VICKI
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Barry had come home. I mean I was
really
surprised since, because it was a hot morning and nobody had turned the air conditioner on yet, when I woke up I walked to the bathroom wearing only my panties. And there was my little brother, walking out of the bathroom.
A week ago this would have been mortifying -- but a few nights ago he'd seen everything I have, and had his hands on most of it. "Hold that thought," I said to him before he could say anything, holding up my hand.
When I finished doing my business, I could have wrapped a towel around myself, but why bother at this point? I came out dressed as before, and told him to come to follow me to my room. He sat on my bed and I went to my dresser. "This can't be good," I said. I pulled on a pair of shorts, and a crop top with a built-in bra. Those things are only a small step above useless, but I knew it was going to be too warm for a bra today.
"It isn't good," he agreed. Well, I should
hope
he wouldn't be this blasΓ© about my nudity if he weren't upset about something.
He'd gone off to spend a long weekend with his girlfriend Anna and her family, and he hadn't expected to return home with his virginity intact. Or return home three days early, for that matter.
"Fight?"
"Yeah."
"The usual?"
"Yeah."
"It's over?"
"I think so this time, yeah."
Barry and I are close: I didn't need him to fill in many blanks, and I also knew not to press him for details.
So he and Anna were done. I think he knew how I always felt about her, but I would never say it to his face. And I wouldn't now either, just in case "over" didn't turn out to be permanent. "Have you seen Mom or Dad yet?"
"I saw Dad just briefly, before he left for work. I was still up when Mom snuck back home from next door, so of course I had to pretend not to notice." Mom and Dad think we don't know she spends half her nights sleeping in Cathy's family's den. Things aren't going well in Casa Conway.
"I have no plans for today," I lied. When I woke up I saw that Kara had me invited over for a girls' party, but when I saw Barry had come home, I declined. "Let's do something." I really didn't want to spending the whole day in his room sulking, as he had in the past when he and Anna had broken up.
"Thanks, but I really don't feel like going anywhere."
"How about after lunch we invite Gail and Scott over for a swim?"
"Gail and Scott and not Cathy?" he asked curiously.
"She had to go back to school suddenly last night," I told him. Which had seemed odd to me. I might know
my
family's dirty secrets, but I had a feeling there was something going on next door.
Could Cathy be pregnant? That would explain some things, but you'd think she'd have told me. Well, I'd give her a few days and then IM her and demand some details.
"That sounds good," he agreed. Which didn't surprise me: if he thinks
anybody
didn't notice the way he was carrying on with Gail at the pool party before Anna showed up...
Gail had confided to me that if Anna hadn't shown up, and Barry had invited her up to his room, neither one of them would be virgins today. I couldn't tell Barry though: he was my brother and one of my best friends, and I hardly knew Gail, but a secret is a secret..
After breakfast, we sat out by the pool. I figured if he wanted to tell me what had happened between him and Anna, this would give him a chance.
He didn't. That was okay too, of course.
"Would it be too weird if I took off my top?" I asked after a while, picking up the tube of sun cream. "I wouldn't mind getting rid of some of these lines."
"I can't seem the harm at this point," he said with the closest thing to a grin I'd seen on him today.
It suddenly occurred to me that I might be giving Barry mixed signals here. Did he think I wanted him to volunteer to rub the cream onto my breasts himself?
(
Did
I?)
Lying there topless made me remember the other night, and that got me wondering...if Scott had seen Gail topless before, as she told me he had, why was she so freaked out about taking off her bra in the pool the other night?
Maybe she didn't want us to know he'd seen her like that? I guess it's not something you want to advertise. And at least they never came as dangerously close to fucking as Barry and I had the other night.
I don't think Barry has any idea that I would have gone as far as he wanted.
After 20 minutes I flipped over and did ask Barry to rub the cream into my back.
He behaved.