Laura

“Frank? Frank do you hear what I’m saying? You’re not insane and neither am I. Speak to me!”

“Yes Laura.”

I was replaying the memory of our collision earlier, trying to divine some titbit of information in her performance that could have betrayed what she claimed to be her current state of mind. I couldn’t find one. If there had been such a clue, I most likely wouldn’t have seen or recalled it. Yet I kept trying until she had to call me out of my thoughts.

“’Yes Laura’? Come on, give me a little more. Tell me I haven’t been incredibly foolish!”

“It’s all right,” I said, as much to myself as to her, “I’m not brainwashed. I just fucked my own mother because she couldn’t get laid at work, but I’m not like her. It’s still wrong. It’s still ****.”

“Damn. I’ve been lucky. I have my own apartment. My parents live out of town.”

“I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of shenanigans. Or am I in the minority in being... distracted by your tits?”

She laughed, “Don’t worry; you’re not an outcast in that way. I’ve seen plenty of action today.”

I managed a chuckle. Then neither of us spoke for a bit. Finally Laura took the lead.

“Look, we need a plan. Now we know what’s up we need to meet somewhere private and avoid speaking on the phone.”

“Mother is going to call me down for dinner relatively soon...”

“Exactly. I know a place in old town. Nobody that either of us knows goes anywhere near it, and most of the clientele only knows it exists by word of mouth. Tomorrow come to school, find a place to hide and I’ll find you. Then we can go.”

“What do you mean, ‘find a place to hide’? It’s not like there are closets and cupboards, or unlocked doors to abandoned sections in a school.”

“Oh,” she huffed, “go somewhere you don’t usually go. Go where none of your classmates will see or pass you. And don’t let Carmen see you.”

“Carmencita? Why?”

Laura bit back a laugh, “She’s got the hots for you. She’ll fuck you the minute she spots you.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “What? Why? How? What have I done?”

“You did fuck didn’t you? You must have done something she liked, I don’t know. She’s crazy like everyone else. There’s bound to be other loony quirks than just the sex thing.”

“So she’s falling for the pretend ‘me’?”

“Looks like it. Sorry.” But I heard her laughing away from her receiver. I tried to suppress my frustration, but it had the element of surprise. I never thought it would be so easy, while in a rational state of mind, for my heart to start fluttering at the thought of her again. Yet there it was hammering away in my chest while I desperately had to remind myself none of what might be promised could possibly be genuine.

“All right. I’ll hide, like you say. But what about class itself? Won’t it defeat the whole plot of secrecy if we don’t attend classes? I start at eight o’clock tomorrow, no later.”

“We’re adults. They won’t come running to our guardians if we’re absent a day or two. They’ll kick us out if we don’t go to the exams. Or didn’t anyone tell you you weren’t in secondary education anymore?”

As she spoke I heard a muffled thumping noise slowly getting louder, and then a door squealing open just beyond mine, and I realized it was time to end the call.

“Speaking of guardians, I can hear Mother or my Sister coming this way. I’ll be having to eat soon. Keep me posted.”

“Agreed. See you.”

She hung up just as Julie tried to open my door and failed. I had locked it.

“Dinner. Pronto. Mum says.” and she set out back down the stairs. I scrambled to follow her, slipping into a dressing gown, getting a pair of slippers on, unlocked my door and hurried into the little room between my bedroom, hers and the door to the stairway. The latter door was still open, which is just as well, because it allowed me to see beyond, and the sight tempered my rush.

I would have slowed down anyway, because the stairs were narrow and steep, but just ahead of me I saw reason to perhaps actually retreat. Stark naked, my sister Julie was, and stomping down the stairs with ripples going through her firm buttocks. There was little doubting I would be the only one at the dinner table not also in my birthday suit.

I retraced my steps, slowly and quietly, re-entered my room, and took a deep breath. I rid myself of all my evening clothes, and set out to brave the horrors below.