Green Beans and Reminiscent Things

“How long exactly have we known each other, John?” she whispered, continually massaging my temple. I grasped her whole hand in mine before she could brush away any other stray hairs and kissed her palm.

“Since middle school.” I kissed her finger tips. “Years.” I leaned down and kissed her temple. “A long time.” I kissed the tip of her nose.

“Nearly ten years.” Temperance subtly licked her lips and dropped her gaze. “John.” She looked to the side to our intertwined fingers and released both of her hands from mine. She clutched her hands to her chest and started to fumble with the promise ring on her hand, biting her lower lip in concentration.

“No need to be nervous, Tempe.” I took both her hands into mine.

Temp looked up from our hands and kept her large irises unmoving from my eyes. She didn’t move her gaze one bit for almost a minute until she stood on the balls of her feet and gave me an unmoving kiss, setting both of her hands on my cheeks. She let her hold on my blushing pilgrims soften.

“Shrimp…” She let out a timid chuckle and raised a hand to smooth my bangs again. I turned to brush my lips against the skin of her palm and looked back down at her intimidating gaze. She removed her hands and set them on my chest; in turn, I set mine atop hers. Her eyes wouldn’t budge from mine, as if she were searching for any form of compunction in my part.

“Ti amo anche.”

“What’re you saying, Temp?”

She removed her hand from my cheek and intertwined our fingers. Her thin lips moved again, letting out the words I was longing to hear.

“I love you, John.” A whisper accompanied by a small smile. An additive of a smirk from myself.

I tilted my head to the side and barely licked my lips. “H-How long?”

“How long what?”

“How long have you kn-known… Italian?”

She smirked. “You and I both know that’s not what you’re wondering.” She bit her lip and mocked me with a look of deep thought. “If I recall correctly, you heard me talking to my mother in Italian when I brought you over for the project back in middle school. Not to mention every other time you came over. And not to mention tonight.”

Tempe subdued a snicker at my expression of nostalgia. She stood on the balls of her feet and leaned in close to my ear, kissing the corner of my jaw bone. “I’ve known since you weren’t here for Christmas last year. But premonitions exist, too.”

“Like?” I whispered back, my lips near her own ear.

“When you flirted with other girls, I got jealous,” she mumbled as she relaxed her calves into her natural height. “When you asked Lucy to homecoming, I was struck with my own confusion of why I suddenly wanted to go to a dance. Me, go to a school function? And for a guy, nonetheless?” She reattached her lips to my chin, tracing my features with her lips to my ear, where she nudged it with her nose before lightly kissing it and returning her attention to my bony facial features.

Temperance traced my jaw line with her petite lips before kissing me. She grasped my vest again and smoothed the fabric over with both of her hands, running them through my hair and back down to my chest. Our lips frequently reconnected as it became slightly heated. I backed my head away just the slightest, teasing her lips to only capture air, and dove back in, cooling the heat in the kitchen and making our kisses last longer. I set a hand on her cheek and pulled her closer to me while she followed suit, wrapping her fingers around my wrist and lightly brushing her palm against my cheek and neck. I pulled away again and kissed her jaw before completely stopping my lips near her ear.

She kept her fingers grasping my wrist and lowered her hand to my chest. Air fluctuated unevenly from her lips as deeply as it flowed from mine.

I chuckled a bit, sending a few breaths her way that made her slightly shiver in my arms. I lowered my voice to a stiller, quieter, deeper tone. “Well, you can think of it this way: One of my best friends denied me of her awesome dance moves.”

She laughed a bit stronger and backed away.

“Hey, Temperance?” I muttered, once again feeling nervousness chilling my bones and prickling my skin.

“Hey, John?”

I kissed her forehead and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Ti amo,” I tried.

“Ah, mio affezionato, ti amo così.” She gave me another lasting, single kiss, her hands naturally finding hair to pinch at the base of my neck. “How I love you so,” she whispered, leaning towards my ear.

My hands waved under her cardigan and rested on her waist. “Thank God for sea otters,” I mumbled. I returned my lips to the succulent spot on her jaw and pawed at it with my teeth. She stifled a laugh.

“And green bean casserole,” I muttered against her skin.

In all too soon, she stealthily caught my nipping lips with her own: and so modest, lasting lengths of still and silent lip lock began. Every time we kissed, she caught my breath. Every time we touched, she gave me goose skin. Every second of time spent with her made me happy to be there. Every time she smiled, she showed me she loved me even more than I would have ever dreamed or would have ever been able to imagine.

Once again, we ran out of the self-restraint to stop and breathe, and we were forced to separate when we could barely keep a sigh going through our lungs. Our partially open lips wouldn’t budge farther than an inch after separating, and her hot, sweet breath warmed my chilly nose. I nodded my head in resignation and twice stroked her nose with mine.

Temperance was always full of surprises.

I was surprised when she abruptly led my nose astray to kiss under my ear: hot breath on my neck, her nose resting against my earlobe. I set a hand on her cheek and turned my head to kiss her temple, catching her off guard in our game of Capture the Weak Spot. She stopped her attack and retreated her curtains once more, only to open them to whisper in my ear:

“Buon natale.”