Talking to Our Parents

I had acted brave and confident the night before to convince Hailey to help me relax, but I wasn't exactly feeling confident about the idea of talking to our parents. That said, I had agreed to it and I wasn't going to back out now.

I had woken up in Hailey's arms on her bed together as I had many times before, enjoying the same sense of peace and comfort as always, but this time I was filled with a distinct sense of dread. Despite my bravado, I wasn't exactly sure how our parents would feel about our activities together. Memories from the night before made me wonder how loud I'd been. My sense of volume had been drowned out by the music, so it was hard to say if they'd heard us. The thought made me feel very nervous, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. It wasn't like I thought that they would punish us, but... I just felt terrified at the idea that they might think less of us for it.

Hailey was still fast asleep, her long, vibrant purple hair cascading down her shoulders and back. Her eyes were closed, her breathing even. She looked beautiful as always, and it was a nice treat to see her looking so relaxed and carefree. I wished I could help her feel that way all the time, so she never had to feel worried or stressed, but I knew that wasn't really realistic.

I leaned my head against her chest and smiled to myself. I was so lucky to have her, and I knew it; not only was she understanding of me when I was struggling or being difficult, but she was also the most stunning woman on the planet. She had soft, bright, luxurious hair that flowed down her back, bright purple with hints of red in the sunlight. I loved the way it framed her petite face and how it brought out the blue of her eyes.

She was the same height as me but a bit more filled out; her breasts and hips were a bit more voluptuous than mine, but only just barely. She had always been more mature than me in a lot of ways and I had always respected her for taking the time to explain herself to me, even when I was being stubborn. It seemed to happen more often than I liked, but she never really got angry with me for it, she just tried to help me be better, more patient, more understanding.

My thoughts were distrupted when she started to stir, her breathing pattern shifting as she started to wake up. Her eyes opened and she looked around, seeming to quickly assess the situation. She met my eyes for the briefest of moments before she closed her eyes again and squeezed my body tightly against hers.

"Good morning," she said gently, her soft voice flowing over my ears like honey. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept well," I said, my voice nearly as low as hers. "At some point the headphones fell off, probably when I shifted or turned over or something. It seems like the storm had mostly passed by then, though, so I didn't really notice."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. I wish I knew how to better comfort you when you're scared like that," she said, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead.

"I don't know what you mean, Hailey, you do plenty. Everyone gets afraid sometimes, I'm lucky to have you by my side to reassure me whenever I do."

She smiled warmly at me, her eyes still closed. "How... was it?" she asked, hesitance apparent in her voice.

"What? The... the sex?" I asked, feeling a bit shy in spite of myself. I silently chastised myself for feeling insecure with her. This was Hailey, after all. I knew she would never judge me, no matter what.

"Yeah," she breathed out, her voice barely even a whisper. She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, as if she could block out my response along with the light. She may have wanted it but it was clear that my answer terrified her.

I leaned forward and gently kissed her lips, startling her eyes open. "Wonderful," I said, staring into her dreamy, dark cerulean eyes. They always looked vibrant, especially paired with her vivid hair.

I was surprised when her lips turned down into a frown. "Hmm. I mean, it... I've never done it before. Surely there's something I could have done better? Don't you have any feedback at all?" she asked, nervously twirling one of her slightly-wavy strands of hair around her finger.

"I've never done it either," I admitted, not sure whether or not she had realized that. "I don't really know what counts as doing it well so I'm not sure how to give feedback. I just know it felt good. It helped a lot with the storm," I added.

Her frown dissolved and her face relaxed into a more neutral expression and she nodded, seeming satisfied. Without responding aloud to what I'd said she placed a kiss on my lips and then pulled her body away from mine a bit, pulling back and sitting up on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over the edge.

"We... I'm pretty sure our parents could hear us last night," she said, her voice laced with tension. "I... I hope they're not upset. We need to talk to them and make sure... make sure nothing bad will happen," she said, seeming to be trying to reassure herself.

"Ehehe," I giggled guiltily. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be loud."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Hazel, you're really not very good at being quiet under any circumstances, why would I have thought this would be different? I knew what to expect, that's why I... I wanted to be ready to face it today. Together," she added, putting on a brave face.

"I'm sorry," I said again, biting my lip.

She giggled at me. "You don't have to be sorry. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, silly. You are who you are and I love you as you are. Now," she added, her tone growing more business-like. "Go get ready and get dressed. We need to talk to our parents and I want to go down together, okay?"

