Chapter 16 Brown and West, Sitting On a Tree… #2
“If you think you’re ready, Linda, then alright.
I think you should close your eyes now, ‘cause I’m about to kiss my woman and I was never much of a gentleman anyway…
” He smirks devilishly at me, and I start panicking as he starts coming closer to my face.
Holy shit, I’m not ready! And what am I supposed to do?
! I’ve never kissed anyone! I don’t know how- Or what-
His lips touch mine, and soon enough, he’s keeping his reputation alive.
Without me even knowing how, he grabs my waist and opens both our mouths, and his tongue slides in.
I think I’m about to combust right here in the middle of the ice cream shop.
This is actually not that bad… I’m not even doing- Oh wow, I did not know you could do that…
I’m glad he’s holding me, because from the moment I closed my eyes, I think my knees went pathetically weak.
His fingers bury themselves in my hair, and I allow myself to do the same.
Everything just fits. It’s like a slow dance, and we’re synchronized in a way I didn’t even know was possible.
He breaks apart only to jump back in, but not without laying one soft, tantalizing kiss on my bottom lip.
He really is that good… I don’t know where I am.
All I know is that we couldn’t be any closer than we are, and somehow I want to find a way. To merge, to keep doing this forever-
“Jesus, STOP! This is a family place!” Linda breaks us apart, mouth wide open in shock.
I’m left staring at the ground, seeing stars, and wondering if I’m going crazy.
This had to be a fever dream…
Linda hurries behind the counter and passes me a glass of water.
“Are you okay, Maddie? You seem like you’re about to faint.”
“Well, I know my job is well done when I can take away her breath like that.”
I don’t know why, but rage fills my body within seconds, and without thinking, I step on his foot, harshly.
He flinches and groans, and I take those few extra seconds to compose myself.
“Now that seems more like it…” Linda acknowledges that while I’m over here, freaking out.
Keep your goddamn shit together, Madelaine.
I sip what’s left of water and place the cup on the counter.
“I’m sorry, Linda, if you don’t mind, I need to take my breathtaking boyfriend outside.”
She just nods, and I drag him out.
Once we’re far enough, I push him away.
“Are you crazy?!” I shout, and he frowns.
“What happened to a good old peck?! Is that forbidden now?!” I am losing my shit over here.
It seems ridiculous, but I’m a seventeen-year-old who hasn’t been kissed, and I thought…
Well, I thought that if it was only a peck, it wouldn’t count, and whoever I got to kiss for the first time, it would be real. And special.
“You said we could kiss if someone doubted it, so I did!” He responds, equally confused.
“Oh no, THAT was not a kiss! That was-” Something that took me to another world completely.
“It was what?” West shoves his hands in his pockets, waiting for me to finish while glaring at me.
“I don’t know, okay! But it felt illegal!” I shout aimlessly, feeling a bit childish.
“Well, I don’t know who you’ve been kissing, but that felt normal to me.” He shrugs, and I open my mouth, shocked.
That didn’t feel normal to me; that’s why I’m getting so worked up. To him, it’s just another Tuesday, to me…… Well, I can’t even name what it meant. It shouldn’t have meant anything.
I feel my eyes burning, and I turn away from him.
“I’m not feeling well, I’ll see you tomorrow.” And without even giving him room to, I take a turn into our street and speed home.
When I get into the garden, Allison, who was wrestling with Riden in the pool, catches one glimpse of me and stops what she’s doing right away.
I brush past my dad in the kitchen, and he doesn’t notice anything. Good.
As soon as I find my bed, I throw myself on top of it, as if the world ended. I know it didn’t, but this was something important to me, and now I don’t know what to make of it.
Allison comes in two minutes later, hair dripping all over the floor.
“Mads, what happened?” She sits on the edge of my bed, and I get up and turn around, leaning back against the headboard.
“West- He…” I look into the distance, and a wave of reminiscing hits me right in the face.
“He what? Did he hurt you? Force you to do anything? Was he a jerk? Do I need to go over there and-”
“He kissed me…” I mutter, finally looking at her.
“He what?!” Her mouth hangs wide open, and I cover my face.
“He kissed me!” And then I start crying, and she looks at me funny.
“Was it that bad?” She puts her hand on my shoulder.
“No! It was-” Mind-blowing, world-changing, revolutionary even. “Good.” I whisper as if I’m saying something forbidden.
“I’m sorry, now you lost me. You just kissed Jake West, and according to you, it was good, so why are you crying?” Then her devilish smile takes hold of her face. “Oh, I get it. It’s difficult to hate him when he’s performing tricks in your mouth, now is it?”
I throw a pillow at her, and she laughs even louder.
“Allison! It’s not that, it’s just- I’ve never been kissed before, and I always thought that it would be special, not fake.” Pause. “To be with someone I liked who liked me back. Not someone who can’t stand me the same as I can’t stand him…”
“Are you being serious right now?” I respond with a confused expression, and she continues. “He has wanted you for years. He flirts with you all the time, he makes out with girls in front of you-”
“How romantic of him…” I sarcastically say.
“And somehow, always ends up by your side in every situation. Besides, I heard he punched Blade Topper in the face because of you…” She bites her lower lip, excited, and I frown, astonished.
“He what?! You know what, it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t like me. He likes that I’m not into him. The moment that switches, he switches too.” I shrug carelessly after telling the tale as old as time.
