I almost made it to the door, when Jesse stepped in front of me, blocking my only point of exit.
"But… What if we get caught?" He complained, watching me rub my growling stomach.
"Look, goody-two-shoes, no one's forcing you to break any rules" I said casually, while placing my hands on my hips.
"Goody-two-shoes?" Jesse asked, copying me by also placing his hands on his hips, and peering down at my smug face. "What is that supposed to mean?"
I gave a little chuckle. "I love it when you're completely clueless!"
Jesse narrowed his eyes at me, but remained in the same postural position as me.
"How about… If you tell me what that means, then I shall accompany you to the kitchen"
My chuckle deepened, followed by a short snort when I said, "You're bribing me?"
However, he didn't seem to find our conversation as funny as I apparently did…
"Ok, ok… Well, I guess you could say, that a 'goody-two-shoes' is someone who focuses on extreme good behaviour in order to impress others"
Jesse's mouth opened, as if he was about to try and say something in his defence… I just grinned and pushed past him, to reach for the door handle.
"Don't worry Jesse…" I said, turning back to look at him while slightly opening the door. "You don't need to impress me!" I winked, before heading out into the hallway.
Jesse smiled and followed me down the staircase, treading lightly on our tiptoes across the carpet, as we tried not to make the steps creak. But I knew that the last three steps always creaked when stepped on. I stopped on the forth and turned back to face Jesse.
"These last three creak" I whispered, as he moved onto the same step that I was on, causing our arms and hipbones to touch.
"Let's do it together…" He whispered back, as his leg brushed unintentionally up against mine, when he shifted his weight.
The soft warm sensation from his breath lingered on my cheek, and I had to drag myself out of it, to manage to agree. I couldn't let him notice that I was growing weak at the knees, as we squeezed side by side in the narrow stairway. We held hands, outstretched our left legs at the same time, and slowly placed them onto the step. CREAK…
"Shit, go back!" I whispered, trying hard not to giggle.
"I say we just make a run for it" Jesse suggested.
I shook my head to disagree, and a slight giggle escaped though my forced lips.
"Sshhhh" Jesse whispered, turning to face me, and giving my hand a little squeeze.
"I've got an idea… Stay there" And with that, Jesse let go of my hand, placing one on the railing and the other hand on the wall.
"Where else am I gonna go?" I smirked while watching in utter amusement, as he carefully glided his long leg past the three steps, and onto the floor, letting the rest of his body follow. I held my hands to my mouth and gave a little snort.
"You have a habit of doing that, don't you?" Jesse said, placing his hands on his hips, motioning to the little snort sounds that I make.
"Just don't stand there looking all macho, rescue me!" I pleaded, holding back my oncoming giggle.
He leant forward and held out his arms to collect me in his grasp. I kind of got a little excited and jumped into him, causing him to stumble back… Well, at least he caught me! Jesse held my body close to his, as his strong arms wrapped securely around my waist.
"Nice work, Soldier" I half whispered, half chuckled, as I was now level with his face and could see his dark eyebrow arch up.
Jesse placed my feet on the ground and gave me the weirdest facial expression. I thought that maybe my top had drooped down again, so I looked down quickly to check… Nope, my top was fine… Oops, I forgot that um, Jesse is standing before me… And I'm looking down at myself… I raised my head back up to meet Jesse's, and yeah, he was wondering what I was doing.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, trying to break the silence.
"First you call me a Cowboy… Now you think I'm a Solider? Susannah… Forget about being silly, you're just plain crazy!" He stated, rather seriously.
"Oh come on, Jesse. You know you love it" I gave him a cheeky grin, and ran a finger across his chest as I headed off to claim my dinner.
Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to happen next… Jesse followed behind me and smacked his hand against my arse! A shrill scream abruptly escaped my mouth as I spun around in pure shock.
"Jesse!" I squealed in a high pitch voice, feeling a little flushed and embarrassed.
"Be quiet, you'll wake everyone up" He grinned, and cheekily winked at me, while brushing past to head into the kitchen.
I stood there for a minute, totally dumbfounded with what had just happened… But – but he just hit my… And he doesn't even feel embarrassed? How rude! I entered the kitchen and narrowed my eyes at him cheekily, as he pulled the milk carton out of the fridge.
"You do know that it's now my turn…" I informed him, as I bumped him out of the way with my elbow, and reached for my dinner, which was wrapped in aluminium foil.
"Your turn for what?" Jesse asked, grinning down at me, knowing quite well what I had meant.
"My turn to cop a feel" I said casually, while taking a peek at what was under the foil. "Ooh yum, chicken and coleslaw"
Jesse picked up a tea towel and whipped it against my butt. "Not unless I get you first…" He laughed.
"You little punk!" I said, as my high pitched voice got the better of me again.
I immediately put the plate on the bench and lunged forward to reach for the tea towel. My firm grasp held onto one end, while Jesse held tightly onto the other.
