“You always know when it's time to enjoy life.”

“I think this one’s meant for you, Jessie,” said Traci with a laugh as she passed the fortune to her younger sister. Jessie flushed dark red again, but when Marisa read the fortune over her sister’s shoulder, she started giggling too.

“For the thousandth time, I wasn’t enjoying myself, ok?” Jessie was clearly embarrassed, but this denial just made Marisa and Traci laugh harder. There was something very sisterly about the way Marisa and Traci were teasing Jessica, and I liked seeing it, even if it was a little bit at my expense. I’d barely ever seen Traci hanging out with the twins before this.

Traci got a mock-serious expression on her face. “Not enjoying yourself? That’s terrible! I hope that in the future, you never again take your top off in front of a boy without enjoying yourself!” Marisa and Traci burst into a fit of giggles again. Jessie seemed like she’d decided that at this point, her best defense was silence.

But her sisters weren’t about to let it go that easily. “Don’t worry, Jessie,” Marisa joked, “I’m sure once you’ve graduated from high school boys, you’ll be with men who know how to help you enjoy yourself much better.” This was a not-so-subtle dig at Jessica’s last boyfriend, who even I knew had been notoriously inept at matters of intimacy.

“Don’t count on it, sweetie,” Traci remarked, with a slightly more serious edge than before. “I haven’t even told you about some of the guys I've been with in college. They were an absolute disaster when it was time for some fun. I bet you’ve got your own fantasies for what you want sex to be like, but let’s just say even Prince Charming doesn’t live up.”

There was a pause in the conversation as the twins processed this sobering thought, and then Jessie saw her chance to stop being the butt of every joke. “I think Marisa is a little lost in her Prince Charming fantasies right now,” my raven-haired stepsister observed. This time it was Mari's turn to blush, but I noticed she wasn’t jumping to deny it.

“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying some pleasurable daydreaming,” Traci insisted, “as long as you realize that in reality your partner may not be any more skilled than, say, Mike.”

“Hey!” I yelped, startled. I didn’t think Traci was insulting me maliciously, but she’d still called me out! “Just what are you implying?” I demanded.

“I’m implying that you’re a man, Mike.” Traci’s tone made it clear that she was patronizing me. “And I’m implying that like most men, your knowledge of sex tends to be limited entirely to what feels good for you.”