I waited about fifteen minutes, said my goodnights to those who were still awake in the Old House, and then headed to the New House. With the space heater turned off, the breezeway was back to being a chilly crossing. The walk didn’t do much to ease my nerves. What the heck were we going to do? So far, I hadn’t had any regrets about fooling around with my cousin, but we still had a few lines we could cross that might change things.
On the second floor, I noted that Avery’s bedroom light was on behind the door while Kaia’s was off. The bathroom was empty, so I took advantage of that and got my teeth brushed. Disappointingly, Avery’s room light was still on when I left to go up to the attic. Why couldn’t she have crashed already?
I killed the last few minutes by changing to a pair of athletic shorts and t-shirt and pacing. Lots of pacing. My watch finally proclaimed it eleven and I went down, trying to keep from squeaking any of the steps. To my relief, Avery’s light was finally off, though it didn’t mean she was asleep yet.
Kaia had explicitly told me not to knock, so I turned the knob and eased the door open. The Red Room wasn’t dark, after all, but dimly lit by a tiny cluster of red and white Christmas lights in a bunch hanging over the head of her queen bed. I recognized it as an old decoration, fake mistletoe with built-in Christmas lights. I finally knew what she’d swiped from the Closet that morning after first flashing me. I didn’t think its placement over her bed was a coincidence.
Kaia, laying in bed, had her back turned to me. For a fraction of an instant, I thought she might be asleep. Avery popping her head up from behind my cousin shattered that notion, however. My sister’s eyes went wide on seeing me.
“Alex!” She was caught between giving me a dirty look and trying to hide behind Kaia. Her voice was an annoyed shouting whisper. “What the fuck?”
What the fuck, indeed? I’d already knew the girls had shared Kaia’s bed the last night, at the least. But why would Kaia have invited me to her room if that was going to be the case again tonight?
“Sorry, I…”
Kaia rolled over, greeting me with a warm smile. In the process of turning, she dragged enough of the comforter down to make it clear she was topless. And Avery, judging by her frantic attempt to pull the covers back up, was as well. Were they…?
“Alex,” she said. “Get in here and close the door.”
“What!?” Avery was clearly distraught and I couldn’t blame her. Clearly, she hadn’t been in on Kaia’s plans. And just what were those? I was uncomfortable, doubly so given my sister’s reaction. “No. What are you doing?”
“Relax,” Kaia said. “I invited him.”
“You…what!? Why?”
I felt for Avery and had to side with her. Much as I’d been looking forward to fooling around with our cousin, this hadn’t been very well thought out.
“Yeah, I’m starting to wonder the same thing,” I said. “Maybe I should leave.”
Kaia looked hurt and Avery relieved.
“Don’t you dare,” Kaia said, propping herself up enough that the comforter fell away from her bare breasts. I doubted that was by accident.