2. Archer #2
“Do not let any of these boys kiss me tonight, Archer,” Allie whispers against my jaw, looping her arm through mine as we sit back against a log in front of the fire pit.
The firework show ended about half an hour ago, and after we caught our moms—wine-drunk and giggling far too loudly to be stealthy—spying on us, we felt certain we were in the clear to invite the other kids down to the beach.
We acted like nothing more than innocent teens roasting marshmallows and readying ourselves for bed.
Zander even pretended to put out the fire, while Allie and Willow acted scared when they heard the rustling of lavender bushes from the edge of the cliffside.
Now, our friends are beginning to filter down the stairs and gather around the fire. Allie has taken her spot beside me, the same place we always sit when we have a bonfire at Celestia Cove.
“Why are we playing this game if you don’t want to be kissed?” I ask, glancing down at her.
“Didn’t say I don’t want to be kissed.” She shrugs, eyes meeting mine briefly before she gazes out across the sand. “Said I don’t want to be kissed by any of them.”
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, no longer capable of forming a response.
Is she saying she wants to kiss me?
Allie dips her chin, turning her head slightly so she can glance up at me through her lashes. A hidden smile graces her full lips, but she doesn’t say more, only resting her head against my shoulder in a familiar embrace.
Zander pokes at the fire with a long stick, prattling on to Sofie—a sweet girl from our biology class last spring—about how to properly man a fire, as if he has any damn clue. We’re all lucky he hasn’t burned a tent to the ground yet.
Willow is the only person actually roasting a marshmallow, stumbling over herself as she tries flirting with Camden Matthews, a teammate of mine who also trains with Leo in competitive surfing here at the cove. Willow is a little awkward, but Cam seems smitten with her all the same.
“Okay.” Allie claps. “Is everyone ready?”
“Ready for what, beautiful?” Hunter, one of our defensive linemen, tosses back.
She huffs, rolling her eyes as she peels herself off me and sits up on her knees. She pulls the empty beer bottle she brought down from the house out from behind the log we sit against and holds it in the air. A few of our classmates groan, but the guys cheer.
There are about ten of us, and as Allie goes over the rules, I notice Cam throw his arm around Willow, drawing her in close. I think it’s his way of showing everyone else that her lips are off-limits tonight, and I wonder if I should do the same with Allie.
She’s so animated in the way she speaks and leads the circle that I don’t think she’d enjoy being caged in by me.
Being forced to be held so close. She’s too wild for that.
She needs space to move. Instead, I scoot closer to her, pressing my thigh against hers—some contact is better than none, I assume.
After Allie explains, Camden volunteers to go first. His spin lands on Sofie, and Zander's face takes on the expression of an overprotective dog who’s about to start barking at an intruder. Thankfully, Sofie sets unreasonably high odds, and the kiss doesn’t happen.
Willow spins next, and it lands on Camden. When she asks him what the odds are he’ll kiss her, he says whichever ones get her lips on his quickest. Though, instead of planting an awkward first kiss on her in front of an audience, he takes her hand, and they disappear behind one of our tents.
Allie snatches the bottle from Willow’s empty place in the sand.
She crosses her legs, swallowing thickly as her eyes cast down to the beer bottle in front of her lap.
She spins once, hard enough that I think she may be attempting to make a three-sixty.
Instead, it stops directly in front of her, pointed at Hunter.
He claps his hands before rubbing them together, whistling before licking his lips.
My stomach plummets, a sick and aching feeling swirling in the pit of my gut.
I notice Allie straighten in my periphery, spine rigid as Hunter sits up on his knees, like he’s going to crawl toward her.
Between the way his buzzcut makes his head look too big and his oily, sweat-covered skin literally glistens in the firelight—not to mention the hungry glint in his gaze and the way he’s been pursuing Allie like she’s a slab of meat—I know he can’t be her type.
She doesn’t want this. I have to be sure of that.
