To everyone who reviewed You're still way over there, thank you so so much. After writing all that angst, I decided I wanted to do some quick summer, fluffy Brallie sexiness. To make up for the summer love we are not getting on the show. No explicit smut here just a (hopefully very) heated Brallie scene. Hope you like it- reviews would be so appreciated.
When Stef pulls up to the gorgeous white beach house, Callie can't help but smile like a giddy little girl. She's never been on a real vacation before. Definitely not for the last six years. And her mom and Donald never had the money although her Mom tried really hard to make their summers fun with day trips to the nearest beach and the park. Callie had loved those days, she wouldn't trade those memories for anything. But a beachfront house with a hammock and a deck with a jacuzzi and the smell of the ocean everywhere is definitely something she's never experienced before.
Mariana sees the excitement in her eyes and grabs her arm dragging her inside, telling her "We are going to have the best week ever!" And Callie smiles right back. I deserve this, she thinks. After all the years of having no family, of having no nice things, she wants to have the best week ever. She knows she's lucky to be here and she plans to enjoy every single second of these perfect summer days.
And then the door opens and Brandon appears. In his bathing suit. She's seen him shirtless before- when he's come in from mowing the lawn or from a run or those painfully awkward mornings when he passes her on the way to the shower in his towel- but she's never let herself really look. Because she knew if she looked then she'd want to touch. And they can't touch. Only now she doesn't have the option not to look at his surprisingly defined abs because he's coming right toward her to help with everyone's bags. And Mariana is still chirping away about all the things they're going to do. Brandon looks at Mariana and then smiles knowingly at Callie, "Long ride?" "Yeah," she chokes out.
The boys have been at the house for over an hour. The "girls" drive was derailed by Mariana needing to turn around because she forgot her phone and to stop at Starbucks and to stop for a bathroom. Stef's patience was wearing thin. But Callie was mostly just relieved that Mariana suggested boys and girls riding together. She and Brandon havent mastered acting like siblings. And deep down Callie knows they never will. But they've been doing good, really good at keeping a safe distance. So starting this vacation crammed close to him in Stef's backseat would be a setback that she didn't need. Except maybe part of her, a bigger part than she wanted to admit, had wanted to sit next to him, wanted their knees and elbows to graze each other, wanted to have an excuse to lean close to him if the car made a sharp turn.
And as he's standing there being so adorably helpful, she realizes that this is not going to be the best week ever. It's going to be the hardest week ever. Because somehow in the excitement of vacation plans, she forgot to realize that a family week at the beach meant a lot of time spent in close proximity to Brandon. With both of them wearing less clothes than usual. Without the safety of routines- there would be no piano lessons, no school, no group, no part-time jobs to limit the amount of time she had to be near this boy who she sometimes (and if she's being honest, all the time) still wants but can never have. There would be days of the two of them lounging around- her in a bikini and him with those abs on full display. And at some point, someone would see how she was looking at him and vacation would be ruined.
But no one did notice that first afternoon. Everyone was in vacation mode. The Moms were dancing around the kitchen, thrilled to be away from work and everyday responsibilities for a week. Jesus was pacing around the house trying to get cell service to text...whoever he was dating that week. Mariana was trying to settle on one of the 4 hats she had brought to wear to the beach. And Jude was just so happy to be on his first real vacation that he was running around the house checking out everything from the closets to the washing machine.
The Moms went for a walk. Jesus took a nap. Callie and Mariana changed into their bikinis and got ready to head down to the beach with Jude. Callie went into Mom mode applying sunblock to both of their backs. As soon as she was done, Jude took off running for the ocean and Mariana behind him in a huge pink floppy hat yelling, "Wait for me Judicorn." Callie sighs, waving the sunblock, "Guys, you forgot to do me," she calls knowing they wouldn't hear her.
And then she hears his voice behind her, "I can do you."
She turns to look at him, only to see him looking away embarrassed, realizing the inadvertent innuendo.
Be the good daughter, she thinks. Remember you're on a family vacation. "No that's okay. I'll take the sunblock to the beach and Mariana can help me there." She internally pats herself on the back for her good judgment and restraint. Then she sees the flicker of disappointment in his eyes as she turns to walk away. And she stops herself.
Because she hates how she does nothing but disappoint him anymore and for once she doesnt want to deprive herself. And they are on vacation. Her first real vacation. And although she had no personal experience, she knew people indulged themselves on vacation. They slept late, they spent too much money on silly things, they drank an extra glass of wine, they ate dessert for dinner. Things they couldn't or wouldn't do in everyday life. And she thinks, I deserve to indulge a little too.
The problem is there is only one thing she wants to indulge in on this vacation. Him. She wonders if he's always been this hot or if being told she can't have him has made him even more desirable in her mind. It's both, she thinks, as she feels a hunger throughout her entire body, a hunger for his touch that she hadn't let herself feel in months. She's starving for him. She wants to bite him.
And really she thinks, this would appear harmless enough. Him putting lotion on her back. She had just done the same thing for Mariana and Jude.
So in that second, she tosses caution aside and tosses him the bottle and said, "Actually, okay, if you don't mind." He nods, fearful that if he moves too quickly or too slowly she will literally bolt for the ocean.
