Time to pay the piper.

By the time we left the river, it was getting close to 4 a.m. My parents were pretty lenient with regard to my curfew and whatnot. I’d never been close to as big a troublemaker as my sister Heather, so I got away with quite a bit in comparison. Kat had sent her parents a message that she would be staying with friends at the end of the dance and to not expect her home too soon. Besides, it was our senior dance after all, and both parents knew that came with a certain amount of leeway.

Neither of us said much on the walk back from the river. We were both exhausted from the dance and our first-ever sexual experience. We called an Uber to pick us up when we got back to the school grounds. Kat rested her head against the window, occasionally glancing across at me with a sleepy smile. Every time our eyes met, one of us smiled.

Eventually, it pulled into my driveway. We hadn’t really discussed it, but my house had seemed like the natural place to go.

“Welcome home,” I whispered.

Kat looked towards the house. “Everyone asleep?”

“Hopefully.”

We slipped inside as quietly as we could. The house was completely dark. I led Kat down the hallway towards my bedroom, opening the door as quietly as possible. My room was exactly as I’d left it earlier that afternoon. Clothes I’d discarded before the dance were still on the floor. A pair of sneakers sat beside my bed.

Kat looked around. “Wow.”

“What?”

“This is very you.”

“I don’t know whether that’s a compliment.”

“It is.” She smiled.

We both sat on the edge of the bed. For a moment, neither of us moved. The excitement of the evening seemed to have finally caught up with us.

“I’m exhausted,” Kat whispered.

“Me too.”

She lay down. I lay beside her. Neither of us really intended to sleep. We talked quietly for a while instead. About the dance. The photographs. Michael’s ridiculous messages. The song I’d requested for her. Every time one of us remembered something, we started laughing again. Eventually, Kat’s voice became softer.

“I’m really glad I came with you.”

“I’m glad I came with you.”

She reached across the small gap between us and took my hand. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

A few minutes later, I felt her head settle against my shoulder. Neither of us said anything else. Somewhere along the

way, we fell asleep. The light from the rising sun was just starting to brighten my curtains.

The morning came far too soon. I’d probably only had a few hours of sleep at that point. The first thing I became aware of was warmth beside me. I opened my eyes. Kat was still asleep. She was curled slightly towards me, one hand resting against my chest and her hair spread across the pillow. Her face was completely relaxed. For a few seconds, I simply watched her sleep. I couldn’t quite believe it was real. Yesterday, she had been my friend. Now she was lying beside me as my girlfriend, like this was the most natural thing in the world.

I was alerted as my bedroom door began to open. Heather stepped inside. She stopped. Her eyes moved from me to Kat. Then back to me. For once, she didn’t say anything. Her usual expression of amusement slowly gave way to something else. A tiny smile. She looked at Kat again. Then at me. I expected the inevitable. Some awful joke. A comment about me finally managing to get a girl into my room. Something that would make me want the floor to swallow me.

But Heather said nothing. She quietly pulled the door almost closed again. Before she left, she looked back one more time. There was genuine pride in her expression. Not because of anything that had happened during the night. Just because her little brother seemed happy. And because, despite all the teasing, she knew that growing up meant eventually finding someone who made you look at the world differently.

She left us alone. Inside the room, Kat shifted slightly in her sleep. Her fingers tightened around mine. I smiled and let myself fall asleep again.

We slept for another couple of hours before the sound of someone moving around the house finally woke me properly. I opened my eyes to find Kat still curled up beside me, her hair messy across the pillow and one arm tucked underneath it. For a moment I forgot what time it was and then everything from the night before came rushing back. The dance, the river, the photographs, the fact that Kat and I were now somehow a couple and that she had spent the night in my bedroom. I smiled to myself before carefully slipping out of bed, so I wouldn't wake her. I barely made it to the bathroom before there was a knock at the door and Heather's voice came quietly through the wood.

“Hey. Mum and Dad are up.”

“Okay.”

“And before you panic, I told them you had Kat over.”

I froze for a second. “You told them?”

“I told them you brought a girl home after the dance and that you were both probably exhausted. That's all they need to know.”

There was enough emphasis on the last few words for me to understand exactly what she meant. I opened the door a crack and found Heather standing there with her arms folded, wearing an expression that was far more amused than she was allowing herself to show.

“You're a lifesaver.”

“I know.”

She looked away back towards my bedroom, where Kat was still asleep. “She looks cute.”

“Don't.”

Heather grinned. “I said I wouldn't tease you.”

“You're already teasing me.”

“Fine. Get dressed. We're having lunch in about half an hour, and Mum said Kat was welcome to stay for it.”

That was when it occurred to me that Kat was probably going to have to face my entire family while still wearing the clothes she'd arrived in the previous evening. I went back into the bedroom and woke her gently. Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked at me for a second before remembering where she was.

“What time is it?”

“Late.”

“How late?”

“Late enough that we've slept through your pancake date.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God.”

“The café?”

“The pancakes!” She sat up and immediately started laughing. “I can't believe we slept through it.”

“I know.”

“That was my plan.”

“You were very organised.”

“And you ruined it.”

“I was unconscious.”

She smiled and pushed her hair back from her face. “Okay. We'll have to do it later. It’s the first step on our life together”

“Definitely.” I laughed.

We eventually got straightened up and made our way into the dining area, where Mum and Dad were already sitting down for lunch. Heather had apparently done exactly what she'd promised and given them just enough information to avoid any awkward questions. Mum smiled warmly when she saw Kat, Dad gave me the sort of knowing look that made me immediately want to disappear, and Heather simply carried on eating as though having my new girlfriend at the family lunch was the most ordinary thing in the world.

“Kat, it's lovely to see you,” Mum said. “Did you enjoy the dance?”

“I did,” Kat replied with a smile. “It was really good.”

Dad looked at me. “I hope someone remembered to take some photographs.”

I nodded. “We did.”

Heather smirked into her drink.

“We saw some of them.”

Kat looked at her, clearly wondering what exactly Heather had seen.

“They're very cute,” Heather added innocently.

“Thanks,” Kat said.

The conversation moved on surprisingly easily. Mum asked Kat about school and what she was thinking about doing after graduation, Dad talked about some story from when he and Mum had first started dating, and Heather occasionally threw in some comment that made me roll my eyes. Nobody asked why Kat had stayed the night. Nobody asked why she was sitting beside me or why our hands kept finding each other underneath the table. Whatever conclusions they had drawn, they had politely decided to leave them unspoken.

At one point Mum smiled at the two of us. “I'm glad you had a good night. Senior dances only come around once.”

Kat glanced at me. “Yeah,” she said softly. “It was pretty special.”

I squeezed her hand under the table.

After lunch, Kat and I went back to my room to collect the few things she'd left there. She checked her phone and immediately laughed.

“My parents are asking if I'm still alive.”

I laughed. “Probably fair.”

She slipped her phone into her bag and looked at me. “So, pancakes tomorrow?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good.” She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. “My sister Emma is coming over to pick me up. Ugh, she is going to want to know everything from last night.”

I laughed. I was going to be receiving the third degree from Heather as soon as Kat was out of the house, too.