Morning with the Sisters*

I woke to something heavy on my chest. Looking down, I found I was under covers I didn’t remember getting under. The additional body in bed was also something I didn’t remember from last night. Turning my head, I found Natalie cuddling against me. She was sound asleep, breathing heavily through her open mouth. I didn’t consider myself a heavy sleeper, yet she had managed to sneak in without disturbing me. The amazing part was that I managed to stay asleep with all the extra heat since she had brought her blanket as well.

Peeling the covers off, I scooted away from her careful not to disturb her any more than I needed to. She was still asleep as I got out of bed and stretched. My gaze fell back on her and I stopped mid-stretch. It seemed she had lost a few layers on the way from the couch to my bed. She wasn’t naked but wasn’t far off. I was used to seeing Alexis like this, not her. The main difference between the two was where Alexis had a firm body toned from all her athletic endeavors, Natalie had a womanly softness to her hourglass shape.

Reaching over, I moved to cover her again only to find myself staring at her chest. They were larger than her sister’s, but nothing overly large. With the way she was laying, I could almost…

Realizing I was staring, I quickly covered her again and backed away from the bed. It was a good thing the emotions that triggered arousal were muted or I’d be dealing with an erection on top of everything else. Even if she had ended up in my bed, Natalie was in a relationship. Regardless of their issues, I would never put her in a position that would jeopardize that. Beyond her attractiveness, she was a good person and deserved happiness.

Even if the guy she was with was an immature manchild.

A shower helped put my mind in order. She was still sleeping as I headed out to make breakfast. I kept things simple with eggs and toast. Things were almost ready when I found her standing in the doorway separating my room from the rest of the apartment. Her Noise had alerted me to her waking up long before she got out of bed. It was hard to miss the burst of shock that shifted to feeling ashamed and apprehensive. She had been dreading facing me and after spending several minutes building up her courage, she was finally leaving my room.

At least she had found her missing clothes and put them on or things might have been more awkward.

“So, um,” she started as she brushed at her messy hair. It was cute how disorderly she looked compared to how put together she always presented herself. “Sorry. Last night I—”

“It’s fine.”

Her hands twisted in front of her as she fidgeted in place. “We didn’t…” She didn’t finish as shame rushed through her. It wasn’t just the embarrassment. There was fear there. Had this been Alexis standing there, I might have dragged this on. The pain that lingered in her Noise made any thought of teasing her seem cruel.

“No,” I said as I transferred the eggs from the pan to the plate. “I didn’t even know you joined me until I woke up.”

She pinched at her nose, groaning. I could see the relief in her Noise. “I can’t believe I did that. I don’t even remember…” Looking up she sniffed the air. “Is that coffee?”

I poured her a cup, adding a generous helping of creamer, and put it by her plate as she joined me at the small table. She sipped at the cup, not making eye contact. Maybe there was something to put her at ease but the words weren’t coming to me. I only managed a few bites before I heard the door open. The balcony door, not the front door. Turning my head, I found an exhausted-looking Alexis walking towards us. If Natalie was a mess, her sister was a walking disaster. The bags under her eyes suggested a lack of sleep and her hair was a tangled mess with strands covering most of her face. She moved with a stumbling step as if she couldn’t be bothered to lift her foot completely.

She would have made a great zombie in last nights movie.

Any shame or guilt left Natalie’s Noise when seeing her sister. “Jesus, Alexis.”

The response was barely audible and sounded like something from the zombie movie last night. At least she was dressed. Mostly. Panties and a crop top that was loose enough to almost show her nipple as it rested somewhat crooked on her. Easy to see since she was lacking a bra.

To distract myself, I got up from the table and walked over to the door to close it. It seemed she wasn’t in the right mind to close it behind her. When I turned back, I found Alexis had claimed my seat—and the food. Stabbing at the eggs, she lifted them to her mouth and chewed methodically.

“You do realize that was Jake’s plate, right?”

More garbled noises, this time a few pieces of egg joined them. Whatever emotions Natalie had been feeling earlier, anger and disgust had burned them away.

“It’s fine,” I said as I moved to make another plate.

“No. No, it’s not. Alexis, this is not how you—”

“Ugh. Can we please skip the mom lecture?” Alexis said, finally managing to string words together. I suppose it helped that she grabbed her sister’s cup and drained a good amount of coffee before doing it. Emotions flared as their Noises joined together to become a swirl that was hard to follow.

“I don’t bust my ass for rent and expenses so you can fuck yourself up every weekend. I’m paying for your school so you can—”

“I never asked you to do that.”

“Didn’t stop you from taking advantage of it either.” Natalie looked over at me as if remembering I was there. She started to stand up. “Let’s go back—”

“Might want to wait a bit before going back.” To her credit, Alexis managed a convincing apologetic smile.

Rubbing her temples, Natalie let out a breath. “Alexis…”

“In my defense, you are usually gone during the weekend.”

“Who did you leave alone in our apartment?”

“Victoria and Ezra.” Natalie gave Alexis an exasperated look. “What? Don’t give me that look. I know what you and Thomas did for his birthday last year. You and—”

“Alexis!” Natalie shouted, cutting her off. Her face went red as morbid embarrassment shook her Noise. “This is not the place to have this conversation.”

“You started it!” She gestured to me as she continued. “You think Jake doesn’t know all this already? Neither of us are exactly quiet and paper is thicker than these walls. Besides, what were you doing over here anyway? How do you think Thomas would react to hearing about you spending the night in another man’s apartment?”

