Potency

Familiar Kiss

Robert tooted his horn in front of Erica's house, then started pressing the station preset buttons looking for a good song. He was surprised to see his sister running to the car. She normally made him wait and she never ran.

"Burrr," Carmen said, and slammed the door. "Heat!" She slid the temperature control to the red and spun the blower knob to full blast.

Robert looked at his sister with his brows lifted. She was barefoot, wearing a sleeveless shirt and short shorts. "Why didn't you put more on?" He closed his vent.

"It's supposed to be warm." She hugged her legs to her chest. "So much for a warming weather"

"Girls, jeez." He sighed and started driving.

When Carmen hadn't said anything for a couple of minutes he looked at her. She glanced his way, then went back to staring out the window. "So?? Is she a good kisser?"

Her head snapped towards him. "What,"

"The making out," he said, "how was it?"

"What are you talking about?" Carmen said.

"Don't play dumb, I want to hear about that kiss."

Carmen put her chin in her palm, closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "We got naked, then spent the night in bed together."

"Really?"

"Yes, but we put on our pyjamas first, Perv."

"You two really share a bed?" he said.

"Why, you and Derek don't share?"

"No, not gonna happen."

"So you think I should make out with Erica and you're a homophobe?"

"Easy Tigress," Robert said, and gave her that what just happened to be a look.

"I'm just saying, it's a double standard."

"No," he said, taking a long thought searching and finally paused and said, "Derek, ah, his bed sucks, too small and lumpy. The cot is better. His camping cot."

"Would you kiss him to shock me?"

Robert felt his face going from one shade of pale to another, and he knew his sister already knew the answer. Before he could say anything, she said,

"See, it is a double standard. You perverts think we should go down on each other so you can beat off, but you're afraid to even see each other naked."

"Um, maybe you should tell me what's really bothering you?"

"Will you rub my foot, please?"

"Cramp?" he asked.

"No," she said, and sighed.

"Okay," Robert said.

She waited until his hand was working before she spoke.

"What would you think of me if I told you I used my tongue, for real?"

"Huh, what do you mean? Jeez!!".

"You know, what would you think if I really soul kissed Erica and, ah, and enjoyed it? Would you think I was bad?"

"What are you really asking me, Carm?"

"I love the way you say, Carm."

The fact that his sister teared up because he called her Carm made him think of all the hurt that they had seen each other through, back when calling her Carm was common, after their mother had been killed. Something serious was going on. “Tell me what's going on.”

"I, erm, I did it, I did, I think I did." She gasped.

"I didn't mean it... Didn't mean for it to... to happen. I never, um, never would, never would have planned it. You know, planned to...But what if I liked it?"

His brain searched for words but after two seconds his sister continued, "You think I'm bad... You think I'm a lesbian don't you?"

"I don't think anything," he lied. He was really thinking a thousand things, particularly about how he felt after seeing Derek in the woods. He couldn't possibly tell his sister about that, but hadn't he thought he might be gay because of how excited he had gotten?

"So you don't even care if I might be queer?"

"Stop putting words in my mouth," he said, and turned sharply onto the dirt road that ran parallel to the rail road tracks. When the car was stopped he continued,

"How come you think a kiss makes you gay?"

"Because, em, I can't stop thinking about it," Carmen said.

"So??,"

"I bet if I kissed Erica I would still be thinking about it too." He added.

"Kiss her and die," his sister snapped. "What if I'm a lesbian?"

"I'll still love you, and rub your feet, but you might be doing that overreacting thing that you sometimes do. A kiss, even enjoying a kiss, doesn't make someone turn gay. If we kiss, I think you'd be thinking about it for a long time. That wouldn't make me any less your brother."

Carmen stared at him for a few seconds, then said,

"What did you do with my brother? Whoever you are, you're way too smart, caring, and logical, to be that pervert Robert."

He thought it was probably more of a compliment then an insult, so he didn't protest. Carmen leaned over to kiss his cheek, but he turned and met her lips with his, and to make sure she got the point, he tilted his head and laid one on her.

His sister fell back onto her seat like a punctured balloon giving up its last burst of air. She said, "Robert!!."

"See," he said with a grin, "it worked, you forgot all about the troubler." He started driving, hoping the awkwardness would fade.

His sister put her foot back in his lap, then said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but that was gross."

"Thanks, you cut me deep."

"I didn't say you don't kiss good, but it was em..."

"Don't worry," he said, "it doesn't make us incesters, and I made my point. Didn't I? Don't trip about how something makes you feel. Make out with Erica all you want if that's what you want to do."

"Thanks, I think you helped me," Carmen said. “Oh, and you know you can't ever mention this to anyone, especially not Erica.”

"Glad to help," he said, "and don't worry, I'll never mention it." He squeezed her foot. "Now maybe you can help me?"

Carmen raised her left brow in a high arch. "If it has anything to do with girls, I'm sure that I can."

"Well, I guess it does," he said.

"Do you think Katie takes advantage of me?"

"Of course she does," Carmen said, with a large grin. "She has you wrapped around her finger. Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know. Dad says it is, and she's been acting different. Maybe she's too old for us to still be the way we always were."

"Don't worry about dad. He wanted boys and she's not his, so he doesn't treat her the same. She needs you." Carmen squished her lips to the side and squinted one eye before she asked, "You do know she has a crush on you, right?"

"Huh?" He said. "She's my sister, besides she still thinks boys are gross."

"Oh Brother, open your eyes. She's long past thinking boys are gross and too in love to worry about whether or not her mother is married to your father."

"That's great," he said. "What am I supposed to do? She still thinks she can get in bed with me if she has a dream."

"Nothing," Carmen said. "Just keep treating her like a little sister and eventually she'll grow out of it or meet a boy who makes her forget about you."

The idea of Katie and a boy disturbed him, as much as her forgetting him, but he moved on.

"Does mom seemed different?"

"What do you mean?" Carmen said.

He thought she knew he had his b***r against her back and looked at her p***y.

"It's hard to explain. Different, somehow.”He said.

"I don't think so, but I'll let you know if I see anything."

“Thanks,” he said.

Robert dropped Carmen off at their house and headed for Derek's.