It was only much later that Riley's shy voice broke the silence.

"Chris?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can I... Do you mind if I sleep with you tonight? I can't sleep."

A long pause.

"Chris?"

More silence.

Riley suddenly felt foolish and blurted out, "I mean, only if it's OK with you—and it's not too weird, but you don't have to if you don't want to."

"No—yeah, I mean, it's fine, come on. Just be quiet."

Chris adjusted his underwear and then rolled over. He reached down and extended his hand, avoiding eye contact with her. The girl took his hand and for the first time knew what it meant to feel butterflies in her stomach. All those movies she'd watched that featured nervous, insecure teenagers suddenly made sense. She'd always thought it would be easy to remain objective, but now she too wasn't able to suppress those exciting feelings that had her scrambling up to the top bunk.

But when she got there, her nerves failed her completely and she froze. Riley stared straight up at the ceiling, afraid to even peek at her brother. She knew what he had been doing, and she knew what he was wearing. She could see his chestnut skin out of the corner of her eye, and even the checkered boxers he always wore. Riley just lay there, breathing uncomfortably through her nose. Christian pulled the thin sheet up to their waists but no further.

"Is that better?" he asked.

She only nodded.

"Are you sure? You look more nervous than you were when we were at the school hall today. Riley, what's wrong?"

How could he just ignore what had happened and so casually carry on a conversation? She wanted to scream at him, to tell him they needed to talk about it. Instead, she tugged the hem of her nightshirt down over her hips, then let her head settle back on the pillow beside his. Up to that point, her voice had been barely a whisper, but now Chris had to scoot in close to hear her.

"Chris?" she asked.

"Talk to me Riley, what is it?"

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

He gulped. "What? Where is this coming from?"

"So I'm not?"

"What are you talking about?"

She turned her head to face his. "It's just... I saw all those other girls today, and I don't look anything like them. I don't think I'm going to make any friends. They're going to think I'm ugly, and they probably don't even think I can speak English."

Christian laughed. Riley didn't think it was funny and swatted his tummy.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"Come on! Answer me."

His smile never left his face. It was a cute smile she thought, very similar to her own. They shared a lot of the same traits actually, and she was just starting to notice. Riley realized her brother had the same nose, and practically the entire same facial structure as her own. He reached across and took her hand.

"I was the same way," he said. "I was so scared on my first day, but it wasn't too bad. And honestly Riley, you have nothing to worry about. They're going to love you."

"So I'm... Pretty?" she asked.

"That's kind of weird, don't you think?" He stopped there thinking he had settled the matter, but when his sister wrinkled her nose at him, he continued, "I mean, yeah, I guess you are. Yeah, Riley, you're cute. You have nothing to worry about, really."

She squeezed his hand and exhaled loudly. "Thank you."

After another long pause, Chris spoke up, "What is this about anyway, is it that girl you saw?"

Riley jumped up. In an instant she was on her elbows, peering down at her brother. Her shirt rose upward and settled on her flat tummy, just below her belly button. "What? No! Why would you say that?"

"Well, you practically dragged me across the room to sign up for that art class."

"I like drawing! You even said I was pretty good."

She saw him flex his abs as if she were about to strike him again. But the blow never came and he relaxed. "Her name is Stephanie by the way. She's my friend's sister. Well, we're not really friends. We just played soccer together last year. He's pretty good." He paused, trying not to sound too enthusiastic. "It's weird though, they look the same. I mean not like us, those two look identical almost."

Riley dropped her head back to the pillow and rolled onto her side. Her knees brushed up against her brother's skin. "What is she like?"

"Who, Stephanie? I don't know, I mean I don't talk to her. She's a Junior—well a senior this year. Why?"

"Oh, uh, no reason. She just, uh, looked so confident is all."

Chris's smile grew wider. "Sure. Whatever you say."

"No, seriously! Did you see the way she talked to the teacher when she signed up? She almost swore at him!"

"She does that to everybody. And that guy behind the desk, well that wasn't a teacher. That was the janitor."

"No, the art teacher," Riley corrected.

"You mean art janitor."

Riley had outgrown her pajama bottoms years ago, but she liked them. The orange fabric with little bears running up and down the legs clung to her lower half like it was a tight dress. The thin material struggled to contain her curvy hips as she lay there on her side facing him. He noticed though. He tried not to be obvious when he glanced down at her exposed stomach. The waistline of her pajamas was so overexerted he wondered how she even got them on.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Riley, I meant what I said earlier. You really are cute. Everyone's going to love you."

Then the blow came. A soft, open-handed smack over his stomach. "You're just saying that and you know it!" she said.

"Why do you keep doing that? It's true."

Riley furrowed her brow. "What is?"

"You're already acting like her, you know." When Riley only continued to lay there, puzzled, Christian explained, "You're acting like your girlfriend—like Stephanie."

