Selene looks away, biting her bottom lip. My heart drops. This is it. This is where she tells me I'm a creep and that we need to establish a ten-foot perimeter between us at all times.
But as desperate as I am to dispel this awkward atmosphere, I'm not willing to restrain her or make her feel forced into this conversation. So I let go of her arm. If she doesn't want to talk about it right now, I'll accept that. Maybe she just needs some time to process what happened.
I sit there with bated breath, waiting to see what she says.
Finally, Selene sits back down, settling into the pile of pillows. She gives me this small, nervous smile. "Okay, yeah. I... I want to talk about it too."
Relief washes over me. At least she's willing to address this instead of letting it fester into something weird and permanent.
Bianca looks between me and Selene, tilting her head at us like a confused cat trying to figure out why the red dot disappeared. The thought: What the hell is going on is written all over her face in big, neon letters.
Seeing that we're about to have a serious talk about something, she lets go of my arm and starts getting up. She's clearly preparing to give us privacy, because despite being a sarcastic gremlin ninety percent of the time, Bianca actually has pretty good emotional intelligence.
"Wait," I say to Bianca, then turn to Selene. "Maybe Bianca should stay? I think this affects her too." I pause. "I mean, if that's cool with you."
Selene nods. "Yeah, that's fine. She can stay."
Bianca settles back down, looking between us with increased curiosity.
This feels so weird. I've almost never seen Selene act this way. She's being so subdued, so not herself.
I shuffle to sit across from her, and suddenly I feel awkward about the whole situation. I know I have to apologize, but it still feels hard to get the words out. My mind keeps spinning up worst-case scenarios: What if she doesn't accept my apology? What if this makes things even weirder?
I take a deep breath. "Look, I—I need to apologize." I force myself to look into Selene's eyes. "This morning when I... when I groped you, I literally had no idea what I was doing. I was half-asleep and completely out of it. I'm really sorry."
Selene's eyes go wide, her mouth opening slightly. She looks... shocked?
Before I can figure out what that expression means, I keep going. "And I'm sorry about, you know, the whole... getting hard thing. I swear I didn't mean—"
"Wait wait wait!" Selene suddenly blurts out, waving her hands. "Adam, no! I'm not mad at you! I wasn't upset about any of that!"
My brain makes a sound like a dial-up modem. "...What?"
"Wait," Bianca cuts in, and I can already tell from her tone that whatever she's about to say is going to make this situation even more insane. She turns to Selene. "Is this why you made me wear fucking pants today?" She gestures at herself in disbelief. "Selene, I've felt Adam's dick like a million times. He gets hard sometimes. It happens. Who gives a shit?"
"Bianca!" Selene looks scandalized, her face flushing pink.
"What?" Bianca shrugs, completely shameless. "You're gonna sit there and tell me you've never felt it before?"
"I mean—of course I have!" Selene's words tumble out fast. "But it's just... it felt different this time, okay?"
She looks away, unable to meet our eyes, and now she's definitely blushing.
I feel my own face heating up. This is possibly the most embarrassing conversation I've ever had in my life. Hearing my two extremely attractive sisters casually discuss how often they've felt my erections is definitely not something I was prepared to hear today. Or ever.
But also, wait, hold on. This is not how I thought this was going to go. I was expecting Selene to be angry. Maybe tell me I crossed a line. For Bianca to back her up and call me out for being a creep. I'm the one who grabbed Selene's butt while half asleep! How am I not the bad guy here? Why is Selene the one who seems to be in the hot seat?
I'm so confused.
"Okay, so..." I start slowly, trying to piece this together. "If you weren't mad, then what's going on? Why did you move away from me this morning? Why are you suddenly wearing a bra around the house?"
"Um..." Selene laughs nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess I just... I don't know, I realized you're, like, a guy too? You know? And I thought maybe we should have some, like, boundaries or something?"
"Oh." Something heavy settles in my chest. "I mean... yeah, I get it. We're adults now. It makes sense." The words taste bitter. "I just... I'd really hate it if we stopped being close, you know?"
"What?" Bianca's staring at Selene like she's lost her mind. "Selene. You know Adam's been a dude for, like, his entire life, right?"
"Well, yeah, but—"
"He didn't just suddenly sprout a dick last week."
"I know that, Bianca—"
"Okay, you know what? Fuck this. Just say it." Bianca's voice goes sharp. She turns to Selene with an intensity that makes me grateful I'm not the target. "Stop dancing around it and just say what your actual problem is."
"I'm not—I don't—" Selene's floundering, looking like she wants to disappear into the pillows.
"Just fucking admit it!" Bianca cuts her off. "This is because Adam's been getting cute lately, isn't it?"
