Breathless

Chapter Four

The next morning when I woke up, I was confused, but then I remembered why I had been crying. Chris... He had a girlfriend. And I had screwed up big time. I put my head in my hands as Maurice started to lick me. With a sigh, I got out of bed. I couldn't hide out here forever. I went downstairs to see Brooke getting ready to leave for work.

"Oh, Chanelle, you're up early." She said, oblivious to how heartbroken I currently was. I just nodded and got a bowl of cereal.

"Chris will take you shopping today, since I'll be at work." She said absentmindedly. I froze in the middle of eating.

"W-what?" I asked.

"Well, you don't know your way around here yet, so Chris can drive you to the good clothing stores." She said with a shrug.

"Oh, okay." I said with a fake smile. She smiled back and then left for work. Chris came down the stairs a few minutes later with a tired expression on his face.

"Chris." I said, catching his attention. He looked up.

"I-I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't realize you had a girlfriend, and I don't know what I was thinking." I blurted out. He looked shocked that I had said all that.

"Um, it's fine." He said, at a loss for words.

"Brooke said you'd take me shopping today." I mumbled.

"Okay." He said as he went about making his breakfast.

***

About an hour later, we were in Chris' car and heading to the store. When we got there, I picked out a few dresses I liked and headed to the dressing room. I tried on a few of them, and on the last one I had to struggle to zip it up. I finally succeeded, but I decided I didn't like it. I tried to reach up and take it off, but I couldn't. I needed someone to unzip it for me. I peeked out of the stall and saw Chris leaning against the wall.

"Chris." I said.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"I need you to unzip my dress." I said with a blush.

"Wait, what?" He asked in a confused tone.

"I need you to unzip it so I can take it off." I said hurriedly. He sighed and walked in the stall with me, locking the door behind him. I was standing in front of the full-length mirror as I felt his warm fingers slowly unzip the dress. When the zipper got down to my waist, his hands dropped, but I saw another emotion flicker in his eyes. Lust? No, it couldn't be.

"You good?" He asked. I nodded and he slipped out of the stall, leaving me alone with an uncomfortable wetness between my legs. I sighed and took off the dress, putting on Brooke's old clothes and grabbing the other clothing. When I stepped out of the stall and saw Chris, my cheeks reddened, and I imagined his warm fingers touching me in other places. I shook away the thought. I really needed to get my emotions under control.

I went to the front and paid for the dresses that I liked with the card Brooke had given me. The clerk handed me my things and I started to head out, realizing I was leaving Chris.

"Chris, lets go." I said, walking back into the store. He looked at me and got up, following me out the store. Now I just needed to go to another clothing store to get some regular clothes and some shoes.

"Hey, I'm going to the food court." Chris suddenly said to me. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, okay. I'll be in Forever 21." I replied. He nodded and walked off, leaving me by myself. If only we weren't related. If only he could see how happy I could make him. No more thinking about him, Chanelle. You've got to pull yourself together! But Chris was the only person who helped me take my mind off of my parents.

I roamed around in Forever 21, picking out things that I liked. I mostly liked to wear leggings, jeggings, and long sleeve shirts but I picked a few jeans and tees. After I picked out my outfits, I got a pair of converse and some cute high top leather shoes. That was all I needed so I paid for everything and walked out, heading towards the food court since Chris had never came in the store.

When I got to the food court, I looked around for Chris, wondering where he was. But when I spotted him, I wish I hadn't. His girlfriend Monica was here. Me they were sharing what looked like a milkshake. I was just staring at Chris and realized he looked distracted like he wasn't listening to a word that Monica was saying. I started to turn away, heading towards the front because I couldn't stand to watch them. Come on Chanelle, he's your cousin, you can't like him. You two can't be together. He'll never like you the way you like him. But I wish he did. I wish he liked me with all my heart even though I knew that wasn't gonna happen. I sat on a bench at the front, holding my head down as a few tears escaped my eyelids.

I don't know how long I had been sitting there when I heard my name being called.

"Chanelle!" I looked up and saw Chris waving at me. He walked over and sat down next to me.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, I thought something had happened to you." He sounded worried.

"I-I'm sorry. When I got through, I came to the food court but I saw you with Monica and I didn't want to bother you guys so I came up here and sat by myself." I mumbled.

"You should've told me you were ready to go. Come on." He grabbed two of my bags and stood up, motioning for me to follow. I picked up my other bags and followed him outside to the car. He kept glancing at me, giving me this look that I couldn't read. I tried to ignore it as we got in the car and I just stared out the window while he cranked up the car and backed up, pulling out onto the road. I just wanted to get out of this car, who knows what he thinks of me now? The car was the same place when I kissed him. When I kissed him and I shouldn't have.

I grabbed my bags as we pulled up in the driveway and he turned the car off, getting out just as I did. I ran inside as fast as I could bolting up to my room. Maurice was on my bed and perked up when I walked in, quickly getting up and running to the side of the bed where I was.

"Hey boy. Miss me?" He turned over and I scratched his stomach, causing his right back leg to start shaking. It was so cute.

"Chanelle." I heard Chris at my door. Maurice hopped down into the floor and as soon as I opened the door, he trotted out past Chris going to who knows where.

"Do you need something?" I asked, letting him in the room. I couldn't help but stare at his lips. I wanted to feel them again. I had to. I NEEDED to. He walked up to me, he was so close. I was staring into his eyes as he stared into mine.

"Chanelle, I-" he couldn't get another word out because I did the same thing I shouldn't have done the first time. I kissed him. But this time, he kissed me back....