ALMOST A BRIDE (Open On Annie)

20

His hand came around and he slipped it between my legs and with the other arm pulled me onto my knees. He was behind me now, his face buried in my hair. I could feel him breathing hard, his chest moving up and down. His breathe smelt sweet, and minty. His hand was sliding further and further up my inner thigh until----

The feeling hit me like an electric bolt. My whole body went ridged. I don’t know what came over me, but I grabbed his hand and showed him how I liked to be touched. We moved together as one, our fingers tangling together and intertwining as I was moving closer and closer and closer.

His other hand slipped into my dress and I felt it grab my breast. His breathing was getting faster and faster, and I could feel him – hard as a rock- pressing into my back. His pants were still on and I wanted nothing more than to take them off. I reached around and grabbed him through his pants, he moaned. He squeezed my nipple hard as his other hand started moving faster and faster, taking me towards the inevitable.

I arched my back as I came. It was more intense than I’d ever experienced, and it seemed to go on forever. Chris knew exactly what he was doing. I was shivering when it was all over and my legs felt shaking, as if they would no longer keep me up.

I fell forward onto the bed again, if this was what it was going to be like now, I couldn’t imagine what actual sex would feel like. Chris collapsed next to me, still fully clothed, which was something I needed to remedy immediately. I lifted myself up and started unbuttoning his shirt, when he suddenly pushed my hand away and got up.

Without warning he was up, walking across the room and then sitting down by the window.  

“What…what’s going on Chris. Have I done something-?”

He cut me off immediately, “No. God No. You’ve done nothing, it’s just…”

He got up and walked over to the other window- a pointless exercise, clearly he was worked up about something. But what?

“Annie, before we do this, I just want to say that….”

I understood.

I knew where this was going. I can’t say my heart didn’t break, because I’d stupidly let myself go there. Let myself feel for him and get swept up in the romance of it all.

“I know. No love. No emotional strings attached. This is a one-time thing… I get it, you’ve told me that-“

He cut me off again, “No. That’s not what I was going to say.”

The look on his face gave it away immediately, and a lump started forming in my throat. My heart started pounding so hard that it was all I could hear, Chris looked at the floor and shuffled his feet around aimlessly, coyly, as if trying to buy himself time to figure out what to say.

“The thing is Annie Anne….” He looked up and smiled at me, “I kind of like you. A lot. Like I think I like you, like you?”

“Huh?” Were we suddenly twelve again?

He ran his hands through his hair letting it fall back into his face. It was damp from sweat and strands stuck to his forehead, giving him a disheveled look.

“What I’m trying to say- really badly- is that… SHIT!” Suddenly he was up again and striding across the room to the dustbin He reached into it and pulled out a piece of paper and flattened it against the table. He then fiddled in a drawer and pulled out a pen.

“I’m a writer okay. I’m not good at saying these things.” He started scribbling something down on the paper. When he was finished, he strode over to me and dropped it in my lap. “I’m going to shower, read it and let me know what you think?”

I watched him as he walked away and started peeling his clothes off one by one before turning on the taps and climbing in.

I opened the note.

 Annie,

You make me feel things I’ve never felt before. I can’t stop thinking about you, even when I’m with you. And when I’m not with you, all I want to do is be with you. I even woke up this morning looking forward to our fake wedding, and I don’t know why. I don’t know what love feels like, but if I were a betting man, I would put money on the fact that what I’m feeling right now for you, might just be it. Maybe I’ve finally met the right girl.

I turned towards the shower and saw that he was standing under the water staring at me, completely naked. But instead of looking like the Chris I’d gotten to know over the last few days; Self assured, humorous, kind of macho in that messy-I-don’t-care way. He looked completely different.

 He looked still.

 Quiet. Vulnerable. Breakable even.

His lips twitched into a half-hearted nervous smile and his eyes seemed to question me. I knew what the question was.

 I got up from the bed and let my dress go. It fell to the floor with a soft thud. I reached around and undid my bra, letting it fall too and walked towards him.