“I’ll walk you out.” I said.

“Nice meeting you both.” Bette said with a smile.

Outside, we stood next to Bette’s car.  She smiled at me.

“You know, I was more than ready for what happened in my room, just now.  I want to make sure you know that.  It was never too fast for me, ok?”

“I know.  You felt natural.”

I stared into her eyes, “Yeah, it did.”

**

A FEW WEEKS LATER

I rounded the corner with my overnight bag.  I was spending the night at Bette’s and, in the morning, I was borrowing her car to pick up Madison from her parents beach house.  I was excited to spend my first night alone with Bette.  Though our sexual relationship had not changed or progressed, I knew tonight was the night.

By this point, the whole school knew that I had claimed Bette as my own.  Nobody was really disrespectful about it and nobody harassed us.

As I sat my bags down, I heard keys behind me.

“Wow, your big sis comes home from college and you head for the hills?” Amy said.

My relationship with Amy was twisted to say the least.  Amy was the cool sister.  She had the best hair, the pretty smile, and the attitude that made everyone just love her.  All the boys I liked, liked her and only dated me to get to her, even though they stood no chance whatsoever.

“I’m staying over a friend’s for the night.”

“Why?”

“Um, she’s letting me borrow her car to pick up Madison.”

“Well, you could borrow my car.”

“It’s fine.”

“Well, who’s the friend?”

“Her name is Bette.”

“Is she the girl Dad mentioned?”

God, now Dad was talking about Bette to Amy?

“Yeah.”  Bette sounded the horn outside my house, “That’s her.”

“Tell her to come in.  I want to meet her.”

I signaled to Bette for her to come in and apologized for the fact that my sister was being a weirdo.

“Wow, Bette.  I love your hair.” My sister said, after they’d been introduced.

Then, she had the nerve to touch her hair.

SHE TOUCHED HER!!

“Thanks.” Bette backed away, quickly.

“Hey, Amy.  We’re gonna get out of her.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I ushered Bette outside.  I knew she could see that I was fuming.  I was fearing that it could happen again—that Bette, who I knew I was falling in love with, was going to end up wanting to be with Amy and not me.

“Your sister is kinda touchy-feely, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is.” I paused as I settled into the passenger seat, “Did you like that?”

“Like what?”

“Amy touching you.”

“Tina?” Bette pulled over and parked.  She faced me, “You are the only Kennard, the only woman period, that I want touching me.  Just you.”

She kissed me deeply and knew she was telling the truth.

“And to be honest,” She continued, “You’re the prettier sister anyway.”

I smiled.  Nobody had ever said that to me before.  As we pulled into the driveway, I noticed her father’s car was gone.  I didn’t ask any questions about it.  Bette’s father was a sensitive subject for Bette.  He was rarely around, leaving Bette to basically care for herself.  Even though she was going to be 18 in a month, Bette was still only a teen who needed her parents, yet she had nothing.

As the night rolled on, I quickly showered and changed into PJs in the bathroom, praying to God that they wouldn’t stay on all night.  When it was Bette’s turn, she started taking her clothes off in the bedroom, while I sat on the bed.

“Um, babe?”

“What?”

“As much as I’d love to see you naked, are you okay with getting undressed in front of me?”

“Why would I have a problem?  I have nothing at all to hide.”

I watched as her body was revealed to me.  She was like a Greek statue, she was perfection in the flesh, and she was all mine.

“No, no.  You definitely don’t.” She smiled back at me and headed for the shower.