Author's Note:
Here we are again. It's becoming more and more difficult to think of something interesting to write here, so I won't bother.
I will, as always, thank my editor Dr Mark, who has the unenviable job of keeping me on track, and pointing out where I really screw up. Sometimes I listen.
Anyway - on with the show.
PM
Caleb 36 - Truth and Lies.
We all trooped across to number five for lunch. I knocked on the door at almost exactly one o'clock. Alan answered immediately.
"Hi guys," he said, smiling. "Come on in."
We took our shoes off, leaving them on the porch, before entering. I handed Alan the wine I had bought and he took it into the kitchen. "Lunch will be about thirty minutes," he said, emerging a moment later. "Caleb, Anne asked if you wouldn't mind giving her a hand?"
I went into the kitchen. Anne smiled at me as I walked in. She had a muffin tray and was about to pour the batter into it to make Yorkshire pudding.
"You need to heat the oil first," I said. "Otherwise, they won't rise properly. It needs to be smoking hot."
She put the muffin tray into the oven and put the batter back onto the side. Alan had returned to the living room. Anne looked at me. "When did you find it?" she asked. I realised that she had figured out we had found the glory hole.
"Find what?" I queried.
She snorted at me. "You almost got away with it, but one of the twins turned you slightly so we could see better. I didn't figure it out it at the time, but I was thinking about it later and realized the significance of her doing that."
"Does your brother know?" I asked. I figured if she was going to call us out, then I would return the favor.
She went white. "How?"
"You're not the only one that thinks stuff over later," I said. "It was just a suspicion until now, but your reaction confirmed it. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone. Like I said to Alan: we alternative lifestyle people need to stick together."
"He told me about that," she said with a half-smile. "You were testing him, teasing him, weren't you?"
"You should have seen his face," I said, with a wicked grin. "He nearly crushed your cable box."
"You are a bad man," she scolded. The relief blazed in her aura. She had, for so long, wanted to be able to relax around someone.
Alan returned to the kitchen to get drinks for everyone.
"Alan," said Anne. He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "They know."
"Know what?" he asked, looking worried.
"Everything," she said. "About the hole, about us..."
He looked at me with real fear in his eyes.
"It's okay," I reassured him. "We know, and we don't care. What you guys do - who you are - is not our business. I'm flattered to find out that watching us feeds your fantasies. We're not going to tell anyone. Your secrets are completely safe with us."
Alan sat down at the kitchen table.
"I..." he said. "I don't know what to say. How long have you known?"
"Since lunch last week," I said. "You said that you'd seen me training, I couldn't figure out how. At first, I thought you might be tapping into our CCTV, but then I realized it was something a little lower-tech. I checked the fence for knotholes and found a rather large one. Your comments about how long you've been together also made me think. But most of all, you have the same eyes. Your being siblings was a guess, but every time I poked you, your reaction was pretty extreme. If it makes you feel any better, Anne's poker face isn't great either. Runs in the family?"
"So, what happens now?" asked Anne.
"Something very important," I said. She looked a little unnerved. "You pull out the muffin tray with the smoking oil, and quickly pour the batter into each cup and then pop them back in the oven. Then, in about twenty minutes, you should have perfect Yorkshire puddings."
The Yorkshire puddings turned out really well, and the rest of the meal was just as tasty. After the initial shock of my revelation, Alan and Anne relaxed, and we enjoyed a nice lunch.
I sensed from them that they didn't really want to discuss the glory hole, and, while they would be content to deal with anything that came through it, they didn't want to engage any more directly. Peeping and 'anonymous' sex were their fantasies. Swapping and orgies, not so much - at least not yet. I kept the girls in the loop, so they'd know not to press the issue. For once, I felt that Amanda was on my side. Keeping a fantasy alive was something she respected, apparently. I had a feeling she'd still push them a little on joining us if the opportunity presented itself.
Alan opened the wine with lunch. Not being a huge fan of wine, I declined, and then accepted the beer offered in its stead. Josh took the same offer, but everyone else had a glass - and that was only the beginning. Between the six of them, they managed to make their way through the two bottles that I'd brought, and another one that Alan had had in the house. By the time lunch was over, all the girls were a little tipsy.
We stayed and helped to clear up after lunch, despite the protests from the hosts, and then for a short while longer while the girls settled down; it ended up we had been there all afternoon. We called it an early night, though; I wanted to finish up some stuff for school and get ready for the week ahead.
That night, Louise was making not-so-subtle advances yet again, but I wasn't really in the mood. I deflected her back to Josh and went to bed.
Amanda followed me into the bedroom. "What's going on between you and Louise?" she asked as soon as the bedroom door closed.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You know what I mean," she said. "Twice now she has come on to you, and each time you have rejected her. Why?"
"Do you think that after what they have just been through," I asked, "that Josh needs to see his girlfriend having sex with another man?"
