Cousins, Snowed In

Everything would be perfect when she got back. Eric was making sure of it.

If he had his way, this holiday was going to be as carefully prepared and festive as the Christmas tree shining bright in nearby Boston. He was almost there, he assured himself, eyeing the clock with relief. The tree was the final step, and he was on it, with plenty of time to spare.

Eric had been waiting too long to see his beloved cousin; it had been since Thanksgiving, and before that, since summer. Even Thanksgiving's visit had been bitterly short, due to circumstances beyond their control. Family demands still held some weight even after you turned eighteen, if you depended on family for anything.

As Eric hoisted his obscenely large artificial Christmas tree onto its base in the living room, he allowed himself to ruminate on why it mattered so much: Eric and Caitlyn had been close friends, and maybe more, since childhood. It was hard to put a label on their relationship, because flirtation came naturally when they were together. Just like everything else.

Naturally he'd felt a bit betrayed when she chose to go to college far away, but that was life. In the end, Eric understood the weight of ambition and didn't hold it against her. Heck, her college career was going better than his as a twenty year old independent rapper.

However, circumstance had simply added insult to the old injury of her leaving, when her parents didn't allow her much time with him over Thanksgiving. With a backdrop of the dim living room's lonely silence, Eric pulled the box of ornaments toward himself and began stewing anew over the Thanksgiving fiasco.

Eric had waited since the previous August to see his cousin again; more than two months! The knowledge that she was finally close by had been so important to him that he could feel it, embracing him like a warm blanket. Eric had even bought two cans of cranberry sauce instead of one, fully expecting that her parents would bring her to dinner at their house, just like always. He'd expected someone to share it with, and at the end of the day was left with half a container of leftovers and sadness.

All they'd had time for was "a brief stop." Caitlyn stepped in wearing knee-high boots that covered turquoise jeans. Her orange sweater was decorated with a design of a highly realistic turkey playing one of those dance video games. Its sleeves were so long they covered her hands. Eric had run to the door upon her arrival, sneaking her off to the quiet dining room while their moms distracted each other.

"How have you been?" Eric asked, surveying once more her visage. She looked like some kind of doll in her festive outfit, the loose sweater only hinting at her thin but reasonably busty figure. Her tight pants hugged the hips that held a very round bottom.

Her thighs had a bit of meat, but not so much as to be floppy. Just enough.

"I've been great," she answered. "Missing you, of course. How about you?"

He allowed himself to next eye her extremely toned calves, perfectly accentuated by her boots. Lip gloss sparkled on her plump lips, honey-colored eyes smiling as she looked up at him from her long face, which was somehow even prettier for her somewhat oversized, slightly hooked nose. She was also very tanned, especially for a New Englander; she always had been.

"I've been bored to death," he replied with a smile that said he was half-joking. "But getting by. So, what do you want to do on Thursday?" he asked in thinly veiled excitement.

Caitlyn looked down. Eric continued his line of questioning, oblivious. "Other than dinner? I was thinking we watch football, then dive into the Christmas movies."

"Um, that's kinda why we're here." Caitlyn sighed. "Eric, I'm so sorry, but family from out of the country are coming to my grandparents' house upstate and they're making me go. I won't be able to spend thanksgiving with you. We just had time for a quick stop, so she says."

That was all of that week that Eric cared to remember. Caitlyn had been forced to blow off her favorite cousin for distant, Eastern European relatives whom she barely knew. The fact nearly made Eric drop one of his plastic ornaments.

This holiday, however, fate had conspired to give him more. Eric allowed himself to smirk as he recalled the steps that led him here, while hanging a candy cane on the tree.

A snowstorm was rolling in, just in time. His and Caitlyn's sets of parents had been arranging a trip to a resort over winter break, organizing it since February. They'd been so confident in their plans that they'd nailed them down with reservations.

Eric had originally intended to go, but the storm had, fortunately, thrown a wrench in everything. Their parents were forced to choose: dodge the storm by leave early, without Caitlyn, or lose out on more than a thousand dollars by being trapped in a whiteout.

Initially, they'd intended to give up the money in exchange for spending Christmas with their daughter, but Caitlyn insisted that it was okay if they didn't.

