Chapter- Eighteen

 

“Wake up,” I heard Eddie say as he shook my shoulder the next morning.  “Time to go for our run.”

 

I groaned, sat up and saw my brother standing in my room, dressed to go running.  I got up, grabbed my outfit and went into the bathroom.  When I was finished, I came out with my running clothes on and tossed the things I wore to bed into my room.

 

I hadn’t said a word to Eddie and I just headed for the door.  My brother followed me and we started our warm-ups and then began to run our route.

 

About half way through our morning routine, my brother moved closer to me and said, “What’s the matter with you this morning, Jen?”

 

“Nothing!”

 

“Well, something is sure bugging you; you haven’t said a word to me.”

 

“What do you care?”

 

Eddie grabbed my arm and stopped me.  He turned me around and said, “What’s that supposed to mean?  You know I care about you.”

 

“Sure, that’s why you don’t want to do anything with me anymore.”

 

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to do anything with you.”

 

“Yes you did, you said we had to stop doing the things we’ve been doing.  You said it last night.”

 

“I didn’t mean I wanted to stop, Jen.  I meant that if we don’t stop, you’d get in trouble.”

 

“You’d get into trouble too.”

 

“I don’t care if I get in trouble, Jen.  Dad would probably ground me until I was eighteen; kick my butt, or both.  I don’t care; I’m worried about what might happen to you.”

 

We were walking now.  After making our last turn and starting to head back, I said, “You mean you still want to kiss and touch and stuff.”

 

Eddie stopped me again.  Took me by my shoulders and turned me to face him.  He looked straight into my eyes and smiled.

 

“Yes, Jen, I still want to kiss you and touch you.  I love it when we do that stuff,” he said in almost a whisper.  “I love you!”

 

I threw my arms around his neck, hugged him and then gave my brother a big kiss.  Tears of joy ran down my cheeks and at that moment I didn’t care if anyone saw us.  I was so happy I wanted to yell my love for my brother out at the top of my lungs.

 

Eddie held me for a moment and then we parted.  He wiped away my tears with his hands and held my cheeks in his palms.

 

“I love you too, Eddie, more than I could ever tell you.  When you said we had to stop last night, I was heartbroken.  I went into my room and cried myself to sleep.”

 

“I’m so sorry, Jen.  I guess it didn’t come out right.  I’ll try to never make you cry again, not because you’re hurt or sad anyway.”

 

We hugged again and started to run again.  We had spent too much time walking and, if we didn’t hurry, we’d be late for school.  Eddie and I ran as fast as we could and made it home just as our parents were leaving for work.  Mom yelled that we better hurry so we didn’t miss the bus and then got into her car and left.

 

We went in and pulled off our clothes as we walked through the house.  I jumped into the shower, looked at my brother and then told him to get in with me.  We didn’t have time to do anything but wash up, but we decided that we would shower together again, when we had more time.

 

While my brother dressed in his room, I dressed in mine.  I took my pills out of the drawer I kept them in and cussed under my breath as I took the last one in the package.  Tomorrow my period would probably start and I didn’t want to do what I had planned with a string hanging out of me.

 

As I finished dressing, I thought about Cindy and the fact that I wanted to have the experience of giving oral sex before she did, but decided it was stupid to hold a secret contest, after all, it wasn’t like I’d be able to brag about it.  When it happens, it’ll happen.

 

Eddie and I just made it to the bus.  We climbed on as the driver gave us a dirty look for being late.  I went back, found Cindy and sat across from her and Kevin.  I smiled, raised my eyebrow and when she shook her head no, we both giggled.

 

My period started the next day and fortunately I was prepared.  I had put a tampon in before running and avoided a mess.  The week passed and by Friday, my cycle had ended.

 

On Saturday morning, the whole family went to the boat to spend the day.  As my brother and I did every time we went to the boat, we washed down the outside.  My parents had met some of the other boat owners in the marina.  It was just like having neighbors.  The different people would stop by our boat for a while or we’d go to someone else’s boat.

 

The school year was drawing to an end and my brother and I had been planning our next trip.  We decided that we wanted to go north during the summer with stops in Daytona and St. Augustine.  Mom and Dad had gone off to visit while Eddie and I cleaned the outside of the boat.  When we were finished, we went below and my brother took out his computer.

 

Dad bought us a program that we could use to chart our course and Eddie and I had been working on the trip for a couple of weeks.  We made plans to take our time going north, stopping along the way for fishing and sightseeing.  As we sat next to each other at the table, waiting for the computer to boot up, I leaned over and kissed my brother’s cheek.

