Wilder Residence

He hadn't expected her to throw her arms around him so suddenly. But it surely was a lovely surprise to have her holding onto him for dear life! He wrapped his arms around her as well and pulled her away from the edge of the bed, snuggling her close to his own body as they kissed. She was so warm that he could happily cuddle up with her and hold her forever...

Or at least until dinner was ready. Either way, Keith was on cloud nine. Eventually, he finally broke the kiss slowly and gazed at her. A slow, warm smile curled his lips and he blushed a little himself. "That was nice." He murmured, a little light-headed and giddy.

Mehi was NOT expecting Keith to put his arms around her and pull her even closer to him....and to still be kissing her. Her blush got deeper still at the feel of his body against hers. She was definitely not used to this kind of attention from ANY boy. She was so embarrassed, she wasn't sure how she should react.

When he pulled back slowly, releasing her from the kiss, and smiled she returned it with a shy smile of her own. She didn't move from her position on the bed. She was still blushing although she wasn't quite as red as she had been. She didn't want to say what she thought...she was just too shy...but she had actually liked the kiss, and she blushed very slightly darker at the thought.

Keith wasn't sure why Mehi wasn't saying anything. Perhaps she had been so surprised by the kiss that it made her speechless. Perhaps she didn't know what to say. It seemed as though she liked it... "Did I do all right?" Keith asked her cautiously.

Mehi looked at Keith, blushing. He was asking HER if he had done okay?? She was so embarrassed. What should she say? and HOW should she word it? The truth was, she thought he did more than okay, and she blushed again as she replied to him. "um..yes...I would say you did all right..."

She smiled shyly again, hoping he would realize the way she'd said he did "all right" meant it was quite a bit better than just all right. She might not have known if he liked her before....but this didn't really leave much room for doubt about that now. You don't just kiss someone you consider a friend like that..... She did think he was nice and she WAS starting to like him quite a bit. Maybe she should just try and relax around him more. Mehi stayed close to him, not really wanting to move away from him yet.

He grinned a little playfully at her. "Just 'all right'?" He repeated, keeping her close to him, "Do you think I should try again? I think I should try again." With that decision, the long haired boy captured her lips in another chaste kiss, this time stroking his fingers over her cheek gently as he did.

Mehi hardly got a chance to reply to his question, which she tried to do quickly. "no..not just......" was all she got out before he interrupted her train of thought, almost as if he hadn't really expected an answer, and kissed her again.

She blushed again as he touched her cheek, and she involuntarily put one hand over the hand that he was using to touch her face with. The only thing she could honestly say if he asked her about it would be that she thought he was an amazing kisser.....Her blush was really a practically permanent feature on her face now. She was surprised he'd kissed her again, but this time she managed to respond to it. Mehi tried hard not to think about what he was doing and then she started thinking about if one of his brothers came in the room. She blushed harder, remembering the young boy's comment from earlier.

When he felt her hand close over his, he smiled against her lips and parted his slightly. Tentatively, he slowly sucked her lower lip between his and flicked his tongue across it. His other hand pressed against the small of her back, holding her to him protectively. He wanted to stay just like that if he could, but the sound of oncoming footsteps had him pulling back a few seconds before Bobby came barreling into the room.

"Bongo, Mom says dinner's ready, so you two should come eat." The little boy said, slightly out of breath from having ran in. He looked from Mehitahelle to Keith and to their positions on Keith's bed, then bluntly announced, "You're doin' it wrong. Fred says you gotta be naked when you have sex." Rolling his eyes at Bobby's blunt advice, Keith corrected him, "We're not having sex. We just kissed. Go tell Mom we'll be out in a couple minutes." Bobby shrugged and raced back out the door, leaving the two lovebirds in the bedroom. "Sorry about that." Keith apologized.

Mehi was a little embarrassed by how closely Keith was holding her, but she managed a smile. She leaned into his embrace so slightly it would have been very hard to detect her movement, before hearing the footsteps and mirroring Keith's action of moving back, her shyness overcoming her once more.