Mostly, she'd made that generous concession because she heard that Eric had volunteered to stay behind to grab her from the airport. It would be just the two of them. Like old times, but better.

The time was almost here, Eric realized, sudden nerves forcing him to juggle another gleaming bauble before finally getting it hung. Eric recalled the moment he'd seen the opportunity to set this whole thing up. He'd given up the resort weekend with eyes blazing. Who wanted a sunburn in December anyway? Eric was a true New-Englander; a creature composed of flannel and cold weather.

"She's back," he whispered to himself, flashing back on the teen years they had spent rescuing each other from puberty's inevitable gauntlet of grim feelings and sadness.

"She's back," he repeated, staring at himself no longer as he darted to get his coat, then his keys.

Eric stopped at the fridge before stepping out the door, triple-checking that everything was already present for the perfect Christmas dinner. He cross-referenced it with the shopping list pinned to the freezer just one more time, then continued out the door.

The air had a distinctly wintry sting, the sort of moist cold that hinted at coming snow.

The idea of the storm coming early might've made most drivers nervous, but it didn't matter to Eric tonight; Caitlyn wouldn't be stuck at the airport on his watch, even if he was forced to hijack a reindeer team.

***

Eric picked at his outfit several times as he stood, awaiting her arrival. Was it a good look, he pondered? Was there a name for the "black jeans and dark green sweater" look?

He bounced on his heels, secure in the knowledge that, regardless, it was too late to change now.

On the other side of the airport, Eric spotted a family in Hawaiian shirts, no doubt headed south for the holiday.

Many people, mostly families, lingered around in the same sort of limbo as he.

Eric had to remind himself that he was, in fact, also waiting for a blood relative. She feels like so much more than that, he mused.

Given the butterflies in his stomach, he could almost have been waiting for his crush.

Which I'm not, he assured himself. He was just nervous about her liking his cooking. Or something.

Eric grew more anxious as time wore on, but finally she appeared. Eric stood up straighter, sliding his hands into his pockets and then out again. Suddenly, under Caitlyn's gaze, Eric wasn't sure what to do with his hands. Or himself in general.

She had arrived in a plaid flannel shirt, as was expected for the region. It was open over a v-neck that showed off her assets as well as just a sliver of midriff. Eric guessed that she may have gained a little weight since buying it, based on its fit, but he wasn't complaining.

He opened his mouth as she approached, but no words seemed adequate. What did one say at the open of a reunion with someone who was more than a best friend?

Luckily, she broke the ice for him.

"Airhead!" she squealed, shouting the nickname that had been his forever. She barely hesitated to drop her suitcase before jumping into a hug that Eric was hardly prepared for.

He staggered slightly, but got his arms around her and closed his eyes, savoring her softness, the smell of her shampoo, the shape of her body. These were things that no amount of video chatting could replace.

Eric gradually became conscious of more, however, as gravity pressed her into him. She wasn't wearing a bra. His cousin's nipples pressed into his chest, and they might as well have been hot coals for the magnitude of the effect they had.

Eric groaned slightly as she let go of him. Even if she didn't notice the obvious bulge of his pants, someone else would.

Oh well, he thought. Let them. They wouldn't know the relationship between he and his companion.

He turned away from his cousin, however. Eric nonchalantly bent away from her to grab one of her suitcases.

He found himself silently lamenting her neglecting to wear a bra, but also grateful for it. You couldn't just see boobs like hers for your entire life and not wonder what they felt like, even if they were your cousin's.

Now he knew, and his body wasn't letting him forget it.

"Where are you parked?" Caitlyn asked, pausing to button up her flannel shirt before they broke out into the weather.

"It's not too far," Eric assured her, wondering if their parents would have assented to leaving Caitlyn to bunk with him if they knew exactly who they were leaving her with.

They managed to get home before the snow even began, bursting through the front door with eagerness to escape the cold.

Caitlyn set her luggage next to the door and eyed Eric with head cocked. "Whose bedroom should I set up shop in?" She asked.

Caitlyn had hang-ups about sleeping in bedrooms on the ground floor, probably due to a bevy of horror movies, so Eric knew that the guest room wasn't an option.

Eric also knew that she was alluding to the innocent slumber parties they'd had when they were younger, but he didn't think that would be achievable anymore. Especially not after how he'd felt at the airport.

