My Brother's Band

chapter 7: of dreams and blankets

    "What are you trying to do Grey?" I laughed, walking into the kitchen.  Grey was stretching up on his toes, reaching for something on the top shelf of the cabinet. His tan back was bare of any clothing, and the only item covering any of his skin was the slim fitting pair of black boxers.  I'd been here for two months now, and these boys had gotten far too comfortable with having me around.  Next thing you know, they'd be walking around naked or something.   But, I mean, if the rest of him was as nicely toned as his back, I probably wouldn't be able to complain about that too much.

    "I'm trying - to reach - the cookies," he grunted, stretching his hand as far as it could go. The muscles in his arm flexed, and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from oogling.  This little crush I had on this goofball was getting way out of hand.

    "You could always use a chair!"

    "And insult my manliness? I don't think so!" He sighed.  "I'm sorry Mr. Christie, it seems that it's just not meant to be." With one last wistful glance at the blue cookie package, he bowed his head in defeat.

    "Oh my god," I grumbled, pushing past him and hopping onto the counter. "You're helpless." I kneeled on the countertop and reached up for the cookies.  My fingertips managed to snag them and pull them down off the shelf.  In my bout of clumsiness, Grey's treasured cookies slipped through my fingers and shot towards the floor.

    He yelped and jumped forward, just managing to catch the cookies inches before they met their crumbling death on the counter top.  His sudden movement forward startled me, and I tipped backwards with a squeal.

    "Whoa, hey!" One of his arms latched around my waist, as he attempted to stabilize me.  After a moment spent trying to calm my frantic heart, I realized his arm was still around my torso, and he was still pressed up against my back.

    "Um, Grey?" I mumbled, "You're still holding me."

    "I know, I'm afraid if I step away you'll fall and crack your head open.  Why are you so clumsy?" he chuckled.  "You spin around before I let go.  Just so I know you're not going to fall on your face."  If I had actually considered what he was asking, I probably would've realized that spinning around was going to put us almost face to face.  But,  I was still high on my adrenaline rush from almost falling to my death, so I collapsed onto my butt, and I spun awkwardly to face him.

    By the look on his face, he hadn't thought this through either.  My legs were now hanging on either side of his hips, and he was standing leaning in towards me with one arm around my torso and the other still gripping onto his cookies as though they were the one thing keeping him sane.

    "I, uh- thanks!" he blurted, thrusting the cookie package up into my face, and narrowly missing striking me in the eye with the corner of the package. 

    "No problem," I breathed, managing to look everywhere but his eyes.  I'll admit, the idea of meeting Grey's eyes in this position was kind of terrifying.

    We stayed in that position, with the cookies hanging precariously near my face, for what felt like forever.  Which was probably only thirty seconds.  But when you have an extremely attractive twenty three year old holding you against him, it's kind of nerve-wracking. And you kind of can't think much. Or move.  You really can't move.  It doesn't help if you have a crush on him, because then you can't even breathe.  And breathing is kind of important.

    When he didn't make any move in either direction -closer or further from me- I made the decision to sneak away before my face could get any more red. I could literally feel the telltale blush sneaking up from the collar of my tee.