I don’t even realise how bad it looks until the lights flick on.

The front door has already shut. Footsteps. Voices. Anne’s laugh still lingering in the hallway. Your dad—Nathan—clears his throat like he always does after a long workday. Normal sounds. Ordinary. Domestic.

And then there’s me—on the sofa with you—my step sister—pressed into my side, the two of us tangled in the kind of quiet that feels too soft to be legal while we watch a film.

My hand is tucked under the fabric of your joggers. resting on your ass. Too intimate. I know that the second the light floods the living room and catches us in full, terrible clarity.

Shit.

This isn’t how I imagined getting caught. (Actually, I never imagined getting caught. I was careful. I tried to be careful.)

Two years. Two years of shared dinners, awkward “family” holidays, fake smiles across kitchen counters. Two years of pretending that the way you look at me means nothing. That the electricity when our fingers brush is some weird coincidence. That the late-night talks in the hallway are just… friendly.

Two years of your dad and my mum being married.

Step-siblings aren’t supposed to feel like this.

But they also aren’t supposed to know the exact place on my chest where your head fits perfectly. They’re not supposed to feel like home when your teeth catch your lip because you’re trying not to smile at me. They’re definitely not supposed to taste like everything I’ve ever wanted when I kiss you.

And yet here we are.

You freeze first. I feel the way your body stiffens, your breath hitching against my shoulder. I don’t even move my hand at first—I’m too stunned by the moment, by the absurdity of it. We must look so stupid. Like teenagers caught doing something innocent and unforgivable all at once.

My mum’s eyes flick down to my hand resting on your ass.

So do your fathers.

I move my hand away from your ass quickly, heart slamming so hard it feels like it might bruise my ribs. My mind is racing a hundred miles an hour.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Your dad asks sharply, my mum is standing beside him wide eyed.