Love Triangle

Music and laughter filled The Banshee’s Mule — our local pub. Dad belched as he returned with another round of tall, frothy ales. Our cosy corner was slightly shielded from the noise. It was good to have spent some time with the old man. I didn’t live that far away, but I seldom visited home these days. No real reason. Just life.

“I’m glad to hear things are going well for you, son.”

I raised my pint to clink off his. Beer splattered the table. We downed half the mug. I joined him with his next burp.

“Thanks dad. I’m glad we did this tonight. Let’s not make it a one-time thing.”

“I’ll drink to that! Tell me, though; the promotion, the car, a new apartment, where’s the woman, Alex?”

I rolled my eyes and guffawed.

“Women, dad. Plural. I get my fair share. What about you? Any hot dates since…”

“Your mother? Nah, son. Bit long in the tooth for that. Although, you wouldn’t mind if I picked up one of those fine looking ladies at the bar, would you?”

I humoured his half serious beer talk and glanced over. The old biddies gawked at my howling laughter. The fucker kept a straight face the whole time. He had a knack for making me look a fool.

“Even mum was better than that lot! Jeez…Can’t believe I just said that.”

“You miss her is all. Me too.”

“Yeah, but still…”

“Alcohol, son. Makes us say all kinds of things. It’s a pity your sister isn’t here,” he said, downing his pint.

“My round,” I announced, rising from the table.

Shaking my head, I chuckled. I did miss mum. She was the one who always brought the family together. A rare thing nowadays. As I watched the ruby liquid fill the glasses, I thought about Michelle. She’d sent me her polite rejection during the week, saying she had plans, and that us boys should have some quality time. I wondered how much of that was true.

“Pretty sure she’s out with Brian,” I said as I passed him his beer.

“Lucky Brian.”

It was probably the warm fuzziness of the booze, but I knew he’d registered my instant nod of agreement.

“Careful, son. Too many more of these and you’ll end up looking like me!”

The old man had packed on more than a few pounds over the years. Big and rugged, he’d probably have been a lot fatter if it wasn’t for his construction job. I, on the other hand, countered my hectic lifestyle of stocks, booze, and easy women, with a rigorous gym schedule. The women certainly helped with the cardio.

“You wouldn’t catch Michelle drinking this stuff.”

“No,” dad said, staring into space. “You would not. She could do with a few. Not a pick that girl.”

“Yeah? I haven’t seen her in a while. You sure she hasn’t put on a few pounds? She does like to party.”

“Nope. Still does her dancing and gets plenty of exercise.”

“Exercise?” I said sarcastically. “I never thought she’d go with someone like Brian. Seems like too much of a…I dunno…nice guy.”

“Well I’d expect no less. She’s a Walsh. I raised my daughter well.”

At 23, and with the aid of the striking photo dad was in possession of, Michelle was clearly at the top of her game. I suppose she had been for quite some time. Long brunette hair, with a body that could corrupt the most noble of men. My nervous eyes flicked between my pint and his face.

“Dad…Can I tell you something?”

“One moment, son.”

He got up and went to the bar. I’m glad he did. What was I thinking? I decided I was going to back track and make something up. I don’t know what had gotten into me. Probably the drink. He sat down and pushed the tumbler of whiskey across to me. He peered down at his own potent brew.

“You were saying?”

“Ah, nothing. Just, I almost knocked up some girl from the gym. False alarm, thankfully.”

His expression conveyed my bullshit. He brought whiskey to his lips and paused.

“It’s that thing she does with her tongue, isn’t it?”

He knocked it back and slammed the glass on the table. My throat burned as I followed suit.

“Lucky fucking Brian,” we said in unison.

The hustle and bustle of the pub filled our guilty silence for a while. I downed the last drabs of whiskey and looked him straight in the eye.

“Just so I’m getting this straight? All that time she was with you as well?”

“Looks like it. But I was careful. More careful than you it seems.”

“I suppose spending hours in my room with my sister raised suspicion?”

“That, and the way her clothes hung. You can always tell when they’ve been thrown back on in a hurry,” he said, chuckling. “Do you know how many times I stopped your mother from almost walking in on you two?”

I wasn’t listening to him. I was still taken aback by the direction our conversation had taken.

“She was playing both of us. So messed up.”

“Don’t think of it like that, son. You know what your sister is like. When she wants something, she gets it.”

My phone vibrated and lit up. Dad’s jingled the incoming text a few seconds later. The heart emoji was a nice touch. We both looked up at each other having read the exact same text. Shame failed to mask the perverted smiles that marked our faces.

“I guess Brian had an early night.”

