My sister Kim and I still share a bedroom even though I graduated college last month and she's going into her junior year. Our brother Keith just graduated high school, but because he's the only boy, he has his own room. Mom and Dad insist that if they had two boys and a girl, the girl would be the one by herself, but that didn't make Kim or me any less resentful. Once we were older, the worst part was all the missed opportunities to bring a guy in when Mom and Dad were out because the other sister was still around.
That wasn't the case last Saturday. Our parents were away at a wedding. I'd just come home after my shift at a pretzel stand in the mall. I always liked the smell of the butter we use when I'd pass them as a customer, but now that I work there, it takes me an hour after I get home before I don't think I smell it on myself. I was lying in bed and I'd just reached that point when Kim came home. I heard her talking to Brian, a guy she'd been dating, at the front door for a few minutes before he drove off. A few minutes later, Kim was undressed and in her bed. "How'd your date go?" I asked.
"Eh," she answered.
"What's 'eh' mean?"
"It means 'eh.' Brian's not a serial killer. He didn't try to do anything terrible. He just didn't ... do ... "
"Wait, now I'm confused. Did you fuck him yet or not?"
"Kate!" she exclaimed. Then she added, "Yeah."
"And?"
"Like I said, eh."
"Okay, now you're giving me a
little
more of an answer. So, too fast? Too slow?"
"Well, you know how Mom sometimes tells us too much about her and Dad?"
"Oh, God, he tells other people?"
"No, it's not that. I get the feeling Mom gets it better than I do."
"Well, she'd probably tell you it's because they've had a few decades to master it, but I don't think that's what you mean. I've seen some of my friends' parents, and I can tell you that Dad treats her with respect outside the bedroom as well as inside."
"It's not that," Kim said. "He's nice enough, and he doesn't put me down or anything."
"But those details that Mom shares? It means he knows how to treat her."
"I told you, Kate, there's nothing wrong with how he treats me."
"I guess I went off track a little there. The fact that Mom overshares means that she actually likes it, and some of the things she shares tell us that it matters to
him
whether she enjoys it. Does Brian?"
"I guess so," Kim answered. "He buys the ribbed condoms 'cause they're supposed to be made for my pleasure. I don't have the heart to tell him that they don't really do much. The one time I wanted to be on top, he didn't hesitate."
"Does he pressure you?"
"I guess you could say he's just candid. He never pulls the old 'not safe to drive home' routine. If he wants sex, he just asks, 'Wanna have sex?'"
"And then what? I probed.
"The first time he asked, I said no, and he accepted it. I didn't have to fight him off. I didn't wake up the next morning trying to remember where I'd been. The second time, I said yes. He had his apartment to himself, so we went to his bedroom and did it there. Afterward, he drove me home."
I got down to particulars. "So, when you do it, what's 'it' involve?"
"We take our clothes off and get on the bed. If he's on the bed first, I'll lie next to him. If I'm on the bed first, he gets on top of me. He never forces anything. Once we're in a comfortable position, I open my thighs and he finds his way in."
"That's it?" I asked. "When he goes to a ball game, does he get there just in time for the first batter, or is he there for the National Anthem and the introduction of the starting line-ups?"
"What the hell does that mean?"