A Close Family

Mike almost fell out of bed still suffering from the excess of drink from his usual Friday night out, his head was thumping as he glanced at the window, it was still dark, a quick look at the clock told him it was just after 3am, he was dying for a piss. In his semi drunken state he stumbled naked to the bathroom opened the door and walked in. Linda was sitting there a wide eyed look on her face.

"Oh! Sorry." Mike said, and stumbled back to his room closing the bathroom door behind him. At 21 Linda was several years younger than Mike and knew what a man looked like, maybe that's why she looked somewhere other than his face. In a drunken haze Mike waited for the sound of Linda returning to her room and then stumbled, still naked back to the bathroom.

Mike was lucky that he rarely ever suffered from a hangover so when he got up the following morning, although he looked the worse for wear he was able to prepare his own breakfast. Shortly after he sat down he heard footsteps behind him.

"Morning Mike." Linda said, "Sobered up yet?"

"Don't I always?" he replied, through the haze.

"Not when I saw you last night, no." Linda said with a laugh.

"Oh shit!" Mike gasped, "I thought....did I....Fuck! I'm sorry Lyn."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not. I do see you in a whole new light though." Mike noted the hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah well," he said, a bit embarrassed, "Let's forget it shall we?"

"I'll try. But it could be, hard." she burst into laughter.

"Yeah ok! ok!" he said, getting up from the table and walking away.

It was Mike's habit every morning to get up, put on his swimming shorts, have his breakfast and take a swim before getting dressed. All the way to the pool he was calling himself all sorts of idiots, knowing that Lyn was going to rib him all day about seeing him naked, "And hard for fuck sake" he said out loud

For the next couple of days Linda made the most of Mike's embarrassment, a couple of times he saw Linda and Lesley, who was 20, huddled together talking, with a giggle thrown in when he appeared. He was thankful Lee wasn't part of the secret because she never kept things quiet, and anyway as she was only eighteen Mike would have been devastated. By the third day things seemed to have quietened down and by the end of the week it seemed to be forgotten

By Friday, Mike had forgotten all about it and went out on his usual drinking session with his friends. As usual he got fall down drunk and as usual he stumbled into bed at about 2am and as usual he got up the following morning with only a blurred memory of his night out. And as usual he put his swimming shorts on and went for breakfast.

"Morning Mike." Linda said, "Sobered up yet."

Mike got a sudden vision of her sitting on the loo, "Oh fuck I didn't did I? No I didn't, I would have remembered." he said unconvinced

"Do what Mike?" Linda said all innocently

"Oh nothing forget it." he said, relieved

"Forget what?" Lesley said from behind him. "That big brother likes walking around naked in the middle of the night."

"Oh Lyn!" Mike said defeated, "You didn't have to tell her did you? Who else knows?"

Linda moved and put her arms around Lesley's shoulder, "Ooh Mike I think we want to keep this in the family don t we Les?"

"Too true!" Lesley replied smiling, "From what Lyn tells me i'm surprised you don't have a constant stream of girls knocking at your door all the time."

"Alright! Alright! you two, you've made your point." he said with a laugh, "Joke over ok!"

"Oh but I keep having these nightmares about this huge 'thing' dangling in my face." Linda said childishly, "Do you think I need help big brother? A therapist maybe?"

"A sex therapist more like." Lesley squealed.

It was just as well he got on well with his sisters; he knew they were only winding him up and having a laugh. "From some of the noises I hear from your room I don't think either of you need sex therapy." Now it was their turn to be embarrassed.

"Oh you perv." Linda said.

And Lesley added, "You've been listening at my door!"

"No...." he started.

"Now I know why you were so big in the bathroom." Linda laughed.

"That's it.!" Mike said with a smile, "I've got no chance against the two of you; i'm going for my swim."

When he had gone Lesley asked, "Was he really that big?"

Linda smiled, "Well bigger than Colin that's for sure, mind you he seemed enormous at that time of night."

"God!" Lesley gasped, "How can you compare your brother to your boyfriend."

Now it was Linda's turn to be embarrassed, "I'm not, I was just saying. Well you asked what am I supposed to say? He's hung like a bloody donkey?"