He leans close behind her and pushes her hair all to one side, running his fingers through her waves for an extra few seconds. "Hold," he whispers, his breath hitting her neck as he tucks her hair behind her ear and into her hand.
She thinks she's going to explode into a million pieces the second he puts his hands on her for the first time in months. But she's glad she doesn't because then she would miss what came next.
She had gotten so used to Wyatt touching her, which was really more like grabbing, pawing at her and to touching herself while trying to imagine Brandon that she had almost forgotten his hands. Long piano player's fingers working every inch of her back. She can't imagine anything, even sex with him, could feel better than this. It was like he was playing all four of Vivaldi's seasons on her back and shoulders in sunscreen. If Stef were to burst right in now and kill them both, she's content that this is exactly, exactly how she wants to go.
She hasn't been this turned on since she guided him on top of her that afternoon at Daphne's and they rubbed against each other through their jeans. And although she doesn't mean to, a moan escapes her mouth. She feels him shiver against her hair.
"Callie," he says in a firm but ragged whisper removing his hands from her shoulders, "I am trying really hard to control myself here. But if you make that sound again, I can promise you I will lose all control."
"We're on vacation," she whispers back, taking his hands and putting them back on her hips. She then places her own hands over his, moving them up and down from her hips to just below the end of her bikini top. She contemplates moving his hands further south so that he'll know the effect his touch is having on her. But she knows that would be pushing it too far.
"Vacation. What does that even mean?" he asks, still not turning her around to face him but continuing to rub his hands all over her even when she stops holding them in place.
"It means," she whispers, removing one of his hands from her stomach so that she can kiss each finger. She hears him takes a huge breath. Without even seeing him, she can feel how stunned he is. He's gotten so used to both of them being so careful not to so much as brush against each other when passing the orange juice that it doesn't seem real that she's encouraging him to run his hands all over her body and sucking his fingers. "It means that we are supposed to be enjoying ourselves. And that when opportunities present themselves for us to enjoy each other while we're here, away from real life, I think we should take them. We both deserve this week." She leans back into him, grinding ever so lightly, "You deserve to have everything you want."
He whips her around. She had hoped he wouldn't do that. She didn't want to look him in the eye. She just wanted to touch and whisper and enjoy this little game that felt so very good but not quite real.
"But this isn't everything I want. This is a tease. An amazing tease that I dream about pretty much every night. But it's going to make things harder when we get home and go back to our real life where you don't let me touch you."
She feels bad instantly but not bad enough to let him go. And so she makes an argument that she knows she won't lose while running her hands up and down his abs, which is really all she's wanted to do since she first got here. "How much harder could it possibly get? Because I really can't imagine it being much worse than it is." She takes his other hand and kisses it, sighing, "Okay it sucks this is all we get. I know that. But it is what it is. And we have about forty five seconds until Mariana and Jude come to look for us and I want to make them count. If you still want me."
And he wants to argue this more but he also wants, as much as she does, to touch her and drink her in the way he hasn't been able to in months. She thinks he'll lean in and their lips will finally meet again.
But he surprises her and turns her back around, "I'm not done with your back." "It's fine," she protests. "You're not getting sunburn on my watch, Callie," he says firmly.
And then he whispers directly into her ear, "I don't intend to let anything bad happen to you ever again. Even sunburn." It's her turn to shiver.
He turns her back toward him when he's done and pulls her into a hug. A hug. He's such a gentlemen and she is both touched enough to cry and mildly annoyed given that this is the rarest of opportunities for them. It's not that she doesn't love behind held by him. She does. But it's been so long and there's part of her, more specifically the throbbing area between her legs, that hoped he would take advantage of these stolen seconds to...escalate things.
As if he can read her mind, and maybe he can, he surprises her when, without releasing her from the hug, he unties her bikini top and, as it falls to her waist, pulls her even closer. She buries her face in his neck, pressing her breasts against his bare chest and moving her now soaking wet crotch against his erection. And this time, he's the one that moans. "Brandon," she mocks while breathing hard, "I am trying really hard to control myself. But if you make that sound again, I can promise you I will lose all control."
She thinks they've crossed a line then, that they won't be able to separate now that they're finally skin to skin. That she'll forget that she's afraid of sex and they'll fuck right there on the floor without any regard for who could walk in and what that could mean. But with strength she didn't know he had, he reties her top and kisses her shoulder hard then her forehead softly. "Go, I'll meet you in a few minutes."
When he finds her burying Jude in the sand with Mariana, he grabs a shovel and joins in. And when no one is looking, they smile at each other. And for the first time in forever, it's not sad smiles or resigned smiles. It's the smile of two people who are sharing a delicious secret. They both know there's going to be more sunblock applications and touching and hand holding underneath the table and even more touching and finally kissing again. They'll be careful of course but there's an understanding that the usual rules don't apply for the next six days. They'll have plenty of time to think about what it all means when they get back. If it changes anything or not. Which of course it will. But they're not ready to figure that out just yet, what comes next. This week they're on vacation. And after months of trying so hard, of being so good, too good, they're going to let themselves indulge.