Finding My Way (24 page)

I call her on it and
she pretends to be innocent, looking ever so sweet.  I find it even more difficult
to clear my head and concentrate on the game after her look goes from innocence
to a sexy, challenging one.

Tahlia
wins but I decline a rematch so she plays with Emma instead.  I sit on the
sidelines to watch the girls play.  The banter that flies in both
directions is highly entertaining.  They’re having fun but when they each
take their shots, both of them do it with such concentration you would think
that they were playing for high stakes.

I can barely keep my
eyes from Emma as she plays.  She’s constantly tucking her loose hair
behind her ears and every time I see her do it I imagine doing it with
my
hands.  Every time she bends over the table to take a shot I wish that I
didn’t spill that drink over her because as much as I like the fact that she’s
wearing
my
t-shirt it’s too baggy for a good view.  The short,
white top she had on earlier would have afforded me a better view of her
cleavage as well as her arse if it hadn’t been ruined.  I’m also acutely
aware that she’s not wearing a bra which makes my pants feel awfully tight at
times too.

Finally
Tahlia
excuses herself to go to bed.  I consider
asking Emma to play a game against me but before I get a chance, she packs up
her cue stick and wanders to the kitchen with the glasses from the dining table
offering to help me wash up.

When I put the last
glass away and turn to Emma, we stare at each other for another intense
moment.  Taking the tea towel from her hand I replace it with my own.

“Come with me,” I say
as I pull her from the kitchen.  When we enter the hallway I see light
coming from
Tahlia’s
room.  That’s not unusual;
she normally sleeps with the bedside lamp on, but it reminds me that I haven’t
tucked her in yet.

Leaving Emma in the
doorway, I go to
Tahlia
and give her a hug.

“Good night, sweet
dreams, I love you, see you in the morning,” I say to her.  It’s silly and
sentimental, but it’s also a tradition. 
As a kid, for
as long as I can remember, Mum always tucked me in at night with those exact
same words.
  When
Tahlia
was born I started
saying the same thing to her.  It’s something I miss doing now that I
don’t live here anymore.  It’s also something I plan on doing when I have
my own children.

“I’m not a kid
anymore,”
Tahlia
groans.  She blushes when she
sees Emma.  “I don’t need to be tucked in.”

“Shut up princess,
why break with tradition?”  I kid, knowing I’ve just embarrassed the hell
out of her.  Payback’s a bitch.

“Good night
butch!” she murmurs and grumpily rolls over to her side, turning away from
me.  “Bye Emma.”

Emma backs into the
darkened hallway as I step through the doorway.  Leaving the door slightly
ajar, I grab hold of Emma’s hand again and lead her to my childhood bedroom.

I help Seth wash the
few dishes that we used for dinner and our glasses too.  When I finish
drying the dishes I lean my back against the bench watching him put away the
last few items.  When he turns to me our eyes meet and again I feel
strongly drawn to him.  He takes a couple of steps, closing the gap and
when his hand reaches out towards me my breath hitches.  He grabs the tea
towel off me throwing it on the counter and takes hold of my hand.

“Come with me.”
 
He pulls me from the kitchen.  The
thrill that those three words entice is beyond powerful.  I don’t care
where he’s taking me,
I’ll go
.  He gently pulls me down the
hallway, turns, and pushes a door open.  I’m surprised to find that it’s
not his room though. 
Tahlia
is in bed with her
bedside light on.

Seth lets go of my
hand and walks to her.  Leaning over he gives her a long hug.

“Good night, sweet
dreams, I love you, see you in the morning.”  I hear him say softly and
then he stands. 
Oh
my gosh
, that is so sweet!
 
I barely hear the other words that are exchanged after that.

He comes back to me
and again takes hold of my hand gently pulling me further up the hallway. 
When we reach his bedroom, it’s not what I expected.  There is only a
single bed, a small desk and it’s relatively bare.  I let my hand slide
out of his so I can take a look around his room.  I immediately regret it
and miss its warmth.

“I love that album,
it’s my all-time favourite!” I say when I spot The Killers’ Hot Fuss poster on
his wall.  Nothing beats it.

