I had known Jessica my whole life, growing up in the same small town in the Midwest. We shared everything, it seemed. Even birthdays! My parents said it was purely fate that we should be best friends, because we had both been born within a few hours of each other, same hospital, and grew up with adjoining backyards.
Growing up, we were nearly inseparable, which was helped along by our dads working at the same factory, and our moms both volunteering in the PTA and singing in the church choir. Yeah, we grew up religious, although by the time we were starting to hit puberty, we had lost faith. Plus we found ourselves, and our own budding sexuality!
I had never seen Jessica as a sexual figure, she was always just my best friend. This continued throughout our teen years, and although looking back I can see the signs, I was oblivious at the time. Teenage boy, surprise....
We graduated high school on the same day, exactly one month after our 18th birthdays. After our joint graduation party was over, and all the friends and relatives had gone home, our parents called us into the living room to talk to us.
We were both confused, and more than a little nervous as we sat down together on the loveseat, as both her parents and my mom sat on the oversized couch, and my dad sat in his favorite recliner. I had noticed my dad always seemed slightly awkward and nervous around Jessica's mom, and then things started to click.
Jessica and I were SO much alike, it was like we were cut from the same cloth. Mom confirmed it as she quietly told us about what happened nearly 19 years ago. She and dad had gone through a bit of a wild streak, and experimented with swinging. Jessica's mom stared at the floor while her dad looked at my mom with a seemingly reminiscent look on his face.
"Eric, Jessica, we all used to share. Your mother and I got pregnant at the same time, and since there was a LOT of bareback fucking going on, we honestly can't be sure who the father is for each of you. We never had a DNA test done, because this IS such a small town, so we just stayed close friends. Right after you were both born, your father.... Or fathers??? They both got vasectomies, and we've continued our relationship. We thought you should both know, because we HAVE noticed the way you behave around each other."
Jessica and I stared at each other in shock, realizing we could very well be siblings, and that we didn't really know who our fathers were. Almost simultaneously, we looked back up at our parents and she said "It doesn't matter to us. We were raised as best friends, and that's how it's going to stay. Daddy, you'll always be my daddy, even if it was Jeff's sperm that got Mommy pregnant. Jeff, Carol, you'll always be like an aunt and uncle to me."
I was still a bit at a loss for words, but I mumbled something similar to what Jessica had said, I honestly don't recall the details. My dad explained to us that due to a new program at their factory, children of employees could have up to 75% of their college costs covered. Jessica and I looked at each other again, then back to them... "You mean.... We can actually afford college now!? We thought we would be stuck going to that joke of a community college, learning basic auto mechanic theory."
My mom smiled at me and said "No baby, you can go to any public college in the state, we'll make sure you aren't stuck in this same town your whole lives like us." Jessica and I grinned and blurted out "Central!!" at the same time, since we both had dreams of engineering degrees.
Fast forward a few months, and nothing really changed, other than we were both busy working summer jobs to save up money for our new apartment. Well, yeah! We were going to be roommates, since we trusted each other so much already, and practically lived together throughout high school, with all the late night study sessions. Plus it saved our parents money on the rent, so they were all for it. Dad just insisted that we got a 2-bedroom place, to avoid any appearances.
