Rumors Ch. 03

Disclaimer: All sexual activity described in this story is between fictional characters over the age of 18.

~~~~~

Monday, Annie went to school and Mom headed to work, leaving me a "honey do" list of some repairs.

Annie was the first one home, while I was under the sink, disconnecting the garbage disposal to check on a rattling sound Mom said it was making. I didn't hear Annie come into the kitchen.

"We've got trouble, Ty," she said, causing me to jolt and nearly bash my head into the disposal.

"God, sis, you startled me," I said, looking out at two pairs of legs on either side of my own. The other pair was Marissa's. "What's the trouble?"

"Gary," she answered, as they crouched down so I could see their faces. "He's spreading a rumor that you and I are having sex."

"Based on what?" I asked. "He interrupted my date with Riss, so clearly he knows about her and me, but how does he connect me to you?"

"That's the thing," Marissa said. "He used my attraction to Annie to get me to have sex with him, by promising a threesome. Now that you're dating me, he's assuming I now want a threesome with the two of you, which puts you two together in bed. Even though I said the exact opposite at the restaurant table, Saturday night. He must not have been listening very closely, with you yanking his arm behind him."

"Yeah, well," I muttered, before asking, "So, how do we deny a rumor that's basically true, even if he's got the sequence of events and motivations wrong? We have had sex with each other, just not as a threesome. Not yet, as your Mom pointed out."

Annie answered, "We've just been telling people Gary doesn't know what he's talking about, which is usually true."

I blew out my breath, before inhaling and saying, "Either we keep denying it, or..."

"Or what?" she demanded.

I responded, "We could have you date Marissa separately, making sure people know that we're splitting her time, rather than being with her together. Admitting that Gary is right about the attraction between the two of you, while denying the threesome. Let's see what Mom thinks when she gets home, too. Meanwhile, I still have this disposal to work on."

The disposal problem turned out to be a small piece of ceramic, a chip from a plate that had been dropped in the sink a month before, that had fallen into the disposal. I was amazed that it hadn't been ground into dust, but it just kept getting knocked around inside the disposal instead. After shaking it out, I put the disposal back in place, the rattle gone.

When Mom got home, the three of us explained the rumor situation. She responded, "I've got a better idea. First, Annie and I need to abstain from further sex with Tyler, in case any people are taking this rumor seriously. If some police officer shows up to investigate us, with a rape kit in hand to take samples, finding any trace of Tyler's sperm inside either of us is evidence of the crime once it is matched to his DNA."

"You don't have to consent to testing," I said.

Mom said, "Refusing would make us look guilty, though if someone shows up this week, we would have to do it. Better to be safe and be able to submit a sample which shows nothing. Douching should reduce any sperm that's left in the vagina, but that's no guarantee. Women get pregnant all the time who try to use that as birth control, usually because the sperm has already gotten into the uterus. Continued abstinence is our best bet, for now. We should wash all of our bedding, too."

"What next?" I asked.

"Second, you each respond to the rumor by saying that Gary is trying to make trouble, using outdated information about the Annie and Marissa. We go public with the fact that Annie and I became a couple after she broke up with him. We would need to, eventually. Annie, you've kept quiet about it because you were concerned some people wouldn't understand, which is certainly true. Marissa, you can tell people you've reconciled with Annie as friends, but you accept that Annie's involved with me now. Tyler then asked you out, with Annie's approval, so he's your focus now. Your sole focus."

"What if someone then guesses we're in a foursome?" I asked. "That still is our goal, isn't it?"

Mom answered, "Our goal is for nobody to know about that but us. If someone makes that leap, it's much easier to deny that as two couples than publicly being a triad where you and Annie have to insist over and over that you keep your hands off of each other while both being intimate with Marissa, even if you say it's at different times. Marissa, your mom is nearly reaching that conclusion already, because you admitted to having sex with both of them. Let Annie publicly be my lover, instead of yours, then deny there's any further connection between the two couples. It's closer to what people would expect."

