Caelum
Utter exhaustion gripped me as I pulled into the driveway, happy to finally be home. When Ciana had broached the subject of the dance to us, I had immediately agreed. Ci was my baby sister and I would move the world to make her happy. Now, sitting here in my car, at eleven thirty on a Saturday night, I just wanted to smack myself. I had no clue what I was getting into. On Monday, she had gathered us all together at the First Baptist Youth Center and laid out her ideas. I'll admit, they were good ideas, but there was a lot of work that had to go into putting this dance together. A lot of hard, backbreaking, physical work that, of course, seemed to fall on my shoulders. I had just spent the last five hours working on the backdrop for the stage. It was a scene straight out of a horror flick, complete with skeleton trees and an old, decrepit house in the distance. Rick drew and painted it, but somehow the actual act of putting it up was my duty. It didn't seem like such a big deal until I saw the size of it. The backdrop stood over seven feet tall and stretched at least ten across, and I was putting it up alone. It was a good thing I loved my sister, or I might have been tempted to kill her.
As I parked my car beside my mother's, I groaned with frustration. Ci and Zane were on the front porch, cuddled together on the swing. Their heads were bent together over something on their laps and I could see the strange mingling of mahogany and black clearly. A wave of jealousy swamped me as I stared at them. The guy of my nastiest fantasies was cuddled with my twin sister instead of with me. The jealousy was quickly crushed under a block of pain. Shit, every guy I ever fell for was either taken or straight. Or in some cases, both. Stuffing it all down, I forced a smile on my face and headed toward the house. Both Zane and Ciana looked up at me as I walked up the stairs, and I was greeted with dual smiles, both beautiful and brilliant in their own ways.
"How's the hall looking?" Ci asked me curiously. I just grunted, not willing to voice my opinions on the hall just in case I might voice my feelings on the dance as well. Zane didn't say anything but smile again, a sexy grin that lit up those bright green eyes before he looked down at his lap again. He nudged Ciana and she glanced down as well. She stared for a moment and then started laughing. Curiosity getting the better of me, I moved closer so I could see what they were looking at. The laptop was on their laps, and a photo editor was open. There was a picture of Rich dressed up as an Amazon warrior. I couldn't help but snicker too, until I wondered what costume they had planned for me.
"Don't worry, bro, we haven't gotten to yours yet," Ci laughed, "I'll make sure it's something with the minimal amount of coverage." At that, I fled into the house, my face and neck hot with embarrassment. I loved my sister, but sometimes she was a pain in the ass.
Inside, the house was quiet and dark; a sure sign that Mom was already in bed, if not asleep. I moved as silently as possible through the house and to the room I shared with Ciana. I loved our room; our grandfather had done it for us for our 13th birthday. Earlier that year, we had tried to sleep in separate rooms, but neither of us could sleep a wink. We were used to someone being in the room with us. So after a week of insomnia, Mom asked if we wanted the basement, and of course we jumped at the chance. She led us downstairs and showed us the room the way it is now, sans personal touches. We've been there since. All our friends joked about us living together until we're ninety, but we didn't really care, everything was good as long as we were together. I showered quickly and sat in front of the TV, hoping to drown my pain with whatever movie happened to be playing. Flicking through the channels, I landed on A Man Apart and sat back to watch the gorgeous Vin Diesel. I watched that beautiful man until I fell into sleep and dreams of sparkling green eyes.
Zane
Everyday for the past week I had been at Ciana's house, picking costumes and helping design the layout for the hall. Everything was coming together wonderfully. Rick had designed an awesome backdrop that lent a spooky quality to the event. Jeff was working on the food and drink portion of the dance. I had learned that his parents owned a restaurant on the outskirts of town and were willing to provide the catering. Rich worked part-time as a DJ and was willing to provide the music for the night. That left Anthony and Caelum to do the actual grunt work. I kinda felt bad about leaving all the real work to them, but Ciana assured me that they had everything under control.
So, a week later I was sitting on the swing on her front porch cracking up over her ideas for costumes. I have no clue how long we sat there, laughing and picking the absolute worst costumes possible, but I was well aware of Caelum as he pulled into the yard. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, fascinated by the play of muscles under his shirt. He smiled and headed toward us. I smiled back, happy to see him, but not willing to let him know as much. Suddenly aware that I was starting to stare, I glanced back down at the screen to see the outcome of our latest idea. It was Rich dressed up as an Amazon warrior. I nudged Ciana, and both of us started laughing when she saw the picture.
"Don't worry, bro, we haven't gotten to yours yet," Ci said when she heard Caelum start to laugh, "I'll make sure it's something with the minimal amount of coverage."
