Cadillac

Logan airport is horrid! Horrid, Horrid, HORRID! But then, I feel that way about all airports and on this particular July afternoon my bad temper had everything to do with a delayed flight and jet lag and little to do with the stresses of US Immigration and Boston traffic. It always helps to blame something that can't shout back though. I was past tired. My body knew it was two-thirty in the morning but my brain was in denial, leaping from thought to thought making the world seem loud and highly coloured. 'You can sleep in the car', Emma had said when we planned the trip; 'It'll only take four hours to get to Maine'. And now there was no sign of my cousin. I love her to bits, but I really didn't see why we couldn't have spent the first night at her apartment in Somerville.

My tears were starting to cloud my view when I spotted her blonde head bobbing towards me through the crowd in arrivals. I tried to pout at her but without looking too cross. But who could be cross with Emma for any length of time? She's adorable in a totally guileless completely insuppressible way. When Emma 'came out' a couple of years before, I had been the person she'd turned to, confided in, worked through her feelings with and we had become so very close; closer than most sisters.

With bags in both hands I was helpless as she flung her arms round me, her mouth closing on mine and her hands slipping under my sweatshirt and roving over my back. All my anger flowed away but I could feel myself blushing as she leaned close to my ear whispering... 'Mmmmmm... no bra; but it's far too warm to wear this sweatshirt...' Dropping my bags, I swatted her away playfully, but it was oh, sooo lovely to be together again.

Emma is usually right, and just over four hours later we were checking-in to the Holiday inn at Bar Harbor. I had slept some in the car and pretended some to be asleep when the back of Emma's hand stroked against my thigh, stretching sleepily at her touch and feeling my skirt ride higher, wondering if she sensed my panties were still at the airport. Now we had arrived, my brain had chosen to desert me. I was rambling incoherently as I tipped the bell boy, hardly remembering passing through Reception and just vaguely aware of Emma's hand on my bottom in the elevator. Minutes later I was in bed, still wearing my sweatshirt and spooning with Emma... but kind of aware that I was wearing only my sweatshirt now. I snuggled into Emma's back, hugging her and feeling her breasts resting against my arm through the softness of her T shirt. My eyes closed and I was asleep.

Oh my God! Oh my God! OH MY GOD!!!! I sat up with a start as sirens howled and red lights flashed and my poor brain struggled to join the dots. 'Oh, BUGGER!' yelled Emma, never one to waste an expletive, 'Fire alarm!' It was dark and really quite chilly as I slipped into my sneakers and Emma grabbed a hoodie and wriggled into it before we stumbled our way out to the parking lot.

There were hunky firefighters everywhere and several fire engines. Emma and I sat huddled together on a grass bank, watching as other guests began to wander about and the hotel was being checked. I watched a woman in an oversize T shirt walk past us and with a start, I remembered how little we were wearing. Emma must have read my mind because at that moment, I felt her fingers slip inside my sweatshirt and circle my nipple... 'I think we need to move somewhere more private' she said, 'Let's go watch the sun come up'.

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting on top of Cadillac Mountain, holding each other close and watching the pink and purple hues as the horizon in the East began to lighten, the rising sun glowing like a golden jewel. It was misty; not the cold, wet, penetrating mist, but the kind that's comforting and wraps around you like a duvet. At last I felt mellow and content with life. We kissed, then gazed into each other's eyes and our connection snapped back into place. My hand slipped between Emma's thighs and I felt her legs part for me. She lay back in the dew and i kissed her again; more deeply this time, our tongues finding each other. I heard my voice, working by itself but loud and clear in the dawn light; 'I love you, Emma Maidens... In a cool, cousins-with-benefits kinda way'. And in that instant, as I watched her eyes glaze over and a gasp escaped her lips, I knew everything in our world was good. We would have an amazing vacation, yes, but that special bond between us is for life.