Typical Annie

“Aw, Terrance, you’ve never been kissed?” Annette asked sympathetically. He shook his head, his eyes trained on his lap, where his hands fidgeted nervously, as the fact was laid out before the group of friends lounging in the backyard.

“Aw,” Annette cooed while all of the guys chuckled at Terrance’s expense. She shot a few of them glares before finding a solution to Terrance’s embarrassment on her behalf. She stood from the lounge chair she had been sharing with her best friend, Amy, and walked across the deck. In front of Terrance’s chair, she smiled down at the younger boy as she boldly settled herself atop is lap, one leg straddling each of his.

The backyard grew silent as everyone watched her every move. Annette paid extra attention to the boy she sat atop, smiling sweetly to ease the nervous and wide-eyed expression on his face. Smoothly, she leaned in to plant a soft kiss on his pink lips. She let her lips linger, waiting to let him take control of the situation, if he so chose. He kissed back chastely, pulling away after a moment.

His cheeks were rosy, his eyes still wide, as he anxiously glanced to their audience. “Woo!” someone cheered, his fist rising into the air. “Alright,” someone else exclaimed, clapping a hand on Terrance’s shoulder as he passed.

Annette winked at Terrance as she lifted herself from his lap. “Typical Annie,” Amy laughed loudly as Annette joined her in her previous seat.

“What’d she do this time?” Brian asked as he exited the house to everyone’s backs, Stephen on his heels.

John shared a look with the older boy. “Oh, you know, the usual. Kissing any—and every—one,” he said with a laugh, shaking his head amusedly. He was used to Annette’s antics. Brian shared in his friend’s laughter.

“What?” Stephen exclaimed from behind Brian, his eyes instantly locking with those of the girl in question before she looked away hurriedly. She couldn’t bear the judgment radiating from him.

Terrance’s older brother, Travis, explained when no one else dared to, unknowing of Stephen and Annette’s past. “We were ragging on Terrance because he’s eighteen and had never been kissed. So, Annette decided to pop his cherry.”

“You kissed Terrance?” Stephen asked, incredulous and accusatory.

“Yes, I did,” Annette answered curtly. “Not that it is any of your business.” In an effort to avoid his inevitable comeback, she stood and stomped her way to the back gate, disappearing behind it.

She could hear Stephen’s voice rise as he called her degrading name after degrading name, but she was determined not to let him get to her. She sped up as she crossed the lawn, aiming for her car, but was stopped by a hand on her wrist.

She spun, her voice already raised, “Stephen, I swear to God…”

“Its just me,” John murmured.

“Oh,” she gasped. “Sorry, I thought you were…”

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “Where are you going?”

“Home. I just need to get away from him for a little while.”

John nodded knowingly. “Let me drive you.” It wasn’t a question. He let her wrist go as he opened the passenger side door of his brother’s Ford Focus, motioning for Annette to get in, before he rounded the front of the car.

The car ride passed in a comfortable silence. Annette and John had always had an easy friendship. They simply enjoyed each other’s company rather than muddling it with meaningless conversation or background noise.

When John pulled into the driveway in front of the house him, his brother, and Annette shared, Annette immediately exited the car and entered the empty home. John jogged to catch up with the girl, not wanting to leave her alone when she was still obviously upset.

“Annie, where are you?” he called through the first floor when she escaped his eye.

“In here,” she called softly.

John followed her faint voice to the kitchen. Annette was bent over in front of the open fridge, searching for something to drink. “Are you okay?” John asked when she turned back around, kicking the refrigerator door closed with her foot.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, but John was unconvinced.

“Maybe because Stephen was a total ass to you,” John offered the obvious reason.

Annette shook her head, a faint smile on her lips. “I’m used to it.”

John leaned against the counter between the kitchen and dining room as he watched her drink from the two liter bottle of Coke. He smiled ruefully; he always loved that habit of Annette’s. Instead of replacing the bottle, she leaned across John to set it on the counter to his back.

She didn’t move once she had set it down. She locked her eyes on John’s as she trailed her now cool fingers up the fabric of his shirt, pausing on the triangle of exposed skin below his neck.

John shivered. “Annie,” he warned playfully. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Shh,” she murmured, bringing a finger to his lips to stop his protest. His eyes widened as he realized she wasn’t just playing around. Her eyes held more lust than laughter.

He gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. “Seriously, Annie. What’re you doing?”

“Do you want to kiss me?” she asked innocently.

“Yes,” he answered, surprising both of them.

“Good.” Annette bunched the fabric of John’s shirt in her hand as she pulled him down to her level. Attaching their lips, Annette smiled into the kiss.

John’s hands found her hips, pulling her into his body unthinkingly. She let out a surprised moan at the contact, allowing John to deepen the kiss as his tongue slipped past her lips and tangled with hers.

John had dreamt of such an interaction between the two for as long as he had known the older girl, though it had always been forbidden. His older brother, Stephen, had called ‘dibs’ and eventually wooed the girl in question, taking away the option, regardless.

Guilt seeping through his previously clouded mind, John pulled his lips away from Annette’s, though his hold on her hips never lessened. “Annie,” he sighed. “We can’t.”

“But you just said you wanted to,” Annette stated, confused. Her eyebrows bunched together as she cocked her head to the side, analyzing John’s expression.

He nodded slowly. “I…I—uh—I do,” he admitted meekly. “But, Stephen’s my brother,” he explained.

“And?” she prompted, her eyes hardening as her ex’s name was mentioned.

“And,” she started. “I just can’t. Okay?”

Annette shook her head side to side. “No, not okay. What the fuck does Stephen have to do with this?” she questioned heatedly. “He is not my boyfriend, nor is he really much of a friend anymore. He shouldn’t have any bearing on who I choose to kiss.” She huffed out a breath of air, crossing her arms over her chest as she remained within John’s grasp.

He smiled despite himself at the sight. Though she probably meant anything but, he couldn’t help but think she looked cute. “Annie,” he spoke softly, capturing her eyes in his burning gaze. He spoke to her as if she were the small child she was acting like. “You know he would literally kill me, right?”

She nodded, her lips set in a determined line. “Even if you don’t, I do treasure my life,” he teased.

“What if he never found out?” Annette asked, her jaw set, chin in the air as the new plan took root in her mind.

“What do you mean?” John asked tentatively.

“We could keep it a secret,” she suggested. “Just you and me. No one else has to know.” She smiled enticingly.

“You are dangerous, you know that?” John asked, a slow smile working its way across his lips before he leaned in to once again capture Annette’s lips in his.