"Susannah, let's act like mature adults ok?" He chuckled, as I cornered him against the bench.
"Excuse me? Like you can talk! You decide to playfully feel me up, and then you want to act like adult? Hah!"
"Ssshhhh" Jesse chuckled, as he let go of the towel and formed a defensive position.
I raised my eyebrows, as I watched him give me 'the evil eye'…
"I will get my revenge! When, the time is right…" I said calmly, moving away from him, and walking over to heat up my dinner.
"I'm sure you will… Can't hardly wait" Jesse said sarcastically, grabbing an empty glass and pouring milk into it, while sending me an audacious smile.
Before the microwave had a chance to complete its time cycle, and beep loudly at me, I stopped it and retrieved my food. I carried my plate over to where Jesse was seated on the high stool, and pulled up a stool beside him.
Jesse tried not to glance over at me too much as I ate, he didn't want to be rude, but he couldn't help but notice me scoff the food down.
"You'll get indigestion," He warned me, taking a gulp of milk.
"Don't care," I said with my mouth full of coleslaw.
He pulled a disgusted face as he watched me talk while chewing my food. Then without warning, he nicked a piece of chicken from my plate, and threw it in his mouth. My mouth dropped open as I watched in shock, as he stole yet another piece of my chicken.
"Are you going to chew that? Or continue to allow me the pleasure of witnessing your mushed up dinner?" Jesse chuckled, before taking another gulp of milk.
"Well, are sure that you've had enough?" I said, meaning about the chicken pieces.
"Oh trust me, I'm quite sure!" He snorted, meaning about my opened mouth and mushed up food.
"You snorted! You never snort" I said, sitting forward on the stool and patting him gently on the shoulder.
Jesse looked at me as if I had just seen him take his first steps… Then, he looked as though he was about to say something…
But I raised a hand to stop him, as I sensed that something was approaching the doorstep… Then I heard the sound of keys rattling against the door… Crap! It was Sleepy arriving home from his five hour night shift.
I grabbed my plate in one hand, and pulled on Jesse's shirt with the other. We ducked underneath the kitchen bench, which wasn't really a great spot for hiding… But it was dark. Only a few streaks of moonlight crept through the thin curtains, from the kitchen window.
"It's Sleepy" I whispered to Jesse, as we crouched down side by side.
I placed my dinner plate on the floor next to me, and then looked over at Jesse with concern. Shit! Where is Jesse's glass? Is it still on the bench? Sleepy was now in the house, as I could hear him padding softly through the lounge room. I nudged Jesse with my arm and arched my hand as if I was holding a cup, trying to warn him about the glass, by tilting my hand to my mouth, pretending to drink…
Unfortunately, my bodily expressions and gesture skills hadn't gotten through to him, and all I received was a dumbfounded look which had a 'what the hell' kind of aspect to it.
It was too late to do anything about it now, anyway. Sleepy had entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, casting a bright vivid light upon half of my body. Jesse had noticed, and pulled me slowly in between his legs so that I was out of the path from the light. We both held our breath, praying that he wouldn't turn around and see us in this position…
Sleepy finally closed the fridge and cracked open a can of Coke, while heading around the other side of the bench and leaning against it. To make maters even worse, Max, the family dog, slowly walked across the lino and headed over towards my dinner plate.
No! Don't even think about it, you stupid animal!
I leant forward and swiped at his large collar, which I successfully grabbed a hold of, and dragged him under the bench. Jesse helped me keep him restrained, but Max was desperate to get to my plate… And I didn't want him to bark… So I released my grip from his neck. Straight away, he homed in on the food.
The sound of his noisy licking, and ferocious attitude, was a dead give away...
As I leant back, helplessly against Jesse's chest, I suddenly felt him inhale a number of really quick breaths. I turned my head around to make sure he was all right, when I discovered that he looked as though he was about to sneeze.
No! No, you can't sneeze! Not now!
I quickly rotated around so that I was facing him, and shot my hands up firmly against his, which were already covering his mouth. 'No' I mouthed to him, while shaking my head quickly.
Hold on, why hasn't Sleepy come around to see what was going on? Don't tell me he hadn't heard Max? … Was Sleepy still here? I slowly stood up, placing my hands on the bench and peering around the empty room. Oh, thank the heavens! He's gone…
I exhaled and looked down to let Jesse know that we were in the clear, when I realised that my pelvic region was kind of um… Right in his face! Oops… I quickly crouched back down in front of him, noticing that he hadn't even been aware of the sight before him… His eyes were firmly closed, and he was still tyring to hold back his sneeze.
Hah! This was totally a Kodak moment!
"Jesse, he's gone" I giggled, as I looked at his distraught facial features.