She closed her eyes in embarrassment at the boy's comment, shaking her head slightly. Her blush was still tinting her cheeks red. That kid sure had a lot of energy the way he zoomed in, commented and ran back out. Opening her eyes again, she said, "It's okay....It wasn't as big of a shock as it was the first time," She had been referring to both the first comment the boy had made, and the first kiss Keith had shocked her with, since she didn't know if he had meant he was sorry about his little brother's comment, or the fact that he had interrupted what he had been doing. She sat back a little, absently fiddling with the ends of one of her braids.

She was surprised to realize she was rapidly losing her shyness around Keith-this was the only time she'd ever even begun to shed it so quickly-around a boy anyway-with girls she usually got over the shyness within a few hours. She was even able to look him in the face again, without him forcing her to this time.

She blinked and let her gaze travel over his face, feeling a little braver...at least enough that she felt more comfortable with looking at him. It probably helped things that he had told her he liked her looking at him. However..she still couldn't do it without blushing, if her red face was any indication.

As of right now it really seemed Keith would be the only one to see her less shy side for a long time. She wished she knew how long it would take until she had completely lost this extreme shyness. She knew she would be horribly shy once she was back out there with his family and she reddened just thinking about being around all those people again.

With a gentle smile, Keith stood from the bed and offered her a hand up. Once she took his hand, he pulled her to her feet and led her towards his bedroom door...or at least, where the door should have been. All doors in the house - with the exception of the bathroom door and the ones leading outside - were missing. Instead, a curtain hung in it's place.

"In case you're wondering," Keith began conversationally, "Dad took off the doors because people kept slamming them. We all kinda like it though. It really brings a family closer when there's little privacy." As they walked out to the dining table, Keith lowered his voice so that only she could hear, "Don't worry, they all like you, I can tell. Eventually, you'll get used to all of them and then you won't be so shy anymore."

Mehi followed Keith to the door, feeling awkward about the fact that he was still holding her hand. She was currently looking at the floor, blushing, as he pulled her along.

She looked up at him when he started explaining the lack of a door to the room, and she laughed slightly. Mehi could definitely imagine, with all the people in the house, the constant door slamming that had happened. That sounded like something her oldest sister might actually do if the doors in their house were slammed at all. Lali hated people slamming doors, even going as far as threatening to remove the doors on their parents' house when someone even closed a door a little hard...not even being a slam. Mehi tried not to let a shy smile slip out as she spoke. "My oldest sister used to threaten us with that if a door was only closed a little hard." she looked at him. "And it was never a real door slam either."

As they went out to the table, Mehi did her best to keep from looking down at her feet, and she tried her best to keep her blush from becoming too deep of a red color. Of course the poor, shy girl failed miserably. "I hate being so shy." she said. "You actually think they like me?" she asked curiously and also a bit nervously. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to so many people." she shook her head, once again sending her long brown hair into her eyes.

Keith smiled at the girl, a gentle light in his eyes as he pulled out a chair for her. "Of course they like you, Mehi. If they didn't, you wouldn't be having dinner with us right now." He pulled out a chair for himself next to hers and took his place at the table. As she took her seat, Keith - and all the other members of the family - all started serving the food. As she sat there timidly, they dished out some of everything at the table until her plate was heaping with delicious, home cooked food.

Tonight they were having chicken, biscuits and gravy with garlic mashed potatoes and fresh steamed peas. The chicken was hot, juicy and tender. Each bite was full of flavor and spurred the taste buds to consume more. The biscuits were golden, flaky and light. The gravy was artfully seasoned and made from the juices from the bird that had been slowly cooking. The food was distributed quickly and efficiently, with everyone helping each other so they could enjoy it sooner. Elaine said a quick prayer of thanks and then they all dug in.

Mehi stood as still as a statue, as Keith pulled the chair out for her. She was a little embarrassed by it, but she sat, smoothing her shorts down, and setting Boo securely in her lap. She said, "Thank you..." very quietly to Keith, still with a slight blush on her face.