“What’s your
favourite song?” he asks.

“Oh, I don’t really
have
one
favourite… I guess I love them all? 
The
whole album!”

“Well my favourite
song is ‘
Shadowplay
’.”

“Oh I love ‘
Shadowplay
’!”  I say enthusiastically, then I realise
that it’s not on the Hot Fuss CD.  I look at Seth and I find that I can
read his expression.  It’s weird but these past few hours have taught me a
lot about Seth.  I feel like I know him already, well I can read his face
at least.  I roll my eyes at him and his obvious attempt to trick me, “But
I think my favourite from the
Sawdust
album, would be ‘All the Pretty
Faces’ or maybe ‘Change Your Mind’”.

He actually blushes
when he realises that I’m onto him, it’s cute.  I move over to the
adjacent wall and spot another familiar poster.

Growing up in this
house I dreamed of having girls in this bedroom.  Funnily enough it turns
out,
Emma is just the kind of girl that I pictured.  I
smirk when I realise that it’s like all my school-boy fantasies have come
true!  Well almost, what I pictured her doing in my room… well that’s
another story.  Mind you I would never try anything; it’s too soon plus my
sister’s in the next room.

When she said The
Killers’ Hot Fuss album was her all-time favourite.  I was shocked that we
could possibly have that in common too.  So then, in a total dick move, I
actually tried to test her on it, thinking that she was bluffing, just being an
agreeable date.  She wasn’t.

My heart skips a beat
as she looks at me with a smirk on her face. An all-knowing-smirk, she knew I
was testing her!  The way she emphasises the word
Sawdust
, and rolls
her eyes, I just know it.  Weirdly being caught-out with a look like that
actually turns me on.

“Huh!” she says as
she turns to the other wall and spots the only other poster in the
bedroom.  “’Garden State’s’ one of my favourite movies… When Sam gets Andrew
to listen to The Shins…”

“It’ll change your
life, I swear,” we both say at the same time.
Wow!
  Did that just
happen?  I look at her and see that she’s blushing.  I am totally
gobsmacked.  Could this girl get any more perfect?  I mean quoting a
line from the same movie as me, really? 

“That’s how I
discovered The Shins… from that movie,” she rambles obviously just as struck by
what just happened.  “I love ‘New Slang’!”

“Me too,” I
say.  “The whole soundtrack is great.”  I can’t believe how similar
our tastes are! 

“You’ve got it? 
I’ve always meant to buy that one.  Can you put it on?” she asks as
she glances around the room.

“It’s not
here,
it’s back at my place.”

“Isn’t this your
place?”

“No, I don’t live
here anymore.  I moved out about six years ago.  I’m just here for
the weekend, to look after
Tahlia
.”

I can’t believe in
all our conversations today that I didn’t actually mention that I don’t live at
home with my parents.  She actually thought I was living in this
room? 

She nods her head as
if she has just put a puzzle together in her head.  She actually looks
relieved.  So she should be
,
she was probably
thinking “what a loser, living at home in a bedroom that screams teenage boy,
single bed and all”.  That is definitely not the impression I want to
leave her with.

Drawn to her like a
magnet, I take hold of her hand again and pull her towards the bed.  We
both sit on the edge looking at our hands for a moment.  My heart is
beating so fast that I find it hard to talk.

“So,” she says
seductively.

“So,” I return,
grinning at her, loving how comfortable that one word from her mouth makes me
feel.  Just like that phone conversation, I’m happy just to hear her
breathing beside me.  “Emma… I’m sorry that the first half of this date
was such a disaster-” I chuckle.

“It wasn’t that bad.”
 She cuts me off.

“Don’t lie, it
was!”  I chuckle and she smiles at me.  “I took you to a skate park,
where you got bored, got hit in the head, then I bring you here, where not only
do you cut and bleed but I then pour lemonade all over you!”  I laugh to
hide my discomfort at the thought of her in soaked clothing.  “Not to
mention having
Tahlia
as third wheel.”

“Well… when you put
it that way…” she giggles.  Our eyes meet again and she continues, “The
second half hasn’t been so bad though.”

