Building the Family

by Amy DeMeritt

  “No, thank you. I don’t want you having any limbs chomped off by a hungry gator. Besides, our pizza bites will get cold.”

  As we come into my dorm room, Madison flicks on the lights, something I had neglected before going downstairs. She starts to sit on the middle of the floor with her bags, but I stop her and pull her towards the bed.

  “It’s too hard down there. We need to sit on the nice soft bed.” Madison smiles and allows me to reroute her. “Ok, but are you going to fall asleep on me if we sit on the bed?”

  “Are you soft?” She slightly blushes and lets out a small cute laugh as she runs a couple fingers through her hair. “I didn’t mean literally on me. But, I think so.”

  “Then it’s a possibility, but I’ll do my best to stay awake. How long does this loyalty experiment last?”

  “If you can last an hour, we’ll call it a successful experiment.” I nod and lean back against the wall covering a big yawn. “Ok. I think I can do an hour.”

  Madison pulls out a plastic container with hot pizza bites, bottles of soda, and an assortment of small bags of chips. She lays everything out in front of us on my bed and looks at me with a proud grin. She’s so cute.

  I grab a bottle of root beer and twist the metal cap off the glass bottle. I’m impressed that she bought the good stuff. I take a big gulp and its ice cold, creamy vanilla taste feels so smooth on my tongue and slightly bites in the back of my throat. After I swallow, I smile.

  “This is really good. So, what crazy procedures are we going to perform in this experiment?” Madison laughs and holds the pizza bites out to me as she bites into one. After she swallows, she says, “After we have filled our stomachs with all of this junk, I’m taking you outside.”

  I groan and fall over on my side. Madison laughs and yanks me back up. I look at her in a pathetic sleepy way and her smile melts me. She has such a beautiful smile and her bright green eyes seem to be glittering. I smile and my cheeks blush a little bit.

  “Yeah, ok, fine, we’ll go outside. But if a giant man eating spider shows up, you are going to owe me big time.”

  “I’ve prepaid for whatever happens tonight with this banquet I’ve prepared.” She fans her hands out over the spread of chips, soda, and pizza bites as if it’s a five-star dining experience. “Or, you’re just fattening me up for the hordes of hungry monsters out there.”

  “Yeah, that’s my plan, get my favorite person eaten by monsters. You know, part of this experiment is about trust. Instead of thinking the worst, you should trust that I’m going to make sure you have an amazing time.”

  My cheeks flame hot with blush and my stomach flips in an excited way.

  “I’m your favorite person?”

  Madison blushes and smiles as she looks down at her soda in her hands. Instead of answering with words, she bumps her shoulder against mine and offers me another pizza bite. I release a small happy laugh as I take one of the offered bites and bump her back.

  “Ok, I trust you.” She looks up at me with a big closed lip smile. “Good.”

  It really surprises me how close I feel to Madison and how much I really do trust her when we’ve only known each other for less than two weeks. We’ve spent a lot of time together every day just talking about everything. I don’t think I’ve had as many conversations in a month with anyone back home as I have had in this short period of time with her, except Sam. Even when we’re not talking and we’re just sitting together working on homework, I feel a sense of comfort with her that I just can’t describe. Before I met her, I felt so lost in this new place. But Madison makes this place feel like home. I’ve talked with Shane a few times since we hung out in her dorm a few days ago, but I don’t feel the same closeness and comfort with her that I feel with Madison.

  After we’ve finished off most of the pizza bites, a couple bags of chips, and our sodas, we’re grabbing our stomachs groaning in regret for being so glutinous.

  “Ok, Mystic of the Night, time for you to weave me a magical morning, or else I’m going to fall into a food coma.” Madison laughs and starts scooting off the bed. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  She takes my hands and pulls me up off the bed. When we get outside, she extends her arms out to her sides like she’s embracing the world, bends her head back with her eyes closed, and inhales deeply. While still in her backwards, world hugging pose, she looks over at me and smiles.

  “Aren’t you going to copy me?” I laugh and run my fingers through my hair nervously. “Uh, why?”