They both fell into fits of giggles and sat down to eat there breakfast's

Smiling, Mike made his way to the pool. He was pleased that he had been able to turn the tables on them, not that he had heard anything from their rooms but he knew that they both slept with their boyfriends. Mike thought himself lucky that his parents ran a liberated and uncomplicated household. He had taken several girls home for the night and his sister's boyfriends were regular stopovers. 'Mind you,' he thought, 'I don't think they would be too happy with me running around in the middle of the night naked.' He smiled to himself as he dived into the warm pool. After his usual ten lengths he dried himself off and went back to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee, taking it up to his room where he would probably spend most of the day on his PC. He liked to get his following weeks work program out of the way by midday so that he was free for the rest of the weekend.

As he worked he found his mind wandering back to his entry into the bathroom last week. It hadn't entered his mind since it happened, even when Lyn mentioned it he couldn't pick out any details as he was so busy fighting his embarrassment. Now his mind picked them out, of it's own accord. Linda sitting there, pants at her ankles, legs closed and hands resting between them, she had a thin nightdress so he hadn't seen anything, just those huge eyes of hers shocked as he walked in and then slowly moving down to his erection.

He stopped tapping on his keyboard at the thought of what she had seen, "Fuckin hell! he said quietly, "She saw the fucking lot. Shit!"

He smiled at the thought of what must have run through her mind the moment she saw it. Had she compared him with Colin, did it turn....? "Fucking hell stop thinking like that and get on with your work." he said to himself. He shut the picture from his mind and tapped away on his keyboard. But it was too late, the questions were flooding through his mind and he couldn't concentrate.

Unable to keep his mind on his work he grabbed his cup and went downstairs for a fresh coffee, thankfully the pot was full so he just had to fill up. As he made his way back upstairs there was a knock at the door. Mike opened it and was presented with a clip board, "Sign ere." a gruff voice said bluntly. Mike noticed a parcel in his other hand and duly signed. Closing the door he checked to see who it was for and seeing Linda's name took it up with his coffee. Leaving his cup in his room he tapped on Linda's door and without thinking walked in.

The picture before him caused him a mixture of horror, shock, bemusement and total disbelief. "I....i'm sorry....I...." he stammered. He dropped the package and ran. He didn't have any idea where he was going just that he had to get away. He ran into the garden and slowing to a walk just kept going, he hopped over the style at the bottom and realised he was heading for the woods. His mind was flashing the picture over and over again as he walked. Suddenly he found himself at Lee's tree house.

The structure was quite large, built into the biggest oak tree Mike had ever seen, he had been here a few times but generally, Lee was the only one who used it. She had built it herself, every last nail. It had two rooms, if you could call it that, and while it wasn't totally waterproof it was good enough for Lee to sleep in on occasion. Fitted out with a camping cooker and stocked with coffee and tea it was a cosy private little nook that Lee loved, and right now Mike needed.

He forced the picture from his mind till he had made himself a cup of coffee. Then dangling his feet over the edge he looked out into the wood till his mind was calm. Then he allowed the picture to flood back. However he looked at it he couldn't convince himself that he was mistaken. His two sisters' were having sex. 'Well no,' he thought, 'let's get it straight. They lay naked on the bed together, Linda's face about two inches from Lesley's and Lesley was holding Linda's tit. Was that having sex? As near as damn it. Fuck!'

This was all getting too much, first he walk's in on Linda having a piss and then he walk's in on her fucking her sister. The look of shock on her face though was something to remember, much worse than his. The questions kept coming to him though. How long had it been going on? What about their boyfriends? Did anyone else know? Were they closet lesbians? 'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck' he thought, ' what the fuck am i gonna do, how can i face them.' All the, 'why didn't i do this' and 'why didn't i do that's' went through his mind, he just kept blaming himself.

Mike stayed in the tree house for a couple of hours before he came down, he knew he had to face them sometime. He decided that he would just ignore it and go with the flow, after all they were his sister's, it's not like one of them was an outsider, and they were a close family. 'Yeah but not that fucking close.' he thought with a smile. Maybe he would milk this the way they had milked his error, but then, maybe not eh?