 

Eddie turned to me and smiled.  I let out a sigh and rested my head on his shoulder.

 

“You know what, Eddie, we’ve never given the boat a name,” I said.

 

“I know, Dad said we’d give her a name when we thought of the right one.”

 

“What do you think we should name the boat?”

 

“I don’t know.  Do you have any ideas?”

 

I shook my head and we went back to the computer.

 

Mom and Dad came back and told us that we could go for a boat ride if we wanted to and we jumped at the chance.  I tended to the lines while my brother warmed the engines.  It was Eddie’s turn to take the boat out this trip.  My mom and dad sat in the cockpit and relaxed as my brother carefully pulled out of the slip and headed for the ICW.  We motored along the waterway, watching the other boats and the large homes.  I sat up on the bridge with Eddie, and we talked about the summer trip.

 

My brother explained how, after we had our course completed, we could load the information into the chart plotter and then just follow it.

 

I was wearing my favorite yellow bikini and enjoying the day.  While I sat there, I took my legs and pulled them back, hooking my heels behind my head and my knees behind my arms.  Eddie saw how I was sitting, laughed and then reached over and tickled my crotch.  I started to giggle.

 

“If I’d of know you wanted to play, I wouldn’t have worn the bottoms of my suit.”

 

“You are just fine the way you are,” he said and then slipped his finger under the gusset of my suit, rubbing his finger over my sex.

 

I was immediately turned on and wiggled as best I could against his finger.  I gripped my ankles, pulled my legs down and my brother’s hand away.

 

“Oh my God,” I said.  “You almost made me cum.”

 

“I would of if you didn’t stop me, Jen.”

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, not right now anyway.  If you get me all cranked up, I’ll want to attack you and you might wreck the boat.”

 

Eddie chuckled and nodded his head.

 

We stopped at a restaurant along the ICW and after my brother expertly pulled the boat into a slip, we went down from the bridge.  Our dad was just finishing up tying the boat to the pilings when we got to the cockpit and he complemented Eddie on the fine job he did.

 

I went below, put a skirt and top on over my bikini and we went to eat.  During dinner, our parents told us that some of the people in the marina were planning a party for the next weekend and that they were invited.

 

“Are we invited too?”  I asked.

 

“I’m afraid not, Jen.  It’s an all-adult party.  There’re going to be some family parties this summer, and a couple of rendezvous, that you two will be able to attend,” Dad said.

 

“What’s a rendezvous, Dad?”  I said.

 

“It’s where a group of boat owners take a short trip and meet at a given destination.  Everyone rafts their boats together and enjoy the party.  The couple on the forty-eight Viking said that some times there will be fifteen or twenty boats all tied together and people just go from boat to boat,” Dad said.

 

After dinner, we cruised until dark.  It was going to be the first time Eddie docked in the dark.  When we arrived at our slip, Dad, Mom and I stood ready on deck as my brother backed the boat into the slip.

 

“Great job, Eddie,” Dad said.  “Next time it’s your turn to try it, Jen.”

 

During the next week our schedules were as busy as ever.  I had a track meet on Wednesday and Eddie played soccer on Tuesday and Thursday.  Our parents were also very busy, but they never missed one of our events.  If my brother and I had events on the same day, Mom would go to one and Dad to the other.

 

Between running track and gymnastics, I was getting much stronger, especially my legs.  I loved the way my legs looked when I wasn’t exercising, but when I started to do anything that required muscles, they looked more like a boy’s legs.  My muscles would show and, even though they were fairly well defined, I thought my legs looked funny.

 

My upper body was also much stronger.  Some of the things we were required to do in gymnastics required a lot of arm strength.  On my morning runs with my brother, I started to carry hand weights and would pump my arms hard as we ran.  Because of all of the training I was doing, I was filling out.

 

One morning after running, I was in the kitchen standing at the sink next to my mom.  Dad was at the table reading something and drinking coffee.  Both my mom and I were only wearing our underwear, like we did most mornings.  One of the benefits of our family’s relaxed attitude was, not having to worry about being seen in various states of undress.

 

I really enjoyed my newfound freedom.  I didn’t have to get dressed to eat breakfast and worry about spilling something on my clothes.  I could have worn a robe, but I didn’t really like to, so I didn’t.

 

“I think Jen is taller than you are, Ellen,” my dad said from behind us.

 

“She is, Harry,” Mom replied and then told me to turn so we could stand back to back.

