Ashley

Thank you to all the readers who have supported me over the months. It is great to finally have the chapter finished and I hope it proves to be worth the wait. Please note this chapter is very long. The chapter is divided into "days" but I recommend you bookmark as necessary to keep track of your progress.

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Chapter 6: Future

"Big sis, can you pass me the corn?" the sprightly Nicole asked.

"Here ya go, lil' sis." Ashley handed over a plate of buttered corncobs to our younger sibling. "Can I get anything else for you?"

"Nope. Thanks a lot," the youngster said.

"Honey, you really outdid yourself with this beef meatloaf," my father, Richard, complimented.

My mother, Helena, replied, "It's grandma's recipe with my own personal flair. A pinch of pepper here, a bit of cilantro there."

The Stafford family was gathered around the dining room table on a warm Sunday night, enjoying a rare dinner where everyone had lent a hand in preparations. Over a large bowl of beef salad, plate of beef meatloaf, and side dishes of non-beef corn and baked potatoes, my parents, sisters, and I conversed about everything a typical family would converse about. We didn't spend too much time chatting, though, since a rich, creamy cheesecake was calling our names.

Slicing into the cherry-topped dessert, dad announced, "Your Uncle Vince and soon-to-be-Aunt Sophie invited your mother and me to go dancing with them this Friday evening. They want to have a last night out together with friends and family before their wedding next week. Since we're not really into the club scene, I told them we're going to have to pass, but the invitation is extended to you two, Ashley and Brian. If you kids don't have anything booked for Friday, I think it'd be a great idea for you to get to know a little more about your future aunt."

I glanced over at Ashley. Her face, which had been glowing in anticipation of digging into a delicious cake, quickly turned into a worried frown. She glanced back at me, seeing a similar frown on my face.

What could have had us so concerned all of a sudden? It was a simple explanation. Friday night was supposed to be the night Ashley and I would finally go on our date, the night that neither of us were supposed to ever forget. I was to sweep my sister off her feet and give her the most mind-blowing romantic sex of our young lives. I was to make her scream my name over and over again as we fucked to our hearts' content. Then I was to make her shudder in one blissful orgasm after another until her sexy body couldn't take it anymore and she passed out in my arms.

At least, that's how I'd envisioned our date would end.

Okay, so the explanation wasn't that simple, especially to our parents, but the possibility of having to postpone an evening the two of us had been looking forward to for so long had our faces turning white as a ghost.

Ashley was the first to take charge of the situation. Well, more like timidly express her concerns.

"This Friday? Daddy, as much as I love dancing and as fun as that sounds, I already have something else planned."

Dad handed her a piece of cake. "Something with your friends again? I'm sure they'll understand if you have a change of plans."

Her hands were trembling as she accepted the small plate. "No, that's not it. It's kind of important to me. I've been waiting forever for it."

Dad continued to slice into the cake for the rest of the family. "Important, huh? How come I haven't heard anything about this so-called important evening?"

"I wanted to keep it a secret. Until Friday, I mean, when I tell you where I'm going."

"A secret? You're not doing anything I wouldn't approve of, are you?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just kind of embarrassing."

He started to smile. "I can see that. Your face is starting to turn redder than the cherry on your cheesecake. Let me take a guess. It involves a really cute boy?"

Ashley's blush radiated from her cheeks. "Y-yes... someone's asked me on a date."

Dad's mouth curled to a full-blown smile. He turned to mom who had a smile just as wide. "Don't keep it a secret any longer," he excitedly said. "Give us a name, tell us what he's like. You've been inside the house the entire summer; where'd you meet him?"

Ashley dropped her fork onto her plate. "Daddy! Calm down, please! You're not making this easy for me."

The old man couldn't keep his voice down and his arms still. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. It's just that I can't remember the last time you've been out with a boy. In fact, I don't think you've ever been out on a date. This will be your first, won't it?"

Ashley was speechless.

That split second pause had our parents' faces glowing like the Las Vegas strip. They spoke together at a mile a minute. "Sweetie, this is great news. You're going out on your first date." "Where's he taking you and how long you will be out for?" "Don't be afraid to say no if he starts making you feel uncomfortable." "Wait a minute, he's not an older man, is he?"

