42. Delia
Forty Two
Delia
W hen he smiles at me, I melt inside and simultaneously feel that I’m not worthy of his time. After dinner, he opens my car door for me and before I can get in, wraps his arms around me. I let myself melt into his body.
He releases me and I tilt my head toward his hoping for a kiss but he just smiles and waits for me to get in the truck so he can close my door. Did I just get friend-zoned? My stomach lurches at the thought. Was it something at dinner that I did or said?
On the drive to the hayride, which is deep in the woods in the middle of nowhere, Langdon holds my hand which makes me feel better about getting stiffed for a kiss earlier. His eyes keep roaming my body in a way that doesn’t scream friends at all and he was the one who asked me on a date .
I’d been absolutely giddy upon hanging up the phone when he called to ask. Gramps had burst into my room, worry furrowing his brows asking what was wrong. At that moment, I’d wished for my mother. She would have clasped my hands and jumped up and down with me in excitement. It was a short-lived pang of pain. I wasted no time filling Gramps in. He’d huffed and groaned but I saw the little sliver of a smile as he walked out of my room. He was happy for me.
We pull into a field lined with cars. To the left of the lot tall corn husks wag back and forth in the breeze. Fog rises up out of the tree line before us in the eeriest way. Langdon parks and asks if I’m ready. There’s a line of people waiting, who all look eager, but the creepy music blaring and the fog set me on edge.
“I guess,” I say.
In the ticket line, I slip on Langdon’s sweatshirt. It smells like him and envelopes me in a warmth so soft and gentle feeling that it might be a cloud. A breeze picks up and I shiver. Langdon tucks me into his side to block the wind. I wonder if anyone from school will be here.
We hop on a long trailer pulled by an old tractor and squeeze next to each other on bales of hay as other people pile on.
“If I scream, I’m sorry,” I say.
Langdon laughs. “You can always close your eyes.”
“I’m tough.”
The tractor roars to life and off we go into the woods. There’s creepy music and fake fog that smells sweet and acrid and pure blackness once we’re inside the tree line. Small kids are already crying. A man dressed as a prisoner jumps out with a chainsaw running right at us.
“What the?!” I leap into Langdon’s lap with a squeal.
Literally.
The prisoner drags the chainsaw across the floor of the rickety trailer we’re sitting on and I’m glad my legs aren’t touching the floor.
“There’s no blade on it,” Langdon whispers in my ear. His breath is warm against my skin.
“Seriously?” I ask.
The man jumps down and disappears into the trees again and I’m momentarily relieved. Witches—three of them— glide out of the woods and climb up on the trailer with us. They talk of curses and spells and they look terrifying. When they touch my hair as they pass by, I bury my face in Langdon’s chest with a shudder. This is far scarier than I anticipated. What are these parents doing here with small children? We go on like this with various characters leaping out at us for a while before the tractor stops and the driver, looking smug as shit, tells us to hop off and enjoy some donut holes and steaming apple cider.
Langdon sets me on my feet. I feel woozy and disoriented. We’re still in the middle of the woods. One of the three witches from before is stirring a cauldron and ladling cider into small plastic cups while the other two hand out donuts .
Langdon takes my hand and leads us to them. Surprisingly, both treats are delicious. I lick the sugar from the donut holes from my lips. Langdon stares at me in the firelight, eyes blazing. I grin at him while taking his cup to toss. Lingering just long enough that if he wants to kiss me, he can.
He doesn’t. He literally just smolders at me so intensely I think he might explode into flames. I throw away our trash feeling weirdly defeated and he helps me back on the wagon.
“Is this the halfway point?” I ask.
Langdon shakes his head. “No, it’s more like the three-quarter mark I think.”
He snuggles up to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders. We amble on. More horrific and grotesque people leap out at us. I can see the glow of the parking lights, so I know we’re almost done. A giant bumble bee sprints from the trees directly at us. It walks along the trailer as we go, casually making conversation. I can’t help but laugh.
“Wow. You’re cute,” he says to me and sticks his hand out. Blushing I take his hand but he’s not trying to shake it. He’s handing me something. I take it.
“Dude,” Langdon grunts.
The bee shrugs and makes his way around the trailer to everyone before disappearing and then we’re pulling back into the field through a cloud of man made fog.