  “You know that feeling when you have accomplished something amazing and you are really proud of yourself?”

  “Yeah, what does that have to do with what you are doing right now?”

  “Everything. If you start with the attitude that something is great, then it will be great.”

  “Or you’re setting yourself up for disappointment for having too high of expectations.” Madison straightens back up and turns to face me full on. She places her hands on her hips and looks at me thoughtfully. “I thought you trust me?”

  “I do.” She looks at me with raised eyebrows and slightly puckered lips, as if doubtful of my truthfulness. “Ok, don’t look at me like that. Come on, let me have a do over.”

  Madison smiles and tugs me back inside. A moment later, she pushes through the door and we embrace the world together and inhale the crisp cool morning air.

  When we straighten up, she looks at me with a big smile. She takes my hand and starts running down the sidewalk. She leaps up onto the mid-thigh high stone wall lining the sidewalk and I clumsily follow her. While still holding my hand, she walks along the top of the wall, pulling me along after her.

  After a couple minutes, she suddenly stops, making me bump into her from behind. I grab her hip with my free hand to steady us and my heart starts racing immediately. I’m pressed against her back and her amazing ass is pressed against my groin. She wraps her other arm around to grab me.

  “Whoa, sorry. Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, are you?”

  “Yeah, look.” She looks over her shoulder at me smiling and then points at a small red fox sitting by a tree in front of us. “Oh, wow.”

  He’s really pretty and surprisingly brightly colored in the dim of the early morning light. The sky is still a dark gray with the sun still hiding below the horizon, but the street lights are still on and offer a good enough glow to allow us to see him clearly.

  Madison had slipped her hand free that was holding mine to point at the fox, but as we stand here admiring him, she slips her hand back in mine. As her palm presses against mine, I realize that her other hand is still wrapped behind herself, holding me close, and I still have my hand on her hip.

  A rush of excitement bubbles up in my belly. There have been several moments of locked eye contact, shy blushing smiles, sitting close, and so many other little things that have made me wonder if Madison might be falling for me like I am for her. But right now, this moment feels like a turning point for us. It’s exciting. I suddenly lose all interest in going back to sleep any time soon and am anxious to see what may unfold this morning.

  The fox perks up, looks side to side, and then takes off. Obviously, he heard or sensed something we could not. Madison turns to me with a smile and her eyes glittering like little stars in the early dawn light. She releases my back and starts to move again.

  We make our way to “our tree” and then Madison starts to climb up the tree. She starts to slip, but I catch her foot and give her a boost up. There’s not much room up in the lap of the tree, so we’re pretty much pressed together again while we straddle the fattest branch. We’re facing east, where the horizon is starting to glow a bright dolphin gray.

  “Are you still awake back there?”

  She turns to look at me and I pretend to be nodding off and let my head land on her shoulder. Her hand wraps around the back of my head and she gently rubs my head as I lay on her shoulder. Oh, that feels nice.

  “You have really soft hair.”r />
  She runs her fingers through my hair several times and I feel like I’m going to start purring like a cat because it feels so amazing.

  “Oh, shit!”

  Madison grips my head and leans back into me hard. Her sudden impact against me almost unseats me out of the lap of the tree. I quickly wrap one arm around her waist and grab onto the tree with the other to steady us. I lift my head and she releases me and holds onto my arm holding her waist.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Man eating spider.”

  “Ha, ha.”

  “No, I’m serious. There’s a giant spider dangling a few inches in front of my face. Oh, my god. We have to get down.”

  I look around her and there is in fact a very large spider hanging in front of her. It looks like it’s just a brown garden spider so it’s actually harmless.

  “Ok, hold onto me and don’t react, whatever happens, or we’ll fall and break something.”

  She firmly grips my arm and I scoot in closer to her so we’re pressed very tightly together. I can just barely see the thick stand of its web that its hanging from. I carefully grab onto it and slowly pull it down and out to the side like I have watched my mother do on countless occasions in her garden. Just as I have it passed the branch, the spider drops down to the ground. I wrap my other arm around her waist and Madison exhales in relief. She presses her hands over my arms and looks over her shoulder.