"Daddy! Mom! This is exactly why I wanted to keep this a secret."

Dad lowered his tone a notch, though it was still louder his normal volume. "Okay, okay, we'll be quiet about your date now. I'm just so happy for our little girl. You've grown up to be such an attractive woman and it's great to finally see you pursue a love interest. If you need anything for your date, tell your mother and me and we'll do whatever we can to help."

"Okay... thanks daddy, thanks mom."

Dad quickly turned to me. "How about you, Brian. Have anything planned for this Friday?"

With the embarrassment Ashley had just endured, I wanted to be as straightforward as possible. No point in hiding something I would have to reveal eventually. "As a matter of fact, I'm also going to be a little busy that day."

"A night out with the guys? I didn't know they already returned home from their vacations and studies."

"My friends are still doing their own things for another couple weeks. Friday won't involve them."

A familiar smile reappeared on dad's face. "In that case, let me take another guess. Does it have anything to do with a girl?"

"Yep, sure does. I have a date for this Friday night too."

Dad leaned back in his seat, blown away by the sudden revelations. "Wow, our two college kids with dates on the same night. What are the chances of that? Is this new girl prettier than Diana?"

"A lot prettier than her. Reminds me of a younger version of mom."

My mother clapped her hands together with a small laugh. "Really? If that's true, then I can see why you're attracted to her. Guess this means I'll have to call Vince and tell him none of us will be going dancing with him. Such a shame, really. I would love to see which bone my brother breaks this time on the dance floor."

After I was asked a few more questions about my date, all of which I had been asked before, the family finished dessert and parted ways to go about our nightly routines. My parents, with work the following morning, were the first to head to bed. Nikky, tired from her friend's birthday party earlier that afternoon, was next to hit the hay. That left Ashley and me with the rest of the house to ourselves. Cutting short the movie we were watching in the living room, we retreated to my bedroom.

There was one major topic we needed to get off our chests and we wasted no time in going over it.

Cuddled in my arms, Ashley asked, "Is it okay if mom and dad know about our date? I don't like lying to them. I know sometimes I joke about what we're doing behind their backs but I would never want to lose their love and respect."

I pulled my blanket over our half-naked bodies. "I don't like lying to them either, but we haven't really done anything wrong. We told them we're going out on a date this Friday, which we are, and you said you were asked out by a boy, which you were. I said my date is prettier than my last one, which is completely true, and that she reminds me a younger version of mom, which you do. So far we're being perfectly honest."

"Just because we're not lying doesn't mean we're being honest." She sincerely squeezed my hands, sighed into my neck. "Maybe we should cancel."

If it weren't for her holding me down, I would have sprung off my bed and hit the ceiling. "What? Why? Don't you still want to do this?"

"I do. I really, really do. But... I'm scared. What if we get caught?"

Getting caught was a fear I had been facing every day since our relationship blossomed. At times Ashley acted so fearless about our relationship that I found it difficult to believe she had the same concerns.

"I'm scared of that too. It'd take one heck of an explanation to clear up what we're doing to mom and dad. But it's worth it, isn't it? What we have together, isn't it worth the risk of getting caught? It's not like we're doing something crazy like getting married."

"It is worth it.

You're

worth it. But I don't want to have to risk anything. It's possible for us to love each other without having to hurt anyone."

"Ashley, we're not hurting anyone. No one knows about us or the things we're doing. What other people don't know can't hurt them."

Solemnly, my sister said, "I guess we could keep this a secret for a while longer." She rolled over to glance at my bedside clock. "It's getting late. I'll need plenty of rest for my jog with Lilly tomorrow morning. I don't want to wake up tired and make a bad first impression."

"Sure thing, sis." I shared with her a small parting kiss. "Have a good night's sleep."

"You too, Brian. I love you."

"I love you, Ash."

She quietly got up from my bed. The smile she wore on the way out of my room wasn't the cheeriest one I had seen from her.

For some reason, I had a feeling that night didn't end as well as it should have.