I groaned. "Ugh, but your bed is so comfy, I don't want to get up. Does it have to be now?" I asked. I knew I was whining but I didn't care, I just wanted to stay cuddled up to her forever. I reached my hands out for her but she stood and made her way to her closet, pulling herself out of my reach.

"No, Hazel. Please do what I asked, okay? I... I know you don't want to but I'm really nervous and I won't feel better until we go talk to them. Can you do it for me?" she asked, turning her head to face me and I was suddenly frozen in place by the stare of those luminous blue eyes.

"Well.... I guess you did help me out last night," I said, as if it even mattered. Of course I would do what she asked. No matter how hard I tried, I could never resist her when she really asked me for something.

I would still protest, though. I heaved a sigh and stood up, gathering my clothes from the day before from their pile on the floor and bringing them back into my room with me (through our shared bathroom, to ensure our parents didn't see me running naked through the house).

I tossed my dirty clothes in my laundry basket and made my way to the closet to try to pick out something for the day, but my heart wasn't really in it. Normally I cared at least a little bit what I was wearing and I would try to make sure things matched and looked nice together. Today, however, my thoughts were too distracted by the upcoming conversation to really care too much what I wore. I grabbed a peach-colored dress from a hanger and neatly laid it out on the bed.

I went back into the bathroom to shower, take care of my morning business and get ready for the day.

I tried to get through my shower quickly but my mind kept wandering to last night. I'd had my eyes closed for most of the time Hailey had been touching me, so I couldn't help but wonder what she had looked like... What did it look like when she was looking up at me? What expression was in her eyes? Love? Lust? Curiosity? Passion? A mix of them? Something else?

I pulled myself back to the task before me: get ready. I started rinsing out my hair. The feeling of the warm water flowing over my scalp felt so nice and relaxing that it was almost hard to stay focused in my early-morning stupor. My head went empty, focusing on the feelings of what I was doing as I got my hair thoroughly wetted.

When I felt that my hair was sufficiently saturated with water, I lathered shampoo into it, quick and efficient. I scrubbed around my scalp, cleaning all over my head, and then I was back to rinsing it, this time for longer, to actually get out the shampoo.

This time I couldn't keep my thoughts from straying from my goal...

Eyes closed, water pouring over my head, I thought of the music playing in my ears, the darkness behind my eyelids, the warmth of the blanket over us, and the feeling of Hailey's lips on my nipples, drawing them into her mouth.... If the excitement of the situation hadn't been enough to get them hard and perky, that certainly had been.

My hands started to wander around my body, lightly rubbing around my nipples, feeling how they had hardened all over again.

"Get it together, girl!" I thought to myself grabbing my conditioner. I put that through my hair next, distributing it through the lengths and ends of my hair before brushing my hair off to the side.

I started soaping up my washcloth and I cleaned my body, trying to move efficiently. I moved from the top of my body down, and when I reached the area between my legs I found it was slick, but the water washed it away fairly quickly. I almost felt tempted to touch myself, but then I remembered the way Hailey's face had looked when she said she was nervous and I used that to motivate me to finish my shower quickly instead of getting horny and distracted.

I scrubbed my body gently with the cloth and rinsed off again before moving my focus back to my hair for the final rinse. Positioned back under the stream of water with nothing to do but wait for the conditioner to rinse out, my mind was once again allowed to wander to thoughts of the night before.

I remembered the sheer ecstasy she caused when she put her mouth to my body, making me orgasm...

I had explored my body on my own before, of course, but I had never had an orgasm like that before, so intense. I felt tempted to touch myself and try to replicate the feeling, to see if I could make my own body feel the way my twin sister had, but I knew I didn't have time for that.

I finished rinsing my hair, running my fingers through it until I was convinced it was thoroughly rinsed. When I was satisfied I turned off the water and lightly squeezed the extra moisture out of my hair.

I grabbed a towel to quickly dry off and I hung it up as I left the bathroom and went back into my own room.

I quickly grabbed and put on a pair of panties and then pulled on the dress. I didn't bother with a bra, since I wasn't planning on leaving home. It wasn't like my tits were as big as Hailey's anyways. In fact, I think I had the smallest out of all the women in our immediate family. I tried not to be too bothered by this, though. Like Hailey always told me, it just meant I had less to deal with, like having to wear a bra all the time for support.

A knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts. "Yeah?" I asked.