She seriously doubted she would be able to eat everything that had been piled on her plate...it really looked like a small mountain had been just dropped in front of her, or possibly a backhoe had been used to heap the large amount of food there in front of her-at least to her that was how it had appeared-and she had nervous butterflies fluttering around in her stomach that just wouldn't quit. She hoped she wouldn't make a fool of herself.

She found herself having to brush her hair out of her face again,and being frustrated with it, she let her breath out sharply, through pursed lips, blowing her hair straight up and causing it to flutter around her face, falling back in its' original position, but not quite covering her eyes this time.


She looked around at the many happy faces around the table with interest. She was very interested in the way the kids' mom said a prayer....her own sisters never did that. She would have to mention that to Lali and Keylee. When the prayer had been said, Mehi shyly started eating very slowly, pushing the food around on her plate with her fork. The same way she wasn't used to being around so many people, neither was she used to eating in front of so many.

She tried to avoid looking at anyone, but she couldn't keep her eyes on the huge and intimidating amount of food piled on the plate. She did manage a single comment, looking up at Keith's mom with a small smile. "You're a really good cook." she said. "My sisters hate cooking." She looked down, blushing. She still felt so weird talking to them. She didn't feel comfortable yet. She stopped the commenting, knowing she sounded like a strange person. But she always felt kind of out of it, being so shy.

She didn't want them to think she was ungrateful or that she didn't like the food, because she did. She continued to eat, sneaking quick looks around the table at the family. Mehi then realized she was taking more quick looks to her side where Keith sat, and a hot blush covered her cheeks. She was really feeling self conscious at that moment, and she kept her eyes on her plate, thankful that her hair was able to cover her face when she needed it to.

"Why thank you, honey!" Elaine said proudly, sipping at her drink, "I'm glad you like it. Eat what you can. We can always wrap up what you can't finish and send it home with you. I can't see letting a nice young lady go home hungry." Placing the glass on the table, she proceeded to eat. She moved with a distinct ladylike grace, but it was obvious that she wasn't a shy woman. Mama Wilder was a woman who wasn't afraid to show people who she really was.

It was a trait that definitely ran in the family. They surprisingly all had decent table manners, but not a single one of the Wilders were shy. Dinner conversation was more of a cloud of noise, rather than a streamlined conversation. Al was talking across the table to his wife about how work had gone for him today, informing her that one of his co-workers, Bill, had gotten busted for an illegitimate meeting with an unknown broad in the ladies room. Terry and John were bantering over how to play the drum solo in Aerosmith's song "Train, Train", disagreeing on whether he was supposed to come in during the guitar portion or after.

Casey and Raph, on the other hand had decided that they wanted to work on learning more Motley Crue songs, starting with the song "Girls, Girls, Girls". They had started singing the chorus between bites of dinner and were simultaneously swaying back and forth in their seats. Joanna was clapping along with them, enjoying the way their voices harmonized. Bobby was trying to explain to the little girl that the songs was about strippers, but Elaine had stopped him before the word 'strippers' could get out of his mouth, much to Fred's amusement.

Keith looked over at Mehitahelle, catching one of her glimpses at him. He smiled at her and took a sip of his drink, reaching over to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You know, if you want, you can bring your sisters over for dinner too next time, since they don't like cooking." He told her, voice soft, but still audible over the jabbering of his family in the background, "We like having big dinners. And we like you."

Mehi was so shy about actually talking to the family, even though they did seem nice. She still didn't trust the boy that had smiled at her earlier and she managed to keep an eye on him without making it obvious. He might have looked like he was in a good mood...but Mehi did NOT like, or TRUST him one bit. She just smiled very slightly at the woman and blinked. "o...okay." she said.

She listened silently to all the chatter around her, getting quieter and quieter all the time. Mehi really was feeling overwhelmed by all of them, just as she knew she would. She hated that feeling so much.She wanted to disappear. Stupid shyness.