Michelle was on her way.

***

Disappointed eyes met as the door swung open once again. It wasn’t her. We nursed our second whiskey.

“So…Since we’re talking about it; How did it start with you?”

Dad leaned close, as if the whole bar was privy to our conversation.

“Son, this is just pub talk, ok? It doesn’t leave this place.”

“Of course. I understand.”

He rested his elbows on the table.

“I can’t remember when exactly. But we were at home, watching a movie or something; both of us curled up on the sofa. Nothing too unusual, y’know. I guess your mother was away.”

“Go on. Were you having a few drinks?”

“Not that I remember. As I said, your sister was kind of cuddled up against me. Her head on my lap.”

He looked around as he took a drink. Decent at keeping secrets, dad still would have made a terrible spy.

“Anyway, I ended up dozing off. And uhm, when I came to, she was…well…going down on me – the back of her head just bobbing up and down.”

“Holy shit! And you didn’t try stopping her?”

“Keep it down! Do I have to bloody spell it out for you? I literally CAME to! It was over before I knew what the hell had happened!”

Sure it was.

“Alright, alright! Cool your jets, old man!”

“Well, your turn, Romeo. Sitting over there all sanctimonious. How did it start with you?”

“Wait, hold up a sec, you’re not getting off that easy. What happened then? After? What does a man say to his daughter when she pulls her mouth off his dick? ‘Thanks very much, love?'”

“You can be a little shit sometimes, Alex, you know that?”

I stared down into my glass.

“Sorry, dad. Bad form.”

He scratched his chin and begrudgingly accepted my apology.

“All I remember was having to clean up a big mess. I wasn’t too worried though. If your mother said anything, I’d just blame the stains on her hormone riddled son.”

“Touché.”

“Right. Your turn. Start talking.”

I sipped some courage.

“Funnily enough, we were watching tv too. It was around the time she got her tongue pierced.”

“Ah, after me then,” he said smugly.

Abruptly straightening in his seat, his flabby face lit up.

“As I was saying, we were hanging out in my bedro-”

Soft hands landed down on my shoulders.

“Hey, you two! Is no one around here gonna get a girl a drink?”

Promptly jumping up to fulfil his daughter’s request, Michelle stole the warm seat across from me. Brunette hair tinged with ginger flowed down her back. The pink stretchy headband matched her short clubbing dress. It was a loose fitting frock, without being baggy. Nothing covered her shoulders, though I detected the filled cups of a strapless bra. I hadn’t seen her in quite some time. Not in person anyway. My beer goggles were completely wasted on the woman.

“Long time, bro. So, what were you two chatting about?”

“Just the usual. Man stuff really. Football, cars, girls. So, you found some time in your busy schedule? I thought you were out with Brian?”

She slurped down some of my ale. An indication of her tipsy state, bar she acquired new drinking habits. She sat up and pressed her knees together as if imitating royalty. Her posh accent was terrible for a supposed admirer of her late Queen.

“My Brian is very sensible. He has to be up early to work on his very important projects. But don’t worry about it, brother dearest. I tucked him in.”

“And then went looking for some real fun?”

With a wink, she shrugged her not so innocent shoulders. Diana had always been her favourite.

“And anything about me?” she said. “What else were you two gossiping about?”

“Yeah, we were talking about you. You and your tongue.”

She pushed it through thick, beer soaked lips. The metal bulb in the middle brought back a flood of pleasant memories. Even without tonight’s revelations, I really should have copped onto what was going on about back then. But that was a time when I was young. A spotty teenager with more spunk than sense. I thought I’d changed. Matured. Michelle’s foot sliding up my leg in perfect sync to my rising cock – I guess not.

***

Alex’s bedroom – A few years previous.

Michelle scrolled through her phone as another episode’s credits rolled. Though not squeamish at all, it was something she tended to do during lengthy fight scenes. Not so much during the sex scenes. I, on the other hand, had become more distracted by the freckle. The one on the smooth looking tissue of her left breast. A centre point of my focus, I couldn’t take my eyes off it; off them. How their weight strained against the meagre cloth. The half rolled over way in which she was lying completely negated the cover of her tank top. She was my sister, yes, but I was a young man. And boobs were boobs.

I snapped my head away as she sat up in the bed beside me. Faking a yawn, I prayed she wouldn’t ask me about the final scene I’d just ignored. Perhaps I’d be ok about the one before that. The one where Lannister siblings fucked each other senselessly. I could always blame my chubby on that. I waited for her to make her excuses and depart the soon to be awkward atmosphere. Instead, she scrolled through her DMs. Instead, she stayed.