Derek and Danielle

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

As well, this work of fiction depicts sexual activities between teenagers, siblings and otherwise. As such it may be illegal to view this story where you live, and you should cease reading at this point if that is the case.

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Randy Bowman, except for a few glares, mostly steered clear of Derek as school wound down through December. The new thing in Derek's world was Danielle's slowly-building relationship with Tiffany, the girl who Danielle had once talked down from worrying she was going to get pregnant.

Danielle started things off by confessing at the dinner table one night.

"Hey, Mom, Dad?"

The twins' parents looked up, eyebrows raised, at her. Derek idly speared his salad with his fork, then lifted it to his mouth and began chewing as he waited for his sister to talk.

Danielle, fiddling with her knife, finally blurted, "I think I might be bi, you know, like Derek."

Samuel, having just put a piece of chicken on his plate, seemed a little surprised, but rallied and said, "Well, that's no problem with us, of course. But can I ask what made you realize that about yourself?"

Danielle chuckled nervously and seemed, to Derek, to be avoiding looking at him. He extended his foot to brush against hers, but she didn't respond. He slowly moved his foot away as she spoke. "It's this girl, Tiffany. She's... I dunno. It's just when I see her I feel like I wouldn't mind it if she kissed me, you know?"

Rachel smiled in sympathy. "Crushes are hard, honey. I just hope this girl won't give you a hard time if she realizes you like her."

"It's not a crush," mumbled Danielle. "I think she kinda likes me too."

Their father said earnestly, "Whoever you like, we'll support you, okay, Danielle?"

Danielle nodded and started concentrating intently on her supper, and after a moment, so did Derek.

Neither sibling made any move under the table, and after supper was over, they cleared the table in silence and barely spoke as they did the dishes. Derek, already uneasy, had just closed the dishwasher and started the cleaning cycle when he turned his head back to his sister. She was leaning against the counter pensively.

"What is it?" he asked, quickly glancing around to see if his parents were nearby.

"I just wonder if I'm doing the right thing," she muttered.

Derek gestured between them. "You mean...?"

"Yeah." She grimaced. "Maybe you can deal with being one thing to Rick and another in private with me, but damn it, Derek—"

Derek reached for Danielle, enveloping her in a quick hug. He said into her ear, "You want my stamp of approval? C'mon, you know it's okay, right?" Even so, he wasn't sure it was totally okay. But she seemed to need reassuring more than his misgivings.

Danielle, her arms around Derek, just about squeezed him in response as she embraced him, then let go. "It's just – people are gonna think it's weird if I'm not dating anyone. I know that sounds so stupid and shallow and just... it's not fair to you."

Derek chuckled nervously. "Um, if anyone's the hypocrite it's me, you know that, right?"

Danielle sighed. "Yeah, maybe. Look, I'm gonna go upstairs and just chill for a bit. I'll see you later."

She left the kitchen, and Derek puttered around for a few more moments, checking that the leftovers were all put away and that the kitchen was clean. He decided he might as well start on his homework, and went to his room to do that.

He ddn't see Danielle for the remainder of the night until he was just finishing up brushing his teeth before bed.

She smiled slightly. "Thanks for giving me space. Look, I'm gonna give this thing with Tiffany a try. I already texted her to ask if she wants to come visit and hang out tomorrow. You gonna be okay with that?"

Derek tried to ignore the slight gnawing at his stomach and shrugged casually. "Sure, why not? I'll just take off somewhere if you want."

"'Preciate it." She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, then gently swatted his ass. "C'mon, move it on out so I can do my teeth, huh?"

Derek put his toothbrush away and gave Danielle a return swat. "Can't let you get away with that, sis. G'night."

She laughed. "You just like groping my ass. Get outta here, huh?"

Derek stuck his tongue out and left the bathroom, grinning. Later, however, tucked under the covers, his good mood slowly evaporated as he wondered what this new wrinkle would mean. Would Danielle quit joining him in bed? Would she push him away if he wanted to join her? Would she start trying to compartmentalize in a way Derek couldn't ever quite seem to, and totally shut him out as she went out with Tiffany?

Derek slept uneasily that night.

For all that Derek felt like the day just dragged along (at lunch, he studiously avoided looking at Danielle, who had decided to sit next to Tiffany at the volleyball team table. Rick didn't catch on only because he was too busy trying to distract Derek with a combination of googly eyes and dirty jokes.), when he got home his curiosity perked him right up as he heard the voices of two girls from the living room. He set his backpack down in the front hallway and, curious, began walking. He could make out his sister's voice, so the other voice must be—

"Hey, Tiffany, you know Derek, right?" Danielle, seated on one of the couches, with Tiffany seated next to her, looked over at her brother.