She was concentrating so hard at trying to go unnoticed that when Keith smiled at her she just stared, his smile affecting her quite badly and causing another blush to appear on her face. She was so affected by the smile that she almost didn't realize his hand was also on her shoulder. Mehi could only think one thought. at least he didn't say HE likes me.. She knew that she'd really be blushing if she ever heard that from him. He really did seem to be TOO sweet, and the thought embarrassed her greatly.

Wait a minute...did he just tell her she could bring her sisters??All THREE of them? They would laugh at her blushing if the saw her..no...bad idea..and what if they all liked TAYLOR better than her? Mehi thought all of her sisters were better looking than she was. Why was Keith so nice to her? And just exactly WHY had he kissed her when they had been in his room? For some reason her mind wasn't able to let go of that and her face reddened at the memory. She hoped no one would pick up on her thoughts. Mehi knew that her sisters would have picked up on it in seconds.

She felt her face steadily get hotter, her long, hair partially over one soft brown eye as she choked out "I...like...you..too...." She didn't know his family but she DID like SOME of them. She pulled her feet under her char and held Boo against her one handed. Mehi had no idea how pretty she actually looked and she would have been quite shocked if she could have seen herself from Keith's eyes.

"Well, I should hope you like me too." Keith chuckled softly, "I know we haven't really known each other for long, but I'll give you our number if you give me yours. You can call anytime and we could maybe walk around the park or the school if you want." After they finished dinner, each member of the family started cleaning up the table so it would go faster. It wasn't long before everything was taken care of and the two of them were free to do as they pleased. Keith turned to Mehitahelle with a questioning look. "What time do you need to be home by?"

Mehi blushed again. That had not been what she hoped he would pick up on when she said she liked his family. But it was true. She DID like Keith. She offered him a shy smile, through her deep blush and said, "s..s..sure...If you..want to." Mehi knew she would never be brave enough to call Keith. "You....really want my phone number?" She was very surprised at that, but she was curious too. "okay..." she agreed. she shyly fished a small piece of light blue paper out of her bag, along with a pencil and carefully wrote the number down for him, wondering if he would take it. She knew she would love spending any time she could with him, doing just about anything that they could think of.

She was embarrassed enough just talking to him...but she would be okay if he called her.  Mehi was amazed at how little time it had taken for the table to be cleaned and she said, "Well...my sisters aren't usually home until late....I don't think they'll care as long as I call them." She brushed her light brown hair back, a shy expression on her face. A few moments later, after some thought she said "I think I'll do that so they don't worry. I doubt Lali would, but Keylee might hunt me down."

Mehi laughed a little at the thought of Keylee on a rampage looking for her, forgetting her shyness for a moment as a big smile lit up her face. She did love her sister but sometimes she could be over protective. "they've probably already eaten as well." Mehi stood up, wondering what Keith wanted to do now that they had finished eating, and she turned to his mother, and said "That was a very nice meal."

Elaine thanked her for the compliment while Keith took the light blue piece of paper from Mehitahelle gently and put it in his inner vest pocket. "There, now I can keep it close to my heart." He remarked, pleased he now had her phone number. He sauntered over to an end table and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a stack of yellow post-it notes. Quickly scribbling his name and number on the top paper in flowing handwriting, the long-haired boy handed it over to the shy girl. He certainly hoped she wouldn't be too shy call him and decided that if she was, he'd call her every day. Eventually, she'd be comfortable enough to call him as well.

As for Mehi's sisters not being home until late, well that was both surprising and a little upsetting. Was she left alone often? And if so, how could her sisters do that to her? No wonder she was so incredibly shy! In Keith's eyes, leaving a beautiful maiden alone was unacceptable. "Well, whenever you're alone, fair one, you just call me up. I'll be more than happy to keep you company." The poet said, gently grasping her hands as though he was making a sacred vow to her, "Why don't you give your sisters a call to let them know you're okay? Then we can decide what else to do."