 

I was now five-foot eight, about an inch taller than my mom.  Dad confirmed that I was taller from the table.

 

“Jen is taller, by about an inch,” Dad said.  “I guess that means I’ll be buying her a new wardrobe.”

 

“I’ve been buying her new clothes,” Mom said as we separated.  “If her boobs don’t stop growing, I’ll end up buying the shop a bra at a time.”

 

“MOM!”  I shouted.

 

My parents laughed.  Even though our family didn’t concern ourselves about modesty, I didn’t like it when someone drew attention to my body.  I was still a little self-conscious about my breasts and the fact that some of my bras were now C cup.  I had the largest breasts on the gymnastics team and was one of the biggest on the track team.

 

My lingerie drawer would rival most movie stars’.  One of the benefits on Mom’s job was an endless supply of new underwear.  Because the shop she worked in was up-scale, they always keep the latest styles in stock.  This meant that when something went out of style, and didn’t sell during one of the clearance sales, I got it.  The shop would sell the items to the employees at a big discount rather than send them back to the manufacture.

 

The constant rotation of my bras and panties was a benefit to my friend Cindy too, she got my hand me downs, that is until my boobs grew to a full cup size larger than hers.

 

After breakfast, I went to my room to dress.  My brother, running late as usually, scurried past me in the living room, on his way to eat.  I closed the door to my bedroom, something I rarely did anymore and stood in front of my full-length mirror.

 

I looked at my breasts, put my hands under them and gently lifted them.  They were firm, but because of their size, sagged slightly when I was braless.  The last batch of bras Mom brought home were thirty-four C, but I had to hook them in the last loops, and the cups were a little big.  My chest narrowed to my twenty-two inch waist and then my hips flared to about thirty-three inches.

 

When I turned sideways and gazed at my profile, I could see my round bottom.  My butt didn’t flow into my thighs like Mom’s did; it looked like it was added on.  The bottom of my firm ass cut into my thighs sharply.  I had to be careful with the shorts I wore, because if they were too short, they would ride up and my butt showed.

 

I ran my fingers through my short hair, pulling it back.  If I worked at it, I could gather it into a ponytail, but only about an inch or two would stick out of the band I used to keep it in place.  The sun provided some highlights to my hair’s normal dark blonde color.  I had short bangs that I kept trimmed so they were about half way between my eyebrows and hairline.

 

As I looked at my face I wondered why my friends and family thought I was cute, I really didn’t think so.  My nose was small, turned up slightly and was spotted with a few light freckles.  My teeth were straight, but I would have felt better if I didn’t have the small gap between the two front ones.  I had fairly full lips, but I thought they looked better if I wore a little gloss.

 

I went into the bathroom to put on some makeup and as I applied my mascara, I studied my eyes.  They were blue, like everyone else in my family, but mine were dark blue.  My brother and mom’s eyes were bright blue and I wished mine were that color, but I got my dad’s eyes.  I sighed as I thought about how my brother’s eyes would almost sparkle, and giggled when I thought about how big they still got when he saw me topless, or in sexy underwear.

 

I was just applying my eyeliner when my brother came into the bathroom and stood behind me to brush his hair.  Eddie kept his light brown hair short on top and the sides buzzed.  I put down my eyeliner pencil, stood up straight and looked at my brother’s reflection in the mirror.  He was a full five inches taller than I was and if we had switched places, his broad shoulders would have blocked my reflection entirely.

 

After smiling at one another for a moment, I went back to my room and dressed for school.  When I was ready, I grabbed my books and headed out to the living room to wait for my brother.  As I sat on the couch, I thought about my decision to have oral sex with my brother.  I wondered if maybe I was pushing things and if I was only going to do it because of Cindy and an unfounded need to be competitive with her.

 

Eddie came into the living room and we left for school.  When I got on the bus, I found Cindy and sat down next to her.  She immediately shook her head no, but instead of giggling, I shrugged my shoulders.  As we rode along, Cindy talked about Kevin and complained that she didn’t have enough time alone with him.  I nodded, but my mind was far away from her and her boyfriend problems, I had problems of my own.

 

My morning classes went by and I couldn’t remember a thing my teachers had said.  I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn’t pay any attention to the lectures.  I was able to get my head together long enough to write down my homework assignments, but little else.  Fortunately, I was a good student and missing a few lectures would have no affect on my almost perfect grade point average.