  “Thank you.” She scans down to my lips a moment as if she’s going to kiss me, but then looks back in my eyes with a shy smile. “Do you mind if we get down now? I wanted to try to catch the sunrise up here, but I feel like I have things crawling all over me.”

  “That’s probably just me holding you.” I tease with a smile and she laughs hard. She squeezes my arms tighter against her. “No, this makes me feel safe. But if that giant thing was up here, there has to be others.”

  “Ok. I have another idea. Come on.”

  I reluctantly release my embrace from her waist. I was really enjoying her being in my arms so much that I’d risk several of those giant things landing on me just to keep holding her. I climb down out of the tree and as she starts to descend, I grab her hips to help steady her as she lowers herself out of the lap of the giant tree. She lands and stumbles back right into me. She grabs my hands to steady herself and then looks over her shoulder at me smiling.

  “Thanks. So, what’s this grand idea you have?”

  “Follow me.”

  I release her hips, but she entwines one of her hands in mine and follows my lead without a second question or any hesitation. We walk a couple blocks to the Court, our main cafeteria, and I point to a high wall along the sidewalk. The wall is built from large brown rectangular paving bricks and has little spaces just large enough for a hand or foot at just the right intervals to be able to climb the wall. It’s also just wide enough that we could sit on the top and not feel like we’re going to topple over if a gust of wind rips through the street. I’ve been wanting to climb this wall since I first arrived on campus.

  Madison smiles and practically leaps towards the wall like an excited kid as she skips the rest of the way, pulling me along with her. We climb the wall, and carefully pull ourselves on top to dangle our legs over the other side. Once we’re sitting facing east again, she scoots over closer to me so our arms are touching.

  “This view is actually better. Are you awake enough to sit up this high with me? I don’t want you dozing off and falling over the edge.”

  “I’m ok. As soon as we get back to my dorm, I’m going to crash though.”

  “We?”

  “Well, I don’t think your roommate will appreciate you coming in and waking her up at this hour. She’s not part of the Creatures of the Night Club, so she won’t be as understanding as I am. I think it’s probably in your best interest to crash at my place.” Madison laughs and looks at me blushing. “Ok.”

  We go back to watching the horizon and after a couple minutes, her hand slowly moves over top of mine that’s resting on the edge of the wall. I smile and feel an amazing excited flutter in my stomach.

  Just as the sky starts to turn a buttercup yellow along the horizon, Madison starts singing softly in an angelic bluesy voice about the morning sun and dreams. Her voice feels like a tender kiss and it reaches deep into my heart, igniting it on fire. I feel like her voice is embracing me like warm arms on a cold morning. It’s the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. I feel it deep to my core and it causes a joyful longing to well up inside me.

  When she finishes, she looks over at me and the golden light of the morning sun makes her eyes shine like fine green gemstones. Her eyes are slightly glistening and her lips are curled into an affectionate smile that makes me want to cling to her. She wipes a tear off my cheek and runs her fingers through my hair before taking my hand in hers.

  “Madison, you have the most beautiful voice. I’ve never been moved so powerfully by someone singing. Did you make up that song?”

  “Thank you. The song is by the Waifs. They’re a folk-rock group. I like some folk and bluegrass because it has so much soul and is easy to sing without music.”

  “It was beautiful. You are going to put every other musician out of work when the world hears you. There’s no sound that can parallel you.” She lets out a happy laugh and looks down at her lap a moment with blushing cheeks. “So, you don’t mind me just randomly breaking out into song?” I laugh and shake my head. “You can turn every minute into a musical if you want. I could listen to your voice all day.”

  She looks in my eyes and she slightly licks her lips as she toys at the corner of her bottom lip with her teeth a moment. She starts to move in closer as if to kiss me, but then freezes.

  She looks passed me and whispers, “We should get down now. A maintenance worker is walking this way.”

  I look behind myself, and of course, a tall heavyset man in a navy-blue collar shirt and matching pants is walking up the sidewalk, interrupting what was possibly about to be a very beautiful moment.