But, then again, if she didn't share those feelings, there was no risk of anything happening. How could he know, though? He couldn't just ask a member of his biological family if they were dangerously horny for him.

"My parents' I guess," Eric blurted. Caitlyn let out a sigh, imperceptible in the half-light of the entryway, then began hauling everything up the stairs.

"I'll make dinner while you unpack," Eric offered sheepishly. His cheeks felt hot. Had she really wanted to bunk with him? Worse still, did she think he turned her down on purpose? How much had changed since the summer? Maybe nothing had.

Maybe the feelings had always been there, but he'd denied it for fear of what people would think. Eric put some soup on the stove to heat, spotting through the window that the blizzard had begun, gently sprinkling the neighborhood in preparation for a later squall.

Eric aligned some slices of baguette on a baking sheet, slices of cheddar at the ready to melt atop them. The sounds of Caitlyn making herself at home sounded above him throughout all his tasks; the sound of her preparing for the entire week until her parents got back.

Eric's mind wandered despite himself. Was any of that noise from Caitlyn changing clothes? he pondered. Had she bared those nipples he'd just felt against him, even for a second? Moreover, did she wiggle her round bottom into another pair of pants while he was cooking, entirely ignorant of her brief nudity?

Eric felt his manhood stiffen again. He shifted uncomfortably. That afternoon's unresolved throbbing erection hadn't been forgotten by his body, and made his yearning all the worse.

Stop it, he chastised himself. She was his first cousin. It just wouldn't be right.

Eric couldn't stop picturing it despite himself, so much so that the actual sight of his grinning cousin startled him.

She appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, this time in ripped jeans and a very low-cut shirt.

"Oh uh, the soup is almost done," he stuttered, struck suddenly guilty for the pornographic contents of his brain. "The cheese toast shouldn't take very long since I put it on uh, a high, a high setting."

"Cool. I'm hungry," she detailed. The proclamation drew his eyes briefly down from her modest but proud bust to her relatively flat stomach, and Eric marveled at how her body seemed to store all fat exactly where she would want it.

"Me too," Eric replied, for the purpose of small talk. In truth, his body was putting another biological drive first, but he couldn't tell her that.

After giving the pre-made potato soup another stir, Eric ventured to the living room again to light the Christmas tree.

The living room had been basically dark until then, lit only with a dim orange ambient glow from outside streetlights. The effect of lighting it up with an explosion of color was quite striking. It earned a smile from Caitlyn, which made Eric smile in turn. After all, her happiness was what this week was about.

***

Once everything was on the table, they sat across from each other. That was traditional, but made it harder for Eric to pretend he couldn't see her orange-sized breasts, barely restrained in her black v-neck.

"How's school?" Eric asked, desperate to seem like his mind was nowhere other than the conversation. Certainly not in his cousin's panties.

"It's been okay," Caitlyn replied noncommittally. "To be honest, I've missed you."

A drop of half-melted cheese dropped from the toast she held in the air, landing on her cleavage. Eric crossed his legs incredulously. That was the oldest trick in the book. Eric pleaded for fate to stop teasing him like this.

Caitlyn seemed more amused than anything, smiling down at the minor spill, then back at him. "Are you gonna eat that?" She asked.

Eric burst out laughing, hoping his blushing was hidden in the half-light.

Caitlyn picked the errant cheese off of her boob and sucked it from her finger.

This just wasn't fair. Eric thought about finding an excuse to go to his room and relax with a dirty video just to clear his mind, but Caitlyn knew him well. She would figure out something was up, if nothing else.

He would have to just be strong... for the entire rest of the week. Hopefully it was easier than it sounded.

***

After dinner, there'd been momentary controversy over what to do for the evening, but they settled on simply watching TV. Christmas specials abounded, making that as festive an activity as any.

Eric had sat at the very end of the couch to allow Caitlyn to lay longways across it, her feet on his lap. She was idly nibbling on a candy cane, namely the arch part on the top. Eric didn't have the heart to tell her that was extremely unconventional. She probably knew, and didn't care.

The snow outside had picked up, and now featured heavy wind as an attraction. It was quite a good night for staying inside.

All was well in the cousins' viewing of the stop-motion adventures, until the lights and TV simultaneously flickered.

