MORE THAN A FRIEND PART-9

Dec 14, 2007 - 21:12 PM PST

Early Saturday morning, Andre awakened feeling a bit stiff from sleeping upright all night. Careful not to wake Cindy, he quietly slipped out of the house and went home to shower and change. That evening he returned with his black swim trunks in hand. They would be using the pool sometime after dinner.

As a special treat, Andre cooked lasagna for them. As he prepared the food, Cindy and Ashley set the table with Mavis’ American folk art stoneware and Oneida utensils. Little Eric rewound the movies.

After dinner, they relaxed for an hour in the den, giving their meal a chance to digest. The kids watched more TV while Andre and Cindy sat on the couch and took a leisure walk down memory lane as they reviewed a few family photo albums that Mavis had on the mahogany bookcase in the farthest corner of the room.

“Ooo…I remember this day,” Cindy said, pointing to a picture of her, Mavis, Andre and Tim. They were standing near the newly dug pool in the Wells’ backyard. “Tim had on some Jack Tripper shorts that day.” She chuckled, referring to the extremely tiny blue gym shorts that Andre’s brother had worn. They reminded her of the outfits that one of the characters used to wear on a seventies TV show called Three’s Company.

“Come and knock on my door. We’ve been waiting for you…” Andre sang, laughing as he recited the show’s theme song.

Cindy’s erupted in deep belly laughter at Andre’s wit. “Regal Beagle,” she added in between guffaws, referring to the name of the bar that Jack Tripper and his two female roommates used to frequent.

The two adults laughed so hard that they soon captured the attention of the TV watching children in the room. Soon Ashley and Little Eric wanted to know what the mirth was about this time. It seems that their Auntie Cindy was always laughing about something when Andre was around.



Around 8pm Cindy turned the pool lights on and took the kids to their bedrooms to change. She dressed Little Eric in a pair of red nylon volley trunks. Ashley, she dressed in a pink camikini. Giving them both a towel, she instructed them to wait for her in the den while she changed.

Then quickly dressing in a peach-colored textured tank top-styled swimsuit with a floral mesh wrap, Cindy grabbed extra towels and flotation arm rings for the kids and re-joined the rest of her companions in the den.

Andre’s eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets when he saw Cindy in that swimsuit. She looked outstanding and the sudden ache in his body told him that he needed to get into the awaiting cold water outside right away.

“Let’s go,” Andre said a bit on the hoarse side. He didn’t trust himself to say anything more than that as he discreetly lowered the big beach ball in his hands to his waist and turned around. Then leading the way outside, he quickly jumped into the pool, allowing the brisk liquid to bring serenity to his body and mind.



In the pool, they played dolphin ring toss and water basketball. When it was Cindy’s turn to dunk the ball, Andre stood to guard her. As she approached the net, his hand went up to block her shot and accidentally made contact with her soft bosom. Inhaling sharply, Andre promptly removed his hand and stood completely still, his pulse racing with excitement.

Feeling the unexpected, yet delectable sensation of his hand on her body, Cindy involuntarily dropped the ball and felt her body lean against Andre’s broad muscular chest of its own accord. Her softness against his hardness was heavenly for the both of them and his steadying hand on her back felt more like a tender caress. Resisting the strong urge to lick the dripping water from his mocha chest, Cindy soon found herself in an internal tug of war as she fought this intense attraction to her childhood friend.

Get a hold of yourself, girl, she scolded herself. Although Cindy was thrown completely off guard by the strong emotions she was feeling, she did recover enough to quickly exit the pool, taking the kids inside with her.

As Andre watched her leave, he felt a huge sense of loss. He’d wanted to hold Cindy forever. Suddenly just standing in the cold water wasn’t enough to calm him down, so Andre decided to swim a few laps across the pool in order to work off the rigid tension in his body.



After a quick shower and change, Cindy made her way back towards the den. Enroute she overheard the kids talking to Andre. That was nothing new. He always conversed with her niece and nephew about something or the other. But it was what they were talking about this time that caused her to pause right outside of the doorway to listen without being seen.

“When are you going to marry Auntie Cindy,” asked Little Eric. He had to lean his head to the side to look up at the tall man.

“Why do you ask that?” Andre replied, bending down to Eric’s level. The young lad eyes were surprisingly very serious.

“Because we want you to be our uncle,” Ashley answered for her brother. “And because you love her.”

Good God, even the kids can see it. Why can’t Cindy? Andre sighed inwardly, not sure what to say now.

Suddenly reentering the room, Cindy declared, “Of course Dre loves me. I’m his baby sister.” The rust-colored jersey short-set she wore was casual and very smart for the warm weather. Yet at that moment, Cindy’s outfit seemed smarter than her, because it was obvious that she was the only one in the room who didn’t have a clue. The other three people in the den just looked at each other and shrugged.