They came down the steps with their best innocent faces.

“Which one of you exchanged my hard boiled eggs for non-boiled ones in my lunch today?” He asked as if he weren’t even slightly upset, but his face was red, “It was quite a surprise when I went to crack the one in front of my supervisor at lunch and it was RAW!” He began to shout, “IT MADE A MESS ON EVERYTHING!”

“Blimey, Dad! No idea!” Alexander looked at Oliver, “I never did that! I’d never do that! Did you do it?”

Oliver’s eyes were wide, “No! Why would I do such a thing? Dad, you simply must have grabbed the wrong eggs in your rush this morning!”

“What a terrible mistake!” Alexander interjected. “Grabbing the wrong eggs! Bugger! What a bother that must have been!”

“You really do need to be more careful, Dad,” Oliver finished.

“You two are the wrong eggs,” Edmond muttered, “I should have been more careful when we were conceiving you is what I should have been! When do you go back to school?”

“Not soon enough for you!” They replied in unison.

“Go away,” He mumbled.

He was, however, always nice to me. He came into the kitchen where I was sitting with his wife, kissed her, and smiled broadly at me, “Good evening, Silvia!” He placed a hand on my shoulder, “How are you, Sweetheart? I trust my sons are treating you, at least, with kindness and respect?”

“They are, Sir.” I smiled at him. He really was very handsome and I genuinely liked him. He always made me feel welcome in his presence, even when he was ready to murder his two sons.

“I’ve told you to not call me Sir!” He laughed, and patted my back, “Please! The only people required to call me Sir are that set of toxic demons when they’re in trouble! Call me Ed!”

It seemed an odd thing calling him Ed. I liked it much better later when it was comfortable to call him Dad.

“Alexander! Oliver!” He shouted again, but this time with much less force, “Get down here NOW for supper and bring the playing cards!”

And that was how I learned to play my card games, sitting around the kitchen table with the Dickinson's almost every night over Easter break. It was warm and brilliant at their house. What a magnificently normal family they were! I'd never seen a normal family up close and in action. I loved every single second of it.

When their parents would go to bed, Alexander would immediately make a phone call to see if there was anything worth sneaking off to with his friends. There was usually a do somewhere.

“Dad’s snoring.” He’d come down the steps with his jacket slung over his shoulder, “I’m off. You two sure you don’t want to go with me?”

“No,” Oliver put his arm around me, “We’re good, Brawd.”

“All right then. See you later!”

This left Oliver and I alone in the front room to do as we pleased, which added up to shamelessly groping each other on the sofa. We never had that much privacy at Bennington, not enough to do much more than getting off occasionally in the common room or on the quad and it was only on the second night before we were taking it too far.

“What about your parents?” I glanced at the doorway when things started to get too hot.

“Oh, they never get up this late,” He mumbled.

I loved what we were doing, but there was an anxiety building. I was getting this feeling, this deep feeling of wanting. I was feeling like if I didn’t have more of him I would starve or suffocate and even die. Our clothes were peeling away, being pushed up and tugged down. There we were, tangled together, skin on skin, shoving sofa cushions in all directions beneath us as we moved against each other. With every breath I was being drawn deeper into him and becoming more and more frightened. I kept looking toward the doorway. His hands were moving over my skin, running the length of the flesh under my skirt, up my belly and across my breasts. My shirt was open, his was off. I felt so weak I thought I’d lose control. But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to be closer to him still. I wanted to be part of him and have him be part of me. I wanted him to know how much I loved him.

He was crushing me, pressing me down. I was so afraid.

“Oliver,” I whispered, “Please wait…please…”

He yanked his hands off and sat up suddenly, falling away from me, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“No, don’t be,” I pulled myself out from between the couch cushions. I could feel how red my face and neck were. I was hot all over my body, ready to break into a sweat. Oliver slowly slid off the sofa and sat on the floor. He pulled his hand through his hair and looked away, “You didn’t do anything wrong or anything,” I assured him, smoothing down my skirt. I readjusted my bra and closed my blouse, “I liked it really. It’s just that I’ve never …”

“Gotten off on a sofa in the middle of the night at your boyfriend’s parent’s house?” He tuned to me quickly with a look in his eye I couldn't quite label. I wasn't sure if he were upset or about to laugh.

“Well…no, I haven’t.” I looked down as I buttoned my shirt.

“If you want the truth, I’ve never either. Of course, I’ve never had a boyfriend to try it with.” He had such a way of putting me at ease with humour. He grinned at me and I melted, “No, really, though. I never have. Not even with a girl.”

“Really?”

“Truly. Not like we just were anyway.” He turned his t-shirt right side out and slipped it over his head. He didn’t notice that he’d put it on backwards.

“But I thought…you know you’re so popular with the girls. I just figured you’d have...”

“Don’t confuse me with Alexander when it comes to that, Sil.” Oliver lifted his drink from the coffee table and took a large gulp, “That’s his department, not mine.”

“So you’ve never?” I pulled myself up and righted the cushions.

“Oh, I had a chance or two. That Vivian we joke about, she was a bit—er—adventurous.”

“She wanted to commit twincest?”

He grinned again, but this time he blushed, “Yes, she did. But I didn’t. I found it repulsive, passing a girl back and forth between us like a hot towel. Alexander agreed, which kind of surprised me. He’s odd like that, though. You’d think he’s a dog, but he’s actually got some decency in there someplace. He’s really not so much of a pervert as everybody thinks. Anyway, it’s why we make fun of her. She was bizarre really.”

“You’re the first boy I’ve even kissed.” I told him as I buttoned my shirt.

“No way!” He really did not seem to believe me. “You’re way too pretty to have never been kissed before me.”

“It’s the truth! I went to an all-girl’s boarding school. It wasn’t like I was snogging the caretaker. He was the only male there.”

Oliver was quiet for a moment, “I’ll tell you the truth, even if you think I’m lame. I’ve only ever kissed a girl and that’s it. One girl before you and it wasn’t anything like I kiss you. I didn’t like kissing her. We kept knocking teeth. It was like we couldn’t get it right.”

I giggled, feeling a bit more relaxed, “How awful!”

“It was! After a couple of goes it made me think of two horses snogging. That visual killed any romantic feeling, lemme tell you!” He paused and gave me a thoughtful look, “Xan, he’s done it. Loads, actually. Most of the rumours about him are true. I’ve had offers, but I couldn’t go through with it.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve had offers,” Oliver got on his knees and leaned toward me, “I could’ve anytime I wanted, but something’s always stopped me. I think it’s…well, I know what it is. I don’t like the idea of getting that close to someone who’s not special to me,” He shuddered, “Or especially with someone who gets on with loads of blokes. It makes my skin crawl, honestly.”

“Me, too.” I said quietly and then added, “I’m sorry.”

“What for? For telling me I was going out of bounds? Don’t be.” He took my hand and kissed my knuckles.