  We carefully climb down the opposite side of the wall we climbed up so that the wall will conceal our descent from him. We wait behind the wall and watch him unlock and disappear inside the Court, before we walk out from behind the wall and start heading back to my dorm.

  “I’ve never sat and watched a sunrise. Thanks for waking me up. This morning was a lot of fun.”

  “Was it better than your ocean dream?”

  “My dreams can’t compete with you.”

  Madison smiles and bumps my arm playfully before taking my hand in hers. We walk hand in hand in silence for the last couple blocks back to my dorm.

  My roommate is still gone, which is great. Madison still has not released my hand, but hesitates at the door. I start to walk towards my bed, and she follows with a shy smile curling her beautiful lips. I kick my shoes off, plop down on the bed, and gently tug on her hand to follow. I scoot over against the wall, but before she joins me, she tries to pull the covers down. I laugh and let go of her hand so I can wiggle under the covers. She climbs in next to me on her side and pulls the covers up under her chin. She inhales and smiles.

  “You’re bed smells good, like the ocean. That’s probably why you had that ocean dream. I guess I kept you up long enough. It’s after five now. Goodnight, Kayla.”

  “Good morning, you mean.”

  She sticks her tongue out at me a moment with a smile and then rolls over to face away from me. I roll onto my back and quickly fall asleep smiling.

  Chapter Six

  The strong sweet smell of strawberries and honeysuckles starts to wake me from my deep sleep. I move my head to the side and feel something tickle under my nose. I open my eyes and find myself in a surprising position. I freeze so I won’t wake her. Madison is laying on my chest and has one arm wrapped around me loosely cupping my right breast. Her left leg is draped over mine with her knee just below my center.

  I feel instantly aroused and heat creeps up my chest and
neck. I’m not sure what I should do. Before I can decide if I should try to move or wake her up, I hear the doorknob to my dorm turn. I quickly snap my eyes shut and pretend to be asleep.

  My roommate quietly whispers, “Oops,” and giggles. She moves around the room quietly and then leaves again. The sound of the door closing causes Madison to stir. Her head burrows deeper into my chest and her hand slightly moves over my breast and gently squeezes it. Oh, my god, that feels so good. Madison suddenly freezes, rips her hand off my chest, and lifts her head, smacking me right in the bottom of my chin. I groan and grab my chin, as I try to roll away.

  “Oh, shit, I’m so sorry!” Madison grabs my hands, trying to look at my mouth. “Kayla, let me see.”

  I shake my head and try to roll over. She grabs my hips and straddles me, pinning me down. As soon as she’s sitting on my lap, I freeze and feel a flood of tingling heat wash through my body. My hands drop from my face and her cool soft hands gently take my face and start to inspect it. She gently strokes over my chin and jawline.

  “Does this hurt?” I can’t speak, so I just shake my head. Her thumb gently runs along my bottom lip and my eyes close in a haze. “Did you bite your lip?”

  Her tone isn’t scared anymore; its hushed and breathy. I nod and feel her body lowering towards me. Her hand slips behind my neck and tilts my head up slightly. Her other hand holds my cheek, and within moments, I feel her breath on my lips. She hovers above me a moment, as if tentatively checking to see if I’m going to recoil and push her away. I don’t move an inch.

  After a few seconds, her mouth presses against mine. She pulls back a moment and then gently presses her lips against mine again several times, giving me slow soft kisses. She softly nips at my bottom lip, making me inhale deeply, my insides to lurch, and my center to contract. She teases at my lips with her tongue, so I part my lips and give her access to fully kiss me.

  Our mouths move together in a soft and slow kiss that feels like a gentle breath that feeds the hot embers of a dying fire, igniting it into flames. My lifeless hands suddenly become agitated with need to touch her as passion pours through my veins. I run my hands up her smooth thighs and rest them on her hips. Madison releases a small sound at my touch and her body presses down more firmly against me. I run my hands up her back and wrap a hand in her amazing hair while I hold her against me with the other.