Keeping his eye's open to avoid bumping into them he made his way back to his room and once again tried to finish his work. It was slow and took a lot of determination before he completed it but, finally finished he felt relieved, now he could get on with what was left of his weekend. Even though the light was fading he put on his swimming shorts and went to the pool, not his usual routine but he felt the need to hide away.

"What are we going to do?" Lesley asked, as they watched him go to the pool.

"Well i suppose there's only one thing we can do." Linda replied, "Come on lets have a swim."

"No! I cant, I can't face him."

"Well you're going to have to sooner or later, now is as good as any other time, come on."

"Well you can do the talking." Lesley said as she went to her own room.

Ten minutes later they joined Mike in the orangery. Mike looked up, a little embarrassed but said nothing. The girls slipped into the pool and Mike could hear them whispering. He smiled to himself and had to admit this revenge was much better than earlier. He would wait and see what happened.

The girls got out of the pool and grabbing a towel off the shelf sat down on the sun chairs opposite Mike. "You ok bruv?" Linda asked.

"Yeah just chillin." he said as naturally as he could.

"We don't usually see you here at this time of the day" Lesley said.

"No, just thought I would take it easy for a change."

"Oh, ok!" Lesley said quietly. She hunched her shoulders and spreading her hands looked at Linda questioningly.

Linda just raised her eyes as if to say, 'How the hell do i know?'

The girls sat uncomfortably for a few minutes and then got up and left. Mike watched them leave, keeping a straight face till they were out of view, then a huge grin spread across his face.

He didn't mention anything of what he saw for the whole of that week, but now and then he let slip a little double meaning or two for the pair of them to read as they wished, especially when Rob came round to see Lesley. She was on real tenterhooks while they were together. Even though it was only for a minute but Mike looked at her and then at Rob and then went to say something and said something entirely different. Les whisked Rob off as quickly as she could

Monday morning. Mike went off to work having had a rather restless weekend. No matter how he tried he couldn't get the picture of Linda's tit in Lesley's hand out of his mind. Even though they had there own swimming pool, Mike had never seen that much of Linda's body before, or was it that he had never seen it in that situation before. Whatever the reason, her tit's seemed to get bigger by the day.

During lunch break Mike always sat with Alex, one of his Friday night drinking partners, they would discuss world events and the price of eggs and other points of national importance, usually ending up with 'What happened Friday night then I don't remember much.'

"You've got sisters haven't you Alex?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, Marcia, she's a year older than me and Kim, younger. Why do you ask?"

"How do they get on with each other?"

"Ohh god, don't get caught between them two. They will both join up and tear you apart or they're tearing each other apart. What about yours? How many you got?"

"Three. I was just wondering because all my sister's seem really close. The only one that ever argues is Lee, but then I think she should have been a brother." Mike laughed as he pictured Lee climbing trees and playing football.

"Well sister's are like that. One minute they're fighting like cat and dog and the next they're sharing clothes or even boyfriends."

"Boyfriends? Really?"

"Well not as such but they don't keep anything about men to themselves do they. They're always comparing bits and pieces and sharing information. Sisters are a click unto themselves really. Women are bad enough, but when they're your sister's it's horrible."

Mike thought about what Alex had said for the rest of the day but it didn't help him to understand what had occurred any better.

Later that week, after Mike had done his evening class, he got home to find his step mother in the kitchen. Everyone else it seemed was out. "Hi mum, how's you, where is every one." Although Elise was Mikes step mother he never looked on her as anything other than his mother, never having really known his real mother.

"Hi, honey!" she called, "I'm in the kitchen. I'm having a late dinner do you want some before I dish it up?"

Mike walked into the kitchen and pecked her on the cheek, "Yeah that would be great, what we got?"

"Well i'm having a chicken dinner, we have beef or whatever's left in the freezer."

Mike smiled; he thought Elise may have by some miracle cooked something. Not that she really had much time to cook but one can live in hopes. "Ok I'll have the same if that's ok?"

"Ok! Dad's at one of his meetings and the girls are all out."

Sometimes Elise gave the impression that she never heard you, and then, like now, suddenly give you the answer to your question. Mike sat down and waited for the 'ding' of the microwave. "You ok hun? You look worried." Elise said, as she handed him his dinner. She sat at the table with him and waited patiently for him to reply.