They both opened their mouths to mention it, but didn't have time. The electricity gave out on them with a decisive pop.

Eric searched for his phone, turning its flashlight on in Caitlyn's face. She looked more annoyed than anything.

"Are you okay?" He asked. It was just the first thing you were supposed to say in these situations.

"Yeah. Should I go flip the breakers?" She asked, before looking toward the window. "No, it's at least the whole neighborhood," Caitlyn observed. "The streetlights are out, too."

Eric sighed. "I'll figure out how to work the fireplace if you go get some blankets?"

Caitlyn nodded once, summoning the light of her own phone and heading upstairs. Eric wound up having to text his parents about turning on the fireplace, but got it started without too much of a hassle.

Caitlyn returned, walking up close to the fireplace.

As New Englanders, they knew the drill. When it's four degrees out with a wind chill and the heater is broken, you have to bunk next to any heat source you have.

Caitlyn set Eric's blankets on the rug, tossing some throw pillows from the couch after them.

Snuffing his flashlight, Eric sat down on the sheets. He could see, vaguely, by the amber-orange glow of the fireplace.

"Well," he sighed, "I guess the only thing to do now is sleep."

"Guess so." Caitlyn sunk to the floor and threw the blanket over herself.

They could play some word games or something, but that would only be entertaining for so long, and a gas fireplace didn't exactly provide the same ambience as a Yule Log might, to simply stare at.

"I'm sorry," Eric whispered. His stomach felt sour with shame and embarrassment. "This was supposed to be a perfect week for you, and all I've done was fixed you a half-assed meal and creep on you."

"Eric," Caitlyn gasped, "this afternoon has been incredible! And I have caught you staring a couple of times, but that's understandable."

Caitlyn scooted herself closer to Eric and wrapped herself in his arms. "But if I wake up with hypothermia, I will blame you," she teased. "So you better hold me tight."

Eric threw his legs over hers in a playful reply. It was a huge mistake. His body was feeling playful in a different way, and he felt dizzy. Caitlyn clearly felt his involuntary reaction, his insistent erection, digging into her thigh.

To Eric's astonishment, she muffled his incoming apology with her own lips. They had kissed before, in high school, playfully, but this wasn't like that.

Now, Caitlyn's kisses were deep. Hungry.

Caitlyn pressed herself to him, grinding against his rigid manhood. "Caitlyn," Eric breathed, as soon as she let him out of the kiss.

"Please?" She muttered in response. Her voice was so sweet, and so sincere. She desired him, specifically. Eric responded by sliding a hand under her shirt.

Caitlyn responded in turn by pushing his shirt up, followed by her own. She pressed her chest against him, letting her nipples sear into his bare flesh, strengthening his fervent boner.

Unable to contain himself, Eric grabbed her chest with both hands, giving them a good squeeze as Caitlyn undid his jeans for him.

They breathed heavily, between and during kisses, each eager to unwrap the unexpected present that was the other's body.

Caitlyn's breath was strong with the cool sting of candy cane, Eric's laden heavily with sugar cookie.

Eric stuck his hand in the frayed hole above the knee of Caitlyn's jeans, caressing her inner thigh before hurriedly yanking her zipper down.

"...Shit," he whispered.

It wasn't that he was unwilling to run to the nearest convenience store through the dark blizzard in order to make sure they could do this, but he would have to hope she was still in the mood when he got back. That part was a bit of a long shot.

"I'm on birth control," Caitlyn assured him. "They prescribed it for acne, but I stayed on it... just in case." She winked.

Eric undid the button of her jeans, revealing a fairly neat bush of dark brown hair.

She planned this, Eric thought, power outage most likely excepted. She would've been wearing underwear if she hadn't had this very scenario in mind.

Luckily, being cleverly seduced turned Eric on just as much as the illusion of spontaneity.

Caitlyn rolled from atop Eric and sat up next to him, her silhouette dark against the orange fire behind her, her perky breasts profiled in sharp relief as she pushed her hair behind her with both hands. She lay serenely down, head on a throw pillow.

"I'm ready," she whispered.

Eric stood up on his knees and lay down on her.

Eric, admittedly, hadn't known what to expect entering a woman to feel like, but he didn't expect it to feel this good.