There were two couches, a divan, and a big stuffed recliner, with plenty of pillows scattered about. A television and VCR were in a corner, on top of a cabinet filled with videotapes, magazines, and toys. The walls were bare and windowless; the room was in a remote area of the basement, well hidden in the large house. Only members of the family knew it was there.
Laura was sitting on one of the couches. She had only known about the room for a couple of weeks - since she had turned eighteen, as matter of fact. She was surprised to see it when her parents revealed it to her; strangely, she wasn't surprised when she learned the purpose of the room.
Laura was waiting for somebody to show up. She didn't think anybody was home at the moment, but it was only a matter of time. Her father would be getting off work soon. One of her brothers might drift into the house. Her mother and sister could be back any minute. Somebody was going to be coming home, and they would eventually be coming to the room, where Laura was waiting.
She was wearing a robe. Underneath she was only wearing panties, red silk panties that glowed against her skin. She lounged back on the couch, her arms stretched across some pillows, her legs crossed at the ankles. She thought about putting a tape into the VCR. She thought about getting a glass of wine. She thought about slipping her fingers into her panties. Instead she closed her eyes and waited.
Somehow Laura had known. She had never witnessed anything while she was growing up, her childhood had been perfectly ordinary and her family had seemed normal, yet she had known that something was different with them, something that set them apart. Something secret. Something strange.
Five years ago, Ben, her oldest brother, had turned eighteen. Her sister Holly had turned eighteen a year later. Two years after that, her brother Will. Something had happened to each of them on their eighteenth birthday, although Laura, at the time, was barely aware of it, and she couldn't have guessed what it was.
Then it was her turn.
On her birthday, without any special ceremony or fuss, her parents showed her the room. They told her all about it. They told her about the things that the family had been doing. Things they shouldn't be doing. Crazy things. Shocking things.
But somehow Laura wasn't shocked at all.
After her parents had explained everything, they asked her if she wanted to join the rest of the family.
Laura said yes without even thinking about it.
She wasn't sure why she didn't think about it.
What was she doing? What was her family doing? Laura had gone to the room every night since she had learned of it. She had done things she'd never dreamed of doing. Why didn't it bother her? Why did it feel natural? Why did it feel so good?
What was she doing?
She was waiting for her father and her mother and her brothers and her sister. She was waiting for her family. She was waiting to have sex - the most incredible sex she had ever experienced.
The door opened and Ben stuck his head into the room. He saw Laura, smiled briefly, then walked in, flopping onto the couch across from her.
They sat quietly for some time, looking at each other, neither of them moving. He was wearing a light jacket, jeans, boots - not the usual attire for the room. Ben had moved out of the house a year ago but he still showed up regularly, spending plenty of time with his family. Laura thought that he was quite handsome; he was tall, broad-shouldered, with a sly look to his face, a subtle intelligence showing in his eyes. He joked a lot, and he could be sarcastic sometimes, but he was really very gentle.
Ben watched her. She knew she was beautiful, like her mother and sister; she shared with them high cheekbones, a graceful neck, a slim but curvaceous figure. She fluttered her eyelashes at him. He smirked, and his eyes trailed down her body, following her long legs peeking out from under her robe. Laura started to feel kind of warm; she remembered the last time she had seen her brother Ben.
He cleared his throat. "I just dropped by to pick up some stuff," he said. "I didn't know if anybody was here."
Laura said, "I guess I'm the only one home."
He studied her face for a few moments. "You seem sad," he finally said.
Was she sad? She thought of the questions she had been thinking about earlier; not sad, just thoughtful. And she realized that she hadn't really talked to Ben since her birthday, since all the changes in her life, and she knew that if anybody had the answers it would be her oldest brother.
"Ben," she said, "what are we doing?"
He slowly nodded. "I knew you would ask me that. Will and Holly never asked, but I knew you would have some questions."
He crossed the room and sat with Laura. She turned to him, curling her legs underneath her. Ben draped his arm along the back of the couch, his fingers lightly touching her hair.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" he asked.
"No, that's not it at all," she said. "Actually - why am I not having second thoughts?"
"None of us did," Ben said. He was silent for a while, tapping his finger against his lips. "When I turned eighteen," he began, "Mom seduced me." He chuckled. "And I knew what she was doing. I mean, it was pretty obvious. She was so gorgeous, so sexy. Still is. She flirted with me, and seduced me, and we ended up having sex - and all I felt was desire. I had no guilt, no qualms. It was pure desire. She was so incredible in bed. And anywhere else we did it. I just wanted to do it with her as often as I could. I couldn't get enough."
"Where was Dad during this?" Laura said. She hadn't heard this story before; all she knew was what her parents had told her, and they hadn't given her many details.
"I thought Dad was clueless, but he knew all along," Ben said. "It was their plan - I figured that out later. Mom eventually told me that Dad knew, and she suggested that the three of us should be doing this together. So we started doing threesomes. It was unbelievable. I would be at one end of Mom, Dad would be at the other. Or Dad would watch while I was with Mom."
"And this was going on where, in Mom and Dad's bedroom?" Laura asked, trying to remember what it was like back then.
"Mostly. Remember that you and Holly and Will were away at school most of the time. And we were incredibly careful that none of you kids saw us. Well, I shouldn't say kids, Holly was seventeen, and I could see the way Dad was looking at her. You know, I've always thought it was funny - they were so intent on waiting until we turned eighteen. They were worried about the legal age of consent?"
"That is funny," she said. "Why would that matter?"
Ben shrugged. "I was looking at Holly in a certain way too. But they waited until she was eighteen. On her birthday, Dad brought her into the bedroom while Mom and I were having sex. He whispered something in her ear and her clothes hit the floor. That girl is wild, you know that. She was so excited. And Dad couldn't have been happier. Those were some amazing days. Dad and Holly. Me and Holly. Mom and Holly. And all the combinations you can imagine."
Laura would have been fourteen back then. Had she noticed anything? Had she picked up a vibe? Maybe she had; she couldn't have guessed that things like that were going on, but she had known something was happening.
"Will was easier than Holly," Ben went on. "I swear he knew about it before he was eighteen, but he said he didn't. But he must have known something. He came on like a bull, humping Mom and Holly whenever he got a chance. Hell, I thought he was going to plug me if I turned my back on him."