Chapter 5
In the afternoon we were all hanging out in the big living room. I was finding it tough to not shoot guilty looks at my mom and I could see Ella was apprehensive as well. Luckily mom was her usual cheery self and chatted with dad like nothing was odd. You know, like her children hadn't sucked on her tits until she came in her pants that very morning.
Finally, I got up and said, "I'm going to go for a walk down that path dad was talking about. Try out my new ski jacket."
Ella had been curled up reading her phone and she jumped up much more quickly than was her usual and loudly said, "Yeah good idea I'll go with."
Mom nodded at us and dad looked up from his hardcover book (he's old school about how he consumes his WWII non-fiction) and said, "You'll have fun, good to get outside while the sun is still out. It's a bit chilly but gorgeous out there."
And so 10 minutes later Ella and I were trudging down a trail through the pine trees behind the cottage. It really was quite nice out, and my new jacket was great. I won't pretend I'm out hiking in the snowy mountains often but at least when I'm wearing it on campus I can say I tested it out in a real winter environment.
Ella was dressed for the weather too, but probably wasn't as interested in the thermal rating of my new jacket as I was. As soon as we were out of vision of the cabin she grabbed my arm and spun me around to say, "Ok what the hell was that? I mean, it was awesome, but the way mom is being so normal about it is making me freak out!"
"No shit! I almost lost it when dad came back and asked me how my morning was. I'm not sure I can handle this. Whatever the hell this is."
Ella nodded, "I know, maybe you should get rid of those coupons and we'll just pretend it never happened.'
A long pause as she looked at me with a dead serious expression. Then we both burst out laughing and I said, "God damn you almost had me there."
"Haha your face was gold, like I just told you we gave you the wrong puppy and it has to go back to the shelter."
"Yeah yeah. Uh, may as well just toss this out there but - what are your intentions here El?"
She frowned a bit, and a slight blush showed even beyond the rosy cheeks the cold had given her. "I don't really know," she replied slowly.
I didn't know how to bring it up but Ella and I have always been open with each other, so I just shrugged and said, "Ok, semi-related follow-up question but... are you gay?"
Ella looked at me in shock, and I hastened to add, "Just asking! I know you know I don't care, it wouldn't mean anything to me, or mom and dad I bet, but based on what happened this morning I gotta ask. I mean, I've wondered before."
Now my twin looked away and groaned, "Jesus I don't know. I don't think so? But I guess you can tell I'm into girls a bit, but I thought about this lately and I keep thinking I prefer guys in a romantic way. I'd like to sleep with girls, but I don't want to really date them, probably? I guess maybe I might be, bi?" She said the last sentence very quietly, as if she hadn't said it out loud before.
I nodded in what I hoped was a very cool and very accepting way, and she rolled her eyes and said, "Is this because of that Lan girl?"
I chuckled, "Yes, it is because you got drunk and hit on that girl I brought back to the apartment in an extremely weird 'joking' way to the point she asked me to not leave her alone with you. Thanks again for making sure she never returned my texts, by the way."
"Oh for fucks sake, let's never talk about that again. I said I was sorry, I smoked up at a party and maybe did more MDMA then I realized and when I got back to our place yeah I was drooling after this random hot chick. I did think I was being funny, I mean clearly I was out of line but it was mostly a joke."
"Fair enough, you can continue being whatever you want to be and it's none of my business. Well unless you creep on my dates. But I guess that it's not the important thing going on with us here huh," I said.
Ella nodded, very eager to change the subject, "Yeah let's get back to what the hell we did with mom. Instead of asking me embarrassing questions, here's one for you, you're obviously going to give her another coupon because you're a horny teenage boy-"
"Man."
"-sure whatever, horny teenage 19-year-old man, but what are you going to try to do? Are you going to try to, uh, go all the way?"