"You're right, as usual, Mom," I said.

Mom said, "I hope so. My prediction is that the small-minded people will be too busy going nuts about Annie and me being a couple, given the age difference and the almost-stepdaughter relationship, to think past it to the four of us being together. I'd rather give them something legal to go crazy over, in place of rumors about something illegal. Let the smoke from one fire hide the other, until both die down. We also need to face the possibility that it may never be safe for the incest to resume, that Friday night might have been the beginning and end of it and truly be two couples who don't have sex with each other. I almost wish the two of you hadn't rented your dad's house out. Having Tyler move in there for the summer would help show more distance between you."

Annie asked, "Mom, how about making prom our public reveal? Marissa and I were each planning to go solo until we decided on Friday to go together, but now that only reinforces Gary's rumor. If the four of us show up on Friday as two couples, everyone at school would know about it by Monday. Wouldn't that be the fastest way to blow Gary's rumor apart?"

Mom said, "That's an excellent idea. You're going to have to call me Shelby in public to downplay our family connection and Tyler shouldn't dance with you or me, nor should Marissa slow dance with either of us. Girls fast dancing together is so routine that it would look suspicious if we didn't. Are you ready to be Marissa's prom date, Tyler?"

"She only needs to ask me," I responded, grinning. "It's her prom, after all."

In a sing-song voice, Marissa quipped, "Will you go to prom with me, Tyler?" then asked in a normal voice, "Do you have a suit already? It's probably too late to rent a tux."

I answered, "Yes, to both questions. I fit into most of Dad's clothes, so I've got his suits and a couple of tuxedos, in addition to a couple suits of my own. I'm sure we can find something that will match your dress and be fashionable. Better than any rental tux I could find now, anyway."

Annie said, "Marissa and I already have prom gowns. We even both have corsages reserved at Milligan's. I'm pretty sure Mom... pretty sure Shelby has a dress that will complement my gown. Dang, Mom, I've got to get used to calling you by your name, again."

Mom said, "Just in public, honey. I mean, the plan here is to discourage the idea that you would ever have sex with your brother. Telling people that we're lovers but that you still call me 'Mom' leaves your attitude towards incest in doubt. Even 'Aunt Shelby' would raise those suspicions now."

Annie gave a small shrug. "I get it. You can't be both things at once if we want to discredit the 'sex with family' idea."

Mom and I went through our closets, finding a dress for her and one of Dad's tuxedos for me, that went with our dates' gowns. Marissa had to head home after that, as her parents were expecting her for dinner. She was excited to tell them we were all going to prom and to reveal Annie's relationship with Mom as a way to curb Angelina's suspicions. She would explain her night with Annie as a one-time thing.

We also stripped all three beds and threw the dirty sheets in the washer, first. It was time to switch to summer bedding, anyway. The quilts would go to dry cleaning the next day.

As we were eating dinner, I asked, "So, I guess I'm sleeping alone tonight? Even cuddling, we'd have to worry about my DNA winding up on the wrong set of sheets."

"You'll survive, bro," Annie teased. "Just think of it like we both started our periods."

I shrugged, then said, "It's not like I was getting laid every day back at school. Or even every week. I actually had more sex this weekend than in the last couple of months, not counting jerking off. I just wish Gary had gotten the message to leave the girls alone."

Mom said, "I've dealt with his type on the dating scene. Some are just too dense to learn that their approach isn't working, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too high about changing Gary. Who we really need to convince are the people who have heard him spread the rumor, so they don't believe a word he's saying and chalk it up to a vendetta."