“No…” I snicker,
holding her gaze, a sudden wave of nervousness coming over me, “this truly is
turning out to be a date to remember.”

My breath hitches
when he says that.  I stare at our joined hands trying to calm my
breathing.  Sitting on the edge of his bed, I become acutely aware that
I’m not wearing a bra. 

He leans a little
closer and I feel my face heat as I lean into him.  He looks away from my
eyes and down to my mouth leaning closer still.  He is so close he could
kiss me.  And then he does.  And it’s glorious!  He lips are so
gentle, warm and sweet.  Then he does it again and I feel my blood surging
through my body, my heartbeat quickening along with my breath.  Then our mouths
start to move in perfect unison and I’m totally swept away in the moment. 
My palms feel sweaty and I’m glad when he lets my hand go to lightly touch me
on my back pushing me gently towards him.  I go eagerly and our kiss
intensifies when his free hand cups my cheek.

His kisses become
more urgent and when I feel his tongue lightly touch my lips I open my mouth
inviting him in.  Then I return the favour by exploring his mouth
too.  My hands reach up to finally play with the tufts of hair, that I’ve
been wanting to touch all day, coming from under his knitted hat, I run my
fingers along the back of his neck holding him to me.  The passion and
warmth I feel from this man is even more than I expected and I’m completely
turned on.

“AHH!
 
NO!  DON’T TOUCH ME!”  I hear a sudden shrill scream.  Seth
immediately breaks from our kiss and runs from the room.  I blink rapidly,
trying to regain my senses. 
What the hell just happened?

It’s my turn and I
feel the adrenalin pumping.  The crowd has been dancing up a storm, and
are all cheering in the silence while I set up my first track.  They
absolutely loved the DJ before me so I hope that I can please them just as
much, if not more.

I introduce myself
and get an encouraging round of applause before launching the first song. 
I get a couple of cheers as some people recognise the beat.  I am
surprised by the sheer size of the room and just how packed it is.  I’m
glad to be in the booth now and out of the overcrowded dance space.  The fog
machines are working overtime and I was feeling a little claustrophobic earlier
when I had a dance.

A few tracks in and a
bartender comes over to me with
an iced
water. 
The uniform here is the standard tiny black shorts and skimpy white tee that is
so common in clubs these days and this particular girl looks stunning in
hers.  She leans over giving me an eyeful.  She has a lovely smile as
she hands me my drink.  I say thanks and then watch her sashay her tiny
butt away from me.

I’m surprised when
she comes over again halfway through my set giving me another drink and then
attempts to dance with me in the confined space of the booth.  Her body
rubbing against mine convinces me to humour her a little, so I flirt and dance
with her for a moment.  When my hands travelling the sides of her body
don’t deter her, I ask if she’s busy later to which she replies for me to come
find her when I’ve finished up.

All I can do is smile
at her but as soon as her back is turned I find myself shaking my head, yet
again, I just don’t understand why that was so easy.

I lean forward a
little and Emma does too.  My eyes drift to her slightly parted lips and I
lean closer still.  I can feel her breath mingling with mine and I just
have to taste her.  I kiss her gently on the lips.  We part slightly
and then I kiss her again.  Our mouths move together slowly and sensually
and it feels so good.  I let go of her hand, moving mine to her back
gently pulling her closer.

Then I bring my other
hand to her face.  I kiss her harder and she opens her mouth so I insert
my tongue slightly and then she does the same back to me.  When her hands
lightly finger the hair on my forehead it feels so loving and tender, but when
her hands move to the back of my neck I feel a rush of passion and heat that
bolts through my entire body.

“AHH!
 
NO!  DON’T TOUCH ME!”  I hear
Tahlia
scream
and instantly let Emma go.  I bolt from my room and am in
Tahlia’s
seconds later.  She is thrashing about on her
bed, her bedside lamp still on and her eyes closed.  I reach for her and
she pushes me away.  “NO!” She screams again.  I pull her up into a
sitting position and hold her close to me chest.  Looking down on her, I
can see her eyes rapidly blinking awake.