Nothing Freaky

Standing in the doorway of the master bedroom, Serena wasn't exactly sure what she was seeing. Yes, Joey, the guy she was into was there, but there were all these other women too. She recognized Donna from the hotel, but the others were strangers. All beautiful, all dressed stunningly, but what they were doing in the bedroom together, Serena wasn't sure.

The air, though, had a faint smell of sex. She looked from face to face and saw something in common: each one kept looking at Joey with an expression of deep affection.

Of course.

Just like Serena, these hot girls wanted him! Of course they did! It's just a fact of life. Always has been, always will be.

But they hadn't come upstairs to check out a bunch of women pining over Joey, they had come upstairs for this drunk girl.

Juniper.

Apparently, she was Joey's sister, drunk out of her mind, having some sort of heartbreak-induced crisis. Serena had seen it many times before in her girlfriends. Breaking up with a boyfriend, trying to ease the pain of the rejection, ending up experiencing a cascade of mistakes, all fueled by ****. It was sad to see Joey's sister go through the same thing.

Still, she was hot. In fact, she really reminded her of Donna, but younger. That made sense. Juniper had, after all, called Donna "mom" when they first came into the room. Not that it brought clarity to the relationships, though. How was it that Donna could be the mother of Juniper, wife of Joey, while Joey and Juniper were brother and sister? None of it was clear, but that didn't make it freaky. Just weird.

The Asian girl slipped past her, giving her a friendly smile as she headed downstairs to get a glass of water for Juniper. She was wearing a shiny silver dress that looked like it was painted on. Serena knew what she was bringing to the table, and was sure she would grab Joey's eye, but she hadn't anticipated the level of competition she would be facing for his attention.

"Did Joey hurt you?" Donna was speaking now, bringing Serena back to the present.

"Mom," Juniper said, her face in her hands, "I don't even... he's... I think I'm in love with him."

"What?"

"Like, totally, absolutely, in love," she said as waves of sorrow racked her body, "and he already is with someone. Or more than one girl. I don't even know how to be anymore."

"Juniper..." Donna's voice was strained, almost **** as she spoke. "You can't possibly—this is... wrong. Brothers and sisters don't act this way. It's perverse. You've got to stop."

Juniper's lips trembled, her voice cracking as she tried to speak. "But... I can't help it, Mom." She wiped at her eyes, her sobs making the words harder to understand. "It's real. It's deep, Mom. I'm in love with him. How can I stop feeling like this?"

Serena felt her pulse quicken. She had expected tension—maybe even awkwardness—but what she hadn't expected was this level of raw emotion, this intensity. And Donna... Donna was horrified. Even with all that, Serena couldn't bring herself to see it as wrong.

Brothers and sisters don't act this way?

Serena glanced at Joey, at the way his hand rested on his sister's shoulder. There was something painfully tender in his touch, a kindness he was showing despite the state he had found his sister in. It didn't feel perverse. It didn't feel wrong. There was nothing freaky about it. Joey was a beautiful, magnetic person—of course someone would fall in love with him. Why not Juniper? She was his sister, yes, but she was his hot sister. People like that were bound to fall in love with him.

Serena certainly had.

Still, it was clear Donna didn't agree. She shifted, clearly unsettled, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. "You can't—" Donna’s voice cracked, ****. "You're not some hot girl, Juniper, who could go throwing herself at your brother. You're my baby! My firstborn! This is your brother, Juniper. This isn't how things should be."

But Juniper didn't back down. She was a wild storm now, the drunken tears giving way to something darker, something more intense. "I can't help it!" she cried, her voice shaking with raw emotion. "I can't stop it! I love him! I have to have him!"

The room fell into a tense silence. Donna looked like she might break down, her face pale with the horror of it all. Joey, meanwhile, had taken a step back, his brows furrowed in confusion and frustration. His eyes flicked from Donna to Juniper to the women in the room, like he didn't know how to handle this situation at all.

Serena watched it all unfold, her mind a whirl of thoughts. Nothing she'd seen so far seemed freaky—not Joey's relationships with the women in the room, not even his sister's confession. She had thought she was walking into a strange, alluring world, but this? This was different. There was drama, but there was also love. Not just love for Joey, but for each other. Donna, still seeing her daughter as a child rather than a woman, was showing that she cared deeply for her. Serena was sure that they would come to an understanding.

But then, just as the long awkward silence seemed to become deafening, Joey shifted. He took a half-step forward, then paused, as if weighing his words. His mouth opened, then closed again, like he was trying to make sense of the mess he was standing in.

"Um..." he began slowly, his voice thick with uncertainty.

"Actually..." he trailed off, then fell silent.

The room held its breath, and Serena felt the weight of the moment, her heart pounding as she waited for what came next.