Tiffany grinned. "Sure do! How're you and Rick doing?"

"Can't complain. Bowman's off our asses, thank God."

Tiffany nodded. "Good. I gotta say, your sister sure had us all fired-up over it; I barely needed any reason to give Randy the cold shoulder, though." She blushed and quickly cast a glance over at Danielle.

Deciding that was his cue to leave the two of them alone, he said, "Listen, um, I'm just gonna run up and play a game or something, okay? Catch you guys later."

The girls waved briefly at Derek as he dashed back to grab up his bag and run upstairs. He thought, then decided to fire up his laptop and see which game he felt like playing. He managed to mostly distract himself from wondering what Danielle and Tiffany were doing, and if they were doing anything with each other.

After all, he told himself, it wasn't like she was dating a seriously older woman or anything weird like that.

Unfortunately for Derek, that gnawing feeling he'd had in his stomach came back when he took his headphones off to get up from his chair so he could stretch his legs, and his ears caught the faint sound of giggling down the hall. He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, but the universe was most unobliging in its refusal to answer him, and after a moment, he decided that if he was going to sulk, at least he could do it over something else he didn't really want to deal with: homework. He put his headphones back on and dug out the assignments he had to do.

Later on, after plowing through quite a bit of homework, Derek went downstairs, and about halfway down the stairs he heard Danielle's door click shut. He automatically turned and looked up the staircase to see his sister and Tiffany, their hair slightly mussed, walking along the balcony-like section of the upper hallway leading to the stairs. Danielle saw him and blushed. "Hey, Derek. Um—"

"Say no more. I get the idea." Derek stuck his tongue out, then managed to convincingly grin in the appearance of good humor.

The girls trailed behind him as he continued to the ground floor, and then at the base of the stairs Tiffany grabbed Danielle's shoulders and kissed her just long enough to be able to cop a feel of Danielle's breasts. Danielle gasped, drew back, and said, "Tiff-any!" in a mock-injured tone.

Tiffany giggled. Derek just said, "I see nothing. Nothing!" and sidled off down the hall to get a snack from the fridge. He stared into the fridge looking for something to munch on, but he couldn't stop replaying what he'd seen in his head: his sister. In someone else's arms.

It wasn't like that torrid weekend when he'd fucked and been fucked nearly to exhaustion: this was... emotional. Not physical. It wasn't like Evan's girlfriend indulging her curiosity. Tiffany obviously was getting to like Danielle, and Derek suspected that Tiffany might have had feelings for her well before she'd played around with some guys.

Derek closed the fridge and smacked his forehead against the door. He laughed hollowly. "I'm jealous. I can't believe it, I'm actually jealous!"

The front door slamming shut shook him, and he briskly got to work, setting the dining table for later. Danielle came into the kitchen, and said with an air of forced casualness, "What's for supper? Did we decide?"

"Don't think so." Derek briefly looked up at her after making sure the knives, forks and spoons were lined up. "Got anything in mind?"

Danielle walked over to Derek and put her hand on his shoulder. "Look at me, huh?"

"What is it?"

"The green-eyed monster's got you too, hasn't it?" Danielle's lips pressed together as she looked steadily at him.

"Oh, come on," Derek said, trying not to let his own self-revelation reveal itself. "That's not what it is."

Danielle dropped her hand and folded her arms across her chest. In a hard voice, she said, "Derek Aaron Collins, if you think that's going to fool me for two seconds, take your brain back to God for a refund. I know you're not that stupid, little brother." Her nostrils flared. "You have no idea how many times I've wanted to strangle Rick, so please don't lie to me and try to tell me you're not jealous."

Derek looked away. "Is it really that obvious?"

Danielle snickered. "Tiff probably couldn't tell, but come on. That grin you gave me on the stairs? You might as well have just pasted it on."

"Okay, fine! I am!" admitted Derek. "What do you want me to do about it?" As soon as Derek said that, he realized he sounded like a whiny kid.

Danielle sighed and pulled Derek by the arm into the kitchen. "I don't know. Look, Derek, I just – let's take it a day at a time. Okay? If all this pretending gets to be too much, we'll talk. I can promise you that much."

Derek grunted and looked at the floor. Danielle rubbed his back as she gently propelled him to the fridge. "C'mon. Let's at least get supper ready together. Can we still do that?"

"Yeah." Derek reached for his sister's hand. "Yeah, we can."

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