If there’s one thing Jake West lives for, it’s the thrill of the chase. Particularly to do something stupid as riding a bike, jumping from Mailview’s high board while drunk, getting into some fights — apparently — and so on.
I know the only reason he keeps bothering me after all these years is that I couldn’t give a shit about him, and that strikes some nerve within him that he can’t contradict even if he wanted to.
“I just- Didn’t expect my first kiss to be with him, which is stupid because I’m the one who told him to kiss me if someone doubted our relationship. I just didn’t expect it to be so-“
“Heavenly? Miraculous? Hot?” She wiggles her eyebrows at that, and I grab another pillow.
“No, I’m just trying to deal with it, my own way.”
She smiles tightly and then hugs me.
“I know you struggle to see it as a good thing, but in my point of view, you got the greatest first kiss any girl that has ever laid eyes on that boy could wish for.”
But am I one of those girls?
* * *
Evil Spawn
Evil Spawn: how are u doin?
I look at the text and wonder if I should respond. My finger slides, and shit, I marked it as read. Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t wanna deal with this. I turn off my phone and close my eyes again. The sleeping pill is taking its time to take effect…
Evil Spawn: really? ignoring me?
I roll my eyes at the phone and turn it off once more. I get another notification, and within seconds, I hear screaming from outside.
What the hell?
I move to the window and open it, and Oh my god…
“You just have this effect on me! I wanted to say this for years! I’m desperately in love with you, Madelaine!
I just can’t take it anymore!” He pretends to stab his heart, and someone from the house next to mine opens their window and curses him out.
He apologizes with his hands and then continues.
“Madelaine, love of my life, please talk to me, I’m going crazy!” He proclaims, waking more people up.
“Would you shut up?! I’m going, just please, for the love of god, shut up.” I order, and he smirks and zips his lips.
Oh, I hate him.
Thank god Allison could sleep through a hurricane because she didn’t wake up, so I silently put on my flip flops and go downstairs. I take about two minutes to reach him, grinning at me through the other side of the gate.
“Are you out of your mind?” I whisper-yell as I unlock the gate.
“You weren’t responding, so I had to take action.” He shrugs as if he didn’t wake up half the street.
“What do you want?” I cross my arms, letting him in. I close the gate, and he waits until I’m finished and walk to the garden.
“Look, if this scheme is going to work, we’re going to need to be honest with each other. So, before I ask you anything, do you still wanna do this?” He asks, hands in his pockets, and I look up to the sky, as if the answer is written in the stars.
As much as I don’t like the idea of us together, I have to admit it hasn’t been that bad. I could really see an interesting summer ahead of me and all due to his craziness, so…
“I’m still in.” I sigh, and he presses his lips.
“Okay, so, we have to be honest.” Pause. “Earlier, in the ice cream shop…” My eyes catch his in the darkness of the night, and I hope they don’t let the panic I’m feeling right now show. “That was your first kiss, wasn’t it?”
His eyes bear into mine, and my heart speeds.
“Why are you saying that? Are you saying I’m a bad kisser? Because-”
“Hey, relax, I’m not saying anything. Besides,” His smirk makes its star apparition. “You’re one hell of a kisser, Brown. But let’s not deviate from the question.”
I look at the ground and avoid cringing. This is it. This is the lowest I’ve ever been.
“Yes.” I mutter, kind of ashamed.
I glance at him, and he nods.
“I’m sorry. If I knew, I wouldn’t- Have exaggerated like I did.” He tried to put a great apology together. “I should have realized you weren’t comfortable. So, from now on, no more kissing. If someone questions our relationship, they will have to go through me.”
I nod, my throat squeezing at his sincerity.
“If we’re being honest, technically I did give you permission to do that, so it’s my fault really.” I look everywhere but at him.
“How about we agree that we should have communicated better?” He smiles, and even in the dark, I can make out his laugh lines so well. Too well.
“We really do suck at communicating, don’t we?” I find myself smiling, too.
For a few moments, we can only hear crickets and dogs barking in the distance. The sky is clear, and the air is refreshing for a summer night.
“I’m going to uh, stargaze.”
“Trouble sleeping?”
“Yeah, actually.”
Silent falls again, and why am I nervous?
Am I being rude if I don’t invite him to stay?
“I guess I should be going.”
“Yeah…”
He nods and brushes past me, but before I can change my mind, I stop him.
“Wait!” Pause. “I think you should stay here. For a little. Because of Mrs. Anderson. If she catches you in the street after the stunt you pulled…”
“Uh-huh, I see…” He turns around, bemused, and I roll my eyes.
“Don’t let it go to your head, I’m just being nice, enjoy it while it lasts.” I roll my eyes, and he smiles.
“Oh, babe, but I love you either way, whether you’re nice or angry with me.”
I leave him behind, already regretting this decision by the minute.
“Wait, I’m kidding!” He runs a little to catch up with me. “I just didn’t know you had goodness in your frozen heart- That’s it, final joke.” He closes his mouth, that ever-permanent smirk stapled on his mouth.
I sigh, and for a while, everything is peaceful.
I find a spot on the grass and lie down, and he does so too.
“Are you being nice to me because I did that thing with my tongue?” He looks like he’s about to burst out laughing.
I punch his arm, shocked he would joke about it.
“Ow! Too soon?”
“Too soon.” Pause. “Jerk.”
And then he finally gives in and laughs, and to be honest, I have to control everything in me not to join.