"Well," said Eve. "That happened."
She shifted her head on Jove's shoulder, kissing the bare skin there. She was smiling and the vibe between had shifted in a subtle way that was hard to put into words.
"Yeah, it did," he said. "What time is it?"
"A little after six in the morning. I think the snowstorm has died down, so we can get moving in a few minutes."
"Nice," he said. "Should be smooth sailing from here as long as we're careful."
"It goes without saying that if you tell anyone about this, I'll murder you," said Eve, jabbing a finger into his chest. "For real."
"My lips are sealed."
He smirked and looked at her mouth. They hadn't actually kissed while they'd been fooling around, but it didn't feel right to simply lean in and kiss her now.
"Good," said Eve. "But we did have a deal about you spilling the beans about you and Aster."
"Oh, come on…" he muttered.
"You come on!" she snapped. "I want to know. Hell, I deserve to know now. I need to know, Jove."
He sighed and shifted onto his side to speak with her more directly. "I'm not sure I know myself. The other night, after we first got the news from Ryan's video, Aster and I stayed up late. We were drinking tequila…"
"I can't think of a single time someone has admitted to drinking tequila late at night that didn't end with a bad decision."
"Spot on. We played truth or dare, and-"
"What are you, twelve?"
He flicked her earlobe. "Quit interrupting. One of her dares was for me to run naked to the sauna. She followed me afterward and, well. Stuff happened."
"Did you guys just fool around or actually, you know. Have sex."
It would be so easy to lie to her, Jove thought. He doubted she'd confront Aster for the truth, and even if she did, Aster was still claiming memory loss.
"Yeah, we did," he said. "Didn't say anything to each other afterward. The next morning she said she blacked out even though she wasn't sloppy drunk."
"Interesting, but it makes sense," said Eve. "I don't think you would take advantage of a blackout drunk woman, Jovian. I hold you in higher regard than that."
"I wouldn't, and thank you."
"It simplifies things, in a way," said Eve. "She got to make an impulsive decision and then take it back."
"I think that's what annoys me the most. It's as though she's bending reality and what actually happened around what's most convenient for her."
"Fuck her," said Eve. "Well, you already did, but you know what I mean."
He looked at Eve closely, forcing out the relevant question. "Are you also going to try to claw your impulsive decision back?"
Eve started laughing and flicked him on the nose. "Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately for you, your big sister is a lot more fucked up than you realize."
"Noted. Point being?"
"I had fun with you, Jove." She slid in closer, surprising him with a kiss on the neck and dirty talk in his ear. "You have a big, fun cock. I'm a practical girl. Might be a while before I find someone else I can stand who is packing that kind of heat."
"You've barely even met my cock," he said.
"True, but that won't be changing anytime soon." She pulled back and shook her head. "We can fool around, but you're never going to fuck me."
Her words annoyed him, and despite himself, he responded like a little brother. "Who says I even want to fuck you?"
"I do, and so does your dick." She reached down to brush his rapidly rehardening bulge with her fingers. "But we can still do other stuff. I'm just not enough of a slut to let my own little brother go all the way."
He didn't say anything. The moment felt charged and he almost wanted to try to roll on top of her and test the line right there and then. But then again, his relationship with Eve had always been volatile. He suspected that the old saying between there being a thin line between love and hate applied to them twice over.
"I love you, Jovian," she whispered. "Most of the time."
"You can never resist a backhanded compliment, can you?"
"Not when it comes to you," she said, chuckling. "Aren't you going to say it back?"
He laughed and started sliding out of the sleeping bag. "Not on command. I'll say it the next time I'm feeling it."
"That's kind of mean," said Eve.
He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. "I know. But being mean to each other is our legacy as Faremonts."
Getting redressed and ready to go was more of a process than he expected it to be. They'd taken off their clothing, and even just trace amounts of sweat and moisture had been enough to leave everything somewhat frozen.
They pulled it all into the sleeping bag and warmed it up with the heat from their earlier excursions. Finally dressed, Jove ventured outside and admired the beauty of the pristine landscape.
Their tracks from the previous day were completely hidden. The snowmobiles were covered halfway up the tread by snow, and he wasn't looking forward to having to get them moving again.
He waited for Eve to come out and they ate a quick breakfast of frozen berries and frozen pancakes as they packed away the tent. Starting the snowmobiles, cold as they were, took another ten minutes of effort and uncertainty, but they eventually managed it.
The first hour of traveling was slow, but fairly uneventful. Jove's mind had room to wander and loop. He dissected every aspect of fooling around with Eve, how it had felt, how it made him feel now. Was she toying with him, somehow? Maybe. Probably.
He felt an odd mixture of pride and shame as he thought about Aster, how he'd slept with her, even if she disowned the encounter. His boyish, gut reaction take was to pump both experiences straight into his ego, ride the high of his sexual conquests.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. They were all scared in that nebulous, situational way. Thrown off balance, stripped of everything life had ever promised them, and dropped into an alien, unforgiving environment.
But they still had each other. They had each other, and that only added new complications on top of an already handsomely sized pile. Jove knew he was now part of that problem, sporting the hormones and instant boners and bad decision making of a twenty-five year old.
But was it really his fault?
Maybe. Probably.