I Keep Reaching Ch. 05

We were gathered around our grandparents dinner table on Christmas when Chloe announced that she was going to return to school next semester. She had great grades in school and had her pick of schools, but she didn't reveal where she planned to go. It wasn't until the two us were alone in her room that night that she revealed her choice.

"I'm already enrolled at WOU for next semester," Chloe said, lying on her bed next to me.

WOU stood for Western Oregon University, the same school I went to. It was a good school and was only a few hours away so her choice made sense, I guess, but she had her pick of schools. I had been there for a few years now and its charm had long since worn off.

"Why didn't you say anything at dinner?" I inquired.

"I just didn't," she answered. "Here, I got you something."

Chloe reached under her bed and pulled out a small bag.

"Hang on, I got something for you too," I told her, before getting up and heading for my bedroom. I opened my underwear drawer and pulled out a small jewelry case and slipped it into my pocket.

Chloe was sitting on the edge of her bed when I got back. I sat down next to her.

"Here," she said, handing me a small gift bag, decorated with Christmas trees and colorful ornaments.

I grinned from ear to ear as I pulled out a small, purple plush doll. The doll represented something from a game that I had spent a lot of my free time playing, Starcraft. It was supposed to be something called a 'zergling,' which was a vicious four-legged animal with big teeth and big wing-like arms with giant claws. The plush doll zergling, however, had tiny arms and looked more like a cute, purple dog. I loved it.

"Oh my God, this is amazing," I gushed. Chloe's hands were resting on her lap as she smiled at my approval.

"Here," I said, handing her the small box from my pocket.

Chloe looked surprised as she opened the box and found a silver band with a small, green garnet. I wasn't sure what to get her, but I wanted to get her something special and I knew green was her favorite color. It took a big cut out of my earnings at the restaurant but it was worth it.

"I hope it fits," I worried.

Chloe's eyes widened and she pursed her lips before pulling out the ring and slipping it on her left hand's ring finger. It seemed to fit fine.

"I love it," she said as she held up her hand to see how it looked on her small hand.

Then something happened that I think, in hindsight, reversed all the progress we had made over the last several weeks.

Chloe turned to me, grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me. Unlike our previous, platonic, brother-sister kisses, this one lingered. And lingered. We both became lost in each other as Chloe let out a soft "Mmmm," as our lips crushed together. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven as I felt the warmth of her soft lips against my own. I was helpless to resist as she opened her mouth and licked my lips before I opened mine and met her tongue.

I moaned into Chloe's mouth as I relished in the familiar feeling and taste of her lips. I was just about to push her onto the bed and take this to the next level when Chloe pulled away, panting.

"I'm sorry," she said. Her lips were flushed as she turned away from me and scooted down the bed.

Fuck! I thought, ridiculing myself. We had come so far, only to dive back in, head first, in a moment of weakness.

"I.. I just really love the ring, is all," Chloe stuttered.

"Your gift is way better, I'll cherish it," I said, truthfully. I felt shame as I felt my hard-on pushing painfully into my jeans.

It suddenly felt uncomfortable sitting next to her and I moved to leave. I also didn't trust myself not to make things even worse. "Well, I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow. Merry Christmas, Chloe."

"Merry Christmas," Chloe squeaked, making brief eye contact before looking away.

That night, I secretly hoped Chloe would sneak into my room like she used to, but she didn't.

****

The following spring semester was to be my fifth semester of college and Chloe's first. Eventually, Chloe told our parents of her plan to go to WOU and they were happy that we would be close together. Chloe was nervous about leaving home and going to college, but I assured her that she would fit in great.

The semester began on a Tuesday but we left Monday morning. We were carpooling together on the two hour drive to campus. We planned to arrive early, so I could show Chloe around campus and help her get her books. We also had to move our belongings into our dorm rooms, which was a time consuming process. The back seat and trunk of my car were filled to the brim with clothes, books, blankets, laptops, and all assortments of belongings.

As was my tradition, when we finally set out to leave, I plugged my phone into the speaker system and played my favorite Pandora station. It was a mix of electronic music, such as trance, dubstep, house, drumstep and a few other sub-genres that I didn't care to learn the names of.

