Just Remember to Breathe (Thompson Sisters)

then looked up into his eyes. “Don’t say that, Dylan. Don’t ever say that. I love you, and you love me, and that’s all that matters.”
    He closed his eyes and pulled me into a deep hug, leaning against me. He inhaled deeply, as if taking a breath before going under water, his lips against my hair.
    “If you want to skip the party, it’s fine,” I said. “If you’re not up for it tonight.”
    “No, that’s fine. I don’t want to ruin your night with your sister.”
    I snickered. “I think she’s fully occupied.”
    “Tell you what,” he said. “Let’s do exactly what we planned, okay? Let’s go to the party.”
    “And then you get your surprise, after.”
    He raised his eyebrows. “Oh? A surprise?”
    I bit my lower lip, then whispered in his ear, “Make sure you’re up for a long night, Dylan. I’ve got plans for you.” As I said it, I pressed the full length of my body against him, slowly rising on my toes.
    He took a deep, sharp breath, and I could feel his body respond nearly instantly. My meaning was unquestionably clear to him.
    “Are you sure?” he asked.
    “Oh, I’m more sure than you can imagine, Dylan Paris.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m losing my virginity tonight.”
    He spoke, his voice deep and husky in my ear. “You told me you were waiting for the man you wanted to marry.”
    “I did, didn’t I?”
    Oh. God. I didn’t just say that. I did. Was he going to freak? We’d never, ever gone that far, or even suggested that we might go that far.
    Except that I remembered what Sherman had told me. She was my girlfriend, Drill Sergeant. I’m gonna get her back. I plan to marry her.
    Suddenly I found I couldn’t even breathe, but every nerve ending in my body was alive with excitement; the feel of his strong arms, his chest against mine, his very slight stubble against my cheek. Oh, dear God. He’d gone through basic training two full years ago. I couldn’t believe he’d told his drill sergeant that, that he’d been thinking it, that he’d even fantasized about it that long ago. Of course I had. I’d indulged in so many fantasies… fantasies of us running off to a foreign country together, of us telling my parents to go to hell and setting off on our own. I didn’t guess that he had shared them, and suddenly I regretted that.
    “You didn’t really say that, did you? I’m imagining that?” he asked.
    “What if I did?” I asked, trying desperately to adopt a playful tone. It was belied, though, by the intense grip I held him in. I slid my right hand around his side, then up his chest between us, feeling his heartbeat.
    “Then I might pick you up in my arms and carry you back to the apartment right this second.”
    I gasped and whispered, “Please don’t tempt me; I wouldn’t even consider resisting you.”
    I heard a cough, then a deep-voiced throat cleared.
    Damn.
    I pulled a fraction of an inch away from Dylan and felt my face go red hot. Sherman and Carrie were standing there, looking amused.
    “We got to the street to wave down a cab, and realized you weren’t with us,” she said.
    Sherman laughed, then said, “You guys got lost on the way?”
    “Yes,” Dylan said, sounding winded. “We did.”
    “Come on, lovebirds,” Carrie said. “And by the way… wow.”
    Now I was really blushing.
    I hid my face, and Dylan said, “Be nice.”
    Carrie got a sly grin on her face. “I think my sister is being more than nice enough for the both of us, don’t you?”
    Sherman burst into loud laughter, then she did, and then, the earth shifted in front of me, because she and Sherman high-fived each other.
    “Okay,” I said. “My world just got really weird.”
    Dylan chuckled. “You know, I always thought Sherman was an alien, like from Mars, he’s so freakishly tall. But he looks good next to her. It’s like they’re a couple of ostriches.”
    I giggled, and we put our arms around each other and walked after them. It would be funny if Sherman and Carrie ended up hooking up, though very strange, considering her history. But the two of them were chattering as they walked along as if they’d known each other for years.
    At Broadway we flagged down a cab. Kelly and Joel were planning to meet us at the party, and I couldn’t wait to introduce them to Sherman and Carrie. It was strange: as if I had all these segmented, altogether different parts of my life. Me and Dylan. My family. Me and Kelly. And for the first time ever, they were all