Author's Note: Welcome back, dear audience, for another tale. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome and encouraged. This story is fully consensual and thus needs no disclaimers other than that all characters who engage in sexual conduct are of age. Now, on with the show.
***
"Are you actually gonna do it?" the taller girl asked for what had to be the tenth time that night, perhaps even the twentieth. She was leaned forward over the back of an old leather couch on which her best friend had been awkwardly perched for more than an hour, the result being that their heads were so close her question could be posed as nothing more than a conspiratorial whisper.
"I dunno... I mean, I'd like to..." the friend replied, her eyes locked firmly on a handsome boy leaning against a wall on the opposite side of the crowded living room. While she may have had eyes for none but him there had to be something like a dozen other partygoers standing between the two teens and several times that many throughout the rest of the house. If she didn't know better the girl might have thought half their graduating class had shown up to celebrate Casey's birthday. Cassie's too, naturally, what with birthday parties being just one more item on the extensive list of things the twins had always shared. "You promise you wouldn't freak out, right?" the seated teen asked, pulling her eyes away from her longtime crush in order to turn and face his sister instead. "I don't want to make things awkward..."
To some people it might have seemed strange how alike the face waiting for her there was to the one she had just turned away from, what with the twins both sporting their mother's silvery-gray eyes and some nearly identical dimples, but then Amira had known each long enough for that phenomenon to be rendered routine. After all, the three of them, as well as her brother Naz, had all grown up in the same neighbourhood and spent more than a little of their collective childhoods together. From the hazily remembered days of their distant past in which they had raced on bicycles with training wheels to the more recent evening they had spent playing spin the bottle with their first stolen can of beer the quartet of friends had long been nigh on inseparable. It was that decade and a half of unbroken friendship which made the move Amira had been contemplating for the better part of a year seem every bit as enticing as it was nerve-wracking. Never had she known another boy who she trusted nearly enough to share her first time with, but neither had there ever been one whose lost friendship she would feel even half so keenly were things to go poorly.
Cassie knew well her best friend's dilemma, having first heard it confessed several months before and thus been granted more than enough time to come to grips with everything it would mean for them. "I mean, yeah, it'd definitely be a bit weird..." she whispered back, the girls' faces so close their noses were nearly brushing against one another. "But hey, I know how much you like him. And I'm pretty sure he'd be interested too so I don't wanna be the one who shoots you both down." Whatever reservations she might have had, the brunette just flashed Amira that same reassuring smile that always seemed to soothe her nerves. As critical as she considered her best friend's blessing, though, receiving it did little to dampen the teen's anxiety over the prospect of making a first move on Casey.
Swinging her head forward once more, Amira returned her gaze to the subject of their conversation. There was no question about it, a face wasn't all the twins had in common physically. Sure Casey was inch or two taller than his sister, but aside from that they shared the same slight build and wiry strength which came in no small part from many a year spent running with their school's cross country team. Back in the day Amira had been their teammate as well for a few seasons, but her body just hadn't really been built for competitive running and so she hadn't stuck with it as long long as the twins or her brother. Now, just as Cassie was finally beginning to grow into some truly feminine curves herself, her masculine twin had also started packing a bit more weight onto his sturdy frame. For him that bulk came in the way of more pronounced muscles in his arms and thighs, a development which only made him that much more dashing in the eyes of his secret admirer.
"So how long are you gonna just sit there and stare at him?" Cassie eventually whispered, the question and her hot breath against Amira's ear snapping the girl out of her admiring trance.
"Uh... forever?" the anxious teen mumbled, wincing and blushing in equal measure as she turned back towards her best friend. That almost certainly honest admission drew a healthy giggle from the grinning brunette, one so loud Amira was afraid it would draw more attention than she cared to endure at the moment. None of the nearby partygoers seemed to be particularly interested in the girls on the couch, however, not when there was no shortage of more interesting distractions to be found than the perfectly routine phenomenon of a teenage girl giggling.
Once her mirth had died down enough for her to fall quiet, Cassie adopted an almost pensive look, her lips pursed as she regarded Amira. The brunette's nervous friend watched warily as she slowly turned towards her brother, silently regarded him for a long moment, and then swung her head back again. Amira felt herself gulp as the elder twin's lips abruptly curled upwards into a familiar Cheshire grin which flashed two rows of near flawless ivory teeth.
"I think you need this more than me..." Cassie practically purred, one hand appearing from where it had lurked behind the couch in order to pass her best friend a flimsy plastic cup. Amira hesitantly accepted the drink, momentarily glancing downwards to check its contents. The amber-hued liquid within, doubtless one of the expensive whiskeys for which Cassie had inherited her father's taste, still reached at least halfway up the flimsy walls containing it. "Now, don't ever say I never did anything for you, Mir."
"Wha...?" the nervous teen started to ask, but by the time her eyes had risen from the depths of the cup back up to where her friend had been just a second before Cassie was already twirling away. Amira's eyes went wide as saucers as she watched the lithe brunette saunter off towards where her brother stood, gracefully weaving her way between the handful of drunken partygoers in her path despite her own partial intoxication. A few moments later and she was sidling up next to her brother, draping one arm around his shoulders as she leaned in to whisper in his ear.
For a second nothing seemed to happen, the handsome boy just carrying on his conversation with a pair of schoolmates as if his sister weren't even there. But then he came to a halt and leaned back so slightly the motion bordered on the imperceptible. All of a sudden the rest of the world seemed to freeze as Casey turned towards Amira's couch in what had to be slow motion. She had witnessed the smile which then blossomed on his lips more times than she could count, but all the same the sight of it was enough to make her feel as if a thousand butterflies which had been nesting inside her chest had suddenly taken off all at once in a whirling frenzy of wings. At first glance the expression was so similar to Cassie's smile that some might have called them interchangeable. To Amira, though, nothing could have been further from the truth. Where her best friend's smile had always had a way of calming her nerves the other twin's had for years never failed to make her heart skip a beat.
Another moment passed and suddenly Casey was casually strolling her way, sister and friends alike abandoned in his wake. For a split second Amira's wide eyes shifted over his shoulder to glance at Cassie instead but the lithe brunette just flashed her best friend a playful grin and fluttered her eyelashes before turning away to engage with the pair of confused boys her brother had left behind. Gulping once more, the anxious teen let her eyes flit back to her crush only to find he had already split the distance which separated them mere moments before. As he crossed the last few feet remaining between them, Amira swiftly lifted the cup she was still clutching in one trembling hand and hastily downed a mouthful of the whiskey inside. Cassie had most definitely been right.
***
There was a tremendous clatter to be heard as the door to Cassie's bedroom burst open, the shadowy stillness within instantly shattered by a flood of light from the hallway outside swiftly followed by a pair of teenagers every bit as drunk as they were horny. Ever since the room's full-time resident had none-too-gently nudged her twin into approaching Amira earlier in the evening, the two longtime friends had scarcely been apart for a moment. At first they had planted themselves next to one another on the same couch the nervous teen had occupied for most of the night, but even what limited privacy that spot held was lost to them when her brother Nazem finished his last round of beer pong and decided to drop by. Fortunately, no sooner had he done so than Cassie materialized as well, appearing as if from thin air to provide a distraction which allowed the potential couple to slip out a nearby door into the more secluded venue of the rear garden.