Scouting For Romance

Entry 3

Day 10, Month 14, Year 572

0100 Hours

I love trains, I wish we got to ride on them more.

I woke in the middle of the night. The train lights were dim so we could sleep, the soft rum of the engine and the tracks beneath us was a perfect white noise. The outside was dark, but the starry sky was beautiful, and I saw specks of ice form on the window.

"It's getting a bit chilly," I thought as I looked over to Tytus. He was curled up into a ball and shivering. Poor guy can't handle the cold, and he only had a thin blanket.

"Tytus." I kept my voice to a whisper.

His eyes shot open. "H-h-hi-hi, M-Malina...."

"It is cold."

He slowly nodded his head and clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering. "Th-that it is, my friend."

"Change."

He shook his head, "nah, it's n-not so bad..! No w-w-wo-worries."

"You forgot winter clothes."

"N-not for-GOT!" His voice cracked and he had to clear his throat. "Strategically ignored. I don't need any. Bringing some would've been a waste of packing space."

I reached down into his dufflebag and brought out the heavy long-sleeve shirt, and sweatpants, I had put in yesterday. "Change."

He raised an eyebrow. "How did those get in there?"

"I put them there."

"You went snooping through my bag?"

"Yes."

"..." His gaze darted between my eyes and his clothes. He considered it for a moment, then snatched them out of my hand while leaning in to kiss my forehead with his cold lips. "Malina, I love you!" He ran off into the bathroom.

"..." I waited until I heard the door close. "I love you too."

He came back not long after and quickly wrapped himself in the thin blanket. "M-much better..." he said, but I knew he was still freezing.

At that point, two paths were open to me.

My goal is to make Tytus see me in a romantic light, as wife-material. It's a long-term goal that I need to start making progress on, and the best way would be to stop acting like just a 'sister'. But I had a short-term goal too, which was to just be closer to Tytus. I hummed and hawed, gulped, really thought about the consequences, then gave in.

I leaned over the center console and tried my best smug expression. "Bro. If you are still bothered by the temperature, I could sleep next to you. Ha-ha."

His ears perked up and his eyes shined brilliantly. He knew I was teasing him, but he didn't know I desperately wanted him to say yes. After a moment of thought, his face softened. "Yes please..." he lifted the blanket and I hopped over to his seat.

I snuggled into the chair with my back to Tytus and my front to the window, while he wrapped his iron-like arms and legs around me to keep me close. "Aaaaah, you're so warm. Like a big, heated pillow." I've always been blessed with a naturally high body temperature, and I've never hesitated to exploit it during the winter seasons.

"Are you calling me fat?" I joked.

"What? No. I'm saying you're comfy." He patted my firm tummy, "maybe a pillow full of bricks, if that makes you feel better."

"Thank-you."

But that's where I'm spending my morning, wrapped in Tytus's strong arms on a chair not meant for two, as the scenery rolls by outside. I feel his warm breath on my nape, his heartbeat against my back, every so often he shivers and instinctively holds me tighter.

I love trains.

But, sadly, giving into temptation like this is counterproductive.

When we were kids, I was deathly afraid of lightning. So, one day, when I was sleeping over at his house, there was a storm in the middle of the night. I was panicking and on the verge of tears, and I asked Tytus if I could sleep in his cot on the floor. But he started freaking out since he was an unmarried 'man', I an unmarried 'woman', and us sleeping together would be degenerate.

At the time, I had no idea what that meant, nor did I care. I still don't. I just wanted to be close to someone, and he was my best (and only) friend, so I decided I'd just lie. I told him that we knew each other for so long that we were basically brother and sister at that point, and there's nothing wrong with one sibling helping another sibling through a crippling fear of harsh weather.

He accepted the logic, and I got to sleep at his side. Pressing my ear to his chest and focusing on his heartbeat helped me through that storm. I didn't know it at the time, but this is when I fell in love with him. My heart fluttered when around Tytus, I got excited when I saw him, I got sad when we were apart, I knew I wanted us to be together. Not long after, during a camping trip, I tried to confess my love and failed time after time.

Then I realized that lying was great, so I kept doing it.

"Yes. Siblings take baths together. Splashing in water is fun and I want to have fun with my bro."

"Yes. I can drink from your cup. Indirect kisses do not count because we are brother and sister."

"I 'forgot' my toothbrush. Can I borrow yours? You are my bro, so it is fine."

Tytus grew up as an only child, so he didn't know any better, while I had an older sister, so he figured I must know what I'm talking about.

For clarity, I obviously never did any of this with my real sister. That would be disgusting.

His parents knew exactly what I was doing, but they liked me anyway, so they didn't care. They were actually pretty excited about having me as a daughter-in-law... but thanks to my repeated deception, Tytus really does see me as just a sister now. We're still not married, we haven't had 14 children, I ruined our lives and I need to make things right.