Small-town Scandal

Chapter 4: Thinking of Her

After lunch the two headed back to the apartment to finish the painting, but decided to work on the wallpaper in the kitchen. It was a tedious task that required them to work together, one holding the top of the wallpaper while the other soaked the bottom. Their fingers often met, accidentally, and sent them both into whirlwinds of emotions. Laurel tried to convince herself that it was just her, but she hoped, in some aspect or another, Brett was aware of how good it felt.

"So you have a little girl, right?" Laurel asked, more out of curiousity than anything.

Brett smiled at the thought of Amelia, nodding, "Yeah, she's four. Her name is Amelia."

Laurel chuckled, "Seems fitting that you named her that."

He looked down at her from the step stool, curious what she meant, "Why is that?"

"Amelia translates to work or industrious. But you didn't know that at the time, did you?"

"No, actually I didn't," Brett paused, "we wanted a variation of Emily, so we thought Amelia seemed close enough."

"You didn't think of Emma?" Laurel joked.

Brett thought about it for a moment, laughing to himself, "Now I feel pretty stupid."

"Takes two to tango." Laurel winked at him, laughing as she finished the last strip of wallpaper.

The two stepped back to see how the wall looked, and both seemed pleased with the work they had done. The wallpaper was a white base with small vertical strips of green and inside was pink flowers that danced up the wall. It brought a punch of colour to the blue apartment, and made the place feel folksy. Laurel was pleased with the result, but wanted the other walls to be finished before she took a good look at the work. 

They got to work soon after, chatting on and off about their lives. Brett asked Laurel about her writing, trying to get answers to her first novel while Laurel tried her best to keep it a mystery. They laughed about some embarrassing stories of Devon, which Brett claimed he was going to use against him. Laurel tried to get Brett to swear he would never speak a word, even sealing it in with a pinky promise. Even though he figured the excitement would pass, Brett couldn't help but feel like a teenager all over again. Laurel made him feel young again, that he wasn't one of the most successful businessmen in all of Eversee Heights. He liked how innocent everything was with her, and enjoyed laughing with her.

At one point Laurel decided it would be funny to paint the back of Brett's arm, causing him to spin around and in turn, stroke his brush against her leg. Wanting to be the one who won the paint war, Laurel retaliated with a blue stroke to Brett's hand. He quickly came after her and painted her back as she tried to run away, and soon the paint war developed into an all out frenzy. They were covered from head to toe in periwinkle blue paint, in their hair, on their clothes, and almost every inch of their exposed skin. Laurel tried to get Brett on the face, but he immediately dropped his paintbrush and tackled her, spinning her around in her arms until she dropped her brush.

They were face to face, so close that Laurel could smell the mint of his mouthwash on his breath. The smiles wiped from their faces, and Brett could not stop staring at her lips. He wondered if they tasted like the cherry lip-balm she had on. He bit his lips, wanting to press his against hers. But once he realized what he was doing, he snapped out of it and gently set her back down on the soles of her feet. She was so light that he felt as though picking her up was the easiest thing he had ever done. He got images of slamming her up against the wall, pulling down her ripped shorts to expose her panties. He wanted to press his lips on one of her hips, letting them trail down to her crotch where he would gently plant a kiss. Letting his hands drag up and down her body, feeling every curve along the way. Again, he had to pull himself away from his daydreaming, stepping back from her.