She immediately swatted him again. However, this time her hand lingered for a while on the brown skin of his abs before pinching him and pulling away. "Quit teasing. She's not my girlfriend—I don't have a girlfriend. And I don't think, I mean, I don't know, if you know, I'm..."

"It's OK, you know, if you are. I don't care," Christian said reassuringly.

"Mom will! She'll flip out and go full Catholic on me."

"I thought they were OK with that now?"

Riley pouted. "Not if Mom was the Pope."

"Can you imagine?"

"Can we not talk about this, though? I'm not even sure, I don't know what to think. I just know that I'm confused."

"Me too—" Chris admitted, but abruptly cut his thought short.

Riley's eyes lit up, and she pounced. "Wait! You're confused too? What do you mean? Come on, you can tell me anything."

"Shh! We need to keep it down before she comes back and catches us," he said.

"Is it that boy you mentioned? Stephanie's brother? Oh my God, it is, isn't it? What's his name?"

He didn't have to answer. The shape growing in his underwear answered for him. Christian clawed at the sheet, but the harder he held it the more obvious it became. Eventually, it slipped and reached out beyond the confines of the sheets.

There was a gasp, then complete stillness and calm. Even the creaky bed didn't make a peep.

It was wet and slick, leaving no doubt as to what he had been doing earlier. It felt good knowing that she hadn't imagined it. It wasn't as thick as she thought it would be, but otherwise, it was the same color and shape. It was graceful and slim, like his body. Riley blinked.

Christian blinked back. When their stunned faces found each other, they both spoke up at once. It was a race to see who could sound more uninterested in the fact that Christian's big erection was now staring them both in the face. They shouted out stupid questions as fast as they could as if the goal of the game was to avoid that awkward silence again at all cost.

"When's your birthday again?" she asked.

"March, uh, I forget—what about you?"

"September—do you play any sports—oh yeah, right..."

Christian stuttered and stammered for a bit, but couldn't think of anything. The room got quiet.

Riley panicked and blurted out, "So, does he, you know, like you too?"

"Huh?" he asked.

"The boy, what's his name, Alex?"

"Oh, right."

Christian squirmed uncomfortably. He spoke slowly, "I, uh—I dunno, maybe? It's not like I can ask him."

"Why not?"

Christian scoffed. "Are you crazy?

"I thought you said High School was easy here? This sounds really confusing. But maybe it's part of the fun?" she said optimistically.

"I... I wouldn't know about fun," Christian admitted. "I've never, you know, done anything with anyone before."

"Me neither," Riley said, then reached out and took his hand again. "But if you could, like, do something with someone—who would it be with? And what kind of stuff, you know, do you like?"

He inhaled so sharply and so quickly his chest nearly exploded. It looked painful like his lungs were so full that they'd gotten stuck.

His sister slowly pushed the back of his hand into his stomach. It startled her too once her fingertips felt the lotion he'd been using. But she couldn't stop. She didn't want to. And it's not like she had a plan or any idea where this was going. Riley just completely lost herself to this urge to continue. It's almost as if his erection was growing larger on purpose like it was coming to get her. Chris finally steadied her hand.

"What are you—what are you doing?" he asked.

She ignored him. "You didn't answer me. Do you think about this boy a lot? Like at night?"

"No. Well, I mean, maybe? Sometimes, yeah."

"Well, what is it? What is so special about him?"

"I don't know, really. He's so quiet that he never really even talks to anyone. I mean, he's not mean or anything, he's just like, super shy. And he looks just like his, you know, and they have the same white skin."

"She's so white," Riley said.

"Right, like pale? It's kind of, I guess, cute, though. I like the way he looks. He always... He always..." Chris loosened his fingers and let her hand slip away. There was no longer anything obstructing her view. "He always makes me like this."

"Like what? Oh... Oh!" she huffed.

It appeared to be about six inches of hard flesh resting on his stomach. Suddenly, he gripped it. Christian made a fist and pumped. "He always makes me like this. I don't know how either, no one else does this to me."

She squeaked, then immediately covered her mouth. "Really? Because of him, it gets that big? Chris, it's huge!"

But even before she heard those words leave her lips she found both of her hands in her pajamas and planted between her legs. Without her elbow to support herself any longer she slipped forward onto her tummy. She pulled her face out of the pillow and craned her neck around so she could see it. Riley tried to stop, to pull away, to avert her eyes—but she just found herself driving her pelvis into the mattress, enchanted by that mysterious shape beside her.

Christian eyed her bottom, he devoured it. It was so close and the material clung so tightly to her cheeks that he could see her buttocks flex and strain as she humped his mattress. And the crease in the middle seemed to consume her skimpy leggings almost like it was pulling it in. He knew she wasn't wearing any panties. There was just no way with how tight they were. He pumped his fist. All he wanted now more than anything in the world was for her to pull her pants down so he could see it, so he could see her delicate curves and soft skin. But she just continued to haphazardly work her hips into her hands, her tongue lolling out of her mouth while gazing at his crotch.