I choke on air. "Wait, what?"
I look between my sisters, completely blindsided. What does my appearance have to do with any of this?
Selene's face goes from pink to red. "It... it might be part of it," she mumbles.
Bianca snorts. "It's obviously that."
Selene goes quiet, shrinking into the pillows like she's trying to phase through them into another dimension.
Bianca sighs, and there's something almost affectionate in the exasperated sound. "Okay, look. So what if Adam's nice to look at now?" She suddenly grabs me, pulling me toward her like a prop. "Just look at him!"
She starts aggressively rubbing my head, messing up my hair. "Seriously, look at him!"
"Hey! Quit it!" I try to duck away from her hand.
She stops just long enough to make her point. "He's still the same Adam, dumbass. The same Adam we've known our whole lives. He's still fun to mess with—" She messes up my hair again to demonstrate, "—he's still kind and nerdy and smart. And yeah, he's a pervert, but he's our pervert."
My face is burning now. I appreciate the compliments, but did she really need to add that last part? Even if it's true?
"Look," Bianca continues, her voice getting more serious. "Adam's annoying as hell sometimes, but he's a good guy. He's helped us with homework like a thousand times. He takes care of us when we're sick. You really think he's suddenly gonna, what, try something on you? Assault you?"
She pauses, letting that sink in.
Selene's voice is small when she finally speaks. "No... I don't think Adam would do that."
"Then what's the fucking issue?"
Selene looks at me, really looks at me, and the silence in the fort is deafening. I feel exposed under her scrutiny, like she's trying to read my mind.
Feeling awkward, I raise my hand in a little wave. "...Hi."
More silence.
"Um. Love you, sis?"
Something in Selene's expression shifts, softening, and suddenly she breaks into this brilliant smile, it's the brightest and most sincere smile I've seen from her, ever. She moves closer, closing the distance that's been between us all morning.
Then she's pulling me into a hug, and I'm surrounded by her sweet strawberry scent. "Awww! I love you too, baby brother!"
"I'm not a baby," I mumble into her shoulder, but I'm grinning like an idiot as I hug her back. Yes! Normal Selene is back! The universe makes sense again!
When she pulls back, she's still beaming. She turns to Bianca. "You're totally right! Adam's still just the same harmless, adorable, silly baby brother he's always been! I was being dumb."
"Still not a baby!" I protest, but I can't stop smiling.
"I'm really glad we talked," Selene says, squeezing my hand. "I want us to always be this close, you know?"
"Me too," I say. "Always."
"My precious baby brother," she adds with a mischievous grin.
I roll my eyes, but honestly? I'll take it. She can call me whatever she wants if it means things go back to normal.
"Finally," Bianca mutters. She gets up and starts crawling out of the fort.
I blink. "Where are you—"
She's already gone. But she's back less than thirty seconds later, looking infinitely more relaxed.
"I fucking hate pants," she announces as she settles back in.
Oh. She went to take off her shorts.
"Oh my god, yes!" Selene lights up. "Bras are the worst! I'll be right back!"
She practically scrambles out of the fort, and I can hear her running up the stairs like her life depends on it. Her door slams open, then closed.
Which leaves me alone with Bianca.
She immediately plops her head onto my shoulder, eyes already closing. "I'm napping til Mom gets back," she mumbles.
I put my arm around her, pulling her close. My head rests on top of hers for a moment. "Thanks for that."
She's quiet for a second. Then she sits up just enough to look at me, and there's something almost vulnerable in her teal eyes. "You better not go anywhere, dork. We're stuck being best friends forever, got it? Or I'll kill you."
She reaches up and messes with my hair again, but this time her voice is affectionately soft. "Love you, dork."
I roll my eyes but let her do it. "Love you too, Bianca."
She gives me a small but genuine smile, then she grabs my arm again, leaning back against me.
"I FEEL SO FREE!" Selene announces as she bounds back into the fort, practically glowing with relief. She launches herself at my other arm, hugging it tight.
Mom returns a moment later, and when she sees the three of us, me in the middle with a sister on each arm, all of us looking actually happy, her whole face lights up.
"Look at you three!" she coos, crawling back to her spot. "My beautiful children, getting along so well. This makes me so happy!"
She settles in behind me, wrapping her arms around my midsection and pulling me back against her. My head ends up cushioned between her breasts, warm and soft, while my sisters claim their respective arms.
I'm surrounded by my family, and all the tension from this morning has evaporated. I feel warm and safe and ridiculously happy.
"Alright!" Mom says cheerfully, reaching for the remote. "Movie time!"
And yeah, I think as I settle in, this is pretty much perfect. Weird morning aside, this is exactly where I want to be.