Challenge 2

750 words or less
A forbidden moment
A fright
A penguin

I remember being in the kitchen of the lake house that summer morning, I had just turned 21 and my parents had given me a party to end all parties the night before.  The funniest thing was I was probably the most sober of everyone.  I stood on my toes and reached up into the cupboard for a coffee mug when I felt arms slip around my waist from behind.  I jumped and for a second thought about spinning around and crashing the mug into whomever's head was close, but then immediately caught the scent of the person standing behind me.  "Harry!  You scared the shit out of me!"  I exclaimed as I turned around to face him.  Escaping the clutches of his arms.

"Sorry, Love."  He chuckled looking down at me.  He was a good half a foot taller than I was.  "But how could I resist with you reaching up, and your shirt showing a peek of the skin underneath."  I turned around and saw him lick over his lips.  I moved out of the way just before his lips caught mine.

"Harry, we've talked about this.  We can't do this."  I said setting my mug on the counter by the coffee pot.

"Sasha, she's been gone nearly three years now.  Don't you think she'd want us to be happy?"  He asked.  He always asked.  Only the time kept growing.

Harry was my big sister's boyfriend.  Big sister was used loosely as she was only a little over a year older than I was.  I was the oops baby that wasn't supposed to happen so quickly.  We grew up almost as twins.  We did everything together.  Harry became part of the family after they had been dating for awhile.  He was around a lot.  When Sierra took her own life almost three years ago, he was the main reason I got through it.  That I was able to survive.  My parents were a mess at the time, who could blame them?  They didn't know how to pull themselves through, and they really didn't know how to deal with an 18 year old who was as lost as anyone could be.

Harry was going through his own guilt.  No one saw it coming.  The two of us were closer to her then anyone, and neither of us realized where she had gotten in life.  Sierra was a very private person.  There were things even I didn't know.  Things that surprised Harry when we were going through her stuff.  We got through it together, and grew closer together because of it.

The day we donated the last of Sierra's belongings to charity, was the day our relationship became complicated.  It was an emotional moment to let go of the last of her things.  We each kept one item that reminded us of her.  Of our favorite memories.  And we went to Sierra's favorite spot.  It was here, at the lake.  A hill that overlooked the entire lake.

As we sat there, silently reflecting on Sierra and her life, Harry kissed me.  I was caught off guard.  But it was the most comforting, amazing kiss my 19 year old self had ever felt.

That was two years ago.  And Harry had been trying to convince me ever since that we could be together.  That Sierra would want us together.  But it was forbidden to me.  You don't date your sister's boyfriend.  Even if she was no longer with us.

"I know how long it's been, Harry.  And I still don't think it's right."  I said pouring coffee into my mug.  I turned and looked at him walking up towards me and just as he was about to reach for me, my dad walked into the kitchen.  Harry immediately stepped back and reached for a mug in the cupboard.  I handed Dad my coffee, and he sort of grunted a "thank you" and then disappeared again.

Harry handed me the new mug and then implored me to look at him as he cupped my cheek.  "I want to tell them, Sasha.  I want to tell them that I'm in love with you.  She's not going to come back, Sasha.  We have to move on.  We can move on together."

Just as I was about to say something, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye.  The one thing I kept to remind me of Sierra, her favorite stuffed penguin, fell to the floor.

"She's here, Harry.  She's here."

If anyone has any challenge for me to try, hit me up. Any ideas I use will be posted as a new chapter.

Thanks for reading....