Page 31 of Faking it with my Off Limits Neighbor

The afternoon is drawing to a close, and my grandparents have gone inside to keep warm. A few of the older ones have joined them, but a lot of us are still outside.

“We’ve got to do it,” Geoffrey cries. “It’ll be fun.”

They’ve been talking of playing some games, and all being merry with beer, everyone is up for a little fun. The game my cousin Geoffrey is referring to is blindfolded limbo, and before I know it, someone has retrieved a bamboo cane from somewhere in the garden.

A few of the women offer their scarves to use as blindfolds, and then we’re all ordered to get into a line.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” I say to Charlie.

She beams up at me. “I’ll do it if you will.”

“Seriously? With my height?”

“Chicken,” she mocks with a giggle.

I heave a sigh. “Fine. But I’m more likely to get garroted, and I’ll blame you.”

“You’ll be fine,” she says reassuringly.

“Right. Sure.”

She’s relaxed a lot over the last couple of hours. It might have something to do with the fourth glass of wine she’s finishing off, but I don’t care. Clearly, she was nervous when we first arrived, but she did her very best not to show it. In fact, she’s made me very proud of her.

I know she only agreed to this to make Grandma happy, and I’m still a little annoyed at Milly for putting her in such a position. But I can’t be too annoyed, can I? I’ve loved having Charlie by my side all day.

Cheers go up as the first few go under the bamboo. I turn back to Charlie. “There’s still time to back out.”

“Are you scared you’re going to make a fool of yourself?” She grins.

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Good. That’s the whole point. Relax, Troy. Where’s that inner child of yours?”

I smirk at her, and then I struggle to maintain my smile because, from nowhere, I think of how I left her. I was just a child back then, even though I was nineteen. I should have listened to my gut and stayed. Instead, I let myself be bullied into leaving.

“It’s your turn,” she says, nodding forward.

Someone shoves a scarf into my hand, and I wrap it around my head and tie it firmly.

“Go on, Troy,” someone calls out.

I take another step, bend my back, and feel like an idiot as I walk forward.

A great cheer goes up, which I assume means I made it. When I take the scarf off my face, I turn to see Charlie beaming at me again. Yep. My heart actually skips a beat. Corny, I know, but it’s true.

“Right, we have to put it a bit lower for you, Charlie,” John calls out. “You’re a bit shorter than Troy.”

Charlie laughs, and says, “Go for it.” She then ties the scarf around her head. Flicking her shoes off, she hitches her dress up over her knees so she can maneuver better, and at the sight of her firm thighs, my eyes open a little wider. I just can’t help it.

She bends back with the litheness of a rubber band, miles away from the bamboo, and then we all cheer when she comes out the other side.

Tearing the scarf off, she beams up at me as I stand there watching her. “You see. It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Not at all,” I reply, doing my best to contain myself.

The bamboo gets lower; all of the men are disqualified first, and it comes as no surprise to me that Charlie eventually wins the competition. Someone gives her a bendy straw as her prize, which sends her into a fit of giggles.

It’s past six when we finally decide to leave. The farewells to everyone nearly take a half hour, but we finally escape to the truck, not before Grandma tells me not to be a stranger.

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