All characters engaged in sex acts are eighteen or older.
Strange as it was, being awoken by late night thunder was a comfort. A flash of light, then I would instinctively count, then the rumble would hit. Less than a mile. A couple more flashes and a couple of rumbles, the rain and wind roaring out on the veranda. There would be storms like this occasionally in Massachusetts. Those nights were cold and harsh. Southern storms in the steamy night that were easier, gentler. The air was thick with warmth.
Back when we were younger, storms like this would scare the hell out of Flora. She would go to mom first and then after Mom would inevitably shoo her out of the bedroom she would come to me. Only once did she make the mistake of coming to their bedroom when Dad was home. God she was so grown up now. I started to get a little hard thinking about her and what she would be wearing tonight. It was usually a long t-shirt and shorts. Her legs got hot at night.
I had never had thoughts about Flora like this before. Louise was a few years older, so she had started developing before me. And of course, she was skinny and flat and often made herself up in ways that just didn't look good. Not to pre-teen me with my basic tastes. That certainly changed. But Flora had always just been my little sister, my Possum. I had still been in shock that day when she had come down for lunch and we talked, her big braless tits nipping out under a flimsy t-shirt. I know she caught me staring.
Funny thing is, I felt her before I heard her. "Trip?" a little mousey voice called. I rolled over and there she was at the doorway. There was a flash and I saw her completely, a flimsy t-shirt with a curve of her belly out below, thick legs coming out of her little panties. Her hair stuck out madly around her head. She jumped and squealed with the flash.
"Possum, what are you...?" My question was cut off by the rumble of the thunder and she jumped into bed, wrapping her arms around me. Her tits pressed into me, nipples hard.
"Shit," she wailed. "Trip, just hold onto me!" I did, squeezing her tightly. Her legs came up and clamped around my middle, as if my arms and hers weren't enough to hold her steady. Her soft belly and thighs pressed into me. At that moment I realized that I was still hard from waking up, and Flora was close to touching my hardon with her leg. The lightning flashed, and there was no delay before the thunder. The lightning could have been on our property. Flora's nails dug into me.
"You're scratching me, Possum. You're still this scared of thunder?"
"Sorry, Trip, I'm-" Keeping my promise from the other day I swung my hand and slapped her ass. "Hey!"
"No more apologies," I admonished.
"Ok, s- I mean yes I understand." She kissed my cheek. "Thank you Trip. I don't know why it still scares me this much."
"Good girl. You may be a grown-up but I'm still gonna spank you if you misbehave." Flora giggled and kissed my cheek.
"I try to be good, Trip. But-" there was another bolt of lightning and a crash of thunder and she buried her face in my hairy chest. "I'm just scared, sor-" She cut herself off.
"Possum you gotta be a big girl. What did you do when I was gone?" She was eighteen, why did I want to talk to her like this? Her silence and wide eyes gave me the answer I needed. "Aww, Possum Pie," I said, feeling a sting of sadness.
"I really missed you, Trip. Five years is a long time. Louise wasn't much help when I was younger, she always teased me. And you know Mom..."
"Yeah, I know Mom. But you know Louise had a lot of stuff to deal with. Mom and Dad have never really approved of..."
her being bi, her doing drugs, her being a satanist, her politics, her getting naked online, her getting tattoos,
"who she was. She's got problems too."
"Louise is different now, Trip. She's... well, not exactly nice, but she 's not like she was."
"She takes care of you now?" I was incredulous.
"Kind of. I mean, not the way you used to. She knows what it's like to be scared of Mom and Dad. Maybe not scared, but she understood how I felt. I just thought that being good for Mom and Dad would get them to..." our conversation was full of pauses. I knew she was thinking
love me,
but couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Well, I love you Possum. And now I'm back. I'm here for you." I grinned as she kissed the side of my face.
"I love you too, Trip." There was another bolt of lightning and she held her breath until the thunder drew a whimper out of her. I wriggled loose of her and sat up. "Trip, no!"
