THE FORBIDDEN STEP-SIBLING AFFAIR

***A week back*** Ivy sanders Seated in the comfy openwork-seat, flipping through the pages of the book and occasionally taking notes while at the same time constantly checking the ticking wall clock. I was finishing up my homework upfront to create time for the season finale of trending TV show, Kaleidoscope. The bell rang moments after inking the last word on the page, it was time to close. I quickly packed my stuff into my knapsack and hurried to the door. Our modern library was located on the top floor of the tallest building at Hunt academy and thank God the elevator was working. Even better, there was no one around, perfect environment for those Instagram selfies. That was until I got in and the landing-door was about to shut when he stopped it authoritatively with one arm and walked in. My heart skipped a beat. That was the closest I had been to the legendary Ethan Watson; he was not just another student, no. He was the standard of perfection to all the male folk at school. Rumor had it even some of the younger female teachers had a huge crush on him and the male teachers didn’t like him much for his looks and arrogance and up-close he was an eighth wonder of the world; his hair was natural jell-soaked, short and smooth strands sun-bleached to a lighter blonde, dark eye brows, almond shaped eyes with a grey iris darting his snow-white cornea, his aquiline nose perfectly slanting down to these thin curved lips with a warm smile that clicked on and off. Standing at approximately five feet nine, his body was muscular, his broad chest and ribbed abs were visible from the thin fabric of a plain white cotton T-shirt he had on. And his smell ambrosial. A minute after we started descending silently the lights went off, the elevator shook and we lost our balance, I screamed once shutting my eyes, almost falling flat on my ass but he grabbed and swiftly converted it into a hug. I held my breath, to avoid inhaling his pheromones just in case they made girls go batshit crazy around him. “I got you, afraid of the dark?” His voice was heavy and but smooth and it transcribed into melodies in my ear leaving an echo, the warmth of the air emanating from his mouth my made my left ear tickle and the body heat between us was sending snowflakes in my belly. He went for his phone and once again there was light. “Not much of a talker, I’m Ethan by the way” came the unnecessary introduction, even the birds of knew who he was. “Ivy, thank you” I said clearing my throat as he let me go free. If it was upon me we would have kept hugging, I was feeling lighter, my heart pounding so hard in my chest to an extent I could feel it in my ears. “Nice to finally meet you, sanders…” “You know who I am?” I asked with obvious happiness, call it embarrassing, “Sorry, I’m just super excited a little, you’re kind of a big deal around here you know” “But you’re the student leader, peer counsellor and occasionally top of your class. A role model around here I must say” “Thank you, means a lot coming from you” I wanted to add cheerleader on my social resume but again it wouldn’t have made him notice me so I zipped it. The lights came back on and when the elevator picked up the pace again there was that shake and this time I fell in his hands. Our eyes met and my heart kept pounding, threatening to rip a hole through my ribcage. He was staring though me biting his lower lip, then came that strong urge to just jump right on him and chew those lips off his face leaving him breathless and also so that no one could kiss them again, my mind tried to fight it but the body couldn’t resist the temptation. Ethan possessively grabbed the nape of my neck with one hand and my eyes shut as our lips got drawn closer to one another. Surprisingly, he let me take control of the kiss. My tongue slid through his warm mouth sending ripples of ecstasy throughout my body as our tongues fought for dominance, he rolled his tongue down my throat his hands around my waist while mine buried deep in his back protected by a black leather jacket. The ping sound of the elevator hitting the ground floor cut us short and we both broke free, struggling to catch the next breath of air. We didn’t even look at each other when the hall-door opened and went to different directions. That moment would stick with me for days to come…scratch that, it would haunt me in my dreams and like a virus seep into my conscious every time I was seated alone and leave me smiling to myself like a patient in a psychiatric ward. Love was my sickness and he became the drug that I got addicted to. ********* The inter-schools friendly football match, famously known as the seaside Derby was underway at the Hunt Academy sports arena. We were the fourteen times state football champions, but on that particular afternoon our bitter rivals and neighbors the Werner high school were ahead of us with five points after forty minutes of play. In the last quarter, with less than five minutes of play we needed a turn-around and luckily, we were the offense team and as usual at our hour of need all eyes were on the star-boy. Ethan Watson, future NFL star. The girls and I had spent the entire evening chanting out his name in our beautiful yellow and blue cheer uniforms waving our matching blue and yellow pom poms in the air and dancing, he had a touch down to his name already and we needed another one for bragging rights since it was not a competitive fixture. “Now, Werner school might regret this” the commentator said as the stadium erupted back to life again after a long period of silence, everyone had left their seats, “Two yards away, he makes a skillful throw to Watson. Wait for it…watch him cut through and sprint away from the competition with the agility of a cat, strength of an elephant…” When he touched down with the ball an ear deafening celebration