“Devin, what did you do?”

Oh god. She knows. How? Did I pick up the call by accident?

“Mom, I can explain. I didn’t mean to pick up the call. I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

“Honey, what are you talking about? What did you do at Emma’s? She said she broke off her engagement.”

“Wait, what? She did? Oh no, I can’t believe this. It’s all my fault. I should have just moved back home with you. I knew I was going to fuck her life up. I should have never called her. Her life was going great until I came crashing back into it.”

“Baby, stop. Explain what happened. Emma was so distraught I couldn’t tell what she was saying. From what I could tell, it sounded like Cory was being an asshole, but I want to hear your side.”

And so I told my mother everything that happened since I talked to her yesterday. In as much detail as possible, including the fish. I left out the part where I masturbated, obviously.

“Ok, honey. First of all, a fish is a terrible gift, just buy her flowers next time. Second of all, it sounds like you’re not at fault here.”

“Wait, really?”

“I am a bit surprised as well, but it sounds like Cory was jealous of your relationship with Emma. Third, please tell me you’re not staying at a sleazy motel.”

“Jealous of our relationship? She’s my sister and we haven’t even talked in two years.”

“Baby. You have to realize that your relationship with Emma is a little more than most brothers and sisters have, right?”

“I mean we’re close. Or we were before everything happened and I treated her like shit. I’m honestly surprised she even wants me around.”

“Oh, honey. It’s going to take a little more than you being an asshole once to chase Emma away.”

“Ok, but still. It’s no reason for him to be jealous. I’ve never even met the guy.”

“Listen, I’m not taking his side. I think what he did and said is appalling and quite frankly I’m glad she ended things, but it would be tough to compare to you in your sister's eyes. You two adore each other. It’s not something most men would be able to handle, that’s all I am saying.”

“So should I talk to them both and straighten this out? Maybe I can get them back together?”

“No, that is not what I said, Devin. As you told me yesterday, it’s her life and her decisions. With that being said, you should call Emma, she’s worried about you.”

“Ok, I’ll call her now. Love you, mom, bye.”

“Love you too, baby. See you soon.”

After hanging up with my mom I lay back on the bed, thinking about the day so far. I thought my life was crazy before, but this is just insane. As I glance at the T.V. about to turn it off. I notice the black-haired beauty that I was watching earlier and I feel a little depressed. I can’t believe I jacked off to my mother’s picture. That is just so wrong. I am such a weirdo. Goddamnit, I need to get my shit together.

Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs, I go through my contacts to find my sister's number. Seeing the picture of my mother and sister doesn’t help my mood. They are both so stunning, I need to find a girlfriend, or at least somebody to take my mind off ridiculous thoughts. Hitting the call button, I wait for my sister to pick up. She picks up after the first ring and I can hear the tears through her voice.

“DEVIN, are you OK? Where are you?”

“Emma, I’m fine. I’m at a hotel downtown. Are you OK?”

“No... I mean yes. I don’t know. Look I’m gathering some things up and I am going to my apartment. Please come stay with me.”

“Emma, I’m so sorry about what happened. I feel terrible about it, but... wait. What do you mean your apartment?”

“My apartment. You remember where it is from the last time you were here, right?”

What the hell. She still has her apartment? Why wouldn’t she just have me stay there? This whole thing could have been avoided. Oh my god, my sister is so innocent. Did she not see how Cory would take this? I’m honestly starting to feel a little bad for the guy myself.

“Of course I do, but Emma why didn’t you just have me stay there? This could have solved everything. I didn’t know you still had your apartment.”

“I have four months left on the lease, I didn’t want to break it. Although, I will be keeping it now. Cory and I broke our engagement off. I can’t believe what a jerk he is. I always thought he was kind. Look, I need to get out of his house. I can’t stand the thought of staying here another minute. Meet me at my apartment, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Maybe I should tell her to give Cory another chance. I can explain how this all must seem to him. If I were in his shoes I think I would have handled it better, but can I be so sure? I have to make this right, don’t I?

No, I need to stay out of her love life. Mom was absolutely right. Well, technically I was right. I’m the one that said it, she just parroted it back at me. I am being a hypocrite.

“Devin? Hello?”

“Ok. If you’re sure that you want me to stay there, I will stay with you.”

“Of course I do, Devin. I’ll see you soon, right?”

“Ok, Emma. I’ll see you there.”

“I love you, Dev.”

“Love you too, Emma.”

