A bit of reminiscence.

I admit, it was a little disappointing. I had Grace in my room, and while I wouldn’t have pushed for us to go much further than making out and touching, I still wanted to take a little advantage of it. Still, I knew Grace was right and it was good that she stopped me. For all I knew, Isabelle could be in her room and I didn’t want to be a hypocrite and do what she did all those months ago. And if mom caught us doing anything too wild, I’d lose a good chunk of her trust. Yeah, it was better if we didn’t do anything dirty.

I was getting more daring, and I don’t know if that was a good thing, but sometimes my desire for these girls overwrote my common sense. This was yet another one of those times. That said, the reversal of roles compared to something from some time ago was not lost on me.

I smirked. “Look at you, being all responsible and careful. Remember when you made fun of me for worrying that you’d be walking around without panties on?”

Grace puffed her cheeks and pouted. “I didn’t make fun of you.”

“You were clearly disappointed and called me a prude,” I said.

Grace blinked. “Did I? Wow. Shows how much we’ve gotten to know each other since then, huh?”

“Yep. And now you’re the one worried we’ll get caught.”

“Well, I didn’t care back then. Now I do.” She hugged me and rested her forehead on my chest, hiding her face. “I can risk many things, but I’m not willing to risk losing you.”

I kissed the top of her head and held her close. We stayed like that for a few minutes, silent. Then, a while later, we heard a knock on the door and pulled apart.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Hey, it’s me,” Isabelle said. “Can we come in?”

“Yeah.” Wait. We?

Isabelle opened the door and Cake ran in, holding one of the Christmas decorations in her mouth by the thin, golden string. She jumped on the bed and sat between Grace and I.

“Oh, don’t you start,” I told her. I reached for my drawer, took out Cake’s brush and gave it to Grace. She lifted Cake and set her on her lap, took the brush and got to work. That spoiled cat immediately melted and began to purr.

Grace laughed. “Weak to the brush, huh?”

“She is, but now you’re stuck with her for the next 15 minutes,” Isabelle told her. She closed the door again and sat down on my desk chair. She stared at Grace for a while, not saying anything.

“Hey, you’re being creepy,” I told her.

Isabelle flinched. “Crap, sorry.” She laughed it off. “It’s just… I wanted to ask you something, Grace.”

“Shoot.”

“I know this is coming out of nowhere, but do you… believe that stuff about Oliver being possessed by a spirit?”

“Oh, that. Well, yeah. I was the one who proposed the idea of the ouija board,” Grace answered easily. “Why? Don’t believe us?”

“It’s… I don’t know! I kinda do, but only because I know Oliver enough to be sure he would rather tell me to shove off than feeding me a dumb lie like that. How am I supposed to believe it otherwise?”

Grace and I shared a look. I shrugged, having already said my piece. “I told you, Isabelle. You don’t need to believe it. Just let it be.”

“No, it’s a wild enough claim to get anyone curious,” Grace argued. “You see, Isabelle… We knew there was something strange about Oliver from the day we started talking to him. With time it got weirder, but never worse, only better. We told you about the connection, remember? That we can sort of feel each other’s emotions and thoughts? That’s only gotten stronger.” Grace chuckled and looked down at Cake. “I don’t blame you for not believing it, but being in this relationship would be near impossible if not for that.”

Isabelle snickered. “Only ‘near’ impossible?”

“Your brother is really charming,” Grace explained.

Isabelle blushed and shook her head. “Alright, leave it at that.”

Grace laughed. “But you know, we don’t really care if it’s a spirit or whatever. That’s just an explanation that makes some amount of sense, but nothing would change if we had no explanation at all.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll believe it for now.” Isabelle sighed. “I just wanted to get that out of the way. Alice and Noelle said practically the same thing.”

“We talk a lot,” Grace said.

“Anyway, I know when I’m being a third wheel. I’ll leave you two be so long as you promise to behave.” Isabelle stood up, ready to leave my room.

“Actually, why don’t we go downstairs, too?” Grace asked me. “It’s Christmas Eve, right? You’re supposed to spend it with your family, and I want to get to know my sister and mother-in-law some more.”

I snickered, both because of that comment and because I saw Isabelle getting flustered at it.

“S-Sister-in-law…” Isabelle muttered.

“So you’re ready to fight Sarah?” I asked Grace as I stood up. “She said she’d fight you over it, remember?”

“Meh. I’ll think of something.”

“What are you guys talking about?” my sister asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “Just an inside joke.”

She pouted. “I don’t like being left out.”

I sighed and patted her on the head. “Neither do I, sis. Welcome to my early teen years.”

Isabelle and even Grace flinched at that. I walked past and went downstairs, hearing the two girls speak.

“You were right. He does hold grudges,” Grace said.

“I guess I deserve that one.”

“Sorry, but you kinda do, yes,” Grace admitted.

“Ugh. Don’t agree with me…”

Honestly, I had mostly forgiven Isabelle for what she’d done. Forgiven, but not forgotten. That may have been a little cruel, but it was too perfect an opportunity to pass up on that jab.

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