Tegan stirred.
She was in a hotel room, but it wasn't hers – she could tell that even with her eyes closed. The sheets felt fresh and cold, and she could hear a bird chirruping outside the window. Daylight hit her eyelids, and as she moved a little, she could feel the presence of another person next to her. She smiled and squinted in unison as the throb of a hangover teased her. Last night had been good – more than good in fact. A breeze ran down her back, which alerted her to the fact that she wasn't under the covers.
Tegan hummed quietly with a smile, breathing in the other girl's smell. It was familiar, and in her drowsy state realised had to be Lindsey. Her lids pulled open and she saw the back of a brown head of hair. She shifted, pulling her naked body over with her elbows, kissing along Lindsey's right shoulder blade.
"Hey baby," she said with a crackle in her throat. Lindsey took a deep breath, coming round. Her shoulder moved in circles and Tegan smiled. She buried her face into the crook of Lindsey's neck and planted heavy kisses where her mouth was, being spurred on as she heard Lindsey erupt in a slow, tired giggle.
"Stop it, you," she said.
Tegan raised an eyebrow in confusion. That didn't sound too like Lindsey – or else Lindsey had just had so much to drink the previous night her voice had changed in pitch. She shook it off, putting on a smile and carrying on kissing, lighter and up Lindsey's neck until she was just behind her ear.
"Seriously," Lindsey said with a soft chuckle. Tegan smiled at her girlfriend, and her odd voice, and watched as she brought her right hand up to stroke Tegan's face.
Suddenly, blood rushed to Tegan's head, she could hear it crashing in her ears as something sick punched her in the stomach. She lay, frozen to the spot, watching Lindsey's hand move away from her face.
Lindsey's hand? With the tattoo of a circle on the inside of her wrist?
Tegan's breathing was stuttery. Her whole body was clamming up. The more she looked, the more her hangover had to be pushed to one side for her to see the tattoos, the hair, the smell. It was sickeningly obvious.
"…Sara?" She said, stuttering on the 'S'.
Sara grunted a little. "What's up, baby?" She said, taking a deep breath as she turned herself over. Tegan was completely still. The back of her throat was burning and she just knew she was paler than usual. Sara settled, now facing Tegan, and let out a sigh.
As she focused, sleep still controlling Sara, her eyes grew.
Shock. Horror. Disgust. Sara gasped the air she had just exhaled and became drilled to the spot.
"Tegan." She let out a whisper.
Their eyes locked, and suddenly everything seemed to happen fast. Tegan jumped off the bed, screeching in fear when she realised she was completely exposed. Her hand shot for a pillow, grasping one and trying her best to hide behind it. Sara stood up at the same time, dragging the duvet with her.
Like gunslingers, the twins watched each other. Where did they begin? How could they possibly say anything to each other?
Sara swallowed, her eyes loosening from Tegan's stare. This confused the older sibling. Sara was looking away, and for some reason Tegan didn't like it at all. Her fists tightened around the pillow, doing a double-take at her underwear, hung on the foot of the bed.
She cleared her throat. "Uuhm… turn around."
Sara squinted, looking back at her. "Why?"
"I uhm… I'd like to put my underwear on?" Tegan tilted her head to where they rested.
"Oh! Shit yeah, uhm, sorry yeah. Sure," Sara blabbered, closing her eyes and turning as best she could without exposing her derriere.
In a flash Tegan threw the pillow, launched at her boxers and pulled them on, seeing her bra hung over the bedside lamp. She snatched it and strapped it up, wondering if it was actually Sara's bra. It felt a little small, but she shuddered at the fact that either way, her sister still had no bra.
"Ok uhm… I'm covered up." Tegan murmured. Sara winched at Tegan, completely uncomfortable with how much flesh she could see. Slowly, Sara looked around for clothes of her own, though she was fairly certain Tegan was wearing her bra.