 

I sat with Cindy and Kevin at lunch.  It used to be just Cindy and me, but ever since she and Kevin got together, he joined us.  There was a benefit to Kevin’s presence; Eddie also sat at the table.  He and Kevin had always eaten lunch together and when Kevin started to eat with Cindy and me, so did my brother.

 

Many times during our lunch periods, I wished I could sit close to my brother and hold hands like Cindy and Kevin did.  I knew it wasn’t possible, but it didn’t mean I didn’t want to.  At times I felt envious of my friend because she could display her affection in public while mine had to remain hidden.

 

During lunch, my brother and Kevin talked about fishing and being able to go out on our boat after my brother turned sixteen.  Cindy listened to the boys talk; I sat lost in my thoughts.  I gazed at Cindy and watched her react to Kevin’s voice.  She smiled when he did and tried to follow the conversation, although I was sure I knew more about the subject than she did.

 

I started to wonder if all girls had to sort out the things I was wrestling with.  Did every girl spend as much time as I was, trying to decide to do something, or was it just me?  I knew that my situation was different than most other girls; I was contemplating having sex with my brother.  I searched my thoughts for ways to justify what I was thinking, but for some reason the only thing I could come up with is that I wanted to.

 

Was merely wanting to do this enough?  I knew that it was incest and I knew it was against the law, but I knew something else.  I knew that I loved my brother in a way that wasn’t just sibling love, whatever that is; I loved him as any girl would love a boy.

 

As I watched my brother’s mouth move while he talked.  I thought about the feeling of his lips on mine; his strong-arms around me.  I squirmed as I replayed his gentle touch when he played with my boobs and pussy.  By the time the bell sounded the end of the lunch period; I was wet.

 

I left the lunchroom and headed for my next class, my problems unresolved.  I still didn’t know what to do; in fact, I no longer knew what I wanted to do.  As I walked down the crowed hallway, I heard someone call my name.  When I turned around, I saw Kathy Walters, Cindy’s neighbor, waving at me.

 

Kathy caught up to me and said, “Hi, Jenny, how’s it going?”

 

“Good, Kathy, how are you?”

 

“I couldn’t be better,” she chirped, “but you could.”

 

“What!”

 

“Sucks, doesn’t it.”

 

“What sucks?  What are you talking about?”

 

Kathy looked around, moved closer to me and said, “Being in love with your brother and not being able to tell anyone.”

 

I was floored!  How could she have known?

 

I stared at her blankly and tried to absorb her words.  She just smiled at me and raised her eyebrows.

 

“Your secret is safe with me, Jenny.  Very safe, if you know what I mean.”

 

I let out the breath I’d been holding, and said quietly, “How did you know?”

 

“I could tell.  I watched you at lunch today and could see it in your face.  I’ve been watching for a while, but today I knew.  Well, at least I was pretty sure.  If you’d told me to go to hell or something like that I might not have been so sure, but you didn’t.”

 

I shook my head.

 

“We better get to class, Jenny, but if you ever NEED to talk…”

 

We parted and headed in opposite directions down the deserted hallway.  I was a couple minutes late for math, but I already had a solid A in the class and it didn’t matter if I was late.

 

I did need to talk to someone about my thoughts and feelings.  I didn’t think my mom was a good choice at the time and after what Kathy had said to me, well, maybe she’d be just what I needed to sort things out.  After all, Kathy had experience in these matters.

 

I got through the rest of the day and when I got to the locker room to change for the track meet, I tried to put Eddie out of my mind long enough to concentrate on the competition.  Our meet was on our home field and when I went outside to warm up, I spotted Kathy in the bleachers.  I looked around, saw my parents and brother sitting together and waved at them.  Then I waved at Kathy and she waved back.

 

Our team did well at the meet.  I was first in long jump and the hurdles and took second in cross-country.  After the meet, I went to the locker room, took a quick shower and left.  I didn’t want to hang around and talk about the meet with my teammates, not today.

 

My parents and brother were standing outside the exit door, and after repeated congratulations, we headed home.  We ate dinner and I went to the living room to study and do the homework assignments I got in class.  Mom and Dad went out to the patio to have their coffee and my brother joined me in the living room.

 

“Don’t you have homework?”  I asked Eddie when I saw him pick up a fishing magazine and start thumbing through the pages.

 

“Nope, did it at the track meet.”

 

I was sitting on the floor facing the chair my brother was seated in.  I looked up at him, smiled and said, “You mean you weren’t watching me?”

 

Eddie giggled and said, “Of course I was watching you, remember, I love to watch your butt when you run.  In track, you guys spend more time sitting than running, so I had time to do my homework.”

