Toffee Apple

The box rattled, baubles and other assorted ornaments jarring lightly against one another. Shauna frowned, peering through the clear plastic lid searchingly. "It's in here somewhere, I'm sure of it." Gavin sat on the sofa, flicking lazily through the channels and occasionally snatching glances at her out the corner of his eye. She was a vision tonight. He'd come over for a hearty pre-Christmas drink (though it was still November) and the promise of a movie-night-cum-tree-decorating session; but more often than not he found his gaze drawn to her, far moreso than the baubles or the spindly, half-assembled plastic tree she'd placed next to the window. They'd been the best of mates since the induction day at their University, when by happy coincidence they'd both, in a whirlwind of confusion and anxiety, both sat down at the same table in the common area. Gavin had said something about the state of the decor and, though it wasn't particularly witty, Shauna had been consumed by fits of laughter anyway. They'd stuck together after that. He enjoyed the friendship, he enjoyed her as a friend but he also enjoyed her in ways that went beyond friendliness. Light brown skin, the intensely feminine hourglass figure Gavin had always thought of as just an artefact of clichè filmmakers and uninspired novelists, a voluminous tangle of dark curls that tumbled like a waterfall down her back and over her shoulders...and the eyes: green, a shade that shined like polished emerald in the right light. Yes, there was much about Shauna to admire indeed. Tonight, for example, she was wearing a set of festive drop-seat pyjamas—an all-in-one affair, grey with red and green accents running in swirling candy-cane patterns down the arms, and, most crucially, in a square pattern on the surface of the drop-seat itself. He found himself drawn to that, too; wondering at what lay behind it, tantalising fantasies coming to him in forbidden, erotic spurts of imagination as he sat there. "Can you see it?" She said.

Gavin snapped out of his reverie, looking up from Shauna's body to look at the box she was now rattling in his face. "Mmm? What?" He blinked. Shauna rolled her eyes. "Can you see the topper?"

"The topper?"

"Yes, the topper. The Angel with the plastic wings."

"Oh," he said. "That topper." He leaned forward to inspect the box's contents more closely. Through it he could see the vague shape of her breasts, lightly straining against the chest of her pyjamas. Wonder if...

"Gavin!" Shauna snapped a finger to get his attention. "Do you see it or not?" She had a quizzical look on her face, as if she were wondering just what was distracting him so. Gavin tore his eyes away from her chest and met her gaze. "N-no. Sorry, no. Doesn't look like it's there."

"Huh..." She turned and stooped to place the box at the foot of a stepladder that stood before the tree. The drop-seat creased a little where she bent over, baggy material stretching taut over her magnificent arse. Eyes front, Gavin. Eyes front, he reminded himself. He shouldn't be thinking this...but what if things were different, what if the hatch on that thing just...fell open? What would he see? Did she have underwear on beneath that thing? Surely not, that'd defeat the point of the drop-seat. He'd never seen her arse before, not properly. He'd snatched glances here and there, he'd admired it in his peripheral vision, or smiled knowingly when she'd shown off some new dress or another and twirled on the spot, but he'd never feasted his eyes on the thing itself.

Gavin tried to imagine it, grasping for the closest thing in shape and hue he could think of. Casting his gaze back around the room, he eventually settled on a little box of Christmas Treats half-protruding off the edge of the Kitchen island. A box of mini-Toffee Apples, round and bronzed by the hard shell of Toffee slathered across their surfaces. A Toffee Apple! He thought. That's what she's packing under there—a Toffee Apple!

He turned to look at the tree once more, and was greeted by the sight of Shauna's back as she fussed with another bauble on another branch, that wonderful, wonderful shape beneath her pyjamas just begging to be looked at. Gavin licked his lips, looking up just in time to lock eyes with her as she looked over her shoulder at him, and smiled.

[Author's Note: I always enjoy and appreciate feedback in terms of what's working and what isn't, so please feel free to like and/or leave comments!]