With a croaky voice, Sara told her sister not to look as she gathered any clothes she could see, throwing on tight jeans and a large grey hoodie. The hoodie was definitely Tegan's, but anything to cover herself up right now would do. Once Sara had finished clawing together an outfit, she looked round awkwardly, to see if Tegan was dressed as well. She had a t-shirt from last night hiding her torso, and jeans with uncountable creases running across the legs. They watched each other, Tegan sighing.
"So, did we…" She began, unable to let the words pass her lips.
The hairs on the back of Sara's neck stood on end. The thought of letting her body, hands, tongue interact with Tegan like that was practically sickening. "I don't really wanna think about it." Sara said bluntly.
Tegan squinted. "Well, we kinda have to. Either way we woke up naked together," The word naked made each twin shiver. "So if… sex, didn't happen- something did."
Sara frowned. "I refuse to believe I slept with my sister. No way. Nuh uh."
"I didn't say that," Tegan spat. "I just mean it can hardly have been a normal night considering we woke up nude not ten minutes ago."
Both sets of arms crossed.
"This isn't gonna go away." Sara breathed, looking at Tegan, and for the first time showing genuine fear. "We have a sound check later; if we don't act completely natural the boys will know something's wrong. They'll ask; we both know it."
Tegan physically shook. She needed to work something out. Fast. Sara was right, the boys would notice changes in their behaviour, their manner; and even if nothing was said to the girl's faces, words would be said behind closed doors. Rumours were the last thing they needed.
She tried to compose her shakes. "Something happened. We were both completely hammered last night… so at the end of the day we'll never know. Whether it was what we think or what we hope, either way we need to make sure no one finds out about this." Sara nodded along madly. Tegan had to take control, she'd been born first for a reason. "If something… loud, happened here last night, tell them you scored. And don't say anything else. I'll tell them you kept me up… it'll work."
Sara scrunched her eyelids together, petrified of leaving the room. She let her shoulders drop and displayed an unsure smile. "We do have drama skills, after all."
Tegan grinned. Everything had changed between them, but Sara was still her sister. They shared a small, reassuring hug, and Tegan backed off, reaching blindly behind her for the door handle.
"I'll get back then… godda shower, dress, you know." She laughed nervously. It felt as though she was flirting and she didn't like it one bit. Her clammy palm locked around the handle, throwing the door open. "See you in a little while." She said, before disappeared down the corridor. Sara smiled at her sister's words, walked slowly to the door, clicking back into the frame.
Only after Tegan had left, and the smile had melted from her face, did Sara let her façade drop. She didn't know what to do. She could not remember one thing from the previous night's encounter. She tried to take her mind off it, and made the bed to the best of her ability, then sat on the edge of the mattress, eyes flicking over the room in confusion.
How could she let something like that happen?
Honestly, she wasn't sure that something had happened. She'd slept in the same bed as Tegan hundreds of times before. So they were drunk, but that end of the day this was no different. She smiled; nothing had happened. The issue of them waking up in the nude was overlooked, and Sara did her best to convince herself that nothing had happened.
She looked to the ceiling and laughed a little, bringing her eyes back down to the room- and that's when she saw it.
In the corner, there was a TV. It rested on a chest of drawers that were worn away and scratched. Lying atop of the TV, was a small, silver video camera.
Sara's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. With a trembling hand she reached for the camera, closing her fingers round it and bringing the screen close to her face. She clicked back, and was greeting with a still image of the last video shot. She couldn't work out with it was- the picture was dark and blurry; so with much hesitation and a deep, shuddery breath, Sara hit play.
She was greeted by a shadowing room, although things, objects, PEOPLE could be made out. It was the room she was in right now. She heard laughing, she saw herself on the bed. The picture was shifting from side to side. Tegan was close to the camera, moving it and trying to get things into shot.
Sara had a terrible feeling she knew where this video was going.
"Tegan, come here…" Sara heard her slurry voice say.
Tegan backed off and joined Sara on the bed, and immediately, they began kissing. Tegan pulled off Sara's jacket, and Sara's hands were roaming madly up Tegan's shirt.
The thoughts were confirmed.
"Oh… my… god…" Sara whispered, her eyes glued to the sex-tape.