So on instinct, and unable to contain the ticklish feeling any longer, he let it out by jolting his upper body, forward… On to me… Sneezing on my bare shoulders and neckline! And to make the situation even worse, from being in my crouching position, my top wasn't being very cooperative… As in, deciding to droop down! And as I had mentioned before, Jesse had leant forward, which meant that his face was now shoved against my chest.
Jesse quickly forced his body back against the bench and apologised like there was no tomorrow. I on the other hand, flailed my arms up to push the material back against my chest, but I lost my balance while doing so…
Lucky for me, Jesse had excellent reflexes and wrapped his arms around my back, catching me just in time before I toppled backwards. As he pulled my body back into a crouching position, It was then that I had noticed a little milk mustache above Jesse's upper lip…
Ooh, I would like to lick that off… I thought, dazing at his lips. Suze, No! I told myself. I have to prove to him that I don't drool, and I definitely don't lick off milk mustaches. Stop staring at it… Stop staring at his lips! I warned myself.
"That was a close call" Jesse whispered.
We stood up carefully, and he continued to hold me close to his body. It took everything that I had, to stop from being drawn in by the milk… So I did the only thing a decent girl could do... I avoided his gaze.
"What's wrong?" Jesse asked, when I continuously moved my head, when he tried to align his face with mine. "I am really sorry about sneezing on you…"
"No, it's not that…" I said in a low voice.
Then for the first time, I actually realised about the fact that he had actually sneezed on me… It was completely gross but um… girls? This was Jesse! Ok, calm down Suze…
"I'm err, thirsty"
He let go of me and turned around to pick up the glass, which Sleepy somehow managed to not see, and offered it to me.
"Would you like some milk?"
Milk? Yes! But not from the glass… The only thing I could conjure up, instead of totally throwing myself onto him, was to giggle like a little girl. Jesse just looked at me weirdly, and then stared down into the glass… So I thought I should let him in on the little secret. I took his hand and guided him over to the hallway mirror.
"Oh" He murmured, quickly raising an arm up to wipe the milk away.
I was about to say 'No, stop!' But it was too late; the milk had disappeared… A depressed sigh escaped my mouth and I rubbed my tired eyes.
"I'm so tired" I wailed, lifelessly leaning against the wall.
Before I could say anything else, Jesse had swept me up in his masculine arms and smiled gorgeously at me.
"Ooh, hello!" I cheekily grinned, while quickly wrapping my arms loosely around his neck.
As Jesse carried me across the hall, and started for the stairs, I had been staring into his eyes the whole time. This is so romantic, I thought. What on earth have I done to deserve this God sent gift? Jesse's eyes would occasionally flicker in contact with mine, but he was normally concentrating on where he was stepping… And trying to avoid my feet from bumping into anything.
He layed my body down carefully on the mattress, and gently ran his fingers through my long hair. Awe… Jesse is so not leaving me this time, I decided. I reached out for his arm, and lightly tugged him close, so that he leant over my body, allowing me to stare longingly into his eyes.
"Don't leave me" I whispered.
"... Ok" He whispered back to me, gently trying to regain his standing position.
I released my grip, as he seemed a little uncomfortable. He better not be expecting to sleep on that window seat… Like hell he was! As he slowly started to turn in the window's direction, I stopped him quickly.
"Jesse - Sleep here…" I said, patting the empty space beside me on the bed.
Jesse stopped in his tracks, and looked at where I was intending for him to sleep. He gulped nervously, and silently gazed from the bed, to my face. I prompted my weight back onto my elbows and leaned against my mattress, waiting for him to move, or at least do something…
"Um… Are you sure?" He choked out in a hoarse whisper. "I mean… err, the window seat is fine…"
"Come on, it's freezing… Shut up, and get over here" I demanded, chuckling while keeping my composure.
He slowly obeyed my orders, but physically seemed tense, as he headed towards my bed. I suddenly felt a little guilty about being so direct… But I wanted Jesse, here, with me…
"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you can sleep on top of the sheet…" I suggested, while pulling the quilt cover back.
Jesse slightly nodded, excepted my offer about sleeping on top of the sheet, and got into the bed next to me. I smiled, pulled the quilt cover over his body, and lied back, looking up at the ceiling above us. Oh my God! He's next to me, in my bed! I sighed, and let out a soft moan of delight.
"Um, good night. Susannah"
I rolled over onto my side, so that I could face him, after sensing a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"It's ok, Jesse. Relax" I smiled gently, before placing my head on his shoulder and bringing my hand up to his tightened arm. "See you in the morning" I whispered, as I closed my eyes and nuzzled against his side.
Once that I had gotten comfortable, Jesse seemed to relax a little. I felt his arm loosen beneath my hand, and he moved his cheek onto the top of my head. I felt so safe... In no time, I was so tired that I fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.
Did I dream that night? I don't know… But I knew for a fact that my dream had already become true. I had Jesse, the man of my dreams, in my arms, sleeping beside me…
I love my life…