Near Kisses:
The red haired young woman stood at the sink, dishes soaked in suds. Her hands were submerged in the water, scrubbing at the dishes. All her cousins' and family were in the main room, talking about everything from school to work to what they wanted to be. Molly wanted no part of that and found herself in the kitchen, doing all the dishes from dinner.
Her grandmother suggested that she leave it be, but Molly told her she didn't mind and went to work right away. As she scrubbed away she half listened to the conversations, knowing she wasn't going to be missed during such conversations. She wasn't one for socializing anyways; she preferred to be by herself.
"Ow.." She muttered, feeling her arms getting heavy from scrubbing so much. She dropped whatever dish she was washing back into the sink and rubbed her arms.
"Hey Molly!" A hand clasped onto her shoulder, causing her to jump a bit.
She looked over her shoulder at the direction the voice was coming. She smiled a bit, seeing her cousin, Roxanne, standing there behind her. The ebony haired girl held a few more plates in her hands. "Here," she trusted what she was holding at her cousin. "Mum told me to bring these in here to you."
The redhead quietly nodded as she took the dishes from her cousin and turned back to the sink, slipping them inside with the other dishes. Molly was thankful she was quiet around all of her other cousins. This gave her the perfect excuse to be quiet around the one person she wanted to talk to the most, her cousin Roxanne. Nerves flared up whenever the two of them were alone and she just couldn't do it.
Of course, Molly knew why she always was nervous around her cousin. She had discovered this at Christmas, or a little bit before. She kept this little fact to herself, of course, not telling anyone that she was in love with her cousin. Not that there was anything wrong with being in love with your cousin, some people married their cousins even. No, it was the fact that they were both females that made Molly keep her little secret to herself. She didn't know how her family would react to that information anyways and, quite frankly, she didn't want to find out.
"Thanks Roxanne," she muttered, plunging her hands back into the sudsy water.
Roxanne nodded from behind her, standing there with her hands on her hips. She watched as her cousin went back to washing the dishes as soon as she had given her the plate. Molly held her breath as she felt the chocolate brown eyes on her, studying her. "D'you need help?" She asked.
Molly wished that her cousin had walked away, leaving her there to do the dishes in piece. "No, I'm fine."
"You sure? You've been doing this for a while. I'm sure you wouldn't mind a bit of help." And with that, she found her cousin standing next her, hands submerged in the water as well. "Why don't you take a break from this and dry while I wash. We'll get it done faster this way, don't you think?"
Molly didn't say anything, but nod mutely in agreement. As she stepped to the side and grabbed the terrycloth towel that was sitting there, she closed her eyes. The scent of whatever perfume that Roxanne was wearing wafted from her and up into her nose. Was it a floral scent? Yes, it had to be, it smelled vaguely like roses and lilies, two of the names of their cousins.
"Molly? You in there?" Molly's blue eyes opened and she looked over, seeing her cousin holding a plate out to her. "I was and you dry, remember?"
She sighed as she took the plate from Roxanne. "Yes, I know," she muttered quietly, a soft blush forming on her cheeks. She dried the plate and put it in the cupboard above her head, trying to get all thoughts of her cousin out of her head as the two of them stood there doing the dishes together.
Time went by much faster, Molly thought, as the two of them worked together. They were done in half the time it would have taken Molly to do it herself. "There!" Roxanne exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. She turned and looked at Molly, grinning. "That's better, isn't it? Now we can join everyone else for the count down."
"What? No!" Molly said as she was pulled along by her wrist by Roxanne.
"Aww, come on. You need to socialize more." Roxanne told her, trying to keep her grip on her cousin.
Molly could hear everyone in the other room start to count down the seconds left before midnight. She tugged her wrist away from her cousin. In a startled motion, Roxanne felt herself spin around. In a desperate battle to stay up right she grabbed on to the other girl, causing both of them to tumble to the ground.
The redhead found herself on top of the ebony haired girl. Their faces were only a few inches away from each other and Molly felt her face go bright red. She would loved to have given anything and close the few inches between their mouths but she knew she couldn't have. She stood up, looking away as Roxanne got up herself. In the other room she heard the cheers coming from everyone that a new year was now here with them all.
"Happy new year…" Molly mumbled as she turned away from her.
Roxanne smiled a bit, looking at her cousin. "Happy new year to you as well Molly, I hope you get all you want this year."
Molly felt herself blush even more and look back over at her cousin. "Thank you, I hope you get all you want as well."