As Caelum hurried into the house, an image of him almost bare popped into my head, and I felt a blush race up my neck and into my face. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, praying that the heat would recede before Ciana noticed it. With my eyes closed, I didn't see the look she gave me as she closed the laptop. I felt her move and opened my eyes to see her slide down until her head was on my lap.
"This dance is gonna be the best," she said, staring up at me. "But you know what would make it better?"
I sighed; she was in one of her guessing game moods. Every once in a while she would decide that you had to earn the information she had and she would make you guess.
"DMX showing up?" I joked.
"No," she said, her voice completely serious. "You being straight."
I froze in shock and fear. I could feel every movement of Ciana's head on my legs, but I seemed to be detached from them. It was as if I was watching everything from a distance.
I heard her sigh before she turned her eyes back to me. "I really don't care, you know?" she stated. "Who you fuck doesn't matter to me. I didn't become friends with you cuz I was looking for a boyfriend. You seemed like a really nice guy."
"I-" I started.
"No, listen to me first, okay?" she started, "no, better yet, why don't you spend the night, and we'll talk about it in the morning?"
"Are you sure?" I asked, "And where would I sleep?"
"Well, you can sleep on the couch or in my bed with me. Whatever, doesn't matter to me. And yes, I'm sure. This way we both have a chance to think on what we want to say."
"Alright, I'll stay if you answer one question for me," I told her.
"Shoot."
"How did you know?" I asked.
"Boy, a girl just knows," she said laughing. "No, truthfully, I wondered, but it was Anthony who clued me in."
"Anthony?" I whispered. I was afraid to face him now. He knew one of my deepest secrets, but his knowing shed light on some of the looks he had given me recently.
"He doesn't care either, hon," Ciana said sitting up. "He thought I should know just in case I had more than `friendly' intentions toward you."
My mind was reeling with this new information, and I followed Ciana inside in a daze. She locked up behind us and turned the rest of the lights out before we headed down to her room. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we found Caelum curled up on one of the couches, asleep, the end of A Man Apart playing on the screen. He looked so sweet, lying there with his beautiful hair unbound and covering his upper body like a blanket. Ciana shook his shoulder softly.
"Cae, wake up," she whispered. Caelum moaned softly in his sleep, and I felt a rush of blood to one spot. She shook him hard. "Wake up."
Caelum
I opened my eyes slowly to see Ci leaning over me, her curly hair making a veil between us and the rest of the room.
"Zane's spending the night. Do you have something he can wear to bed?" My heart stopped for a moment as I registered what she had just said to me. It was one thing to wake up to him in the room last week, but to fall asleep with him here would be pure torture. And the thought of my clothing touching his body had me hard in seconds.
"Check my dresser," I told her, turning so my erection was pressed into the couch. "Where's he sleeping?"
"Couch or my bed, up to him," she stated as she left the room. I watched Zane as he assessed the room, taking in both couches and the floor pillow.
"How dark does it get in here?" he asked. I knew he was looking at the lack of windows in the room.
"Very," I told him, "unless you leave the TV on." He smiled his thanks and headed into the bedroom.
"I think I'll sleep with you, if that's okay," I heard him tell Ci. I didn't hear her reply, but by the sound of his chuckle, it was raunchy. A double surge of pain and jealously shot through me. He was spending the night in my room, but in Ci's bed. How cruel could fate be?
"This okay?" Ci asked, coming out of the room holding one of my favourite t-shirts and a pair of shorts. I nodded and she threw them to Zane. "You know where the bathroom is. Go get changed."
Laughing quietly, Zane headed to change, and Ci sat down on the couch with me, fitting her small body easily into the curve of mine. "You okay with this?" she asked staring directly at me. I've never been able to lie to her.
"No, but I'll survive," she laughed and smacked me. "I'll be fine. I promise," I added at her doubtful look.
All talking stopped as Zane came out of the bathroom. I loved the way my clothes looked on him. The shirt Ci had given him was a little too big for me and it seemed to totally engulf him, completely hiding the shorts he had on underneath. The sight of him standing there wearing my stuff sent a thrill of arousal through me, and I pressed myself a little harder into the cushions. He sat on the couch across from me as Ci went to change into her own nightclothes.
"Bedtime!" she told us when she came out.
They headed into the bedroom first, and I turned everything off and followed them. I walked toward my own bed as they climbed into Ci's and got comfortable. My sister took her normal spot, as close to the wall as she could get, and Zane lay on the outside of her. His back was to me, and I could hear them whispering softly before Ci called out good night and turned off the lights. I lay there for an undetermined amount of time, aware that Zane was across the room from me, wearing my clothes and sleeping with my sister. Finally, sleep overtook me, and I sank into dreams of Zane and Ciana together and me standing outside, unable to touch either of them.