“I mean, you’re cute. Kind of. Especially since you’ve started working out and dressing up. But if you were just another boy, there’s no way I’d be attracted to you.”
I had to admit, of all the reactions I expected, Darcy’s personal attack wasn’t one of them. I told myself it didn’t hurt, but it did.
My sister sat down on her bed and motioned for me to join her. “Look, I’m sorry that you found all this. That it gave you the wrong idea. God, this is hard to explain. I don’t get turned on by you.”
I made that wounded puppy dog face again.
“Look, the thing that gets me going?” Darcy said, “Is that you’re my brother. That’s what makes it hot for me. That’s what turns me on.”
“Incest,” I said.
“Brothers and sisters,” Darcy said. “Nothing else.”
I almost laughed, how she said it so casually. Like what she was into was totally normal and everyone else was the weirdo.
“I don’t get it,” I said.
“I don’t either?” Darcy said. “I can’t help how I’m wired. When I found these things, I realized they turned me on. Like, really. And the more I found of it, the more I liked it. Look, Ethan, don’t be hurt. I guess you’re handsome in your own way. I mean, that girl at the lingerie store was really into you, I could tell. But for me? It’s because you’re my brother that makes it hot.”
“So, if I was a dude on the street and some other guy was your brother, you’d be into him?”
Darcy shrugged. “Probably.”
“Darcy, that’s weird,” I said. Again, I was speaking before my brain could vet the words.
“I know,” Darcy said, “But it’s me.” She stood up, took her laptop out of my hands, and carefully put it back on her desk. “You have to admit you’ve been having fun.”
“It was,” I said, “It is.” I couldn’t believe I was saying this. Was I actually trying to keep my semi-sexual relationship with my sister?”
“See, you kind of get it,” Darcy said, “You’re acting all ashamed, but the truth is you like it, too.”
I nodded. I couldn’t lie to my sister. Maybe a week before I’d have felt differently. But in that moment, I wasn’t going to let it go. At least, not completely.
“So, you still want me to wake you up in the morning,” Darcy said. She gave me a coy smile.
“I want to wake you up, too,” I said, accenting the word ‘wake.’ “But we can’t have sex.”
Darcy’s face went from grin to grimace in a second.
“That’s a different line, Darcy,” I said, “I don’t think we should cross it. Even if we want to, it’s too strange. And dangerous.”
“Lots of other siblings do it,” Darcy said.
“Fool around?” I asked. “Yes, I bet they do. It’s probably natural when you’re young and horny and there’s a girl or a boy right there. But actual, total, full-on sex? There’s no way. I mean, it’s illegal.”
“Yes, they do,” Darcy said. She was pouting now. “Brothers and sisters have sex. All the time. And I can prove it to you.”
“I’m pretty sure those videos are fake,” I said, “And those stories are written by creepy, loveless virgins and old pervs.”
“I can prove it,” Darcy said, “With real people that we both know.”
“OK, seriously?”
“Sam and Dave,” Darcy said, she sat back, arms crossed, like she’d won the argument.
“You mean the gay couple down the street that just adopted that really cute Asian baby?”
“No! Samantha, my friend from high school. You remember Sam?”
I did remember her. She was blonde and cute, though way less curvy than my sister. She had a real ‘girl next door’ look to her and I’d had a bit of a crush. Of course, I was 16 at the time, I had a thing for every one of my sister’s high school friends.
“Right, so her and her brother David,” Darcy said.
“They fool around,” I said.
“They have sex,” Darcy said, “All the time. They could be doing it right now for all I know.”
I raised an eyebrow, but I didn’t say anything. The ‘prove it’ was implied.
“Fine,” Darcy said, crossing her arms under her breasts. “I’ll show you.”
“Uh huh,” I said.
“I will,” Darcy said, “I just need a little time to figure out how.”
“OK,” I said. I pictured her at a casting agency trying to hire actors. Or forging a signed affidavit. There was no way my sister was going to convince me that Sam had sex with her brother.
“And to show you, no fun stuff till I do,” Darcy said. Then she threw me out of her bedroom.