Almost as soon as school let out, all the people Cassie and I were closest to headed out for the summer -- to Europe, to Lake Tahoe, to visit relatives wherever, to get the hell out of Dodge and have a real vacation. There were still people around, but the friends we were used to hanging out with were all gone.
It was kind of a bummer. This was the last summer before we were heading off to college. We're both going to State, which is a good school, but also in-state tuition is way cheaper than at a lot of other schools.
Normally, we would have been gone too. Our parents both have high-powered jobs -- Dad is an architect, and Mom is a realtor -- but these days they could go on vacation and still attend to at least some of their work from a laptop anywhere. This summer, however, Dad was working on a huge project for a company in Italy. This was his first big international project and potentially a major stepping stone for his career and his reputation, so he had to be in the office to work with his team personally. He knew we were disappointed, but he promised to take us to Italy during the construction if everything went right.
My twin sister Cassie and I were kind of stuck hanging out and trying to think of things to do. If one of us drove Dad to work in the morning, we could use his car to go on day trips and pick him up after work. But that sort of thing was too piecemeal to feel like a real vacation.
In early July, our next-door neighbors were heading out for a two-week vacation and asked if I would check on the place and feed their cats and change their litter when necessary. They also told me to feel free to use their pool if I wanted.
* * *
The next day, Dad was going to be working late and Mom was at a work/social event, so she told us to just order pizza for dinner.
By late afternoon, I knew we would be getting hungry soon, but I still needed to go next door and feed the cats. I asked Cassie if she would like to go with me while I fed the cats. She said fine, and we went over together. I unlocked the door and went in and the two cats came running in from the other room. I filled up the cats' food dishes and the water dish. I checked on the litter box. It was one of those automatic jobs that raked out the poop and put it in a bag to be disposed of every few days or so. It wasn't full yet, so my job was done.
As we went back outside, I told Cassie about the pool and asked if she'd like to see it. That sounded good to her, so we went to the backyard. It was a new pool, one of those kidney-shaped jobs, with lounge chairs around the side and a little fountain on one end streaming water into the pool.
"Wow, Connor, that looks great. I'd love to hop in right now."
"We didn't bring our suits."
"So? Haven't you ever heard of skinny-dipping? I mean it's no big deal. It's just the two of us."
No big deal? It seemed like a strange deal to me. I would never have thought of suggesting anything like that. Certainly not to my sister.
Still, now that she had suggested it... Was I really going to be a stick-in-the-mud about something like that? I mean, nobody raised eyebrows about that kind of thing these days. We didn't have any towels either, but I knew that I was going to sound totally lame if I brought that up.
"Sure, okay, if you want to," I said, still wondering about this whole idea.
"Great," she said.
None of the lights around the pool or in the pool were on, and the daylight was already fading. I was kind of glad about that, since I had been a little worried about ending up embarrassing myself.
I saw Cassie with her back to me, pulling off her top and unhooking her bra. Then I saw her pulling off her shorts and then her panties. Still with her back to me, she walked over and walked down the steps in the pool until the water was at chest level, slightly above her nipples.
So, here's the thing, Cassie and I were twins and had grown up together. We were really close friends and used to talk to each other all the time and enjoyed doing things together. But there had never been anything sexual between us. A lot of times brothers and sisters end up accidentally (or "accidentally") seeing their sibling coming out of the shower or whatever, but that never happened with us. I mean, I had seen her in her bra and panties a few times, but that really wasn't any more revealing than seeing her in a bikini at the pool and I never gave it much thought. I knew the rules.
So, now, watching her undress was doing some weird things to my head. I mean I had always been able to just put that kind of thing aside as being off the table. And she and I were both dating on a pretty regular basis, so it seemed like we had that side of the equation covered.
I knew this wasn't supposed to be any big deal, right? I mean people go skinny dipping all the time without it turning into an orgy or anything. And I knew, didn't I, that I wasn't some kind of pervert, lusting after his sister. We were a good, American sitcom family.
"Hey, slowpoke! What's keeping you? Come on in. The water feels great."
I pulled off my T-shirt and took off my shorts. I was a little worried about the next step -- taking off my boxers. I was trying to do some kind of mental exercise to keep my dick from getting any ideas, but I knew it wasn't going to work for long. My best bet was just to move fast, pull off my boxers, and get into the pool as fast as I could.
Even so, as I was walking down the steps of the pool, I could feel my dick starting to grow. Fortunately, I got into the water up to my chest before I got to the full-on boner stage.
Cassie was right, the water did feel great. It was just the right temperature to let you feel as if the water and your body were one continuum.
I looked over at Cassie, who was looking totally relaxed and happy. By now, it was too dark to see her body, or at least any of the details. Still, I had this feeling. Here we were, me and my twin sister, both completely naked, only a few feet apart, and I was feeling as if the water was connecting our bodies in some kind of sexual way. I wasn't trying to feel any of this, of course, but something about it felt sexier than I had felt with anyone I had gone out with.
I had hoped that getting in the water and getting used to the situation and realizing that this was just one of those "back to nature" things -- and definitely not one of those sicko "perving on my sister" things -- would get my dick back down. But it didn't. Not at all. I was just glad that Cassie didn't decide to come closer to talk to me or anything.
* * *
Eventually, Cassie said, "It's probably time for us to head home. Dad will probably be getting home soon."
She walked up the steps of the pool and went over to where her clothes were. I was staring at her butt the whole time.
Her back was still to me, so I decided to take the opportunity and get out of the pool as fast as I could before she turned around and spotted my boner.
We didn't have a towel, so I decided to skip my boxers and just pull on my shorts as fast as possible. I put my boxers in one of my pockets, and then grabbed my T-shirt and pulled it on. I think Cassie had done the same thing in terms of her bra and panties.
"That was really nice," said Cassie. "I really love being in the water like that, especially in a private pool."
We headed back to our house. Dad wasn't back yet, and Mom was still at whatever event she was going to that night. I let Cassie hit the bathroom first and dry off. She put on one of those long T-shirts that girls use for sleeping, and probably panties underneath.
I dried off and put on a T-shirt and a pair of cotton running shorts -- my usual summer sleepwear -- and went downstairs to the TV room. Cassie had already ordered a pizza for us and had found a sitcom to watch. When the delivery guy arrived, I brought the pizza and a couple of plates into the TV room, along with a couple of bottles of water, so we could just eat while watching TV.
After a little while, Dad came in. The people in his office had ordered Chinese food for dinner, so he was okay on that front, but he was definitely ready to have a drink. We turned off the TV and went out to say hello and see how his day had gone.
In spite of a long day at work, he was in a good mood. "It seems to be going really well. It's an exciting project and it's really interesting working on something where the culture and all the building codes and regulations are so different. I feel like I probably ought to take one of those new app-based language courses to fit in better."
After he finished his drink, he was ready to head to bed. There was no guarantee about when Mom would get back, since her main reason for going to these events was to network like crazy until everyone she could talk to had left.
Cassie and I were pretty tired as well, so we decided to just head up to our rooms. I gave her time to brush her teeth, and then I hit the bathroom to brush my teeth and pee.
I called out, "Good night," to Cassie and headed to my bedroom.
* * *