Despite her panting, Riley was still able to find her voice. "Is his as big as yours? Have you ever seen his?"

He used two hands now. "I, uh, yeah I've seen it—once. It was in the shower after practice—I thought it was empty, I swear! I didn't mean to! But he was... He was in there, naked. He didn't even notice me, he had shampoo in his hair. But I saw it Riley—I saw it. And I..."

"What Chris? What did you do?"

"It's like I couldn't leave, I just stood there staring at his back while he washed his hair. He was standing on his toes with his eyes closed, rubbing shampoo into his hair. It got on his shoulders and dripped everywhere. I could see it on his back and down to his—" he swallowed "—his butt. I don't know how he didn't see me. It's like he was doing it on purpose so I could..."

"So you could what?" Riley said. She was manic, almost irate that he couldn't provide the information fast enough. She just devoured it and was left wanting, waiting for her brother to collect himself.

He looked like he was in pain. His face contorted into a grimace. But Chris did it, he settled himself down and took a deep breath. "I started touching myself, Riley, I... I jerked off right there."

"Chris!" she shouted as quietly as she could. "Didn't he see you? Oh my God!"

Chris shook his head slowly. "No. He even spun around too. He was facing right at me; I thought I was dead."

Riley drove her hips into her hands and grunted.

"But Riley, he didn't even open his eyes, there was just too much shampoo on his face. And he was only turning to get his soap off the shelf anyway. But that shelf was right next to me. His arms almost touched my face as he leaned forward to grab it. That's when I saw it, dangling down between his legs, it was—"

"Was his as big as yours?" Riley blurted out.

"Riley! Shh! Mom will hear you!"

Her eyelids fought her, they were heavy and not cooperating, but she managed to keep them open. She was even able to turn her trembling lips and scrunched up nose from her brother's long, narrow penis to his face. She whispered, "Oh my God! Just answer me!"

"I'm bigger," he said softly.

"How much?" the persistent sixteen-year-old demanded. "Chris!"

"I don't know, he wasn't that hard so I can't—"

"Oh my God, you're seriously huge, Chris!" she blurted out. "Your... Your dick is... It's... And I... I wanna... I want to..." Riley trailed off, looking into her brother's eyes, saying it over and over.

He thought about reaching over and taking a handful of her ass. It was quivering in the air. Then, his mind started racing. He recalled what he had done in the shower with that strange, cute boy. He thought about what that boy's lips would feel like around his shaft.

His gaze was on her backside, watching as she squirmed into the bedding. He stared unashamed, gritting his teeth. Her eyes suddenly fluttered open and she caught him.

"Riley, I'm so sorry, but I can't help it... I just can't help it," he panted softly to her. "Your ass is just so nice."

She continued wrestling her hips into the mattress.

"It's just, well," he continued, "I noticed it the first day you were here, it was actually the first thing I noticed about you. You're so hot, Riley."

Riley grunted.

"God, it's so hot!" he said again louder. "The boys are going to wanna, they're going to wanna..."

"What?" she asked.

His eyes fluttered for a moment, then his face locked up into a tight grimace. "They're going to wanna pull your pants down and bend you over, Riley."

She let out a high-pitched squeak. "Chris!" she protested. "I don't get it, why?"

"So they can fuck you."

Her butt rose high in the air, paused, then she pressed down with the full force of her weight into the mattress. It shook and caused the thin frame to rattle like it was going to fall apart. Her finger slipped inside. Riley couldn't help it. She mashed her thighs together and moaned into the pillow. It was the first time something had been inside her. And it was the first time she'd seen a boy cum.

At first, it was just a few small dots of precum that bubbled out the tip of his penis. His wrist quickly washed them away, mixing them together with the lotion on his hand. He twisted his wrist over the tip and squeezed. More precum. Then more, until a milky white froth coated the webbing between his fingers.

"I can't believe we're doing this," she groaned, "It's so wrong, I think we should—oh my God, Chris, I think I'm... I'm..."

"Cumming," Chris finished for her as he squirted a long rope of cum onto his chest.

The strong fragrance took her by surprise. It was loud and distinct, and completely foreign to her. Of course, she knew how everything worked, but there was nothing the shy sixteen-year-old could have done to prepare herself for the overwhelming aroma that had just made a permanent imprint on her brain. It was so close she could see it splash down on his chest and neck right next to her.

She spoke softly, her tone full of wonder, "There's just so much of it... Oh my God, there's more?"

Chris didn't hear her. He held it with both hands, his butt raised off the sheets. He froze completely as the last bits of his orgasm splashed down around him. Even his panting stopped. Eventually, he opened his eyes and turned towards her. The blurry image in front of him slowly came into focus. His heart sank.