"It's me," said Hailey from the other side of the door. "Are you almost done?"

"Yeah, you can come in," I said, and she did. She opened the door and smiled when she saw me.

"You look lovely. I'm glad you're ready, or at least mostly ready. Do you need to do anything else before we go down?" she asked and I shook my head. "Good. I love you. Thank you for doing this with me," she added, seeming quite a bit happier than I expected.

"Aren't you nervous?" I asked, and she considered the question for a moment before answering.

"I... I'm absolutely terrified, Hazel. But... if we're doing it together, then we'll be okay. I trust you. I trust us," she added, her tone growing fiery. "I know they love us and... we'll make it work, one way or another. Even if we just... have to move out."

I was a little surprised that she had resolved herself that much already. "Really? Do you think we would be able to make it work on our own?"

"I mean, I don't prefer it, but yeah. Together we can do whatever we put our minds to. I... I hope it doesn't come to that. Let's just start with a conversation with them. Maybe... maybe they'll be understanding."

I nodded and bit my lip. I was fairly sure they would either be understanding or simply not care, but thinking of the worst-case scenarios still set me on edge.

No matter how I- how we felt, I knew that our activities together were far from traditional or "socially-acceptable."

I didn't tend to care about those things, but I wasn't really sure if our parents did. I hoped not, they didn't generally seem like judgemental types, and they weren't exactly traditional themselves.

"What are we going to say?" I asked, and she laughed.

"Hah! Here I was thinking I had taken a page out of your book this time by deciding to wing it for once."

I smiled wryly. "I think... this time we should do it your way and at least make a brief plan."

She nodded her agreement. "Alright. Do you have any ideas?"

I shot her a look. "Maybe we could just walk in and say 'Hey, just so you all know, we're having sex with each other now. Hope that's cool,'" I said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes.

"Ha ha, very funny," she said, and shook her head in mild exasperation. "I think we should start with some normal conversation and then when we're ready to talk about it, say something like 'We want to talk to you about something and we hope for your understanding. We love each other and we want to be together, no matter how anyone feels about it, but we also love you and we want to respect your feelings, so we'd like to discuss it together as a family.'"

"That sounds pretty good. Is that... is that what you want to go with?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Like I said, I'm winging it. That's the best I can come up with right now, unless you want to just wait until we've had time to plan more?" she asked, raising one eyebrow at me.

I shook my head. "Nope, I suppose we're winging it, then" I said with a chipper tone that didn't match the roiling anxiety inside of me.

I thought back to Hailey calling me fearless last night and stifled a laugh. I must be good at hiding it, even from her of all people. The thought made me a little sad and I considered that maybe I needed to be more open with her about my other fears, too. I really didn't want to hide things from her, the only person who I could be completely at ease with...

Hailey broke into my thoughts by grabbing my hand. She gently tugged me along as she started walking out of my room and she led me through the hallway, around the corner, and down the stairs. I followed along, my head stewing with anticipation and nervousness, so I allowed myself to be mindlessly guided through the house, all the way to the kitchen where our moms sat, both sipping coffee while they chatted.

One thing I had long-since gotten used to was my parents' non-standard living arrangement. Hailey and I had two moms and one dad, each of them wonderful and caring and generally very flexible and supportive in their own ways. They were all romantically and sexually involved with each other- and others, from what I understood. They were polyamorous but they hadn't talked about it at great length with us.

"Good morning, girls," said the mom that had birthed us, Mama Aira. She was standing at the stove, cooking what smelled like pancakes. "You have good timing, I was just about to come wake you up. I'm almost done with breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Hailey said.

I nodded, butterflies in my stomach making me feel too nervous to really say anything.

Aira seemed to be too busy cooking to notice my uncharacteristic silence, but Mama Eliza seemed to be paying closer attention, as usual.

"How about you, Hazel? How are you this morning?"

"Tired. Storms," I muttered, and she nodded sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, darling. They were bad last night, weren't they? Did you get any rest at all?"

Hailey fielded the question for me, seeming to pick up on my nerves. "She did. She came into my room and she put on some music and it helped her relax."

It was a half-truth, anyway.

"That was a good idea," Aira said approvingly from the stove, where she was in the process of transferring a pancake onto a plate. "I'm glad it helped. Maybe you can take a nap later if you're still tired. For now, you girls come grab some plates of food," she said, turning to face us with a smile.

We did as she asked and walked to the counter where she had prepared five plates of pancakes with what appeared to be chocolate chips cooked into them.

