With Nadia and I both looking at her, Janet calmly got up and left her room, leaving Nadia and I to look at each other in embarrassment that we'd so thoroughly forgotten about her.
Sis quickly got back, bearing cold sodas for all of us. She pointedly handed the first one to Nadia, then quickly gave me the second. Feeling a little thirsty myself, I followed Nadia's example of opening it and taking a healthy swallow from it. Both of us set our drinks on Sis' night stand, and Nadia readily moved into my arms so we could exchange a lengthy and affectionate kiss. I sat up to rest against the headboard of Sis' bed, and Nadia was happy to settle herself into my side. I put my arm around her and gave her a hug, and got a happy sigh in response.
Since Nadia and I weren't taking up as much of the bed as before, Sis calmly got on it to sit with us -" but only after she'd slid her panties off, so that she was as naked as we were.
After taking another sip of her soda, Nadia was visibly embarrassed when she told Sis "I totally forgot where I was, or that you were even here. I'm sorry."
Sis just smiled as she answered "Good -" I'm glad you forgot. I saw how you and Danny were getting so*focused* on each other, and I didn't want to be in the way, so I just moved. Then when you two got going, I didn't want to mess things up for you, so I didn't say anything, either. There's nothing for you to be sorry about, as far as I'm concerned. You wanted to find out about touching and kissing and the other stuff, and you did -" and liked it, from what I could see!", the last part teasingly.
I saw Nadia blush slightly, then she grinned and answered "Yeah, I did!" before turning to look at me with affection. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, and she turned to face Janet again. The two of them engaged in "girl talk" for a little while before Nadia gave a little start next to me and said to Sis "You were here the whole time – I mean, you watched while Danny and I were kissing and touching each other, and then when we -did that other stuff."
Janet just looked at her for a moment, then responded by simply saying "Yeah, I did."
When Nadia spoke again, the tone of her voice made it clear that she didn't understand as she asked "How come – what – why did you stay, even though I was doing stuff with Danny? I mean, okay, he's your twin brother and everything, and you two are okay about seeing each other naked and all that; but why weren't you bothered about seeing him, uh, excited like he was?"
Sis looked at me, and knew that the small nod I gave her was in recognition that it was appropriate for Nadia to know about the two of us.
Looking at Nadia again, Janet calmly told her "I wasn't bothered because I've seen him like that before, plenty of times. Just like he's seen me the same way."
Plainly baffled, Nadia asked "How would you see your brother when he was excited like that?"
Still calm, Janet answered "I'd see him like that because we were together, just like he could see that I was excited."
It took a couple of seconds for that to really settle into place in Nadia's mind. When it did, though – "You*have*? You've really done stuff that made both of you feel like that -" together?"
It didn't sound like Nadia was freaking out on us, only amazed; I wasn't surprised when Janet told her "It wasn't just what you and Danny were doing – it was more, too."
Again, it took a bit before the full implications of that hit Nadia, prompting her to demand "Really? You two have -"
"Made love together. Yes." Janet finished for her. Nadia turned to look at me, and I matter-of-factly told her "Yes, Janet and I have made love with each other."
Nadia got quiet then, and looked at each of us several times over the next few minutes before finally saying "Wow. I mean -*wow*. I never would have thought. I knew you were a lot better with each other than any of my other friends are with their brothers, and that you were close" -" she blushed furiously about the word she'd used -" "but that – Wow."
When Janet and I looked at each other, both of us were amused by Nadia's reaction. We watched her as she got her mind around the fact that Sis and I were physically intimate with each other, and were paying close attention when she came out a little reverie to look at me, then Janet, before asking "When did you – how – what do you – Uh, are you okay to talk to me about it? I mean, I really want to know. I've kinda wished that I had a brother, you know, so I could maybe see guy stuff sometimes, but I never thought about anything more than that."
Out of consideration for me, Janet didn't include the details of just exactly why we'd gotten together the first time we'd done anything sexual together, but as she told Nadia about how we'd gradually gotten more comfortable with each other, we'd increased the intimacy between us -" and made sure that her friend understood that it wasn't just a physical relationship, that we really did love and care for each other, more than anything else. Nadia also got to hear that the things we did with each other were essentially the same as any couple. She also learned that Janet and I didn't just make love with each other -" that we were as likely to just snuggle or play a little literal grab-ass, or even just sleep with each other for the pleasure and comfort of having another person next to us.
As Sis and I explained our relationship to her, Nadia gradually came to understand that the physical part was just one piece of the bigger bond between us. When we were done, she sat quietly for several seconds before telling us "Now that you've told me about it, I can see how it happened, and even kinda understand it. I mean, everybody that knows both of you -we've all said something about how you're not like other brothers and sisters we know -" even for twins. And I've been around your mom and dad enough to know that they're*way* more special than my parents, or anybody else's that I know. I don't think it would be okay for anybody else I know to get involved with a brother or sister like you have, but with the parents you've got and the way you've grown up -" yeah, it's cool for you two."
A moment later, Nadia wanted to know "Jan, didn't it make you jealous or anything, me being with Danny? What if he meets a girl at school he really likes, and wants to do stuff with her? And Danny – what Jan being with another guy?"
Both of us just smiled at her before Sis answered "No, I wasn't jealous or anything. Why should I be? You already know how much we love each other, so what reason would I have to be upset that he still has enough love in him to make you feel good, too? If he meets another girl that he likes -" loves, really -" enough to want to be with her, then I'll be happy for him – and her, because I know who she'll be getting, and how happy he'll make her."