~~~~~

The rest of the week went rather slowly for me with Mom working and Annie and Marissa in school. I spent at least a couple of hours each day with Marissa, including several more dinners with her family, getting treated like royalty as newly discovered family. But since these were school nights, we really didn't have time for lovemaking.

Angelina said nothing else about Marissa being involved with both Annie and me. Marissa's revelation that she'd been covering for Annie's relationship with Shelby helped damp that down, as we had hoped.

The rumor at school seemed to be persistent, but Annie started to tell a few people that she was involved with Shelby and that Gary was only trying to stir up trouble where none existed.

The night of the prom arrived. I picked Marissa up in Dad's Bronco, while Mom and Annie were going in Mom's car, planning to arrive 10 minutes after Marissa and me.

I'd been gone from the high school for three years, so most of the students had no idea who I was, but several of the teachers who were there as chaperones recognized me but left us alone.

The reaction when Mom and Annie arrived, holding hands, was quite different. Mr. Kimball, one of the math teachers both Annie and I had, immediately walked over to Mom, before they'd even had a chance to greet Marissa and me, but close enough that I could hear them.

"Mrs. Campbell?" he asked. "I didn't know that you'd volunteered to be a chaperone."

"I didn't. I'm here as Annie's date." Mom answered, gesturing to Annie, who leaned her head to rest on Mom's shoulder. You could hear the undercurrent of gossip begin spreading around the room, underneath the music.

"But, you're her mother," he said.

Mom smiled, saying, loudly enough that quite a few people could hear, "Actually, I'm not her mother, I've been her girlfriend for about a month." The gossip spread further. "When you and I met for parent-teacher conference last fall, I was there as her legal guardian after her father's death, but that role mainly expired when Annie turned 18 in March. I am not her biological mother or even her step-mother, because I divorced her father before she was born to his second wife. She's my son Tyler's half-sister and continues to live in our home, rather than take over her father's house. None of that establishes any legal obstacle to the two of us having a romantic relationship."

"You're old enough to be her mother, though!" he said, even louder.

Mom laughed. "Obviously, Dan, since I'm Tyler's mother. Look, we know that we seem like an odd pairing and the route by which we came together is odder still, but our love evolved over the past few months, after Annie turned 18, especially when her last boyfriend cheated on her and she turned to me for comfort. We decided to use tonight to step out of the shadows, in part because of some idiotic rumors that ex-boyfriend is spreading about Annie because we'd kept quiet about our relationship until now."

"I don't understand it, but I suppose I don't have to," Mr. Kimball said. "Have a good prom, Shelby, Annie."

As Mom and Annie approached Marissa and me, I caught sight of Gary across the room, standing with Wendy, another friend of Annie and Marissa who had been at Annie's last birthday party, but was apparently Gary's date for prom. If he had noticed the four of us, he wasn't showing it.

My palms started itching, wanting to pound the snot out of the guy. Marissa read me perfectly, whispering, "You can't go after him here, Ty. Standing up for Annie's honor right now is only playing into his hand. It was one thing to stand up for mine during our date last weekend, but you can't afford to act like you're Annie's boyfriend, even if you only want to slam him as her brother. Your mom handled Mr. Kimball perfectly, let the rumor mill play out."

The four of us moved onto the dance floor, each couple distanced from the other.

It wasn't 10 minutes before I heard Gary scream, at a sudden lull in the music, "You're kidding me! She's fucking her own mom?" The whole ballroom went quiet and the DJ didn't start the next song.

Annie spoke into the silence, with the confidence I'd first seen in the courtroom 10 months earlier. "Gary, you know Shelby's not my mother! Stop making shit up about me and leave me the fuck alone. You're not getting me back with your bullshit rumors."

"You call her 'Mom'," he countered.

"I did, for a few months while Shelby was my guardian. But I don't call her that now, for obvious reasons." Annie turned and kissed Mom full on the lips, making it as obvious as she could that she was swapping tongues with her.

Parting, she turned back to Gary and said, "Would I really do that and still call her Mom? Good luck with him, Wendy. You're going to need it."

"But you and Marissa?" Gary continued challenging.

Marissa stepped forward and said, "Annie and I are only friends, Gary. My admission tonight is that I did want more than friendship with Annie and I let you use that fact, let you manipulate me to have sex with you, so you could hurt her for not wanting to have sex with you. That actually pushed Annie closer to Shelby, okay? But you know what? I'm happy for them. Because that's what you do when you love someone rather than wanting to own them. Instead of admitting that you were a cheating asshole, you make up disgusting shit about Annie and her brother Tyler because I started dating him, after Annie revealed her relationship with Shelby to me? What are you basing that on? The fact that I said the other night that I could date either one of them?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted. "You even said you could date both of them."