Mehi blushed still more at Keith's words and she tipped her head, the soft brown hair falling across her eyes, and red cheeks. She was so embarrassed at the mention of anything that had once been in her possession being important enough for this wonderful boy to keep near his heart, which seemed to be as kind and gentle as the breeze that had cooled her face earlier in the day.

Blushing even more furiously Mehi accepted the post it note with a whispered thank you, fingers shaking slightly, out of sheer nerves. she was already very embarrassed but when he mentioned her being alone...and asking her to call him, saying he would keep her company.....when her sisters left her alone....as they so often did, her breath caught, thinking of the two of them alone together, causing an even deeper blush to cross her face. when she felt him take her hands, she blinked at the warmth of his hands holding hers, and every sense she had was so focused on him she almost didn't register the other people in the room, as she looked shyly into his eyes, her brown eyes looking straight into them. still blushing and not taking her eyes from his face, she slowly pulled one hand free from his and reached into her pocket, revealing a cell phone..a gift Keylee had given her so that she could keep in contact with them.

Dialing her sister's phone number without looking at the buttons, which she had long since memorized, she held the phone up to her ear, blinking as she waited for her sister to answer the phone. when she did she softly told Keylee she was at a friend's and that she would be home later...as Keylee informed her younger sister thatshe would likely not be home and she should let herself into the house since the others were not home either. Hanging up the phone she told Keith and his family what her sisters had said.

"Well, you can stay here as long as you like honey. When you're ready to head home, just say so and we'll drive you there. We can't let you run around in Samo at night." Elaine smiled, carrying the remainder of the dishes to the sink. Keith turned to Mehitahelle, placing his hand on her shoulder. "If you don't mind, I have a suggestion for what we could do." He began, motioning towards his and Bobby's shared bedroom, "I would simply love to draw you. You see, I'm quite skilled in art, along with music. May I?"

Mehi hid her face as the woman spoke to her, embarrassed about her sisters' words to her and the fact that keith's family felt they had to see her home safely. She wasn't used to such attention from anyone other than her sisters and parents.

At the feel of Keith's hand on her shoulder she almost was unable to keep from jumping a bit from the nerves. She really thought he seemed like a nice boy....and he appeared so quiet. As he looked at her, and spoke Mehi blushed deep red. He wanted to draw her? But she wasn't amazing looking. Just average. But if he would like to, she would let him, it was so cute the way he had brought it up, and she wasn't ready to leave yet anyway. Mehi would never admit it but she was really loving being with him already. He was so sweet, and she also thought he was the cutest boy on the planet.

Her blush growing deeper, she gave Keith a soft, shy smile and told him "o..okay." she looked away, her brown eyes not looking at him right then, her mind working overtime, her thoughts going back to earlier when he had kissed her, her pulse now going a mile a minute. She gently raised one hand to her face, pushing her soft brown hair back from her pretty eyes.

She...she was agreeing? Most girls were either too self-conscious to be drawn or would insist he write them poetry instead. But now that Mehitahelle was going to be posing for him, he nearly jumped in excitement. A happy grin lit up his whole face and he tilted up his gatsby cap so it wouldn't hinder his view. "Great, lets go!" Keith said, taking her by the hand and leading her back to his room.

Once they were there, the young artist straightened up his bed, smoothing the blankets and fluffing the pillow for her so that she could be comfortable while posing for him. He motioned towards the bed and went to the desk in the room, shuffling through the piles of stuff on it until he found his sketchbook, a kneaded eraser and some graphite pencils. "Okay, go ahead and get comfortable on the bed. I'll put you in position and start drawing once you're ready."

following Keith slowly, Mehi couldn't stop a shy smile at the happy expression on his face, as she looked into his beautiful eyes. Could this sweet boy possibly be any cuter? It was so obvious he was a genuinely nice boy and Mehi loved that. She still only felt comfortable around him and she blushed as she followed him into his room, clutching Boo in her arms.

Watching Keith fix his bed she tipped her head, letting her soft brown hair fall into her brown eyes and waited as he finished, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, a curious expression flitting briefly across her cute face as she took the opportunity to watch him, now that she could look at him without risk of being caught staring as his attention was on the bed.