I poured some syrup onto the stack on my plate and brought it to the table, where I sat down in my usual spot next to Hailey.

"There's five plates," Hailey said, sounding both hopeful and timid. "Does that mean Daddy is here?"

"No, unfortunately not yet. He should be back any time, though."

"Okay," she said, her expression suspiciously neutral. I couldn't tell if she was glad he'd be here to talk to or nervous about it. She'd always been good at hiding her feelings when she wanted to, too.

"Do you have any plans today, girls?" Eliza asked.

I shook my head. "Not really," I said at the same exact time Hailey said "Not today."

Our moms laughed at our harmonized answers. Eliza stood and went to the kitchen counter, wrapping her arm around Aira's hip, pulling her in for a quick kiss and a lengthy embrace. She whispered something in Aira's ear, who giggled. This behavior between them was completely normal, but today it made me nervous that they might be talking about us if they had heard us last night. More likely, though, she was whispering some sweet nothing, or telling her some lewd plans she had later in the day for the two of them.

I tried not to worry to much about it, and I knew they would talk to us directly if it was actually anything serious.

After a few more kisses and lingering touches, our moms pulled themselves apart and each grabbed a plate of pancakes from the counter, doused them in syrup, and made their way back over to the table to sit across from Hazel and I. Aira didn't sit down immediately, though. She first went and covered the last plate of pancakes, trying to keep them warm.

"We'll probably just take it easy today, maybe take a nap if Hazel is still tired later," Hailey said casually. "We have a new comic we've been wanting to check out, maybe we'll do that today."

Ever and Aira exchanged a look that I couldn't decipher, but they clearly both understood it. Eliza subtly nodded and Aira spoke up. "I had an idea of something fun we could do as a family if you're not busy with anything else."

Hailey and I exchanged a look between ourselves, communicating just as much. What were they up to? Was this going to get in the way of our conversation with them?

"What idea?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.

"Your aunt Livia has a nice lakeside cabin we were thinking about visiting for a few days to a week. It's only about an hour away."

"Would all of us be coming? Daddy, too?" Hailey asked.

"Of course, Dear," Eliza said. "We would all go. It's a surprisingly spacious place, I think you'll like it if you decide to come along- this time or some other time."

Hailey looked at me, silently asking for my opinion. I shrugged slightly, just enough to signal to her that I wasn't sure.

"We actually wanted to talk to you about something," Hailey said, and I was impressed by how steady her words came out.

"Oh? Is something the matter?" Eliza asked, her eyes turning sharply to eye my sister and I, curious.

"No, it's not like that," Hailey replied. "We just have something to talk about is all."

Aira nodded, looking back and forth between us and Eliza. "That's okay, then. We can have a family talk, if you'd like. Is it something Daddy needs to hear?"

Hailey and I exchanged another glance to convey silently on the matter.

"That would be ideal," I said, biting my lip. "Will he be home soon?"

"I'm surprised he's not here already, actually," Eliza said, cutting into her pancakes with her fork, cutting away a triangle piece and stabbing it with her fork.

As if on cue, we suddenly heard the door to the garage open and close. A few moments later, Daddy came through the entryway to the room with a smile on his face.

"Hello, my darlings. It's good to see you all. Did I miss breakfast?"

Aira shook her head. "No! I just covered your plate a few minutes ago. I'm glad you're here," she added, blowing him a kiss, and he glowed back at her, his gaze filled with love. As usual, their relationship was saccharin-sweet.

"I'm glad to be here too, darling," he said, coming up to her and leaning in for a kiss. After he kissed her, he moved and gave Eliza a kiss next before coming up behind Hailey and I. He hugged us both lightly from behind our chairs, mostly just wrapping his arms around our shoulders. "How are my girls doing?"

"Good," Hailey and I said in unison.

"Good," he replied, placing a kiss on the top of her head and then on mine, next. After he had finished greeting us, he made his way over to the counter. "I would have been here sooner but I had to fuel up," he said before he uncovered the plate of pancakes and poured syrup over top of them before joining us at the table, seated at the head by Eliza and Hailey's side of the table.

He dug into his plate and Eliza took over the conversation, having nearly finished her food. "So, apparently the girls have something they'd like to talk about with us."

He lifted his gaze from his pancakes to look over at us and he finished chewing the food in his mouth before speaking to us. "What's up, my darlings? Is something wrong?"

