Not a Child Anymore

Rae woke up slowly, her head felt like it was trying to implode on itself. She wished it just would, it would make the pain more bearable. The sunlight was beating in through the windows and she glanced around her not realizing where she was or how she\'d gotten there. The clock on the wall said it was 12:30. She slowly inched her way up from the bed and realized that she was stark naked. She didn\'t remember removing her clothes, nor did she recognize this room, although she assumed it was another room in the house, probably the master bedroom judging from the size of the bed. Rae didn\'t even want to start to think about she had come to be in this room instead of the one she was sharing with Jeff.

She had just started thinking about testing out her legs and going to find David when he came bustling into the room, not bothering to knock and startling her. She dove under the covers and he said, \"Well, I see you\'re awake finally. You really gave me a scare.\"

She poked her head out to ask him hesitantly, \"So what exactly happened last night? Why am I in here and not in my room?\"

\"Well, you certainly don\'t waste any time getting to the point,\" he said, chuckling. \"You passed out last night somewhere between 5 and 6 glasses of wine. I was concerned there might have been some sort of bad reaction to the wine so I put you in here. You were burning up so I stripped you and made sure you were okay for the night. I slept on the couch in the other room.\"

Rae wasn\'t really sure about how she felt that David had seen her naked, but he did have a wife and a daughter, so he would probably know best. Also, his explanation would explain why she had a pounding headache and she was thrilled that he was keeping his voice down around her.

When she didn\'t respond to his assessment of the activities of last night, David moved towards the closet, pulling out a giant terry cloth robe and laid it on the edge of the bed. He excused himself so she could have some privacy and said that he would start on some breakfast for them. \"Closer to lunch, though, since it\'s past noon,\" he joked.

Rae smiled weakly and watched him leave the room and shut the door behind him. She grabbed the robe and tied it around her, and set off in search of a bathroom to use. There was one connecting to the master bedroom so she didn\'t have to look for long. She splashed some water on her face and frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Sleep still clouded her eyes and her hair was badly in need of a brushing. She was half way down the hallway to her bedroom for some clothes and a hairbrush when she was called back for breakfast: bacon, eggs, and pancakes.

She grabbed a chair and sat down at the kitchen table while he bustled around the kitchen, putting everything they would need out on the table. When Rae offered to help, David turned her down, stating that he knew where everything was, and it would go a lot faster if she let him do it. Finally they began eating and they avoided speaking about the night before by mutual assent. Instead, they spoke of plans to be made during their stay at the cabin. There was a pool in the yard outside, in-ground and quite long, that she wanted to check out before she did anything else. So when they finished breakfast and all the dishes had been cleaned up, she went to her room and got changed into her bathing suit and swim cap, goggles and towel in hand and went off in the general direction of the pool.

Rae had just started doing laps when she heard a splash behind her that could only be David getting in. She spun to greet him, but she was pulled underwater by him grabbing ahold of her legs. They both came up sputtering, David looking a little worse for wear after getting kicked in a shin. Rae apologized to him, but explained that she had a fear of drowning, and didn\'t like to be dragged under like that. David just laughed and rubbed his shin.

She resumed swimming and David puttered around the pool, sometimes swimming underneath her and waving, with a different funny expression on his face. Rae tried not to laugh because it could be potentially dangerous in water, and more than once she came up chocking on chlorinated water. Finally she gave into temptation and began splashing water at David, who had been splashing her for the last 5 minutes.

She sent a giant wave his way, which he wasn\'t expecting, and spent about a minute trying to get the chlorine out of his eyes. Once he had recovered, though, it was a full-on attack. Rae had an advantage because of her goggles, and she would dive under and set him off balance, and be ready to pummel him when he resurfaced. She got tired, though, and when he next resurfaced she told him she was going to rest on the side. He looked disappointed but didn\'t object, so she went over to the shallow end, rested her head against the concrete sides and shut her eyes, feeling the sway of the water\'s current. She had just started to relax when she felt hands on her waist and opened her eyes to come face to face with David. He was inches away from her face and said, \"Boo,\" with a smile.

He wrapped his arms around her and brought her in closer, pressing her up against his body in a sort of embrace. Rae\'s arms were trapped at her sides as he bent down for a kiss. She knew what was going to happen but couldn\'t bring herself to stop it. When David\'s lips finally touched her own she opened her mouth to him, allowing him entrance. The kiss went on for about a minute before she seemed to come to her senses and slipped out of his grasp. She put her goggles back on as she went and began to lap swim, while David got out of the pool, obviously trying to hide an erection. Rae pretended not to notice.

Rae swam for the next 45 minutes, almost in punishment for what had just occurred. She didn\'t want to think about it beyond the fact that she had kissed someone, not to mention everything that he meant to her and her family. It was just too much to handle, so when she got out and took a shower, the kiss was forced completely from her mind and she instead focused on what she could do in Orlando later on that day.