 

“Don’t you watch the other girls run and stuff?”

 

“Nope, just you.”

 

My brother’s voice was serious and I knew he meant what he said.  I felt my heart go into my throat and tried to smile, but I think the look on my face was one of love rather than appreciation for the comment.  We stared at one another for a few moments and then went back to what we were doing.

 

It was Friday before I saw Kathy at school again.  We ran into each other after lunch in the hallway, like we had before.  This time, I called HER name.

 

“Hi Kathy,” I said as she approached.

 

“Hey, Jenny.”

 

“Listen; is your offer still open, you know, to talk?”

 

“Sure, anytime.”

 

“Are you busy after school today, Kathy?”

 

“No, I’ll see you then.  We can meet by the busses.”

 

“Thanks, see you then,” I said as we headed for our next class.

 

At the end of the day, I hurried out to meet Kathy.  We chatted for a couple of minutes and agreed to meet at her house after dinner.  When we saw Cindy coming, we stopped making plans, each of us knowing that if Cindy figured out what we were talking about, it could jeopardize my brother and me.

 

After eating dinner and helping my mom in the kitchen, I rode my bike to Kathy’s house.  She got her bike out of the garage and we went to the park to talk so Cindy wouldn’t see us together.

 

We parked our bicycles and sat on a picnic table.  I was feeling a little anxious and I think Kathy sensed it.

 

“I know you must have a ton of questions,” Kathy said.  “Let me answer a few of them before you ask.”

 

I smiled and nodded my head.

 

“First of all, I don’t feel the least bit guilty about the things my brother and I do, not anymore.  I did when we first started to fool around, but not anymore.  I came to grips with my feelings, just like you have to do.”

 

I nodded again and waited for her to go on.

 

“At first, I really struggled with the whole incest thing.  It used to drive me crazy every time I started to question whether what we were doing was right or wrong.  Brad and I talked a lot about it and we decided that it wasn’t wrong.  We love each other, Jenny, and WE don’t care about the rules.”

 

“What about your parents?”

 

“They don’t know, and Brad and I want to keep it that way, at least until we’re old enough to be on our own.  We are planning to go to the same college so we can be together.”

 

“That’s so cool, Kathy.”

 

“How far have you and your brother gone?”

 

“Just kissing and touching.”

 

“Naked?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You want to do more, don’t you?”

 

“I don’t know, sometimes I think I do and other times I don’t.  It’s all so confusing.”

 

Kathy looked in to my eyes, grinned and said, “You do!  I can tell.  You really love it when you two are kissing and feeling each other up and you want more.  Right?”

 

I giggled and nodded my head yes.

 

“Let me guess, your brother doesn’t come on to you, you have to start things.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Kathy laughed and said, “That’ll change; he’s just shy and unsure.  Has he told you he’s afraid of hurting you yet?”

 

“He told me he didn’t want me to get into trouble.”

 

“Same thing, he’s afraid.  Brad told me that he wanted to do things with me, but he was scared to tell me what he wanted.  Even after we’d been fooling around for a while, he still wouldn’t say anything.  I had to ask him to come to my room and then tell him what I wanted to do.”

 

“Do you still have to tell him?”

 

“Sometimes, I guess he has trouble with the fact that girls are just as horny as boys.”

 

We both laughed, she was so right about me being horny.

 

“How far have you and Brad gone together?”

 

“Just oral sex.  I suck him and he eats me.  We talked about it and, while we both want to fuck, we want to wait.”

 

“Until you’re ready?”

 

“Until we can spend a whole day and night together.  We still have to sneak into one another’s rooms to do anything.  Our parents don’t go out very often, and when they do, not for very long.”

 

“Don’t your parents wonder why you don’t have a boyfriend or why Brad doesn’t have a girlfriend?”

 

“Not yet, I just turned sixteen and my parents told me I couldn’t date until now anyway.  I have no idea about what they think about Brad.”

 

“It really doesn’t bother you anymore?  You know, the guilt thing.”

 

“Not anymore than it would with any guy, a guy that wasn’t my brother.  I know it all sounds strange, but somewhere along the line, I stopped thinking about Brad as my brother.  I think about him like I would any other boy.  I love him and that’s all that matters to me.”

 

“Was it always that way?”

 

“No, not at first.  At first all I wanted to know was what it was like to be kissed.  After kissing, we started to touch each other.  It was just fun, you know, getting off by someone’s hand other than my own.  I don’t really know when things changed for me, but now we make love; it isn’t just sex.”

