"What?" Mandy says looking back over her shoulder at me.
"Nothing. Just taking a personal moment boss man, it is hot out there and you do not seem to know how to pack boxes light. I have no idea how you roped me into helping you move on the hottest of the year." I answer.
Well, at least most of that last statement was true. Except for the fact I had only been there for a moment, I had been staring at her ass for about two minutes before she noticed me watching her pack that box. I think.
Piece of advice: You will find any number of near perfect asses in the world but once asses get around forty you start having to look harder. So, when you find one, especially one in form fitting white shorts, you should take a long, hard look.
Then there is the fact she is Amanda - Mandy since we were kids - and I knew exactly how I got wrangled into this project despite it having been a decade since we had seen each other. So, really almost my entire statement to her was a lie which is weird because I had no intention of lying mostly.
Piece of advice: When that happens you are usually only lying to yourself.
"Ryan, you okay?" She asks with a look of genuine concern. I guess I drifted off there.
"No, no I am fine, just lost in thought."
At least that is true.
"Then will you help me with this box?" Mandy had on her "could you help me please but snap to it look". I had seen that expression open doors, change flat tires, and help move heavy items, like I have been doing most of the day. Afterwards, in its wake very confused men mull about as Mandy goes on down the road. They are left in her dust with their own help and with not one damn thing to show for it.
"We're cousins, Mandy. I have seen that look too often for it to work on me." I picked up the box and headed for my truck.
Who in the hell am I lying to?
Mandy's grandmother and my grandmother had been sisters. The area where we grew up still not being large and our family being anything but small for the area my dad and her mom used to hang out together when they were young in a group still known affectionately in the family as "The Brood". Mainly, it consisted of family members but also some close friends and those that they were dating, some of whom made it to permanent "Brood" status by marrying into it. To this day they still meet for a reunion of sorts about three or four times a year. So, despite the fact Mandy was a little older than me, when I got back from college we palled around and no one thought anything about it. That was just the way it was for a couple years until she got married and moved away and I did the same. "The Brood" apparently did not survive a second generation. Well, I say that and here I am loading boxes destine for our old hometown.
I had already moved back there after my divorce. Apparently, you can go home again.
I am still lying to myself, as I stare at the bed of the pickup and the last of the boxes that would make this load - the third today - if you count the small box truck we hauled earlier.
Her hand touches my shoulder. "Thanks again for helping. I don't know how I would have managed without you. I am hoping to be out by tomorrow."
The first sentence already had my motor in the red.
"Reason? I thought you and Andrew broke up amicably and isn't he away for the week?" I ask.
"Yeah, but I want to be done with it. I am sure he'd like that too."
"Look not to be overly nosy. But since I am helping with the heavy lifting, what happened, you guys seemed good together?" I notice her small but perky tits, which fit her petite frame, seemingly gift wrapped in a yellow tank top. Her sweat causes the light material to stick to her in the best possible ways. For a second there is a cool breeze causing her nipples to stretch the material just enough that they are visible. She is not wearing a bra.
Piece of advice: That thing I said about forty year old asses forget that. Perfect breasts at forty, now there is a feat, they have to battle the weight of the world to stay that way.
Hers are magnificent.
"You named it and we were. We are great friends but after seventeen years, this will sound weird, our chemistry was just that. Add to that his job kept him away and the years pass quicker than you think. Then one day you go this is nice but I want more heat."
"Well apparently we got it. I cannot remember it being this warm ever." The breeze stopped. I could smell her. Not her perfume, not shower gel, we were well passed that stage of the game. She smells sticky, sweet, salty, edible. For a moment we lock eyes.
"Ummmm... Want a beer Ryan?"
"Yes." I do not move or break eye contact. I am not a bad looking guy but I am not the best looker either. Or the biggest. However, I can put out raw animal in quantity and quality. I do alpha-male as well as anyone unless you have a spare astronaut in the room.
You never want to complain but there are hard facts in this world. The fact is that Mandy is the cheerleader, the prom queen, and former Miss "pick any local fair name". I am that guy. He probably wrestled or ran track at your school, was a decent athlete, but not a star. A good guy personally but one that fades in and out of groups. The one that when he is not there for a while someone says, "Remember senior year and that thing that happened - wasn't that totally nuts? Why don't we hang out with that guy anymore? I wonder what is up with him? I should call him and get together." No one calls that guy ever.
