He looked at her and then he closed his eyes as well.
The Earth seemed to suddenly stop to revolve in that fraction of an instant, his breath on her lips felt warm and her fingers moved slowly to entwine with hers.
Her heart was still racing fastly but at that time she had already gotten used to it. She felt his breath getting closer and their lips brushed together, almost touching.
Her vision darkened and her heart dropped in her chest. All she could see was darkness until a memory appeared for an imperceptible second in her mind. Two lips touching. Weirdly enough she remember the taste of those lips so well because those tasted exactly like Cole's.
She leaned even forward, intensifying the kiss. Her hands trembled yet she found the courage to wrap them around his neck and hold it.
She opened her eyes when his taste became too strong, too addicting, and too dangerous.
The water flux of the shower stopped and a few seconds later the door of the bathroom opened.
Claire departed from the familiar kiss, still confused and dazed by that odd flashback she had.
What was that?
Then she realized what happened.
She did it again.
For the second time, she kissed her boyfriend's brother. Soon the feeling of guilt followed.
"Fuck…" she whispered when she heard Brendon's footsteps approaching the dining room.
She pushed the car back so that their extreme closeness wouldn't make him suspicious and then she cleared her voice.
"It's fine. Nothing happened." Cole reassured her seeing the panic growing on her face.
Nothing happened? Did she hear it right? Was he in the same room as her when they kissed? Why would he say nothing happened if a lot had happened in a handful of minutes?
Brendon walked into the living room with his hair still wet.
"Good morning." He said, breaking the embarrassing atmosphere and the quietness in the room.
"Good morning. How do you feel?" Brendon asked since Claire was still quiet.
"I am still hangover. But a bit better. Shower helped. Don't worry, my condition won't affect work."
Cole nodded, "you can take the day off. I will make up an excuse if dad asks."
Brendon shook his head, "it's fine. I need to work to fully recover."
"Alright, we shall go together then."
Cole stood up and gestured with a slight nod for him to go dress up.
He probably did that just to distract him from Claire's paleness.
When Brendon left Cole leaned closer to Claire and whispered, "please don't feel bad about this. He knows you don't love him, yet he keeps you trapped. He is the one in the wrong, not you."
"I'll break up with him anyways. I don't want to hide."
"Are you sure?"
Their gazes met for a second, a weird light appeared on her big eyes. She nodded, "yes, I am sure."
"Then you shall."
Brendon headed back to the living room so Cole anticipated his appearance and stood up to offer Claire an encouraging smile.
"See you later." He whispered to her.
Brendon walked in, he didn't notice the way the two of them stared at each other. He kissed his girlfriend on the lips.
"Bye love," Brendon said before waving her goodbye and leaving.
Claire found herself alone in the living room, by herself with nothing but her heart sitting on the chair next to her. She wanted to explore what she felt with Cole because she knew that feeling was special. But the fact he was Brendon's brother was stopping her, making her feel like a bad person. Bad person was minimal compared to how she felt, she felt like she was one of the worst kind of bad people, that kind of person she always thought 'I would never do something like that.' But then she found herself committing the same things she judged.
She always hated cheating but now she became one. Shall she hate herself for that? If yes then why, why did she feel so great? As if her body and her soul were thanking her for something she didn't know yet.
It was weird to describe how she felt at that moment, rather difficult to distinguish the different amount of emotions that shuttled her belly.
When she thought of finally breaking up with Brendon she felt relieved, as if the invisible walls around her finally lowered allowing her to see the light of a new bright life.
Then there was another feeling, buried from all the other emotions, an unknown mysterious feeling. The same feeling that made her heart speed and flatter in her chest.