I went to the bathroom to fix my makeup before your arrival and I was surprised to see you came soon after. I heard welcoming calls from aunts and cousins call out to your family. I was only thinking of greeting you when I heard voices come through the front door. We hadn't see each other in so long, the last of my memories of you was Christmas four years ago. You had changed so much since then. My mother showed me pictures you had sent her, I couldn't believe it was you. You looked so handsome. I'm not supposed to like you, but for some reason I have always felt a certain way around you. We are both so similar, ever since we were babies, always so incredibly similar, the same eyes. Those eyes that join us. They've said we could pass as siblings many times before, this fact just makes it harder for me.
I came out of the bathroom with my mother's makeup bag in hand. I looked over at the hugging cluster of people, looking for your face. Then I saw you.
I smiled and hugged everyone, I left you last, not sure why. When I got to you I hugged you so tight, and you hugged me back. I smiled and kept holding you. At that time, we were unaware of the events that would later happen.
At first I tried to avoid you and not talk to you directly, but later on, when all the cousins went to the living room, you say next to me and neither of us moved away.
Your younger sister started teasing you and clinging on to you, you asked her to get off but she played deaf.
"Why don't you go and annoy her?" you asked, trying to get her off.
"Because you smell good," she answered as she pulled you back.
I laughed, then grabbed your cologne and sprayed it on my neck.
"Now you have no excuse," I told her as I laughed.
I used my advantage of lack of tickleness to tickle her, knowing she had no way of getting back at me. She immediately got off you and kicked and laughed in response to my tickles.
She kept playing with you and I tickled her off. You then joined and we both tickled her. She lay there helpless on the floor, twitching and laughing. She eventually fled the living room.
We both lay there on the sofa watching a movie with the rest of the cousins. I played with your hair and you enjoyed it.
I started rubbing the bottom of your foot with my toe and you didn't pull away. You wanted me to keep going, so I did. Eventually, you ended up wanting to do the same to me, so I let you. One by one, everyone left and went to the kitchen except for us two, and we had no intentions of moving. You pulled a blanket over the both of us and kept playing with my hair.
I can still feel it, our socks rubbing against each other, your hands slipping under my tangled hair and slightly brushing my scalp, your warmth against my body, the strong smell of your cologne. That smell, it's so common, yet I have never smelled it before. When I smelled it too much, it could make my head hurt a little, but I love it so much, it's addictive.
When I was there with you, nothing else mattered. I didn't think about how I looked, how I was dressed, whether I was breathing or not, nothing was on my mind except for you.
The way your fingers glided over my skin sent shivers up to my spine, it made me want more, it made me slightly arch my back in hopes you would go further.
We cuddled there, not caring if there was anyone new we needed to greet. I could stay there forever.
Everyone thought we were sleeping, and we could hear their conversations coming from the kitchen. When anyone asked where we were that's what they would say, "They fell asleep on the sofa, they must be tired."
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit when I heard them, because neither of us was asleep, and we seemed to know, we weren't supposed to be acting this way, but for some reason, we did.
We stayed there all night, until you had to leave. I didn't want you to leave, and I don't think you wanted to leave either. They called you many times, but you ignored them in an attempt to stay there longer, even if it was just a second more, sharing our warmth.
But eventually you did leave. I was so cold when your warmth left. I sat up as you hugged me goodbye and I watched you go.
I wonder, why do I feel that way with you.
