I turned the key to the family home for the first time in over three months. I wrestled my copious amounts of dirty laundry through the doorway and was met with a shriek of excitement.
"Steve!" My mum's voice came hurtling down the corridor. I was forced to drop my bags as flailing limbs eventually wrapped themselves around me.
"Hello," I mumbled. I had expected this but somehow had not been ready.
As I splattered stray bits of long female hair from my mouth I heard a deeper voice greeting me.
"Back already? I thought we had got rid of you this time," my dad smiled.
"Not yet. I have far too much laundry to do."
"You've always pushed your luck," he laughed. "Release the poor boy Emma."
My mum finally relaxed her bear grip on me. "Let me have my moment Iain," she snapped back at her husband. "It's so great to have you back, even if it is only for Christmas," she smiled through watery eyes. It was nice to feel missed.
"Come through. Your sister is just at her yoga class. She will be back for dinner."
I followed my parents through to the living room and proceeded to catch up on the last three months of my new uni life. Just as my mum was dishing up some dinner for us, I heard the front door slam.
"Be right there," I heard my sister Leah's voice.
"Steve is back," my mum replied.
There was no sound but footsteps pattering up the stairs.
I would say I was a little dismayed but I expected no less. Leah and I hadn't really seen eye to eye for months; not since the festival.
She skipped into the kitchen a few minutes later in her sports bra and matching leggings. I noticed the smooth skin of her torso.
Flashes of her breasts pushed against my chest while her hushed moans tickled my ear. Memories of thrusting into her in that hot tent were so vivid I felt myself stirring in my boxers.
"Hey Steve," she said. Her gaze lingered on me for a moment before sitting herself down at the table.
"Hey sis," I replied simply. My emotions were swirling around in the pit of my stomach. I had been able to almost shut my family life away as I fully immersed myself in university culture. Seeing my beautiful sister in front of me once again was a shock to the system.
After returning home from the festival, things had been as normal as they usually were but after I left for uni a few weeks later, things began to change. As time went on, our relationship had become strained. What started out as long phone calls catching up on everything with deep meaningful conversations, then became just a blunt text here and there, mostly asking things like, 'Why did you take my bike to uni without asking me?'
It was amazing how fast we had gone from being as close as two humans can be, to barely any relationship at all. I was ready to accept that what we did in that incestuous tent could have been passed off as a crazy drunken mistake. As intimate, loving and incredibly hot it was, I knew we were unlikely to continue sleeping with each other once we left the confines of the festival boundaries. What I hadn't expected was our healthy sibling friendship to suffer as a consequence.
Our relationship had become so awkward and strained that we hardly spoke to each other directly for the rest of the meal.
***
I spent the following day with my best friend Harry.
"So did you get laid at all?" He asked within seconds of seeing me.
"Not as much as I would have liked," I replied. In truth, I hadn't had sex since my sister. 'God I am pathetic,' I thought to myself.
"You're joking. You went to uni where everyone is fucking and somehow you managed to not fuck."
"I could have," I stammered to my defence. "My housemate keeps trying to get with me."
"Oh man," he winced. "Don't shit where you eat bro."
I shrugged. Maybe that was the reason Leah hadn't shown me much attention over the last few months.
"I've been working on Naomi this whole time. She was such a little minx in bed. Nothing I have had since compares," he laughed.
"I don't really blame you mate. She is gorgeous."
"Good job I stole your emergency condom. It probably would have gone out of date by now."
"Hey I said I could have used it. My housemate was all over me."
"Yes ok sure bro," he replied. His tone was so ambiguous I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
My housemate really had been all over me but I had never reciprocated her advances. She was pretty but overall, I never felt like I really wanted anything. On the other hand, I had masturbated over the memory of my sister's perfect naked body more times than I could count.
In my head I justified it by the simple fact that no sex could possibly be better than what I had with Leah. Have you ever had one sexual moment that was so incredibly intense that it never really left you?
With the 'don't shit where you eat' comment fresh in my mind, conversation with Leah that evening was minimal. It was just as awkward as it had become while at uni. I started to get frustrated.
"Where have you been today?" I asked her at dinner the following evening.
She looked at me with her beautiful eyes and blushed, refraining from answering.
"I'd guess she's been at her new boyfriend's house," my mum replied, clearly jumping at the opportunity to tease her daughter.
"You got a boyfriend?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"Erm... yeah," she replied simply.
"How long have you been seeing him?"
"Maybe a month or so."
"What's his name?"
"Marco."
"A stupid name," dad interrupted.
"Dad, he's Italian," she moaned, clearly getting wound up by the conversation.
She glanced at me as if to read my mind but neither of us were giving anything away.
Inside, my stomach had dropped and my heart was beating fast. Why was I reacting this way? Of course this would happen. Did I expect us to never be with anyone else again? Of course not. We are brother and sister.
I hated that Italian Marco guy and I suddenly realised I was jealous.
***
I took a few days to adjust back to family life but the little home comforts were starting to get the better of me. The dark, wintery wet skies that are typical of this time of year tend to force people indoors. This meant weeks of our family of four cooped up together going about our normal daily lives.
I came into the kitchen one evening and noticed Leah bent over near the radiator. I got a great view of her arse and my mind immediately wondered back to seeing her from behind as I entered her for the first time.
Leah turned and caught me in my day dream, having been quite clearly checking her out.
"Oh... erm, I didn't hear you come in," she mumbled. She was holding a pair of pink panties which she was hanging out to dry with her other clothes. She glanced down at them and closed them in her fist, hiding them from my view.