Something about Allie is written directly into my DNA, and sometimes—much like the draw I have to my twin—I feel her. I read her emotions through her body language, the sound of her voice, and the tick in her hands. I see what nobody else does, and she does not want this.
There is a nervous shake to her tone as she casts her eyes downward and murmurs, “What are the odds you kiss—”
My arm snatches out of its own accord, grasping the barrel of the beer bottle.
Allie’s words die on her tongue as she lifts her chin and looks at me, brown eyes widening with relief.
Her chest expands, lips parting, and I can’t look away from them.
I can’t look away from her pretty face as I twist my wrist and point the bottle directly at myself.
Allie’s gaze darts to the ground before flashing back to me, the brown in her irises flecked with gold from the glowing embers beside us as they flare.
“That’s cheating!” Hunter yells, but I don’t bother looking at him.
His whine is followed by a shrill, “Shut up!” that can only belong to my brother.
I drown the rest of it out—all of them entirely—lifting my hand to cup Allie’s cheek. I don’t need to ask if she can read the question written in my features. She nods softly before leaning into me, her eyes falling closed.
I stretch my fingers, grasping her jaw, savoring the warmth of her skin on mine. Nerves twist and pull at my insides as I meet her halfway, closing my eyes too, and tilting my head so that my lips feather between hers.
The idea of my first kiss has always been terrifying—the unknown, the fear of screwing up—but I’ve only ever imagined it with Allie.
When I’ve closed my eyes and daydreamed the experience, it’s always her face I’ve seen inside my mind.
I would’ve thought that fact would cause my trepidation to surge, but something settles in me instead.
Her face fits perfectly in my hand—her skin so smooth and soft.
Her sigh against my lips is warm and inviting, the sound of her breath a song I’ve spent my entire life memorizing.
I might be bad at this, I might still screw up, and I have no idea what the hell I’m doing, but when it’s all said and done, Allie is going to be my best friend.
We’ll laugh it off, and we’ll be happy we gave this to each other, because at least we’ll know the experience will remain sacred and safe.
That knowledge has me falling into her entirely, lining my lips with hers and moving them against her skin.
Some kind of soft noise only I can hear leaves her mouth, and I let it enter my own.
She smells like the same body mist she always wears—the one that leaves a sparkly residue on her collarbones and is cotton-candy scented.
She tastes like the cherry cola I gave her earlier and God, I think I love it.
I think I love her. No, I know I love her. I always have.
But I love kissing her too, and I think that could kill me.
I don’t have the strength to pull back, I’ll keep her here as long as she’ll possibly allow.
I’d live the rest of my life with her mouth attached to mine, I think.
One of Allie’s hands falls to my thigh, and my entire body lights up like the firework show we watched an hour ago.
The other wraps around my neck, her hand searing my skin in every place it touches.
She draws us closer, and I’m the one making noises now.
I allow my lips to move, and I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but I can’t stop it.
Her mouth parts slightly, and I feel the softest glimpse of her tongue against my teeth.
My brain short-circuits, all of the air inside me gets trapped inside my lungs, and I’m dissolved into nothing more than her touch and this kiss.
Allie pushes further, and I open eagerly. Her tongue slides past my lips, brushing against my own in an exploratory and timid way that has me melting entirely.
Her tongue is in my mouth. Allie’s tongue is in my mouth.
I’m kissing her. She’s kissing me. We’re making out, in fact, and I—
My brother claps, startling us apart. “All right, either rein it in or get a tent.”
Allie and I both pull back, but our focus remains fixed on each other. We’re both breathless, her chest heaving beneath her sundress. Hair mussed and wild around her flushed cheeks, she stares after me with the widest brown eyes I’ve ever seen her wear.
“That was bullshit. Archer skips a turn,” Hunter mutters from across the fire.
My gaze remains fixed on my best friend. “Fine by me.”
I’ve already got everything I’ve ever wanted.