I had the volume at a reasonably low level when Chloe said, "I'm so nervous!"

"I was nervous my first day, too," I told her. "You'll be brilliant, don't worry."

I turned the music up to my preferred volume as I heard a familiar song kick in. Chloe turned to me and smiled before grabbing my hand as it left the volume knob. Her fingers intertwined with mine and gripped my hand tight before she abruptly pulled her hand away.

The first order of business when we arrived was to move into our dorm rooms. We had separate dormitory buildings as the freshman were always assigned next to other freshman. I helped her move in first. She had a roommate but she hadn't arrived yet. This wasn't unusual as not everyone started classes on the same day. After we moved all her stuff up to her room, Chloe came with me to help move my stuff.

My roommate and best friend, Robert, was there waiting for us. Most students went home during Christmas break but the school had a program that allowed students to stay in the dorm rooms over the extended break. Robert didn't have a family and elected to stay in the dorm room over Christmas and in doing so, preserve my room for the following spring semester.

Robert was waiting near the parking lot when we drove over to my dormitory.

"Good to see you, man," I greeted, giving Robert a brief hug.

"Good to see you, too," he responded.

"This is my sister, Chloe," I told him, signaling to Chloe as she walked up to us.

It was cold this time of year in Oregon and we were wearing light jackets.

Robert extended a hand to Chloe and they shook hands.

"Hi," Chloe squeaked with a shy smile.

"Nice to meet you," Robert said. "Erik's told me loads about you."

I walked next to Chloe and grabbed her hand.

"Yeah, we're very close. I hope you don't mind if she spends some time in our dorm room."

"Of course not!" Robert said cheerfully. He was a sincere guy and I knew I could trust him around Chloe.

It only took a few trips between the three of us to move all of my boxes up the single flight of stairs that led to my second story dorm room. After I got settled in, I took Chloe to the bookstore to get her supplies before taking her on a tour around campus. Fortunately, I didn't have basketball practice that day so afterwards I spent the majority of the day in my dorm room in the company of Chloe and Robert.

"What time is your first class tomorrow?" I asked Chloe. We were in my dorm room after coming back from dinner at the cafeteria.

"Not until 10," she answered, snuggling her head against my chest as I held her around the shoulder. We were on my bed, watching Robert play Street Fighter. He was too consumed with the game to notice us as he twitched and cursed at the screen.

We took turns, playing on Robert's Xbox, but Chloe mostly just watched. At the end of the night, Chloe fell asleep in my arms and I eventually drifted off as well.

And that became my routine: class, homework, basketball practice, Chloe, then our long drive home each weekend. I had basketball practices Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and most days we would hang out in my dorm room. She didn't always fall asleep on my bed; usually she would leave so she could be closer to her shower and clothes when she woke up but sometimes she would drift off and I would just let her sleep, often times watching her. We never did anything sexual, we were just very close. It was weird at first, sleeping in the same bed as her with Robert in the room, but he never spoke about it.

Sometimes Chloe would watch me and the team practice and walk back with me to the dorm room. On one such occasion, I introduced Chloe to Kyle, my closest friend on the team. He was tall like me, around 6' 5", with short blonde hair. My favorite part about him was how blunt he was. It was never hard to read him since he put everything out there, on the surface for anyone to see. He immediately wooed Chloe and told her how gorgeous she was. I could tell right away that Chloe like him, too. It stung like a bitch, but I kept my distance. Kyle was drawn to her like any red blooded male would be and I couldn't blame him.

One day, after practice, Kyle asked me if he could ask Chloe out and I reluctantly said "yes." It was difficult but I was moving on.

This went on for the better part of January and February. Chloe and Kyle actually went on a handful of dates but Chloe still spent a lot of time with me. She confided in me all the details and could sense how jealous I would become. It was a dangerous combination of jealously--both because of how close we had gotten and because I was her overprotective older brother. I had also made it clear to Kyle what I did to Chloe's boyfriends when they got out of line. Fortunately for my sanity, their relationship hadn't gone beyond holding hands and the occasional peck on the cheek, as far as I knew at least.