I shook my head as Hailey replied. "No, Daddy. Nothing is wrong. Hazel and I just wanted to talk to you and Mama Eliza and Aira about something."

There it was again, that look. Aira and Eliza shared a look with Daddy, seeming to exchange some secret knowledge between them.

"Well, I don't know if your moms mentioned it but we had an idea for a vacation this week, if you girls don't have anything else planned."

I nodded. "They did. We were just talking about it when you were coming in, actually," I said, and he nodded.

"Well, do you like the idea?" he asked curiously.

"I do," Hailey said quietly, slightly surprising me. I was a little surprised she didn't want to talk with me about it first, but perhaps she had an idea in mind.

"Good! We'd love to have you along. What about you, Hazel?" he asked softly, his gentle voice making me feel both relaxed and excited at once.

"It sounds nice," I said, and he beamed.

"Good. That's my good girls, I'm so glad you want to come along. It's a nice place, we'll get lots of quality time to spend together. Now, for the thing you wanted to talk about. Is it something you'd prefer to discuss now or when we get there? Or perhaps on the way?" he added.

The idea of talking about it on the car trip and then being stuck together for an hour made my skin crawl. I'd rather do it now, while we still had a chance to back out of going on the trip.

Hailey and I exchanged glances. "Now," we said in unison, and he nodded.

"Alright, my dears. What is it?"

Hailey and I exchanged another glance and I steeled myself to take the lead, but to my surprise Hailey started speaking first.

"I love Hazel," she said, then she closed her mouth. I wasn't sure if she was done speaking or if that was just all she'd managed to get out before her fears overwhelmed her.

"That's not news, sweetie," Aira said. "You're twins, of course you love each other. You're very close."

Hailey shook her head, looking mildly frustrated. "That's not what I mean, mom. I mean... I love Hazel. I want to be with her every day for the rest of my life," she said, her words making my heart melt.

Aira cocked her head to the side, looking confused.

"Perhaps it might help to explain what type of love you mean, darling?" Eliza asked Hailey sweetly, but I could tell from Hailey's face that she was starting to panic.

I reached out to her and took her hand, leaving her looking mildly reassured.

Instead of making her continue explaining, I decided to take over for now. "Moms, Daddy... We... know this isn't very socially accepted, but we love each other. So much. We just want to be together. Don't you understand?" I asked, my voice coming out as a plea.

"Do you mean romantically? Sexually?" Eliza asked.

"Both," Hailey said quietly, her head down. Her hair had fallen in front of her face but I could still tell her cheeks were blazing bright pink.

Aira stood abruptly from her seat and walked around the table. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but was relieved when she pulled Hailey and I into a tight hug.

"Oh my sweet girls," she said, sounding a little sad. "You look so afraid... Why would that be a bad thing? It's unconventional but it's not hurting anyone. If you're happy, we're happy."

Ever and Daddy nodded their agreement.

Daddy reached out to take our hands, clasped together on the table. "My darling girls, I'm happy for you. I just want for you to find love and be happy. If you have that together, I'm glad for you."

Ever didn't really say much of anything, she just smiled and nodded along. Sometimes it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

"Is that all you had to say, darlings?" Daddy asked, his voice smooth and warm like a freshly made ganache.

"That's all, Daddy," Hailey said, looking happy. Far happier than I had expected. Had this really been weighing on her so much that it was such a big relief? In this short of a time? I felt guilty for pushing her past her comfort limits and made a mental note to ask her later.

"You're good girls," he said, sounding pleased. "We love you both very much, no matter what. Now, if you want to get to the lake house early enough to have lunch there, we should pack up and go."

"I'm still pretty sleepy," I murmured. "Can I take a nap first?"

"You can sleep on the way there, dear. I'll let you use me as a pillow, if you'd like," Eliza said kindly.

"I guess that's okay," I said, a little disappointed. I had been looking forward to some time cuddling Hailey to sleep- and maybe some more time to get up to some other newfound activities together. Oh well, I was sure we'd find some time at the lake house.

"Do you girls need any help packing?" Aira asked, always trying to be helpful.

We both shook our heads. "No, we got it. Thank you, Mom," Hailey said, smiling brightly "I'll still need a little while to shower and stuff, too," to which my parents nodded their understanding. She focused her efforts back on her breakfast and shoveled the rest of her pancake stack into her mouth. I was glad I had already finished rather than getting distracted by the conversation like she had or else I would have been struggling to keep up.

