Best Friend's Sister Ch. 01

"Wanda! Lean back! Let me . . ." What amazes me is that she did it. She stopped fighting it and let go, which allowed me to drag her back to me. Now that I think about it, I don't think she even knew how dire the situation was. Me? I knew I had a huge empty space behind me and four or five steps until we reached the basement floor.

"Get rid of the damn box!" Too late.

I got a grasp on her shirt, pulled her closer, slipped my arms around her, and pulled her in. Look, I know it sounds complicated but it's not. She bumped into me, I bumped into her, I tossed my box, I grabbed her, pulled her in, then we went down the stairs, my butt hitting every step along the way.

It was going to be good--for her. Wonderful. Now she had support and a cushion--ME--to keep her safe on the way down. I tried to get lower and get something in contact with the steps. "Ow!!!!" The first hit on my butt was the worst. "Ow!!! Ow!! Ow!" We bumped down the steps together, one hand around her waist and the other reaching out for anything that might slow us down. There was no way this was going to look remotely graceful as we headed down those steps. I knew she'd be fine, as I had her fairly wrapped up. If anything got hurt, it was gonna be my butt and a whole box of Christmas ornaments.

We ended up in a pile at the bottom, her on top of me, but neither one of us hurt. I'd have some bruises on my 'but-tocks' but I think I'd had worse. My box of course fell over the side, with the tinkling sound of broken ornaments.

We were kind of snuggly. Me, Wanda, and our leftover child the Box. "Look at what you did! You had to hold onto that box?!' I said, looking at her face. I didn't mean it but I knew it would get her goat.

"Me?! If you hadn't been crowding me, it would've been fine."

"Crowding you? You were leading the way. I was just following you. Not like YOU could see where you were going, either."

"What a butthead you are." She put her face in close and gave me her 'stink eye.' Again. She even pinched my collar and gave it a tug. "If you hadn't been looking at my butt, maybe you would've seen where you were going."

"You got to be kidding. My box was even bigger than yours! I couldn't even see your butt! And in case you didn't realize it, you sat on me the whole way down like I was some sorta sled! If you're not hurt, it's because I had you wrapped up safe-and-comfy the whole way down." We were still on the floor trying to get over the whole experience.

I wish, instead, that I had acted like I was hurt and in a coma. "Oh, no. David's hurt! Speak to me!" Lots of sobbing, too. I think getting her sympathy had to feel better than the verbal throttling she usually gave me. Was there no way to impress this girl?

Anyway, I had to grin. "I think you were still out of breath from all our kisses under the mistletoe. All googly-eyed." I shoved her off of me, got up first, then extended my hands to her. She looked skeptical but took my hands. She was finally up and put her hands on my chest, trying to push me away.

"Kiss. It was one kiss. And I know you're a terrible kisser. Some of your 'leftovers' told me. So, it wasn't the mistletoe."

"Leftovers? My girlfriends were leftovers?" I put some effort into holding her there and held her tight, while she was trying to push me away.

"Let go!"

"I just saved your life. Let me see if you're okay." I turned her a bit so I could lean around and take a look at her butt, like if she was really hurt it would be back there. "Let me check. Lord, Wanda. You do have the cutest butt." Another moment of complete sincerity, in case you missed it. I almost got my hand down to a cheek but that wasn't going to happen. It wasn't even there half a second before she squirmed away. "Are you hurt? I'm just trying to see if you're okay."

"Hey!" and "Stop touching my butt!" and "No, I'm not hurt!"

Her mother was at the top of the steps, looking down at us. "Is everyone okay? Anybody hurt?" I looked up at her and gave her a smile, so she knew we were okay. She also knew I enjoyed driving her daughter crazy.

"I'm trying to see if she's hurt. I think she hit her head." I ran my hands back up, lightly up her ribs, but she was squirming away. "I'm gonna have to carry her up the stairs. Can you get some bandages and call the am-bu-lance?"

"God. Let go! Mother!"

Her mother lifted her eyebrows, "You're both adults now. Work it out." And with that, she went back to her cooking.

"Get off!" I was trying to keep her in reach and she was trying to push away. Then a blinding lightbulb went off, right over her head. She actually moved in closer and for a second it was kind of thrilling. Then, instead of pushing away, she slid her hands deep into my armpits. I know my eyes opened wide.

She leaned in toward me and looked me in the face. "Are you going to let me go or am I going to tickle you so bad you pee yourself?" She was totally in control and she was right. I did have to pee.

"Mrs. Anderson!"

"Don't go calling her now." As her fingers started moving.

"Woe, No, No. We don't need to go there. Calm down there, Buttercup."

"Buttercup? Where did that come from? We'll see now, won't we, Buttercup? You can't sweet talk me." She was right. If she started tickling, there was going to be a big puddle on the floor. If I ever needed one of those 'ah ha' moments, it was now.

I looked down at her, those beautiful brown eyes, a mouth that looked like it would be wonderful to kiss. Some subconscious idea bubbled up from way down deep. I held my hands on her arms and pulled her close, effectively trapping her hands in my armpits. Whatever I did, it had to be before she remembered she actually had the upper hand.

"Stop!" She didn't know what I was doing. Hell, I didn't know what I was doing until I did it. Whatever it was, she could tell it was getting near boundaries we'd never crossed. I slid my right hand around to her back. My left hand slid around her other side. It was like I was going to dip her to the left. Her head would end up against my left arm and she didn't know it yet, but she wouldn't be able to turn her face away. Totally in my control.

We were there face to face and her eyes were wide open. She was a second of two behind whatever my subconscious was doing. So close. I leaned in and I kissed her for the first time. She froze in shock, and just like the damn mistletoe, she tried to turn. Ah, busted. Wrong way. Quietly, so quietly, almost a whisper, "Nope. Wanda. Not gonna happen."

I slipped my right hand up and put my thumb gently on her cheek and let it caress her just a little. "I've wanted to kiss you since eighth grade. That first dance. You were wearing a pale-yellow Easter dress with flowers embroidered all over it. You had plastic ribbon thingies in your hair, little gold pearl earrings, white shoes, and socks that matched your dress."

She paused to listen to what I'd said and looked up at me. I leaned in and lightly, gently, kissed her on the lips. My thumb lightly caressed her cheek, softly, like it was kissing her, too. I gave her a second to decide. If she really wanted to, she could've said my name "David" quietly and I would've let her go, simple as that. Or she could've stomped on my foot.

The only thing that mattered to me was where our lips met. I think both of us were focused on that one connection. Part of her took a second to feel instead of think, then she closed her eyes and returned my kiss. It wasn't a kiss of uncontrolled passion and yet it wasn't one of those chaste kisses on the cheek. It was just the right amount of time. One second, two, five, thirty--I don't know long. At the right moment it was done and we separated. At least our faces did and we looked in each other's eyes. I whispered, "Wanda. That has got to be the best kiss I've ever had." She gave me a little smile and reached up and put her hand on my chest. "Can I have a whole lot more of those? If that's okay?"

She smiled and leaned in and gave me gentle kiss on the lips, then she put her forehead on my chest and her arms went around me. "Mmnmn. That was wonderful." I looked up the stairs and there were three faces looking down at us. Each one had a different expression.

Shock from her brother. "Davie?"

Concern from her father. "Uh oh."

A smile from her mother. "Finally."