My conversations with Samantha continued. She still lived in our hometown and was taking a break from school. At one point, during one of Chloe's dates with Kyle, I considered calling Samantha and asking her out. I decided not to, though, because I was still hung up on Chloe and I didn't want to mislead her.

It was a friday in late February when Kyle approached me again after basketball practice.

"Hey, me and a few of my frat buddies are having a party over at a friend's house. Maybe fifteen to twenty people. Chloe is coming with me, you wanna come?"

"Umm, sure," I hesitantly answered. I was thrown off because usually Chloe and I would drive home directly after my basketball practices on Fridays if I didn't have a game and Chloe hadn't mention a party. Kyle gave me an address and told me to come over "whenever."

After showering and finishing up some homework that night, I drove to the address. I invited Robert and brought him with me because I knew he had nothing better to do.

It was a small, one story house just off campus. The grass on the lawn was uncared for and must have been five inches tall. I zig-zagged through a line of cars and knocked on the front door. No one answered so I tested the door and walked in.

I immediately recognized a few of my basketball buddies and saw a few other guys that I assumed were in Kyle's fraternity. I counted four girls, Chloe included, making the count somewhere around six guys and four girls.

I spotted Chloe sitting on a large, torn up couch flirting with Kyle. I had managed to avoid seeing the two of them together up until this point because I had assumed it would make me jealous. It did. I also noticed that Chloe seemed a little drunk. Before I had a chance to address that particular issue, I was swarmed by my basketball buddies.

"What's up, man? I never see you at these parties!" Roger said, poking me in the chest. He was our point guard and was about a head shorter than me. He was right, I rarely partied.

"Long week, you know? Just need to unwind."

"Well, you came to the right place!" he cheered. He dragged me from the living room and into the kitchen. Two others followed us: another teammate and a girl I didn't recognize. Roger poured each of us a shot of cheap whiskey. It burned as it went down, but it felt nice.

I thanked Roger and walked into the living room. Chloe was still flirting with Kyle, playfully tapping him on the shoulder and chest. Fuck, I thought to myself. They weren't doing anything and I felt like I wanted to bloody Kyle's nose just like I had Nathan's! I tried to sideline my jealousy and walked up to the couch.

"Hey," I announced.

"Oh my God, Erik! You're h-here! I'm so glad to s-see you!" Chloe raved. She immediately moved to the edge of the couch and wrapped her arms around me. I was concerned with how tipsy she seemed but I was happy she remembered me.

Chloe was wearing long, form fitting jeans that hugged her slender legs and tight ass. She had on a dark blue camisole with spaghetti straps that did a poor job of hiding her bra straps. Anyone who cared to look was presented with a generous amount of cleavage.

My brotherly instincts kicked in and I asked her, "Are you drunk?"

Chloe looked up to me. Her arms were still around my lower back as her breasts crushed against me when she responded, "Just a couple glasses of wine, I feel goooood."

I'd never seen her drunk before, and rightfully so as she wasn't twenty-one yet. Her bright hazel eyes seemed slightly glazed over as she stared up at me. I needed to have a talk with Kyle.

"I'm really glad you're here," Chloe said, laying her head against my lower stomach and gripping me in a tight hug. Looking down at her, so close to my crotch, I was reminded of how it felt with her mouth around me. I felt my cock twitch in my pants and pulled away.

After we separated, I pulled Kyle outside and lectured him about letting my sister drink. He said he hadn't planned it and she had already drank a glass of wine before he noticed anything. I let him off the hook, but not before reminding him what had happened to her previous boyfriend, Nathan. I planned on keeping a close eye on Chloe the remainder of the night to make sure she didn't get wasted.

I allowed Chloe to drink beer but nothing stronger. We were playing drinking games, after all, and I didn't want her to feel left out. Mostly we played games like beer pong, darts, card games and a few word play games.

Several times during the party, I would scan the room for Chloe and find her flirting with Kyle. Sometimes she would have her arms around him or would be holding his hand. She seemed to be clinging to him, as a proper girlfriend should, and it was starting to take its toll on my heart. Many times I would excuse myself into the kitchen, sometimes inviting someone, and take a shot of whiskey just to ease the aching. But I kept my distance from them and tried to have a good time, which for the most part, I did.