"Possum, relax. I know just what you need." In the dark room I hoped the tent I was pitching in my boxers wouldn't show as I got up to my microfridge. A sliver of light advanced across the floor as I opened. Flora was back on the bed completely under the covers, curled into the fetal position. Poor girl. I mixed some rum with Coke and ice in two plastic cups. It was too dark to see how much of each I had mixed, and I relied on my bartender's instincts to make the drinks. Mine was pungent and potent when I took a sip.
The ice rattled in the drinks as I came over to the bed. I pulled the covers back, Flora's wide eyes making her look like her namesake. "Come on, sit up and drink this."
"Is it alcohol?" She eyed the drink dubiously.
"Don't tell me you've never drunk?"
"A little, but I don't like it," she wrinkled her nose. "It doesn't taste good." I handed her the drink and she sniffed it. "How much did you put in?"
"Just try it. It will help you calm down," I smiled.
"I don't need it, I have clonazepam in my room." She still took the drink.
I took a sip of my own drink and tried not to make too much of a face. Then I sat down next to her, and put my hand on her back, rubbing circles. The muscles in her back were so tense, attesting to her fear. "Just take a sip, Possum." She did, and made a face. "Good girl, now have some more, it will settle you a little. You're so tense."
"Sor- ok, Trip." She took a bigger sip.
"I'm here, Possum Pie. You're safe." I stroked her hair, then she jumped again as thunder crashed outside. Tilting my cup up, I half-drained it. Definitely strong. Oh well, it wasn't like getting drunk was going to hurt her. For a couple of moments we sat, the only sound was the rain crashing on the roof, and as her cup drained she jolted less and less from the thunder. "You're as skittish as Glitterhoof," it was her favorite horse.
The ice in her drink clinked as it shifted. "It's not so bad after you get used to it," she said.
"The drink or the thunder?" I asked.
"I guess both," she gave me a weak smile.
"When did you drink before?" I asked.
Her hazel eyes shone in the dark. "Louise got me some beer a couple of times. She invited me to hang out with her and some of her friends. She's been trying, Trip." Flora tipped her glass and drained it. "This is much better than beer. What is it?"
"It's rum and Coke. Anything's better than beer." Despite my experience with endless beer bartending in St. Croix, I remained loyal to liquor and wine. I finished mine too.
"Can I have another?" she asked, smiling now.
Though it didn't quite feel right, I couldn't think of a reason why not. Two strong drinks would affect her if she wasn't a regular drinker. Never one for thinking too much, or saying no to my Possum, I got up to made us both another drink. Approaching my desk, I remembered something. Surreptitiously, I took out a little box and poured the drinks. I considered making the drinks not as strong this time, but I figured we could both use it.
When I came back to the bed I turned on the light on my bedside table. Flora looked startled, and my insides lurched again seeing her. Her tits rose and fell with her deep breaths, her nipples and so prominent she might as well not have anything covering them. Thick creamy legs stuck out the side of the bed. My Possum was a lady now, I still couldn't believe it. Her freckled cheeks spread with her smile. With the drinks on the bedside table I handed her the box.
She took it, but stared at it as if she didn't know what to do with it. "Come on, goofball, open it," I said.
Gingerly, she titled the little lid and her gift sparked. It was a little silver possum holding her birthstone, a blue topaz, and mine, a ruby in each paw. There was a fine chain for her to wear it around her neck. Her jaw dropped. "It's our-"
"Our birthstones," she said.
I grinned like an idiot. "Yeah. Now we can always be together." I reached up inside her shirt and felt the bare, supple skin of her back.
"Oh, Trip!" her voice quavered and a tear streamed down her cheek. She turned and enveloped me in her arms, and smashed her face into me again. I had been sure this would make her happy, and I didn't know what to say. Within seconds it wasn't just a tear or two, her whole body was shaking with big, crybaby tears. She heaved and she moaned and her snot, slobber, and tears ran down my belly.
"Possum, hey," I tried to soothe her.
Her words came out slurred by her sobs and the rum. "You don't know what it was like, Trip. I've been so alone. Mom doesn't care, Dad hates me. Louise tries, but she's not you." There was nothing I wished more than to tell her she was wrong. "You know how hard it is for me to make friends. They think I'm weird! No one will talk to me except online. You're all I ever had!"
