His Sister

A Dilemma

 Ellie listens attentively to my rambling as she shovels spoonfuls of Cap'n Crunch into her mouth. I mean, I hope she's listening attentively. It kind of seems like she isn't even listening. I lean against the counter top and knit my brows, giving her a bit of a glare.

"Are you even listening to me, Ellie?" I ask.

She swallows a mouthful of cereal and raises her eyebrows at me, "Do you really think I don't care about this? That's my brother. Remember?"

"I just—I don't know what to do. Like, you're my boyfriend's sister. And I don't even—"

"Relax, Tara. You're getting way too worked up about this. Why don't you two just break up? I mean, last night he was acting weird..." Ellie says, looking down at her bowl thoughtfully.

I tilt my head, "What?"

"What?" Ellie repeats.

"No, what did he say?"

"I don't know." She mumbles, poking at her cereal, "He was, like, talking about how he doesn't get how you and I got so close so fast. I just kept telling him to chill."

"What else?"

"Mostly just asking me how he should win you back," Ellie says with a smirk as she brings a spoonful of milk to her lips.

"You didn't say anything, did you?" I want to know.

"Tara, do I look like an idiot to you?" She asks.

As she stands up, she accidentally bumps her bowl off of the edge of the table. The remaining milk spills onto the floor and the bowl rolls to a stop at my feet. Her spoon clatters on the ground and I cringe at the loud noise. Ellie stares at the mess with a look of defeat.

"Not particularly." I snicker.

"Shh, it was an accident." Ellie tells me as she goes about wiping up the milk, "Anyway, Jay is too dumb to figure out shit on his own. He's got half the lights out upstairs. I envy him for his oblivion. His world must be blissful."

"I just don't feel right sneaking around with you," I say solemnly.

Ellie looks at me, clearly somewhat distressed.

"Not, like, I don't feel right with you. It's just that I don't feel right keeping it hidden. I want to be able to be with you and not feel like we're hiding something." I elaborate.

Ellie finishes cleaning up her mess before coming and hugging me from behind. Her soft fingertips find their way under my shirt and brush over my stomach. I lean back into her and she rests her head on my shoulder. I let out a sigh and shake my head as she gently kisses the back of my neck.

"What are we gonna do?" I ask.

"Things'll work out. It's not like you two are getting married." Ellie laughs, causing me to groan.

"Ellie, seriously. You're not helping."

"Well, shit. If I'm such a big distraction then why do you always come to me with your problems?" She retorts, squeezing me tight.

"I can't go to Jay about it, can I?" I sass back.

Ellie whirls me around to face her, "That's low... Besides, I can't believe you think he even knows about this. He's an idiot, Tara. He doesn't understand a lot of things. He didn't even know what sex was until he was twelve."

"You didn't know what sex was until last night." I wink.

"Stop, stop. That wasn't sex." Ellie objects, plopping onto the couch.

I fold my arms, "Oh? Then what was it?"

"That was love making." She wiggles her eyebrows at me and I laugh.

I move over to join her on the couch. As soon as I sit down, she scoots over to me and snuggles up against me. I pull her between my legs and wrap myself around her. She lies on top of me while I look up at the ceiling fan and collect my thoughts. I laxly run my fingers through her hair. Her eyelids flutter shut and she looks so peaceful. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to how beautiful she is.

"Last night was amazing." Ellie says quietly.

"I agree." I chuckle.

"Tara."

"Ellie."

"I've never felt the way I feel about you about anybody before."

I get goosebumps from the sound of her words. She always seems to know just what to say, how to say it, when to say it. I envy her ability to put together words and get them out. I wish that it was that easy for me. I brush a hand through her messy hair and kiss the top of her head.

"I know the situation isn't very convenient. But, I just want you to know that I really care about you, no matter where all of this takes us. You're one of the greatest people I've ever met."

I smile at her and take ahold of her chin, angling her head up to give her a kiss. She pulls herself up and kisses me softly. It's slow and gentle at first, but it quickly evolves into a mess of lips and teeth and tongue. Of course, I can't just not rip off her clothes. Apparently she feels the same and hours later, we lie in her bed, side-by-side. Panting, Ellie leans over and smiles at me. I smile back and close my heavy eyelids, feeling exhausted but completely unwound. I am oddly relaxed.

"We'll figure it all out," Ellie exhales, "Don't even worry."

Ellie takes my hand beneath the sheets and I truly believe her. We'll figure this out; We'll find a way.