Their Noise was starting to turn dark as irritation and frustration turned to anger. “Enough,” I said before Natalie could reply. My voice was flat but powerful. For a second, it looked like Natalie would fight me, but she slumped back in her seat. Eggs finished, I dumped them on a new plate and joined the two at the table. Alexis wasn’t wasting any more time, scooping more eggs into her mouth as she gave her sister a dirty look. My physical presence at the table seemed to act as a peacemaker and the three of us ate in silence. After two years of knowing them, I had experience dealing with flareups like these. Their history was a bit of an unknown to me, but Natalie did her best to guide her younger sister, which hit resistance more often than not. Alexis was driven to experience the experimental and free side of college life and tended to avoid the academic side. Her older sister, paying a big chunk of her tuition, was not pleased to find her sister seemingly pissing away her hard work.

From my neutral standpoint, I had a better vantage point of the situation. What Natalie missed were the hours Alexis spent in my living room working on her assignments so that she could play around. Why she spent time in my apartment instead of hers was a mystery in its own right, but I knew she wasn’t wasting her older sister’s hard work. Alexis also couldn’t see the stress and other emotions her sister carried. My ability to see their surface emotions meant I saw all the frustration and exhaustion she carried when she came home. The weekend was her one time to unburden herself and she hated to see her younger sister seemingly squandering all she was doing.

Seeing the misunderstandings and saying something were completely different things, however. As much as I wanted to mediate between the two, it wasn’t my place to get involved. My relationship with the two was still something I didn’t understand. Their Noise was always hard to read in that regard. Alexis in particular. She teased and flirted relentlessly, but when I took a step closer or responded in kind, she pulled away in fear. It was a perplexing paradox. Her desire to be close to me seemed genuine, but so was her panic whenever I tried accepting her offers.

Natalie was far more comfortable with my close presence but had built a wall to keep a permanent distance. That distance seemed to be in flux recently as last night proved. Drunk or not, she had made a conscious decision to move from the couch to my bed. She even peeled off a few layers of clothing in the process. Not having any sexual intentions didn’t change the confusing nature of her actions. It didn’t help that she was the one bewildered by her actions. Those insecure thoughts were bleeding into my own. Numbed as they were, emotions could still impact my mental state if I wasn’t vigilant.

Perhaps communicating about these things would help me understand, but I remained silent. Alexis and Natalie were unpredictable forces in my life that I found irreplaceable. Without them, I would have little to break up the monotony. I found enjoyment in their presence and holding onto that was important. My ability to communicate wasn’t the best and sharing my Gift with the two was dangerous to what we had built these two years. Most people didn’t like the idea of someone being able to peek inside their head, even if it was something as vague as emotions that were in constant flux. No matter how they lied or tried to hide something, I would always be able to see their real feelings.

Numbing of emotions aside, that reasoning was enough to keep my silence. I didn’t want them to look at me differently, content with the relationship we had built. Instead, I would continue as things were and do my best to give the two nudges whenever I could.

Alexis was the one who broke the tense silence. She was starting to pep up now that she had some food and coffee in her. “Any plans for the day, Jake?”

“Meeting my aunt for lunch later today.”

“Right. ‘Aunt,’” she said with air quotes.

I didn’t respond to her teasing. Sophie was only ten years older than I was. An ‘oops’ baby of the highest order. She was closer in age to me than she had been to my mom. She also took on the ‘mom’ mantle when she passed. A hard burden for a twenty-one year old going through college to take on, especially since she was already dealing with grandfather’s health issues at the time. Even now, she still butted in to make sure I was doing okay despite being on my own for two years.

“How is she doing?” Natalie asked with a smile. She seemed happy to be distracted from the other things that had weighed the atmosphere down. “It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with her.”

“Good,” I answered, then realized she probably wanted something more. “Daniel got a new job which pays better than his old one so they’ve been talking about having a kid.”

“That’s great!”

I nodded. The idea of having a cousin seemed foreign, especially since Sophie had been such a big part of my formative years, at least when my Gift was involved. She was always worried whenever the topic came up about being a mother, but she had nothing to fear. She raised me after all on top of all the other things she accomplished. Reminding her of that never helped. She gave me the same smile most people did when they appreciated the thought but didn’t put much stock in what you were saying. Her Noise was always twinged with concern and insecurity whenever there was talk of babies and family.

“Kids. Bleh,” Alexis said before sticking her tongue out and making a bitter face. “No thanks. I’ll pop my pills and keep using condoms to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“You only say that because you haven’t found the right guy yet.”

“Oh, I’ve met plenty of great guys. And girls,” she said with a wink over in my direction. My passive response created a tendril of disappointment in her Noise as her attempt to get a reaction failed. “Doesn’t mean I want them pumping babies in me.”

“Please don’t,” Natalie breathed, rubbing her temple. “I already have enough mental scaring involving you and your, ‘friends.’”

Alexis rolled her eyes. “How is that any different than you and Thomas? There are plenty of times where you two are getting frisky and I—”

“Not talking about this.”

“Yet it’s okay to openly talk about my sex life? Double standards much?”

I cleared my throat. There wasn’t any reason to say anything more as they both remained silent. “If you are both finished,” I said after letting the silence breathe, “I need to get some homework I’ve been putting off.”

“This early?” Alexis asked.

“Some people actually do their work.” Alexis made a face at her sister in response.

Taking the plates from the two of them, I stacked them on mine and put them in the sink for later. Before they could get into it again, I chased the two of them out. Natalie left through the front door while Alexis left the same way she entered.

Alone, I took a deep breath. The two could be exhausting at times, but they helped keep things lively. A check of the time showed I still had several hours before I needed to meet Sophie. Going for my school bag, I made good on my plan to do homework.