“What did he give you?” I unfurl the paper the bee handed me and start laughing. “What is it?” he asks.
“His number,” I eke out between laughs.
“That dude has some serious balls. I had my arm around you,” Langdon cries, which makes me laugh even harder.
I mean, he’s not wrong, but still, it’s hilarious. A bee man. Just using a haunted hayride as his pickup line. Epic. I can barely catch my breath I’m laughing so hard, and Langdon is just staring at me pouting.
“Oh, come on. That is hilarious. I mean, he wasn’t even dressed up scary. Just a big fat bumble bee costume. You gotta hand it to him.”
When the trailer stops, Langdon helps me down and laces his fingers through mine as we walk to the car.
“You’re not really mad, are you?” I ask.
“Not at you,” he says.
I smack his chest with my free hand. “Langdon, come on. It was harmless and honestly, really funny.”
I stop walking and tug on his hand for him to stop too. When he looks at me with those eyes, my stomach whooshes and I imagine, with a tinge of dread, our first kiss, or rather our official first kiss. A first date first kiss. Will it live up to the party or my bedroom or at school or any of them? Were those flukes? Just unrequited lust making it magical?
Kiss me, dammit. Kiss me.
Our hands are still joined. I tug him closer to me. He never takes his eyes from mine. It’s so intense that a lightning rod shoots down my spine. I lift my free hand and place it on his neck. He lets out a little groan of pleasure at the contact and then I wait .
Do it, Langdon, make the move .
His head inches toward mine so slowly that at first, I’m not sure he’s moving at all. I tilt my chin up to prepare. When I wet my lips, his pupils dilate. The lines of his throat tighten with each swallow. He slowly brings his lips to mine and softly, captures my mouth.
A groan slips between my lips and into Langdon’s mouth. His hands walk up my torso, from my hips until his fingers are tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck. His lips are hungry, ferocious. Taking and taking and bruising like he’s been starved for this kiss for a long time.
I kiss him back with vigor. All in. I want nothing more than to kiss him until time ends. My hands are wrapped around his waist so tight I can feel every inhale and exhale. If I dared to open my eyes, I’m sure I’d see little fingers of static connecting his body to mine.
We ignite like fireflies under the inky velvet night sky. His lips leave mine and he takes my ear lobe into his mouth before kissing his way down my neck to my shoulder. His hands leave my hair for my ass and he hoists me up.
I wrap my legs around him with a deep, satisfied exhale. He walks us backward until I’m bumped against the truck. His mouth moves from the tip of my collarbone toward my cleavage. I have never hated a sweatshirt so much. Too much fabric between us. I heave my breaths as he stops.
Bonking my head against the truck I say, “Please don’t stop. ”
Langdon pushes himself against me. I can feel his erection between my legs as he pins me to the truck door. He kisses my throat as I stare at the stars. “Gotta have you home on time.”
I groan. “Seriously? I’ve been waiting all day for you to kiss me and now you’re worried about an arbitrary curfew?”
He stares me down wide-eyed. “You have?”
“What?” I say as I slide down him until I’m on my feet again. The ground feels too judgy and solid beneath me.
“You’ve been waiting for me to kiss you all day?” he asks.
A blush creeps up my neck and takes root on my cheeks. Why did I say that out loud? Shit.
“Yes,” I admit. The grin Langdon gives me makes me wet between the legs. “Now can we resume?”
He laughs a loud booming sound and shakes his head. “No can-do Cinderella. I’m not looking for Heath to ban me from dating you if you’re late. I plan on kissing you many more times on many more dates.”
He lifts me up and sets me out of the way so he can open the truck door for me. I let out a sexually frustrated sigh but get in the truck without further pushing.
***
I stare at the front door, bummed out. I don’t want to go in. I don’t want the night to end.
“I should really go in,” I say.
“Let me kiss you one last time,” he says as he hooks my chin and turns my face to his.
Everything feels right when his eyes are on mine. He kisses me gently. Softly, without any of the desperation from earlier.
It’s a different kind of kiss and it’s almost better somehow. And far, far too quickly it’s over. I kiss his cheek. He kisses my forehead which makes my stomach somersault, then hops out of the truck to get my door and walk me up to the porch.
Langdon grins and releases my hand. “Night,” he says.
“Best night,” I answer.
Langdon grins like a kid on Christmas morning.