"Mum? Well...."

Still she waited patiently, slowly eating her dinner. "Well...." Mike started again, trying to figure out a way to ask the question without giving anything away, "Is it true that sister's have a sort of, well, special relationship. I mean as opposed to brother sister, you know sort of woman thingy....wotsit."

Elise laughed, "Well not quite the way I would have seen it but I know what you mean. Women always get on better with women Mike. It's just the way things are. Mother daughter and sister sister relationships are usually that much closer. Not always. Thankfully in this house I think we are all really close compared with a lot of families I know. Why?"

Mike wasn't expecting that question, "Oh....well....it's just that Alex has got two sisters and he says they are always fighting and asked me if I had the same problem."

"And what did you say?"

"Well I told him the truth. That they are really close, that we are all really close and that I couldn't ever remember them having a real all out fight, or argument, even Lee, as bullish as she can be doesn't really fight with the others. I just wondered which the norm was."

"Well, if I go back to my own sister I would say that he is more like the norm. Not that Charlene and I were always fighting. But I much prefer what we have." she said, touching his hand," I am so very proud of you all, you get along so well and help each other out all the time. I think I would hate it if you were always fighting. You just make life so easy for your father and me, never having to really worry about any of you, always knowing that you stick together. It's nice."

"So being a really close family is better than normal."

"Mmmm, yes I would say so, definitely."

Mike sat eating his dinner, "Is that it then." Elise said, "Is that what was worrying you?"

"Oh I wasn't worried. It's just that what Alex was saying made me look at our home life a little deeper that's all."

"And what did you discover?" Elise was curious, she had never really thought about the way they lived their life, it was all just so nice but she did have to admit it wasn't normal, in the nicest way of course but it just wasn't. Her daughter's were more like sister' to her and Mike was, well Mike. Even Jack was close to his girls, it just seemed so normal to them but Elise knew that other families would have been envious of her life.

"Well from what I can make out, we seem to be extremely lucky and so very close for a family of this size, we all get on so well most of the time, it's more like we're a group of friends."

"And are you ok with that?"

"Oh yeah! I just wondered why? I suppose. Or maybe why our lifestyle isn't the norm? Everyone would be so much better off if it was."

"I think you could be right. But then we wouldn't be special would we?" she laughed.

"No I suppose not." Mike replied.

They finished there meal and threw the rubbish in the bin. Mike grabbed a coffee and went to his room while Elise poured herself a scotch and switched the TV on.

Mike thought about his conversation and done a little calculating. One and one equal two. One being, sisters are always close. And one being his sister's were much closer than usual. Two being, taking that final step to what he had seen, would have been not only sort of normal but he supposed, expected. So it was all ok.

The following day, Thursday, Mike again got home late to find this time that Linda was in the kitchen. "Hi bruv, I'm just doing dinner, you want some?"

"This must be my lucky week. Having two meals cooked for me."

"Well it's not like we actually see much of each other in the week is it?" Mike's smile made her realise what she had said, she laughed, and added, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah I know sis, anyway I think we need to talk if that's ok?"

"Yeah I think so too. Colin's got the hump, and everyone else is out." She placed a microwave meal on the table and Mike started to eat it.

"Go on then sis, what did you want to say?" He couldn't help but put her on the spot.

"Well, it's....about Saturday....you know."

"Ok don't worry; I'll help you out ok. I won't pretend I wasn't shocked to see you and Les....well.... in bed shall we say. But I have thought about it and chatted to mum and I suppose its ok."

"What!" Lyn gasped, "You told mum."

"No! Don't be silly, mind you I don't think it would worry mum, dad maybe but not mum. No I just asked her about sister sister friends relationship stuff that's all."

"Thank god for that. Les has been frantic all week worrying that you would tell Rob or even mum. So you're ok with it then?"

"Ok with what?" Lesley said from the door. She looked worried. Lyn looked past Les looking for Rob, "Don't worry Robs gone home."

"Ok with you and me Les. I thought it was about time we broached the subject."

"I'm sorry Les if I have worried you." Mike said, "I was a little confused and to be honest I was getting a little revenge on the both of you. I didn't realise how worried you were."