Hanging up the phone, I lower my head. What in the world is happening right now? I haven’t talked to my sister in two years and now I have caused her to break off her engagement and move out. Guess that house was Cory’s. What in the hell does he do for a living? There goes any chance of him hooking me up with a job. I laugh out loud at the absurdity of the whole ordeal.

The guy hated me. Of course, he wouldn’t give me a job. It’s ridiculous that he hated me without even knowing me. Sure, Emma and I have a close relationship, but I’m sure he’s close with his siblings. Well, I guess I don’t even know if he has any siblings. Maybe that’s why this whole thing seems messed up to him. He could be an only child. Still, I’m sure he’s close to his parents. I don’t know what to think at this point. I guess I better get my things back in the car.

At this point, I realize that the only thing I brought into the hotel was a fish, my phone and my car keys. I put my shirt on, zip up my jeans, and grab Ember as I head for the front desk to check out. After getting some weird looks from the front desk clerk I make my way to my car. I can’t really blame him for giving me weird looks.

I showed up with a fish and asked for a room and then checked out less than an hour later. That looks bad. Whatever, I don’t owe the guy any explanation. I’m sure he’s seen a lot of weird things working in a shitty hotel like that.

It takes me about twenty minutes to pull up to the apartment complex my sister used to live in, well, I guess still lives in. I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me about it. I would have gladly stayed here and left her to her life. I mean, she was already paying the rent, I could have helped her out with it. It would have benefited us both.

We still could have seen each other every day. It just doesn’t make sense. I am going to have to talk to Emma about this, she has to have a good reason. She’s innocent, but she’s also very intelligent. She has her reasons, I am sure. I just have no idea what they could have been.

As I walk up to the ground floor apartment, I see Emma staring at me through the window. Her hair is hanging down and framing her face and her eyes have a frantic look in them, like a hurt animal. I can see the tear streaks down her cheeks and I can’t help but feel helpless. My heart begins to hurt. I can’t stand seeing my sister hurt like this, I have to do something to help. I feel my protective nature coming out in full force.

I jog up to the door as she opens it and runs towards me. I wrap her in a hug, hoping I can hug away the hurt she is feeling.

“Emma, I am so sorry. I didn’t want any of this to happen. Please, tell me what I can do to help you,” I say, not able to hold back my emotions. My voice catches and I feel tears leaking from the corners of my eyes.

“Dev, it’s ok. There is nothing you can do, these things just happen sometimes. I’m just so glad you came back. I didn’t want to lose you again.” She says. I could hear the tears in her voice as well.

“I’m so sorry I stopped talking to you. It just became so hard to apologize after a while. I know I treated you like shit, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit I was at fault. I can see that now, though. I will never do that to you again, I promise,” I say, knowing that I would die before I let myself disappoint her again.

She squeezes me hard, like she will never let go. It doesn’t look like she is going to break the hug, so I have to be the one to do it. I pull away and she clings to me even harder as if she’s afraid I will bolt as soon as she lets go.

“No,” She breathes into my chest.

“Emma, come on let’s go inside. I promise I’m not going anywhere.”

As I pull her away from me, I look down into her eyes and give her a little smile. She smiles back up at me as she wipes away the tears falling down her nose. Taking my hand she guides me into her apartment and shuts the door.

Looking around, I notice that not much has changed since the last time I was here. In fact, it looks well lived in.

“Emma, why is all your stuff still here?” I ask. Shouldn’t she have moved it into Cory’s house, or at least into storage?

“I stay here sometimes. It’s closer to work and I like to be alone at times,” She says, as she walks over and sits on the couch.

I walk over to the counter and go straight for the drawer where she keeps her dish rags. I grab one and walk over to my sister.

“I hate to see you crying. It makes me feel so helpless,” I say, as I hand the rag to her.

As she wipes the tears from her eyes and face, I grab her and pull her in for a side hug. She leans into me and rests her head on my chest.

“Emma, tell me what happened. Mom said you broke off your engagement.” I say. Well, I guess Emma told me too, but mom told me first. Not sure why I brought up mom, maybe it’s because I have been thinking about her for the past half hour.

“We did, but please don’t blame yourself. Things have been rocky for a while. I pretended not to notice, but Cory and I have been distant lately. I feel like this was inevitable. It’s not your fault,” She says. Hearing her sniffle I knew she was about to start crying, so I held her tighter and started rocking a little.

“I just feel like if I hadn’t shown up, or maybe just stayed here, things would be different,” I say, feeling terrible.