hit the air. The stewards couldn’t control the crowd of students who swarmed in the stadium past the barriers, Ethan was once again flying high in the sky, carried by his team-mates. The game was over, we didn’t need the two points after conversation. While they all saw a hero, a future pro-footballer. My mind drifted back to that moment we shared in the elevator. Sadly, he was acting like nothing happened. We had run into each other a few times and not even a wave of a hand or a smile from him, I was back to being invisible except this time it hurt. Yet, No surprise there. He was Ethan after all, girls were throwing themselves on him and I was just another girl on the long list of girls he had kissed because he could. But again, why was I raising the bar so high? Not to degrade myself here but I did not look like the kind Ethan would have wanted to kiss twice. Don’t get me wrong, I was beautiful but not just super model kind of beautiful, never won a beauty pageant and my social media presence was shaky with less than a thousand combined followers, make up and those long nails, designer bags and classy dressing codes were strangers to me. And that was his taste for sure. “Girl, we just won can you wipe away that smirk off your face!” Ophelia said shaking the hell out of me. She was my best friend and confidant, sister and occasionally therapist. “I’m okay” “show it with your pretty face, smile” It never occurred to me that smiling could be hard. I just felt my facial muscles strain to crack a smile. “That’s one ugly grin. Let’s get going, this skirt is too short am starting to feel naked” We headed back to the locker room where we changed back into games kit. Despite the win and being surrounded by joy in the name of Ophelia it was hard not to think about Ethan’s arrogance. Yeah, he probably didn’t remember me and it was not my first kiss but somehow a word from him would have calmed my curiosity. There was a chance he might have felt something like I did. For long it had been my belief that I, of all girls in the great Hunt fraternity was immune to his charms. A belief that was now questionable because after that kiss a weird kind of relief seeped through my heart, it felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulder and I had waited my whole life to share a kiss with him. “So, how does it feel to kiss everyone’s crush?” “Nothing special about it, he is just human” A big lie, why then did I occasionally find myself drooling over his work-out photos on Instagram all alone? For whatever it was worth even Ophelia didn’t have to know the huge impact he had on me. So, the only way to keep my secret was to brush off any praise she tried to bring up in our conversations. So far it had worked well and no I had no idea how long it was going to work in my favor. “Ooh” “You’d wish to kiss him?” “Yeah, but I can’t you know” “And why is that? Last I checked you’ve always talked of how much perfect he is and you once said he can fuck your three holes” She cracked a shy smile looking away through the window. I was riding shotgun while she drove us home in her sedan. “First of all, that was said while drunk and heartbroken and second, it’s all about the girl code bitch, you’ve kissed those lips. That means they are forbidden for me. Funny how I’ll be guiding you to a treasure I can’t possess” “What do you mean lead me?” Though we were age mates Ophelia always reminded me she was the older one. To some extent she patronized me but in a good way. Let’s just say, I was the smarter one in class and she was the smartest in life. Some kind of a guide when it came to life out of my meticulous image that took me years to curate, everyone’s favorite-unfortunately not Ethan’s, perfect daughter, role model and student leader. “Assuming he asks you out…” “He will never ask me out” came the interruption that made my belly ache from hydrochloric acid corrosion of my intestines. “That’s why I used assuming…you’ll need someone to get you ready. Apparently, the last time you were on date what? Dinosaurs still ruled the earth?” “Definitely exaggerating you’re right though, but am sorry to let you know it’s just impossible” “You know why I o.oo1% hate you?” “I had no idea you do but go ahead” “There is a reason why it’s that negligible… you don’t believe in yourself when it comes to relationships and girl I don’t want my kids to start calling you the rich aunty without kids” We both roared with laughter as we got in the estate. A modern village made of modern beautiful houses lined up on both sides of a tarmaced road with a church at the far end. Well mowed, clean emerald green lawns and trimmed hedges made it scream classy yet humble and it brought a kind of ambience that couldn’t be felt anywhere else. That was because it was home. Ophelia and I had grown up there for the better part of our lives. We waved at the neighbors, children were happy to see us, particularly me, shouting happily and even the dogs barked with what seemed to be happiness, most knew me, I was the community dog walker. “It’s too early to talk about kids you know” “Then let someone love you girl, were almost graduating high school” “Thank God this is the end of the road for me” I said jumping out of the car when she pulled over by our house, “Say hi to your mum and dad, goodnight you wretched hoe” “You can’t run forever. At this rate imma fix you on a blind date” “Good luck with that!” I shouted waving her off. She was right though. Perhaps it was time to get out of my cocoon and let someone love me and also forget that failure at love might just be the number one cause of misery in the world. I’m sure it wasn’t going to distract me from everything else. Well, I should have known how complicated it was going to be, and it all started with what was waiting for me behind that door while I was busy catching up with the neighbors.