I laughed, "Who the hell knows? Yeah, I'll give her another coupon, after you left she made sure I grabbed the book, but she did it in a really vague way without looking at me. So she clearly wants me to have the coupon book, but she wasn't like hey let's fuck. As to what I try to do, well I'll try something small and then see how she reacts."
Nodding, Ella said, "Yeah that makes total sense. She was definitely into it, she may not want to say it out loud but it's clear she loves it. God knows she's pent up. Just, um, don't leave me out of it. I know you got the book, but I want in."
I smiled and brought my sister in for a hug, "Of course, I want you there. It may make it easier, but regardless I'd never cut a horny teenage girl out of the sexy times action. Especially one who's clearly as perverted as me."
Ella laughed and gave me a shot to the ribs, which didn't hurt as we were still hugging, "Whatever perv. I'm like, maybe half the sexual deviant you are. Probably less than half."
"Ahh, so you just want to mess around? Gotcha, if it looks like I'll get past third base I won't bother inviting you."
This time she pulled back far enough that I felt the punch to my shoulder.
--
We spent a half hour walking around, discussing our plan and trying to remember what coupons we had to work with. The main issue was timing, there was a good chance dad would want to go for some solo walks again but probably not the next day as we were all going to a nearby ski resort for the whole day. So Ella and I agreed to try one of the "nice" coupons, mainly because it was something we could probably accomplish in a small window of time when dad was around.
That night we had a good Christmas supper together. After our talk Ella and I were much more relaxed around mom and dad and less inclined to blurt out "I confess!" every time dad made eye contact with one of us so that helped.
After supper I was washing the pots and pans in the sink while Ella put away the leftovers and loaded the dishwasher. In the living room I heard my dad say, "I'm going to have a shower now I think," to mom and walk to the staircase. The cabin only had 1 bathtub, a large jacuzzi style one with a handheld shower head on the second floor, so the four of us had to arrange shower times.
Instantly, El and I shared a look. Without a word, Ella went upstairs to her room and I went to mine to grab the coupon book. She was back in a few minutes, nodding, "Yeah he's in there now. We have 10-15 probably, and you can totally hear the shower running downstairs, so we'll have some warning if he ends early."
I held up one of the coupons and said, "Got it, let's go now and make sure we have as much time as we can. I want to be giving mom these every chance we get, without being reckless, so we can get the most out of this."
Nodding at each other like robbers about to pull on clown masks and bust into a bank, we trooped out to the living room.
Mom gave us a polite smile as she sat in the comfy chair and looked out over the valley night, a glass of wine in her hand.
"Hi mom," I said, trying to affect an air of casualness, "I wanted to redeem this coupon."
She stiffened and placed her glass of wine down on the table beside the easy chair. Glancing at the hallway leading to the staircase, she was clearly unsure about her husband being in the house. But she didn't say no, and when she saw the purple of the "Nice" coupon she relaxed even more.
"'Shut up and kiss me'," she read aloud. She bit her lower lip cutely and nervously brushed her long blond hair behind her ear with her free hand. God she was adorable.
Ella was standing next to me, and when mom looked at her with a questioning look Ella crossed her arms and said, "And for me too. It's not fair if it's just for Evan so we'll be using the coupons together."
Now mom looked surprised. Not unhappy, but like it hadn't occurred to her that her daughter would want a cut of the action.
I smiled, "It is only fair, and El will appreciate it just as much as I do."
Mom looked at the hallway again and clearly came to a decision. "Ok fine, but quickly, your dad might come down any minute now."
I doubted that, but while the risk might be small the consequences of being wrong would be unthinkable.
Mom put the coupon down on the table next to her wine and stood up awkwardly rubbing her hands on the thighs of her pants. Looking between the two of us she mumbling, "Well, who's first then? I don't know about this, I've never kissed a girl before."
I decided to live up to the spirit of the coupon and simply took a step toward her and brought my hands up to hold her head. Tilting to the side, I had a brief look at my mom's eyes going very wide as my mouth found hers.