Jessie's Proposal

Maisie wasn't sure what eighteen year olds even did when they hung out together these days. She used to like to go for walks by the river or try on clothes and grab food and drinks at the mall. It turned out Jessie had a very different choice of venue in mind though. After walking her mother down a few streets in what felt a pretty random direction, Jessie surprised Maisie by reaching over the gate of a scruffy looking property within a badly overgrown and litter covered garden, unlocking it from the inside, then walking up to the door and shoulder barging it open.

"We're breaking in?" Maisie asked with concern,

"It's abandoned, and nobody ever comes here except me and Craig" Jessie explained casually "Besides, this is just a detour. I wanted to talk to you alone before we meet up with him"

"We couldn't do that back at your house?" Maisie checked in confusion as she followed her daughter inside.

"I can't smoke at my house" Jessie answered as she produced a pre-rolled spliff from her jacket pocket "My Dad would go ape shit"

*And rightly so* Maisie thought to herself, but she could hardly get angry when she had done exactly the same thing at that age, albeit within property where she was legally entitled to be. Besides, now was not the time to blow her cover with a motherly lecture about cannabis being a gateway ****. Jessie slid her body down against a wall, lit the joint and took a drag of it before holding it out towards her mother invitingly. Not wanting to appear square, and having got high plenty of times when she was young, Maisie took it from Jessie and sat down next to her. The two passed it back and forward as they chatted.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?" Maisie wondered. If Jessie felt close enough to her to open up about the curse now, that would be perfect. But it wasn't that. At all.

"About what we do this evening" Jessie's sentences were punctuated by tokes "Craig and I had a couple of ideas. We thought you should decide. And honestly, either is fine. There are no wrong answers here"

"Okay" Maisie nodded.

"Firstly, the cinema. There are a few good movies on at the moment. Since you are the guest you get to pick which one we watch"

Maisie didn't like that idea at all. At the cinema Craig wouldn't even get to speak. It would be a wasted evening where she would learn nothing at all. Plus Jessie was wrong, there were literally no good movies showing right now.

"What's the other option?" Maisie enquired.

"Craig and I both think you are super hot. So we go back to his place and the three of us......"

She coolly took another drag of her joint rather than needlessly finish her proposition.

"Oh" Maisie began to feel a little flustered. She knew she must be blushing. Suddenly Jessie's decision to undress in the bedroom rather than the bathroom earlier didn't seem quite so innocent "...Oh"

"Okay, maybe I was a little blunt there" Jessie admitted "I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I've never done anything like that before in my life. But when Craig suggested it last night, I was kind of into it, so I wanted to see if you might be too. And before you say anything, I know we are technically related. And emotionally, I feel that bond. But genetically? Barely. My family left Europe centuries ago"

Instinctively, Maisie knew she would probably never get a better opening than this to find out what Craig was really up to. And him "suggesting" this and Jessie then being "into it" was ringing the loudest alarm bells so far, though still without a shred of proof. She also hated to reject someone she loved so much after they had made themselves so **** to her. But she also knew how dangerous proceeding with this at all would be. The plan she was quickly formulating in her head involved appearing to tentatively go along with Jessie's offer, while leaving herself a ton of wriggle room to pull out before things went too far. And even then, she was going to need to set some serious ground rules now.

"Are you sure you even want this, Jess?" she had to ask first and foremost "You aren't just trying to do something hot for Craig?"

"I think I do, yeah. You only live once, after all. I want to try this, to see if I like it, and honestly there is nobody else to try it with. My cousins are too close genetically, obviously. And there is no one else I have the right connection with emotionally and also find attractive. But that's not to put any pressure on you. We can go to the cinema and it will be totally cool and we'll still be besties, I promise"

"No, I'm open to trying it, but I think we'd need to establish some ground rules up front" Maisie answered, choosing all of her words extremely carefully from now on.

"Of course, that's totally cool, whatever they are" Jessie assured her.

"Right, well I really don't want to do anything physical at all with Craig" Maisie began "Sorry"

"That's okay" Jessie smirked "We both kind of figured you'd say that. I think he'd be happy just to watch. You know what guys are like"

"And as for you, well. I'd want to take things very slow. I mean, you're a beautiful woman Jessie. Extremely beautiful, in fact. But I'm straight, and I really don't think I'll know until I'm in the moment if this is something I want. And if it turns out it isn't, I don't want that to damage the connection that we have with each other, which I feel just as strongly as you do"

"It won't, I promise" Jessie brushed Maisie's arm fondly "Honestly, the fact you are even being open minded to the possibility of this makes me love you even more. Platonically, I mean. I just think it would be something that would be fun for us to try out. And whatever happens, just remember, we're not doing anything wrong"

"No, of course not"

Maisie was internally freaking out. She was actually glad the **** in her system were taking the edge off so she could somewhat convincingly role play being vaguely okay with this. She was pretty sure by the end of the evening she would know for sure whether or not Craig was abusing her daughters curse. She just had to make sure she didn't go too far getting the information she needed.