Abbie’s idea is very tempting, but you know it’s not a good idea to act on it, at least not right now

You don’t know how you want to answer that, so you stay silent.

Abbie falls asleep as you drive home. You can’t stop thinking about everything she said.

You and Abbie have always been close, and the two of you could talk about anything. You never thought that one of the things you’d talk about is her being seriously into you. Sure, you’ve had occasional fantasies and an unsettling wet dream or two about her, but she sounded like she literally wanted to act on those feelings. Could you do that?

After you pull into your driveway, you shake her awake gently with your hand on her shoulder. “Abs, we’re home,” you say softly.

Your sister’s eyes flutter open. “ughhh… I need to sleep. Take me to bed, Stretch.”

You walk around the car and open her door, then help her out. “I’ll get you tucked in, sis.” You tell her softly, as you half carry her to the front door. She leans against you. Her body feels warm and soft. You get her inside, up the stairs, and into her room.

Abbie shimmies out of her short skirt, then pulls off her top. Down to just her panties, she stumbles against her bed and sits down hard on it. You turn away, towards the bedroom door. “Stay with me Dave,” she pleads. “I don’t want to be alone.”

You swallow hard, “I don’t know…” you say in a hushed voice. The last thing you want to do is wake up your mom right now.

“If I’m here alone, I won’t be able to sleep. All I’ll do is think about you… about how I messed things up between us.” Your sister’s voice sounds quiet, hesitant.

When you turn back to face her, and see she gotten into bed, under the sheet. You feel relieved you don’t have to have this conversation with her while she’s topless and exposed. You shake your head and take a step back towards her. “You didn’t mess anything up,” you reassure her.

Tears glisten in her eyes. “Just lie down with me, please. It felt so good when we were laying together in the van. I… I don’t mean, you know… what I did. Before that, just being close to you.”

You nod. “It was nice. But… it might not be a good idea right now.” You sit down on the edge of her bed and stroke her arm through the sheet. “You’re still a little drunk. I’m wiped out.” You take a deep breath. “I don’t want to be tempted to do something we can’t undo, Abs — at least until we’re both thinking straight,” you add for some reason. You know it’s not right, but part of you doesn’t want to shut down the idea down entirely.

Abbie smiles at you through her tears. “I’m too exhausted to do any tempting anymore, Stretch. I really just want to cuddle so I can get some sleep.”

After a long sigh, you relent. You kick off your shoes and lay down next to your sister, fully dressed, on top of her sheet. You remember to set the alarm on your phone, you still need to get to school tomorrow, and you don’t want to oversleep and have mom find you coming out of Abbie’s room in the morning.

You roll onto your side, facing away from your sister, to avoid temptation. “Good night, Abs.”

She spoons you from behind, her arm wrapping around you. “G’night, beanpole.” She murmurs. She’s snoring softly in a matter of seconds.

Nervous energy keeps you from falling asleep for a minute or two, but soon you crash and drop off into a deep sleep.

The next thing you’re aware of is your phone alarm going off. It feels like you just closed your eyes. Abbie’s arm is still draped over you. As you fumble to turn off the alarm, she groans. “Fuuuuck… I need more sleep. Damn, I’ve got a final this morning — early.” She squeezes you tight from behind. “Thanks for staying with me, Dave,” she whispers. “I’m sorry… sorry I’ve made things so weird. God, you’re the best brother in the world to put up with my shit like this.”

You roll over to face her. “Abs, it’s not that bad.” You smile warmly at her. “I mean… every guy dreams about having a girl as beautiful as you telling him that she’s into him. It’s just my usual luck that beautiful girl is my sister,” you finish with a note of ironic resignation.

Her cheeks flush red, her eyes look down away from yours. “Dammit, when you tell me I’m beautiful, my heart literally flutters. No other guy ever made my heart flutter, Dave.” Her legs shift under the sheet, thighs rubbing together. “Mmmmm… some other parts of my body respond, too,” she adds wickedly. She rolls onto her back and groans. “I wish we had time to talk now — to work this all out. I’ve gotta get ready, drink a couple gallons of coffee, and go take my stupid final, though.”

Your sister hugs you again and places a soft, lingering kiss on your cheek. “Can we talk today, when you get home from school?”

“Sure, Abs. I want to talk... about all this,” you say.

Abbie slides out of bed and grabs her robe. You get a glimpse of her stunning body as she pulls it on and heads out into the hall towards the bathroom.

You lay there for a moment, trying to process everything. This morning, even sober, Abbie seems to still feel the same way she said she did last night. You roll out of bed and the feeling of a tight band around your head and grit in your eyes reminds you that you drank too much and slept too little last night. You grab your shoes and head to your room.

The school day goes by with you in a fog, both from your fatigue and your inability to concentrate on anything besides Abbie and what might happen between you and her. When you get home, you see her car in the driveway. You call out, “I’m home! Abs?” when you step in the front door, but you don’t hear any answer. You look in her room, and see her curled up asleep on her bed, fully dressed.