My sister Angie and I had always had a normal sibling relationship. There was no clue that it could have ended up the way that it did. That's why what happened came as all the more of a surprise. Like a normal brother and sister, we studiously avoided seeing each other naked. I mean, it wasn't like we had anything to hide from each other, it was just gross.
Besides, neither of us was attracted to each other. We were both a bit pudgy, had acne and braces for years, frizzy hair that wouldn't behave. Neither of us was anybody's ideal date in high school, and we both seemed doomed to go after the athlete, the cheerleader, the popular one. But I had never managed to get laid.
Our parents rented a cottage down in the Outer Banks for a couple weeks during the summer. I was 18 and headed back for one more year of highschool. Angie was two years older than me. She was in community college and living at home. For me, staying at the cottage wasn't a choice. For Angie, she had tried to make other plans, but they fell through last minute. She was basically tagging along because if she stayed back at home, she would've had to pay for her own food.
No sooner had we gotten everything unloaded at this cottage than dad got an urgent call from his work. He had to get back to the office, but we had only brought one car. We didn't want to be without a car while dad got his work situation sorted out, so our mom decided to drive him all the way back home to pick up the other car, and then drive herself all the way back.
This cottage didn't afford us quite the privacy we were used to. Everything was on one level, the small bedrooms opening onto the living room. From the bedroom I had claimed, I could hear Angie playing a video game on her phone, distracting me as I tried to read.
Hours went by, and I heard the dinging videogame stop, and a low buzzing started, sort of sounded like my electric shaver. Through the wall I heard Angie's bed creak under her. I got up to go to the bathroom, and I saw that Angie's door wasn't all the way closed. In just an accidental glimpse, I saw her legs hanging off the edge of the bed, her hand moving something in and out of herself. That answered my question. I walked across to the bathroom and shut the door without a word; I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Better to pretend it didn't happen.
The sky was getting dark, but much faster than normal. The wind was ripping around outside, and sheets of rain were coming down on the windows.
"Oh my god," Angie said, trying to look out the window. "How did we not hear about this coming?"
We cooked hotdogs on the stove. I couldn't help myself, I waved an uncooked one at her. "If you need something a little more realistic, here you go."
She turned bright red. "Oh please, as if you don't get horny too."
Angie's cellphone rang. It was our mom, telling her that because of the weather, she wouldn't be coming back over the bridge that night. Angie told her we were feeding ourselves, and we'd be fine overnight.
Once fed, Angie and I went back to ignoring each other. Of course I got horny. I was a teenager. I wanted to look at porn, so I went to close the door. The latch kept springing open.
After I tried a few times, Angie called out, "I couldn't get mine to stay closed either. Don't worry about it, I won't look."
I believed her of course. But I still felt weird about jacking off with her knowing that I was doing it. Watching porn on my laptop alleviated all my concerns, until the power suddenly went out. I still had a little bit of battery left on the laptop, but now wasn't sure when I'd be able to recharge it. I waited for a second waiting for the lights to come back on, as my erection went soft in my hand.
"Chris?" Angie called.
Reluctantly I put my pants back on. "Yeah I'm here."
Together we took stock. There was some food in the fridge, which would stay cool if we kept it closed. We had cellphones, but using them as flashlights was going to run out the battery quickly. There was nothing left to do but sleep as best we could.
A couple hours after that, there was a loud scraping sound somewhere overhead. And then Angie started cursing.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"The roof in here is leaking," she explained.
"You didn't mind the bed getting wet earlier," I joked.
"I guess I'll move to our parents' bed," she said, annoyed.
"Feel free. My room is still fine," I said.
I laid back down and tried to sleep, but it turned out my room was not fine. I woke up on soaked sheets, my t-shirt and boxers sticking to me. Angie had taken the other bed, so I moved to the living room couch. It was a five foot wicker thing with a few thin cushions on the seats. I changed out of my wet bedclothes, and then found that the water on the floor had gotten into my duffel, and all my other clothes were damp. I wrapped myself in a towel and laid down on the wicker sofa, and I had the worst night's sleep of my entire life.