When she'd finished, she grabbed me by the hand. "Thank you for breakfast, Mom," she said to Aira. Then, looking at all of our parents she said "We appreciate your understanding. We love you."

They all smiled brightly and told us they loved us too as we made our way back out of the kitchen and towards our rooms.

I expected Hailey to release my hand when we made it back to the hallway that divided our bedrooms, but instead she continued pulling me behind her, leading me into her room.

"Hailey?" I asked tentatively, and she didn't reply, she just pushed the door closed behind us and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Thank you," she said, exhaling warm breaths on my neck. "Thank you for doing that with me. I was so scared," she said, and I noticed a slight trembling in her body that I hadn't been aware of before.

"Always, Hailey. I'm always by your side."

She placed a kiss at the base of my neck and I moaned softly.

"Hailey, you're going to make me excited," I whined, but she didn't seem deterred. If anything, it seemed to spur her into further action. She had her arms wrapped around me and her hands rested on my hips. She used this to leverage my body closer to hers, mashing our bodies together.

I moaned and started to protest again but she moved and pressed her lips against mine, effectively silencing my disquiet.

I thought about trying to pull away from her touch but that sounded so pointless and silly when all I really wanted was to make love to her.

I still pulled my face back, though, gasping for a breath. "Hailey," I moaned again. "Come on, they're waiting downstairs..."

She giggled. "They won't mind too much. We can help them make lunch to make it up to them. Come here," she beckoned, starting to back away from me but she kept her hand closed tightly around my wrist, pulling me towards the bed with her.

I hesitated, resisting her gentle force. "Hailey, won't we get time together when we're on vacation?" I was trying to be the voice of reason but I already felt my resolve washing away.

"Of course we will, but I want time together now. We don't have to take long. Please, just... come here with me," she urged, lightly tugging on my wrist again, and this time I followed after her.

She climbed all the way over to the far side of the bed and I laid down next to her, staring into her beautiful eyes, feeling myself sinking in them as if they actually were the deep, dark lakes they looked like.

She pulled my our bodies together once again, embracing me tightly.

"I love you so much, Hazel. I always have and I always will. I... I didn't know how badly I wanted this with you until I knew I could have it," she said, her eyes filled with desire.

I leaned in and kissed her, making her moan quietly. She moved her hands down from my hips to squeeze my ass and I let out a soft whimper at the unexpected contact.

She broke the kiss and grinned at me for a moment before her expression turned a bit more serious. "I love you. I love you, Hazel. Cuddle with me here for a few minutes, okay? Please. I need to be close to you right now," she said, sounding strained.

"Are you okay?" I asked and she nodded.

"I am with you here, yeah."

"Is something wrong?" I asked, and she shook her head before leaning it forward slightly, putting her forehead against my shoulder.

"Not at all. I'm happy. I'm so happy that I'm afraid I might dissolve if you're not here to hold me together."

"I'll always hold you," I said, and I heard her make a happy little chirp that made me feel like I'd won the lottery. Maybe I had...

We stayed like that, in each other's arms for only a short while, likely about 10 minutes before she sighed and pulled herself back.

"I'll go ahead and take a shower, now. Why don't you get started packing? If you're done before I am, you can start packing my stuff up, too. You know what I like," she said, and I nodded.

"Okay, sis. Go get naked and wet without me, then," I said playfully and she stuck her tongue out at me before retracting it and smiling.

"This time, yeah. Next time you're along for the ride."

We got packed up and made our way down to the kitchen, where our parents were waiting for us. If they were bothered by our delay, they didn't say anything about it.

"Are you all packed up?" Daddy asked, and I nodded. "Yeah, we got stuff packed for a week. Is that enough?"

"That's plenty, hun," Eliza said with a smile. "If we end up staying any longer than that we can always make a run back home to get more, it's not that far."

Aira nodded in agreement. "Plus, we can clean our clothes and stuff there, so it should be fine." She ruffled our hair, something we really only let her get away with. If anyone else did it they got a firm chiding followed by a gentle smack if they continued.

Daddy and Eliza grabbed our bags and loaded them up in the car.

Aira sat in the passenger seat next to Daddy while Hailey, Eliza, and I all clambered into the back seat.

I sat in the middle and leaned up against Eliza, using her shoulder to rest my head on. I had decided to take her up on her offer because she was a bit softer than Hailey and would likely make a better pillow.

Soon enough we were on our way to visit our Aunt Livia and I was fast asleep, hand-in-hand with my beloved sister.