“No, they were getting worse lately. Maybe... I don’t know. Maybe if you had stayed here it wouldn’t have happened so soon, but I think it was going to happen eventually.” She says, pulling away and looking up at me. “I just wanted you to stay with me, because I missed you so much. It’s been so hard without you in my life. Is it so bad I wanted my little brother to stay at my house?” She asks, shaking her head as if denying the thought that anything else would be normal.

“No Emma, I don’t see anything wrong with it either,” I say, while smiling down at her. “But I think maybe I can see Cory’s thinking a little as well. I'm a stranger to him, and I just showed up out of the blue. I can see why he would be a little upset. Honestly, he didn’t say anything that I couldn’t shrug off.”

“You didn’t hear the things he said after you left,” She says, frowning “I couldn’t believe he would say those things. What kind of monster thinks that way about the person he loves?”

“What did he say?” I ask, wondering what he could have possibly said that would be so bad.

“Nothing I am going to repeat. Let’s just say I don’t want to ever speak to him again,” She says as she looks up with me, a determined look on her face.

“Ok, but don’t you need to get all your stuff from the house?” I ask.

“No, I have everything I need here. Anything I left can be replaced. Honestly, it was just clothes and some makeup. I may stay here more often than I let on,” She says, glancing away. She looks almost embarrassed to admit it.

With all my things in the car, I can understand not travelling heavy. I really only have a few boxes. It’s pretty pathetic to be in my twenties and have so few possessions.

“EMBER!” I yell, thinking about my fish I left in the front seat of my car. I need to go get him, he’s probably freaking out right now. I hear my sister start laughing and look up at me with twinkling eyes.

“Dev, I haven’t heard you call me that in forever,” She says, smiling up at me.

“Oh right, it has been a while. I was actually talking about my fish. I left him in the car in my hurry to see you. I bet he’s freaking out, I need to go get him,” I say, a little embarrassed by the situation.

“You named your fish after me? That’s so sweet, Dev.” She says, her smile growing. “Since you’re already going out to your car, do you think you can bring my bags in too?” She asks, giving me puppy dog eyes.

“Of course I can, Emma,” I say as I get up and head for the door.

“Thank you. The keys are hanging by the door.”

Grabbing her keys I head outside. The cool air soothes me and I release some of the tension I have been holding over the day. Grabbing Ember from my car I lock it up and head over to my sister's car to grab her bags. She has a nice midsized car. Much more conservative than that ridiculous sports car Cory drives.

Looking in the backseat, I see three bags. I unlock the door and set Ember on the top of the car so I can grab the bags. Reaching over, I accidentally knock one of the bags on to the floorboards. Things spill everywhere, of course. Goddamnit Devin, can’t you do one thing right? I scramble to grab all the things that spilled and I notice something peeking out from under a pair of my sister’s panties. It’s a large pink vibrator. It’s about eight inches long, with a bulbous head at the end.

Oh shit, this is embarrassing. Quickly, I grab her panties and use them to grab the vibrator. Looking down I see it has little hairs sticking to it, little blonde hairs. Does she not clean this thing? My dick starts to twitch as I look down at these cute little hairs, thinking about where it’s been.

What the fuck am I doing? My heart starts to speed up as I look around to make sure nobody is near me. The parking lot is void of people, so I bend down and sniff the vibrator. It doesn’t really smell like anything, but the thought that my sister has used this sends my heart into overdrive. My dick starts to swell in my pants. No, what are you doing Devin? This is wrong. Just put everything back and pretend this didn’t happen.

I quickly replace everything in her bag and then, in a moment of stupidity, I stick her panties in my pocket. Grabbing the other two bags, I close the door and grab Ember.

It’s a bit awkward to hold all three bags and Ember at the same time, but I manage to get them and lock the doors. Making my way back to the apartment I can’t help but notice I’m showing some serious wood. I hunch over to cover it the best I can with my shirt, knocking on the door with my foot. My sister immediately opens it up and takes her three bags from me.

“Devin! I’m so sorry, I should have come to help. I didn’t think they were so heavy,” She says, noticing me hunched over as if it weighed a ton.

“No, it’s ok, sis. I managed,” I say, the closeness of my sister not helping the hormones I’m experiencing at the moment. I look up at her beautiful blonde hair and can’t help but think of the cute little hairs on the vibrator. No, stop thinking about that.

As my sister turns to take her bags to her room, I quickly shut the door and sprint for the couch. Holding Ember’s box over my lap, I try to hide my erection. Emma makes it back to the couch and looks down...