As the night went on, I found myself crammed on the old, worn out, three-cushion couch with three other people. There were ten of us circled around a coffee table with beers in hand. We were playing a counting game where you had to say the word "buzz" anytime your number was divisible by seven or eleven. There were a lot of laughs as people struggled to remember their multiplication table as they got more and more intoxicated. I was comfortably drunk myself.

Eventually we played spin the bottle. Most of the kisses were over-dramatic and exaggerated to the delight of everyone around them, which received lots of cheers and hollers, while some were just small pecks to the lips or cheek which were negatively received with lots of people shouting "booo!"

When it was my turn, through some kind of divine intervention, the bottle pointed at Chloe, seated right next to me. I shot forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Across the room, Robert glared at me, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Give her a real kiss!" Robert shouted. He was sitting on a fold-out chair with a beer in his hand. All the guys in the room cheered after his comment. Well, except for Kyle, I guess. I couldn't be certain, but I had a suspicion that Robert knew about Chloe and me.

I was pretty drunk at this point and thought, fuck it. Chloe was shocked as I ran my fingers through her long, auburn hair and pulled her mouth to mine. She melted to my touch and I properly kissed her this time. The room erupted with cheers as we held the kiss for several moments before Chloe parted her lips and I sucked on her bottom lip. I opened my mouth for a moment and licked her tongue before pulling away.

"There! Happy?" I yelled, joining in with the cheers and laughter. Robert had a big smile on his face and cheered with the others. Chloe was in shock and stared at me for a moment before sitting back down. She didn't cling to Kyle afterwards, though. She clung to me.

Later, we played truth or dare. Roger dared Chloe to flash everyone her tits. I freaked out for a second before she politely refused, much to my relief.

"Nope, we are skipping your turn, Roger," I said after he tried to dare her to kiss one of the girls.

"Wh-wha?" he started to say before I interrupted him.

"Shut the fuck up, Roger," I laughed before taking a large swig from my beer. I was usually a pretty relaxed guy but something about Chloe brought out my assertive side. Roger took it gracefully though and playfully flipped me off.

"It's your turn, Robert," I instructed, pointing at him across the room.

Robert rubbed his chin, thinking for a few seconds before he said, "Okay, I pick Erik. Truth or dare?"

I stared at him, questioningly, before responding. Robert probably knew more than anyone how close me and Chloe were and I didn't want to say something that could incriminate us. "Dare," I said, challenging him.

"I dare you to lock yourself in a closet with Chloe for fifteen minutes." He stared at me after he spoke, but he wasn't smiling or laughing like the others. He was up to something.

My intoxicated brain immediately responded, "Easy!"

I grabbed Chloe by the wrist and pulled her off the couch. She was laughing and playing along as I dragged her out of the living room, into the hallway and into a small, two door closet that stood between two bedrooms at the opposite side of the small house.

Once inside, I fumbled around looking for a light switch but failed to find one. I remembered bumping into some umbrellas--at least I think they were umbrellas--and knocking them on the floor. The room was surprisingly accommodating, even at my height, after pushing some hanging jackets to the wall. It was pitch black and Chloe was giggling uncontrollably.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked, her infectious giggle causing me to laugh with her.

"The light switch is outside the closet, dummy!" Chloe laughed, erupting in another fit of giggles.

"Hardy-har-har," I said, trying to feign sarcasm but failing as I started chuckling at my own stupidity. Alcohol had a way of making even the smallest of things funny. "I guess I'm pretty drunk."

"Me too! Ha!" she cackled before tumbling towards me in the darkness. Her hands landed on my chest before circling around my back and hugging me. I hugged her back and rested my chin on her hair.

What the hell are we doing? I thought, breathing in the familiar smell of her watermelon scented shampoo. It was a strong aphrodisiac to me and my hands slid down her back on onto her hips. The thin material of her camisole was making it difficult to grip her so I slid my hands under it and gripped her prominent hip bones directly, skin on skin.

"Mmmm, I missed this," Chloe purred. She turned her head to look up at me and I averted my chin so she wouldn't shatter my jaw.

"Me too," I said, her eyes glowing up at me. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness and I recognized a predatory look in her gaze. A gaze I had become all too familiar with.