* * * Monday * * *

As I struggled that Sunday evening to fall asleep, I resolved to make up for our less-than-stellar discussion by surprising Ashley the following morning with a delicious breakfast to jumpstart her day. I was positive a big plate of French toast, scrambled eggs, and sausages would be a surefire way to get back on my sister's good side. She knew I wasn't much of an early bird so even a small gesture like waking up early would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately things didn't turn out the way I had hoped. When I was setting my alarm the previous night, I mistakenly set my clock to ring at six at night instead of the morning. I woke up to the peaceful banging on my door, courtesy of Nicole.

"Bry," she called from what sounded like miles away, "can you drop me off at Marsha's house? We're going to Raging Rapids water park and I need to be at her house in twenty minutes. Mom and dad already said it was okay for me to go."

I rubbed my heavy eyelids open, the shining sun making it tough to keep them up. "What time is it?"

"Nine o'clock." The young tyke entered my room and hopped onto my bed. "Can you take me now or not?"

"Yeah, I guess I can. Did you see Ashley this morning?"

"Yep. We ate cereal together before her friends came over to pick her up. She left around eight."

"Eight? She was supposed to leave at seven." I tumbled out of bed and groped for some decent clothes to put over my plain white shirt and pinstripe boxers. "Give me a sec to get dressed and I'll drop you off."

My errand of taking my youngest sister to her friend's place whittled away only ten minutes of my day. I arrived home to an empty house, something of a rarity that summer. With no kid sister to baby-sit and no adult sister to get play with, I booted up my computer and spent the rest of the morning catching up on my spam emails.

I was purging my inbox full of Viagra ads when I heard the front door open and a cluster of feminine voices, which signaled the long-awaited arrival of my beloved Ashley. I couldn't make out what she and her friends were saying but I did recognize a lot of girlish giggling.

It was a minute later when I heard the door finally close. I got up from my desk, eager to rush out and welcome my sister with a great big hug and kiss. I made it halfway through the hallway when I heard her soothing voice, but stopped going any further when I heard another. Apparently Ashley didn't come in alone.

Backpedaling to my desk, I listened keenly to discern who the mystery friend might be.

"Hey Nat, just wait in my room. I'm going to say hi to my brother."

"Hold on, I want to say to hi to him too."

My computer had just finished loading up some software—needed to make sure I looked busy, after all—when my sister and the raven-haired Natalia poked their heads into my room.

"Hi Brian," they said together. "What'cha doing?"

Even in sweaty tank tops and dirty sneakers the girls were very easy on the eyes. Ashley's blonde locks were tied up in two cute pigtails, while Natalia had her black hair in a long braided ponytail. Ashley's shirt was a golden yellow and her running shorts a clear white, while Natalia wore the same colors but were switched between her top and bottom. The two looked more like sisters than just good friends. Even their bodies appeared to be of a similar build: same height, same smooth legs, same slim waist, and possibly the same cup size.

"Hey sis, hey Natalia. I didn't hear you two come in. I just got back from dropping off Nicole at her friend's house so I'm not doing much of anything right now."

"Right, and now you're going to sit in front of your computer for the next ten hours playing that silly game of yours like you've done all summer," Ashley mocked.

Truthfully I'd been playing less that entire summer than a single day during the school year, but I figured she was ensuring our little secret stayed a secret from her best friend by pretending our days were filled with anything but incestuous sex.

"You know dragons and ogres don't kill themselves. If I don't spend half my days slaying hundreds of monsters, who will?"

My witty joke failed to elicit any response. I noticed the girls were peculiarly gazing around my tech-filled room. I assumed they were here to say more than just hi.

"You two want to come in?"

Natalia glanced at my sister who merely shrugged her shoulders. They approached to either side of me.

Sitting down on a stool, Natalia asked, "What game do you play?"

"An online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. Ever heard of it?"

"Heard of it? I play it. Well, used to. I'm starting to play some other stuff like COD. and UT."

"Wow, you're into FPS games? I used to play CS years ago but my reflexes were never any good for it. Now I play MMO's like WOW and EQ."