 

“I think I know what you mean.”

 

“Don’t get me wrong, we still do shit just to fell good.  I’ll suck him off while we’re watching television if my parents are gone, or he’ll finger me.  That’s just sex and we both really love it, but when we get together and make love, you know, lots of kissing and stuff, it’s the best.

 

“There’ve been times, when we were kissing; I started to cry because I love him so much.  Some nights I feel like I can’t get enough of him and have to really control my urge to feel him inside me.”

 

“Kathy, I think I want to do more with Eddie.  I’ve been tearing myself up trying to decide whether or not to have oral sex with him.”

 

Kathy giggled and nodded knowingly.  She put her hand on my leg and smiled.

 

“All I can do is tell you that I had the same problem.  Then one night, I just went for it, you remember, you watched the first time I did it.  I just figured, what the hell, if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t do it anymore, but I also knew there was only one way to find out.”

 

“Does he do it to you?  Lick your pussy I mean.”

 

“Oh yeah!”

 

I giggled and said, “How does that feel?”

 

“Brad’s getting better at it, that’s for sure, but it isn’t just about how good it feels, not all the time.  It’s how close I feel to him when he’s doing it to me, or I’m doing it to him.  It’s about GIVING pleasure for me.  I mean, I love the shit out of him and I’ll do whatever I can to make him happy.”

 

“Does he feel the same way?”

 

“I don’t know how he feels, he’s never told me if it’s important to him to give me pleasure, but he does, even if he doesn’t mean to.  I love to have my brother between my legs and feel his tongue; like I said, he’s getting better.  If I just want my pussy eaten because it feels good, I go over to Cindy’s house.”

 

My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers.  Kathy looked at me and started to laugh.

 

“Don’t give me that ‘I’m so shocked’ look, Jenny.  I know that you two have done it too.”

 

I blushed and said, “Cindy’s got a big mouth.”

 

Kathy giggled and said, “Yeah, and a talented tongue.”

 

Both of us laughed at that.

 

“Aren’t you afraid she’ll say something about you and Brad?  If she told you about me, what’s to keep her quiet?”

 

“I’m not really afraid she’ll tell anyone about my brother and me.  I trust her.”

 

“She told about me and her, and she promised she wouldn’t.”

 

“That’s a little different, Jenny.  She didn’t really tell me about you two; we were messing around one day and she called out your name, right when she was having an orgasm.  I pressed her and she admitted that I wasn’t the first girl she fooled around with.  I just figured it was you.”

 

“She never said it was me.”

 

“No.  I didn’t know for sure until just now.  You know, if you’re ever horny and your brother or Cindy aren’t available…”

 

I giggled, looked her in the eyes and whispered, “I think I’d like that.”

 

Kathy squeezed my leg firmly, smiled and whispered, “Me too.”

 

When it was time to go, I felt better about things than I had in a long time.  I wasn’t sure I was ready to go through with giving my brother a blowjob, but I knew I wasn’t crazy.  It was very comforting to know that I had someone I could talk to about things and I didn’t feel so alone.

 

Mom and Dad were finishing their packing for the weekend when I came into the house.  Mom asked me where I’d been and I told her that I was visiting a girl I knew from school.  I asked where my brother was and Mom told me he was in the backyard with Kevin.

 

I went outside, sat down at the table with Eddie and Kevin and said, “Hi.”

 

“Hi Jen,” Eddie said.  “We’re just planning our fishing trip for tomorrow.  We’re going to the lake, want to come?”

 

“Is Cindy going to go fishing with you two?”  I asked.

 

“No, she has to go somewhere with her mom,” Kevin said.

 

“Okay, I think I’ll just stay home.  You guys don’t need me along, I’d just be a fifth wheel,” I told the boys.

 

I went back inside and started to watch television.  I knew I had homework, but it could wait until tomorrow.  Eddie came in about an hour later, walked up to me and lifted my chin so I was looking into his eyes.  His expression was very serious and for a second I thought he was mad at me.

 

“You’ll never be a fifth wheel, Jen.  If you want to go fishing with me tomorrow, you’re more than welcome.  If Kevin doesn’t like it, he can go by himself.”

 

I had a lump in my throat, but managed to squeak out, “Thanks, you have no idea how much that means to me, but it’s okay, you and Kevin go.  You and I will go some other time, some time when it’s just the two of us.”

 

My brother’s stern look changed to a big grin and he nodded his head.