It's hard to define exactly when I woke up because I hardly slept at all. It was shortly after dawn, and eerily quiet after the storm. I woke up with morning wood, because I often do, and because I hadn't finished stroking myself the night before. I heard Angie breathing heavily, and a wet splorching sound. I didn't have to shift myself much to see that she was spread wide on the queen sized bed, driving her toy into herself, but it wasn't on. My erection had my mind in a haze, and seeing Angie masturbate was the closest thing to porn that I had. Part of me wanted to watch her finish, but I knew that was wrong. And if I did, what would I do then? Jack off in the living room?
I had to put a stop to it, so I joked, "Out of batteries?"
She stopped abruptly, with a frustrated sigh. "Good morning, Chris. And yeah, it's USB chargeable. You're just frustrated that your porn supply is cut off."
She wasn't wrong. I rearranged the towel on my lap to make it less obvious.
"Any word from our parents?" I asked.
"Hang on, I switched my phone off overnight to save juice." She turned it back on, and eventually played a voicemail. Our mother said the bridge to the mainland was washed out, wanted us to call her, hoped we were okay, said it might be another day.
"Another day? Let's call her back," I demanded.
"It's going straight to voicemail," Angie said. "High mom, Chris and I are fine. The cottage lost power though, and a couple rooms are leaking. We'll be okay here for another day if we need to."
"Why'd you have to say that?" I asked afterwards. "I want to get out of here as soon as possible."
"So do I. But mom said it'd be another day before we can leave. No point in making our parents worry when there isn't anything they can do about it."
I had calmed down enough to start hanging up my wet clothes to dry. The only thing I had that wasn't still soaked was, ironically, my swim shorts.
We went out to see the beach. After all, that was the whole reason we were down there in the first place. But the storm had made a complete mess. There was debris turning over in the breakers. There was broken glass and splinters of wood all across the sand.
"Ugh. There's nowhere to even sunbathe," Angie said.
Looking back at the cottage, I saw where the roof over our bedrooms had been peeled up like a tin can. "That explains the leaking," I said.
We went back inside, and had some food. It was a good thing our parents had brought a case of bottled water because the tap sputtered, and the water that came out wasn't clear.
"How is it this hot so early in the day?" Angie asked. "Mind if I strip down to my underwear?"
The air conditioning had gone out when we lost power. It was a little cooler inside than outside, but it was still pretty hot.
"Why should I care?" I replied. With no electricity, there was little left to do but read, though the cottage's book collection was abysmal. John Grisham, James Patterson, Danielle Steele. Not even a Stephen King or Michael Crichton. Angie picked a romance novel and spread out on the sofa. I picked up a thriller, and told her to make room so I could sit too. She did, sort of, making me lean on one of her legs. The flesh was clammy and cool to the touch, but in the heat it felt nice. I tried to ignore the proximity of her panties.
"Are you sure reading that's a good idea?" I joked. At this point, it had become our go-to to tease each other about being sexually frustrated.
"Are you jealous because I grabbed it first?" she retorted. "I'll read out loud when I get to a steamy part."
We sat there reading for an hour, and then she started reading aloud, a part of the book that described sex in more symbolic terms than anatomical ones, but in enough detail that I could still fill in the gaps. Even though I was hearing it in my sister's mocking tone, it was still a bit erotic for a teenage boy. I shifted my legs, but there was only so much I could do, wearing only swim trunks.
"Oh look, you're tenting your shorts," Angie said. "Getting turned on by your sister's voice? That's so gross."
"So? You're wetting your panties," I said, trying to deflect.
"That's perspiration," she said, pointing. "Take a good look. If I were getting aroused right now, the dampness would be down here." She ran a finger along where her panties covered her labia.
"Oh I saw plenty already," I said, trying to make it sound like I minded.
It was close to sunset when the electricity came back on. I started charging my electronics and settled back on the couch. The air conditioning came roaring back to life, working overtime, and without realizing it I was soon pressing against Angie for warmth.
With our cellphones back on, eventually we got another call from our mom. Angie put it on speaker.
"How are you two holding up?" mom asked.
"We're still okay. Nothing's happened, other than the leaking roof. The electricity's back. We still have almost two weeks' food," Angie assured her.
"There's nothing to do here!" I whined. "How soon do we get to leave?"
"I'm hoping to come pick you two up tomorrow," mom said. "They're only letting emergency vehicles through for now, to rescue the people who need it. So if you're okay where you are, just stay there until I can come get you. But if anything goes wrong, let me know."
"Yeah we will," Angie said.
With electricity back, we could watch TV. The overworked air conditioner crapped out again. The cottage heated up again.