In a span of thirty seconds, Natalia and I proceeded to name off a dozen abbreviations and acronyms. It was a neat change of pace talking about one of my favorite hobbies to someone who doesn't say "dude" at the end of every sentence or takes great pride in their burping ability. My friends were the friendliest and smartest people I knew but they were, to put it bluntly, guys. Natalia possessed their gaming knowledge without the stereotypes that went along with it.

She and I had gone through the entire alphabet when Ashley rose up from her chair.

"As much fun as it is having no clue what you guys are talking about, I think I'm going to head to my room and start eating before our food gets cold. Have fun talking about your RTS's or whatever."

Ashley marched away and slammed my door shut, despite my protests to have her stay. I didn't mean to exclude her from our chit-chat, but if she had given her friend the impression I was into this stuff, then I thought it'd be a good idea to follow through with it.

There was another reason, however, why I wanted my sister to stay in the room with me. The tiny, dark-haired girl I was now alone with supposedly had a secret of her own, one that Ashley somehow knew about. Whether it was supposed to have remained a secret or not, Ashley had told me what it was. I brushed it off as a tease at the time, but if there was some truth to it, then the situation I was in was one I wanted to escape from right away.

I backed away from my desk. "Can you excuse me for a bit? I think I should see if my sister's okay."

Before I could make haste out of the thorny predicament, Natalia ensnared my hands. "Wait, don't go. I want to talk to you. Privately."

Crap, my sister had really told me the truth. She really meant it when she said Natalia had a crush on me.

Given any other circumstance, I wouldn't have been sweating out of every pore. I was treading into dangerous water with no way of getting out. Natalia was one of Ashley's best friends and if I wasn't careful with what I say to her, I could drastically affect their whole friendship. This couldn't end well.

I tried to come up with a boring topic fast. "Oh, I remember now. You wanted me to help you build a new computer. I can set up a wish list for you and—"

"Brian, that's not what I want to talk to you about. It's a little personal." Natalia tugged on my hand until I was seated back in my chair. She leaned forward, unaware I could see down her top. "What are your plans for this Friday?"

Natalia wasn't sounding like the same demure girl I went to the mall with a few days ago. Once passive and shy, she was now assertive, bold, and... asking me out? That was the only conclusion my befuddled brain could come up with.

"I'm sort of, um, busy." I leaned back in my chair to build space between us, but Natalia leaned forward to close the gap. "I have something planned for that night."

"I know you do." She finally released my hand and sat upright. "Brian, I know about your date this Friday. That's why I'm asking what your plans are. Specifically for your date, I mean."

Natalia kept throwing one curveball after another. How the heck did she know about something like that? The only people who knew about the date lived in the same house as Ashley and me. My parents and Nicole obviously couldn't have told her, so it must have been Ashley. But why?

I replied vaguely. "A dinner at a nice restaurant, something fun to do right after maybe. Did Ashley tell you about my date?"

"Yeah, she did. She was really jumpy to tell me about it."

"Why would she tell you about my date?"

"Isn't it her date too?"

"Her... date? What exactly did she tell you about this Friday?"

"Not much. Only that you're taking her out for dinner and you have a surprise for her. So c'mon, give me the details. Maybe I can help you with your date. Ashy is one my closest friends and I really want to make sure she has a great time."

"You don't find it weird or gross that I'm taking my sister out on a date?"

"No way, why would I think that? I think it's very sweet you want to spend more time with your sister, and it's cool she wants to spend more time with you. There's nothing weird about two siblings just wanting to have a fun night together. It's not like this is a real date, right?"

"Yeah... right. Like I said, I sort of just have a dinner and something else for after it planned. Not really sure what that something is, though. To be honest I'm still grasping at straws for ideas."

"Well, Ashy's not a hard girl to please. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll come up with something you'll both have fun doing. What's really important is having something worthwhile to talk about. You two could be eating dinner at a hotdog stand and still have a good time if you enjoy each other's company. What do you plan on talking to her about?"

"I haven't really thought about that. I mean, Ashley's only my sister. We'll probably talk about the same stuff we do every day."

"Brian, Brian, Brian," she repeated in a condescending tone, "you can't do that. It's not every day you get to take your sister out on a date for just the two of you. Talk to her about things you don't normally talk about. Serious things that would really impress her.