To that, I added "I'm the same way about Sis being with another guy -" I*love* her, not own her, so it isn't up to me to decide anything like that. What she said about me meeting another girl is how I feel about her and another guy. We're brother and sister, and we love each other, and nothing can ever change that -" so why be upset or anything if there's other people that each of us loves, too? I wouldn't want to be with him, physically, 'cause I like girls too much -" but I bet I'd like him, because I know that he'd have to be pretty special guy for Sis to love him."
Nadia looked a little uncertain, and Janet explained to her "Look, love isn't something that you only have so much of, like blood in your body, or anything like that. Maybe Danny and I understand it so good because we grew up learning it from Mom and Dad, but love is something that you've always got enough of that you can give some to other people. I mean, think about it: you don't love just your mom or just your dad, do you?"
Nadia shook her head, and Sis went on "With us, it's the same thing, only more. It's even easier for us, too, because we don't love everybody exactly the same way, either."
"What do you mean?", Nadia wanted to know.
I was the one to ask her "Do you love your mom and dad in*exactly* the same way? Or do you love them differently? The same amount, just not the same WAY?
She considered that for a bit, then smiled at us, saying "Okay, I can understand that. No, I don't love them the same way, but how much I love them is the same."
Janet looked at me and said "I kinda wish Dad had let us keep going to the private school, so we could take Mom's class, or maybe talk to Momma Jan. I'm not sure how to really explain everything."
Before I could reply, Nadia wanted to know "Momma Jan?"
Sis laughed before telling her "Yeah, Momma Jan. She isn't really our mom, but she's one of Mom and Dad's friends; she's the one I'm named after. There are five of them, and all of them helped take care of me and Danny when we were growing up. They were around so much that we started calling them 'Momma', because they were so much like our real mom. We still call them that, 'cause we know they like to hear us say it."
Intrigued, Nadia asked "Who are they? Why would you want to still be in private school so you could take a class from your mom, or talk to Kelly?"
"Jan still teaches at the high school level at the private school we started at. Mom and Dad each teach a class at that high school, and Mom's is the one where she teaches the kids about love and everything. Dad says it's his losing battle to teach them to think, but we know he doesn't really mean it", I explained.
"How can she teach people about love? Isn't that something you feel in your heart, and either you feel it or you don't?" Nadia wanted to know.
Janet and I looked at each other, and I told her "You explain it -" you're another girl -", to which Sis retorted "As if that matters!" before she faced Nadia again.
Nadia was listening closely as Sis told her "A minute ago, we talked about you loving both of your parents the same amount, remember?"
Her friend did, and nodded. Janet continued by saying "Now think about the other people you love. Do you love all of them exactly the same amount? Or do you maybe love, like, your grandparents more than you do some of your cousins? Or one of your aunts or uncles more than the rest?"
"Okay, I can see how it would be different amounts." Nadia answered after a few moments.
Janet's next question was "Have you ever really thought about why that is?"
The blank expression on Nadia's face was answer enough, and Sis went on "I may not be explaining this exactly right, but I think I can help you understand -" at least a little bit. For starters, loving somebody isn't just what's in your heart."
"It isn't?"
"Nope. What most people call 'love' is really several different things. For almost all of them, love is mostly physical, and a little bit emotional: they see somebody they think is attractive, and as they get to know that person, they start getting stuff back from the other person that makes them feel good, and that's about as far as it goes for them. When the physical part isn't like what it was, or they aren't getting the stuff back that they want, the love goes away. There are SOME people that do that, too, but they also include some of what they know about what goes on in the other person's mind – how they think, and what they know, and like that. For those people, because there's more TO their love, it lasts longer; if they get the proportions close enough, maybe it lasts a long time -" but they still don't STAY 'in love'."
Nadia asked "What does your mom teach that's different, then?"
"Mom tries to get the kids in her class to understand that love isn't something that just kinda happens, and that they can actually make it last as long as they want it to if they choose to make that happen."
"How can you choose to make love happen that long?"
"Like I said, I might not be explaining this right, but here goes – How much you love someone, even if it's yourself, is kind of like the receipt you get at a grocery store, where the love is the total of everything else. Just like you go to the store and don't just buy vegetables or dairy, how much love you feel isn't just the physical and emotional stuff you get from someone. If you go to the grocery store and buy all the stuff you need, you'll have vegetables and meat and milk and cheese and bread and cookies and crackers and soup and dessert and all kinds of different stuff -" and the total on the receipt will be way bigger."
Nadia nodded her head that she was following what Janet was saying, and Sis continued "Okay, what's different for me and Danny is that we do that with other people _on purpose_‹nowiki›; we choose to look at what people are like harder and deeper than almost anybody else does. By doing that, it's the same way about loving someone -" you can't just go in the grocery store and only fill up the basket while you go down one or two aisles, right? To really ‹/nowiki›*love* someone, you've got to get stuff from ALL the aisles in that person: courage, and honesty, and smart, and funny, and gentle, and strong in their heart, and anything else that's important to you. And just like you look at what's inside the package at the store, and compare prices, you have to do the same thing with people -" maybe the other person isn't as smart as you'd like, but that's okay because they're funny enough, and that's more important to you. So when you put their smart and funny and everything in your basket, you know the total by how much you love them."
Nadia sat there and blinked at us a few times before saying "It sounds simple enough, I guess. But love isn't just about one person feeling that way about another; it has to go both ways if it's going to work, doesn't it?"
Janet smiled and said "Of course it does. Just like you're shopping in the other person to see if they have the things that you want, they're shopping in you, looking for sexy or pretty or affectionate or whatever, and looking at their receipt – how much they love you. If you really think about it, love is something that people trade with each other."