To Kiss In The Dark

“Hush, this is the best part.” Leelan shoved my shoulder hard, silencing me before I could say anything else. I stared at the TV in boredom, not caring which gladiator shoved which sword through whose stomach. I twirled a lock of deep red hair and sighed, staring at Leelan. He was intently gazing at the violent scene playing out on the screen in front of us. His big brown eyes were wide in interest and his chin rested in one of his strong tan hands. Clad in brown cargo shorts and a black shirt with the sleeves cut off, he smelt like coconut sun screen. We had just ambled out of his pool and inside to watch some movie I was really not interested in.

“Hey you two! I’m gonna lay down in here for a while. Wake me up before you leave Jessena, so I can say goodbye.” I heard Joren yell from one the back rooms. I yelled “Okay” back and returned to staring at the object of my desire. His blonde hair was still drying and his dark lashes were sort of stuck together from the chlorine of the water. I knew today was the day I’d make my move. I’d waited months for Leelan to break up with his obnoxious girlfriend and Joren had conveniently informed me the night before that they’d got in a huge fight on the front porch and he’d heard her peel out of the driveway. I adjusted the top of my pink bikini and scooted closer to him.

“How are you and Gracie doing?” He shrugged and leaned back against the couch. Just thinking of his girlfriend left a bad taste in my mouth. She had bleach blonde hair that she constantly had in chunky spiral curls. Her brown eyes seemed dull to me and her jeans were always way too tight. She had a bad habit of wearing tube tops with nothing underneath. She was always getting terribly drunk and flashing all of his friends. And I couldn’t even count on two hands the number of times she’d cheated on him. Her voice was way to nasal and her lips were so plump it made me nauseous. I hated her and I hated that she had Leelan.

So tonight I was going to change that. They weren’t together and I was going to make him realize what he was missing.

Me.

And all it was going to take was a kiss. I slumped down, leaning casually on his arm. He didn’t think anything of it, we were very affectionate friends. He simply threw his arm over me, letting my head slid into his lap. His hand rested on my bare abdomen, sending shivers up and down my spine. His eyes were still trained on the TV, not even flinching at our sudden physical contact. His other hand landed in my hair, twirling it, probably not even realizing he was doing it. I had just dyed it a brash color of red, instead of my normal mousy brown. Leelan absolutely hated it and said he missed my classic girl next door hair color. I was really debating dying it close to my natural hair.

But we would see what happened tonight.

It began to get dark and the movie was almost over. I let my hand wander down to his that was resting on my stomach. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion as I laced my fingers with his.

“What’s wrong Jess?” He still didn’t dare tear his eyes from the movie as he asked his question. I shook my head rapidly and felt his hand fall from my hair.

“Nothing’s wrong.” His face relaxed again and I sighed in disbelief. He was never going to look down here at me and that was just going to screw up my plan. I coughed and he shifted underneath my frame, but still was captivated by the final fight scenes of the movie. Finally, I decided I was going to have to take this into my own hands completely. It was apparent there was going to be no help from him. I scooted up until I was sitting directly in his lap. I blocked his view of the television and his annoyance was apparent.

“Move! I want to see what happens!” A scowl took over his whole face and he pushed gently at my shoulder, at least trying to see past me. He gave me a strange look as I swung my legs around and straddled him gently. I brought my hands to the side of his face, looking straight into his deep brown eyes.

“Leelan.” I could only hope I looked serious in the dimly lit room. Before I could change my mind or think anything through any further, I went in for my target. His lips were soft just like I imagined. But as I parted my lips to deepen the kiss, I realized my tongue wasn’t colliding with what it should have been. His mouth was still slammed shut. I shut mine as well and we sat there our mouths connected, but nothing was warm or romantic about this situation.

“Jessena…Gracie and I are still dating,” I felt him mumble against my mouth. Our lips became disconnected as I fell back onto the floor. I sat there, feeling exposed and cold in my still semi-wet bathing suit.

“Ah…oh…Joren!” I turned my head towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “I’m going home, g’bye!” I stood up, feeling terribly awkward and weird. I crossed my arms over my chest and went and gathered my clothes. I pulled on my baggy, torn up blue jeans and my Killswitch Engage shirt.

‘Teach Me to Inscribe These Words on My Heart’ I scoffed at the words that adorned my t-shirt as I opened the front door, letting the night air cool my still damp hair. Now it was going to be impossible to hang out with him without feeling entirely creepy.

“Jessena, I’m sorry.” I heard him call those three words from his stationary position on the couch.

“Don’t bother. I’m fine.”