Chapter 44

“Hey Kee! I didn’t even know you were here!” Brees said, hugging my arm.

I don’t even think she has any idea the effect she has on me. The hairs on my arm stood straight up. Her touch was intoxicating. She plopped down on the couch right next to me. When she touched me like this, I wished she were mine. I know she wanted things to go back to how they were before we dated, but it was so hard. I studied her for a moment and took in her beauty with every blink. She had on an oversized sweatshirt that was cut, exposing her toned, glowing, tan shoulder. Her hair was up in a high messy bun with wispy curls that purposefully fell all around her face and neck and she had on some small, black shorts. I couldn’t help but admire her toned legs. She was seriously perfect. It took everything in me not to kiss her.

“I thought you would be out with Jeff,” I said, gently hugging her back and ruffling her hair.

“Not today. He said that Sterling was home so they are doing stuff with their parents. Where is Bay?” she asked, stealing the remote from my lap and looking around.

I nodded towards the door, “Quinn is here.”

“Aww, I should go say hello,” she said, starting to get up.

I pulled her back down, knowing Baylen was probably doing something she didn’t want to see. I must have pulled her too hard because she fell right into my lap.

“Whoa, what was that all about?” she asked, giggling softly.

“Bay has missed Quinn. It probably isn’t PG out there,” I said, laughing as well.

She slid off of my lap back onto the couch.

“You can admit you were trying to cop a feel you perv,” she teased.

We laughed some more at our corny jokes. It was nice to feel this comfortable again with one another. She snuggled back into my arm like she used to do when we were just friends, and propped her feet up to watch her show she had turned on. I simply watched her. I watched her laugh and gasp and yell at the screen. I watched the way she threw her head back and rubbed her arms as if she were cold. I watched her curls move back and forth across her tanned shoulder. I missed this. I became so comfortable that I put my arm around her chest and held her. She didn’t seem to mind. So many things went through my head. She leaned into me and continued her one way conversation with the reality stars. When she laughed her curls bounced and brushed against the nape of her neck. I watched her in awe. The low rumble of her giggles and the softness of her expression as she watched the television were so intoxicating.

“You are so funny. The way you talk to these people like they can hear you,” I said.

She sat up and at first I thought she was upset. She looked at me sternly and then the corners of her mouth turned up and she started hitting me with a pillow. I grabbed at the pillow and tried to shield myself. I started to tickle her sides. Finding each sensitive spot on her body. She kicked at me gently and fell back onto the couch with laughter. As my tickling continued, I couldn’t help but admire her smile and how her hair fell around her face when she moved. Her shirt lifting slightly as she wiggled away from my hands.

“Ok, ok, I give up!” she squeaked, trying to push herself away from my tickling.

As she did this, she almost fell right off of the couch. I quickly grabbed her around her waist and her back and pulled her back up. As our labored breathing began to slow, we looked at one another. My arms were still around her small frame.