As he gestured at the bed and turned to go to his desk, Mehi tore her gaze from him and moved to the bed, climbing a little awkwardly up onto it, facing him as she pulled her legs up under her and snuggled her teddy bear close, resting her small chin on Boo's head, her deep, soft brown eyes gazing over at Kieth shyly, the soft red blush still on her cheeks and spread across her nose, as she waited for him to tell her what he wanted her to do. Mehi felt shy and nervous, but also excited and curious. She liked being with this boy and was embarrassed at this thought. From her position on the bed she said, in a shy voice as soft and quiet as a gentle breeze, "okay...I'm ready Keith. what do you want me to do?"

He stared openly at her for a moment in awe. He hadn't even needed to pose her! Mehi had just sat down comfortably on his bed and she looked so beautiful and so perfect that it took several moments for Keith to realize he was gaping at her with his mouth hanging open. Notably embarrassed, he clamped his mouth shut before he did something stupid - like start drooling or something. "I j-just want you to sit there. You look b-beautiful just like that." The shy boy stammered nervously as he fumbled with his graphite pencils and dropped a couple of them on the floor.

When he had them picked up and had finally calmed his nerves enough to start drawing, things changed. His demeanor shifted completely into a calm, collected artist who didn't hesitate in his work. Each stroke of the graphite was filled with purpose, each line told a story. His shading pulled her image from the paper, transforming the sketch into a portrait of the little brunette with her favorite bear. When he was done, he flipped the sketch pad to show her the portrait he had drawn with loving care.

Blinking, Mehi wondered why Keith was staring at her with the expression he had on his face, his mouth open...did she really look so bad that she'd shocked him speechless? then when he spoke, she blushed beet red at his words and she snuggled boo closer to her. Seriously....how could any boy think little mousy Mehi was beautiful? She shook her head, sending a few wavy strands of hair into her eyes, a small smile on her face

Mehi had started to readjust herself so she could get down off the bed and pick the pencils up for him, but before she had gotten out of position, he'd already scooped them up. she blushed deeper at the the thought that she was seriously about to put herself in closer proximity to him.

Mehi could tell the exact moment when he relaxed, and she watched him carefully as he drew, her gaze taking in everything from the way his hand moved across the paper to the glances he kept taking at her, making sure everything was as he wanted it. When he finished the drawing and showed it to her she blushed again. How could the pretty girl he'd drawn possibly be her? She looked from the picture up into his face, her cheeks still covered in a soft blush. She rested one finger on the paper and gave him a soft smile, her eyes not leaving his face. "That's....how you see me? But..I'm nowhere near that pretty...." she looked away from him, embarrassed, her long hair in her face again, effectively covering her blushing cheeks. "It's....a beautiful drawing." she said very softly, running one hand through her hair and holding onto boo with the other.

"I draw what I see." The soft-spoken artist said simply, "The drawing is beautiful because the girl who posed for me is beautiful." He gave her a shy smile as he put the sketchbook back down on his desk. Turning back towards her, he brushed the stray strands of her out of her face. Mehi had such lovely brown doe eyes and Keith absolutely loved to see them. It was such a battle to keep the strands of hair from blocking them from view. Perhaps there was something he could do to keep them from continuing their reign of tyranny...

Reaching forward, Keith brushed her cheek gently with his hand and held it for a moment, simply enjoying looking at her. He smiled sweetly and climbed up onto the bed as well, sitting in front of her. Taking both her hands with his, he held them and asked in an innocent sounding voice, "Mehi...once we get to know each other better and are more comfortable together, would you like to sleep with me?"

Of course, Bobby had walked in at the tail end of the question and hauled ass back out of the room. "Moooooooom! Keith just asked his girlfriend to have sex with him!" The little boy called loudly, to his mother's unamused disapproval. "Score!" The twins chorused together over Fred's chuckling. "Who gives a shit?" John muttered bluntly, followed by an immediate, "OW!! Shit, Mom! Not my hair!"