"Emphasis on the word 'could'. That doesn't mean I am dating both of them or having sex with both of them, especially at the same time. I also said there wouldn't be any threesome, if you remember. I'm dating Tyler. Period. Get that straight in your head. I would say 'eat shit and die', Gary, but you're already so full of shit you must be immune to it. Can we all get back to dancing, please? We're sorry for the interruption, everyone."

Gary slunk away, with Wendy clearly asking him a bunch of uncomfortable questions about him and Marissa. The DJ resumed the music and we returned to dancing. All eyes were on the four of us for about 15 minutes, but eventually people stopped staring, figuring that the excitement was over.

Over the course of the rest of the night, several female students approached Annie and Marissa during times we weren't dancing, to discuss the whole situation of Gary's rumors. I'll spare the reader the repetitiousness of those conversations, other than to note that Annie and Marissa were consistent in their statements. A few engaged Mom in the conversations, but I was able to just kept quiet. Nobody actually asked if the rumors were true, but the effect was a denial all the same.

About an hour before the prom was scheduled to end, we agreed that we'd had enough dancing, so we headed home.

"So, do you think it worked?" I asked, as we sat around the living room. "Gary couldn't have played into our hands better. Will this end it, though?"

"It's too soon to tell, Ty," Annie answered. "We won't really know until the coming week at school. We especially don't know how Gary is going to respond to this, if he does anything at all. Maybe we shamed him into silence, or he might try some other way to make trouble for us. Mom and I need to stay off-limits until we're sure we're in the clear."

I agreed, "Yeah, I agree that we're nowhere near safe enough for that. In the short term, we're at increased risk, as parents might start hearing about tonight's altercation. If any of those parents calls the police, despite our denials, they're not going to find me anywhere near either of your bedrooms. They might find me naked with Riss in mine, if she wants to spend the night with me..."

"I do," Marissa said, moving to sit on my lap, while lowering the zipper on her gown. Her boobs popping out almost wrecked my train of thought.

"...and the two of you together in Mom's room," I finished. "That's all they'll find, though."

Looking back at me, Marissa said, "Tyler, I do want to be with you tonight. But I also want to be with Shelby and Annie, too. Both because I haven't been intimate with Shelby yet and because I really want to see the two of them together. It's not like my having sex with them is illegal, it's just you. Can we maybe start out with the four of us together, without you touching anyone but me? Or I can come to your room after I've been with them for awhile?"

I asked, "What do you think, Mom? Can a foursome where I don't actually touch you or Annie still get us in trouble? Assuming the cops do show up and see us in action, what can they do, if I'm only touching Marissa? Isn't penetration a necessary part of the crime of incest, not just being nude or sexual in each other's presence? If I jerked off in front of you, that's not incest."

Mom answered, "It's true that they have to prove penetration to convict for incest. But... Marissa, we just went to considerable effort to declare that the rumor about Annie and Tyler can't be true because you aren't Annie's lover, I am. Having that exposed as a lie wouldn't do us any favors right now. Even if Tyler were waiting in his room and it was the three of us who got caught. I would rather we wait until we're certain the police aren't going to show up."

Marissa sighed and I could tell Annie was disappointed as well. Annie asked, "How long do you think that will take?"

Mom said, "Well, you graduate in two weeks. I doubt the rumor could keep spreading, once school is out, unless it gets traction with parents. I figure if nobody challenges us by then, we'll be in the clear. Besides, we're headed up to Tahoe for a week after that, to stay at the house that my ex-husband's parents left him. It's owned by a trust in Annie and Tyler's name, rented out most of the year to fund their college educations. We get to stay there a couple weeks per year, off-peak. You're welcome to come, Marissa. We'd certainly be safe to indulge ourselves there. Meanwhile, you two need to focus on term papers and finals. I know you've got your acceptance letters to college, but you still need to graduate and maintain your averages. So, I'll even declare a moratorium on sex and dating between any partners after tonight so you'll study. Can you all wait that long and then let our first foursome, with no restrictions, be a graduation present up in Tahoe?"

Annie and Marissa nodded. I said, "I'll do whatever it takes to protect the three of you, short of joining a monastery."

Annie laughed. "You and a vow of chastity? Yeah, right."

"Hard to picture any of you in nun's habits either, sis."