Nat 20

'Holy... Fucking... Shit... Did I really just... What now?' My eyes shoot up to the open door. A minute passes without anything coming of it. 'What the hell? Isn't 20 the best roll? Why isn't anything happening?' Curious, I leave the room and head upstairs. Once outside Emma's room I can hear the three girls talking.

"Oh please," Emma's voice is loud and teasing. "I saw you put the bracelet in your pocket before you said you lost it. Spill, girl. What were you up to?"

I then hear Sam gasp. "Why would you lie? If you needed to go to the bathroom or whatever you could have just said so."

"Well... I, um..." Aurora's voice is soft with embarrassment as she fights for a plausible story, but Emma cuts her off.

"Save it girl. How many years have we been friends? I know when you're telling the truth or talking shit. No lies. Why'd you lie, and what were you really doing?"

"Okay, okay... I... I went to see Mike." The three girls are so silent that I fear they might've heard my breathing. I'm about to back away when I hear Sam burst out questions.

"OMG. Why? What'd you go to him for? What did you say? What did he say? Are you two going out now? Have you been going out?" I can almost feel Sam bouncing as she tosses questions at Aurora faster than she can answer.

"Sam," Emma barks out towards the hyper girl, "Chill. Let her speak." It's quiet for breath, then Aurora answers.

"I went to him because... well... You both know I've had a crush on him for, like, forever. Well, I just wanted to thank him for getting us dinner by... I don't know... letting him know, I guess. Neither of us really said anything..." This gets an 'ooh' from Sam, who is hushed by Emma. "Thanks... Anyway, that's really it. I just, thanked him for the food and sorta let him know that I was... interested... in him. Then came back here."

"Still, I mean, way to go girl. It's about time. How long have you been crushing on him? Six years? Before our parents got together, in any case. I was starting to wonder if you'd ever confess to him." Emma sounds rather stoic, the youngest of the three, yet clearly the one in charge.

"So... You're not upset, right? That I... told him? He is your stepbrother. I don't want to..."

"What? Upset me? You're fine." Emma's voice is soft, supportive. "You said it yourself; he's just my stepbrother. And you're my longest friend. The only thing that would upset me is if one of you seriously hurts the other. The only real question now is, what are you going to do now?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean, you have my consent, he now knows you like him, from the sound of it, he wasn't disinterested in the thought of you two as an item, so, what now?"

"I... um... guess I didn't think that far ahead. I was going to go back, but I didn't think about what I'd say or do once I did." Aurora sounds so embarrassed about her oversight that I can practically see her blushed face in my head. The thought brings a smile to my face.

"Well," Emma sighs, "You'd better figure it out, because Mike's waiting for you downstairs." There's a pause as Aurora thinks, and I can hear the bed squeaks as someone sits down on it. "Sam? What's up?" Emma asks the girl who's been quiet for a little while now.

"Huh? Oh... it's nothing..." Sam almost whispers.

"What is it with the two of you? You both know that I can read you like books. I can tell that something's up. Might as well spill it now before I grind it out of you."

"Ugh, fine... It's just... I might be, maybe, a little pissed." At this Aurora gasps, and Sam quickly continues. "At myself! Not you or anything, just myself!" Emma sighs and speaks up,

"Yeah, I figured. Dammit."

"What is it?" Aurora asks softly.

"Think about it, Aurora. Every time she's here, Sam's always out and about, just a little flashier than usual. She's always a smidge more active when Mike's around, a little louder, a tab bit more... athletically dressed. Shorter shorts, tighter tops, leggings that fit her form a little more snuggly than others. I didn't say anything but... I suspected." Aurora gasps, as another silence falls over the room.

"Sam, I..." Aurora starts, but is stopped by Sam.

"It's fine. I was always too chicken to say anything to him, I could never muster up the nerve, you could. Congrats. I... I'm happy for you, of course. Like I said, I'm only upset with myself. Besides, you liked him first, knew him first, it would have been shitty of me to... make the first move."

"Well... um..." Aurora begins but grows silent again. The others must have given her a look, because she soon continues. "What if... we... I mean... If you like him, too, then I wouldn't be opposed to... We could..."

"Damn, girl," Sam speaks up, "Your face looks redder than Rudolf's nose. What is it?"

"R-right. Well... We could, uh, I mean, we could both, date him..." Aurora eventually whispers out. My legs buckle beneath me once my mind fully comprehends what she just said.

"Holy shit, girl. Did you really just say that?" Sam's incredulous voice snaps me back to the present.

"I mean... if we both like him, and since we're such good f-friends, I thought... I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have..." Aurora begins to grow quiet, but Sam cuts in.

"Aurora! I'd love to! I mean... I've never... been with a girl before, but I'd be lying if I said I'd never thought about it. And if it's with you, and him, well that's even better! As long as he's into it, too, of course..."

"Well," Aurora speaks with a smile in her voice, "I suppose we could ask him when we go down later. Unless you'd prefer it if I went down alone and asked him?"

"No, we should both ask him. I don't want to hear his answer secondhand. Although, I guess we're going to have to think about how to offer this alternative to him, huh?"

"Not really," Emma chimes in. "I heard him hit the wall when Aurora proposed the polyamorous relationship. I'm not sure how much he heard, but he at least heard that much. Isn't that right, Mike?"