled wryly and said: "I don't think I could with my sister, but I don't have one."
He also smiled wryly, also shrugging but now looking relieved, and we left the subject at that for the evening and until the weekend before Thanksgiving. I was, however, thinking too often about their sharing his bed. Had it been a big double bed with space enough to keep out of contact, maybe one like in Europe with two sets of covers? That would be fairly easy, but his single bed was not like that, the two of them under one sheet and blanket, like when I had slept with girls. It was very difficult – impossible – for me to imagine that Bob could not be having similar thoughts, and what was his sister thinking? She must be assuming that I must be wondering about their sharing his bed. It was going to be a very curious situation.
Friday evening before Thanksgiving, we were sharing a six pack. After our second beers, with a wry expression Bob said:
"I guess you must have been wondering about Deb's coming here. Deb, Deborah."
"I have been," I agreed, popping the tab of my third beer.
"She said I should thank you from her for letting her stay here, said that she was looking forward to meeting you."
"I am too, to meeting her."
"Said you must be very nice, being so understanding."
"I'm trying to be: nice, and understanding," I replied, liking that he had mentioned her visit, thinking that it might be only because Deb had said that.
I took a sip of my fresh beer. Bob took a better one of his. He looked at me, then looked away for a moment, then at me again and took another better one. Then without looking at me he said:
"She called yesterday and said that I should tell you."
Tell me what, I wondered, also taking a better sip, waiting for him to continue. He looked at me with a slightly embarrassed expression, raising his eyebrows and taking another sip, then murmured:
"Said I should tell you the whole story."
I just nodded. Bob almost emptied his beer, then gave me a very wry smile and said:
"She's right, you must be wondering about us, that you could only think one thing."
I nodded slightly with a shrug. Bob suddenly began to chuckle and emptied the little in his can and asked if we didn't have anything else to drink. I said that I thought there was still something in the liter bottle of cognac he had bought duty free when he returned from Europe in the fall. There was. I emptied my can and we got glasses and a made ourselves brandy and sodas, returning to the living room with our glasses and both bottles. We drank, and Bob smirked and told:
"She's right, you were probably right. For graduation last spring, the parents gave us a trip to Europe, telling us to watch out for each other. For the first week in London, we had reservations for two single rooms. After there, we just played it by ear, had a loose itinerary, finding hotels where we went, asking for two single rooms. In England, I guess the people read our passports better and understood that we were siblings. On the Continent, in hotels they asked if we wanted single rooms, and we explained that we were siblings. How many time did that happen before?"
Bob took a drink, and I did, now anticipating how they could have shared a bed, but it wouldn't have been one like they were going to share over the long Thanksgiving weekend. He continued:
"Only a couple, three times I guess. Deb must also have glanced in double rooms that were being cleaned and seen the adjacent twin beds with separate covers. When we were looking for a hotel one evening, she looked at me with funny expression and suggested we could save money by sharing a room.
"Hmm! I was very apprehensive about asking for a double room, but why not, if she thought we could share one. It was no problem in that hotel. Hm-hmm! Maybe except for the receptionist's smiling as though she thought we were a young couple."
Bob and I took another drink, both smirking slightly; it was too evident where his story was leading. He hummed with a smile and went on:
"That was fine, two adjacent beds, separate covers, we being just as discreet as back home about sharing our bathroom. I think the first evening and morning we both felt a little that we were doing something we shouldn't be, but that wore off in the next couple of days in that hotel. In the next town, I was much more nonchalant about asking for a double room, which had the same type of beds. Deb just smiled and said that we were saving money. We were, since hotel bills were a big part of our budget.
"Of course, we got a little looser about seeing each other in just underwear. Hadn't I seen her in a bikini and she seen me in trunks? She has a nice figure, but I knew that already, and I had seen her at home in a shorty nightgown and bottom. We always changed individually in the bathroom, but got careless about closing the door completely. A few times at breakfast, people smiled at the young American couple, and we smiled back sweetly, then winking at each other. After the first or second time, I did wonder if they saw that and maybe thought our winks were because we had had a good night together, but that thought didn't suggest anything to me."
Bob took another drink, and I did, and one of us refilled our glasses, as he continued:
"So that was fine, also in the next couple of hotels. But then in a picturesque small town, after we checked in, we discovered that the bed in the double room was an old-fashioned, one mattress double bed with one set of covers."