Chapter 24
Kyran
I need something to break her out of this spell she's in.
Maybe the intimacy of the movie theater, being so close and exposing her vulnerability with a scary movie, wasn't the best idea.
But it was her idea. I could just tell that she was tense the whole time, likely anxious to be herself around me once more.
I know exactly what to do to get her to feel like she can be herself with me, but first I have to get her back to my place.
Though, when she laced her fingers in mine at the crosswalk, I felt a sense of pride fall over me at her attempt to exit that awkward space she sneaks to.
It's natural for us to fall back into a place where we feel the need to hide ourselves but I don't want her to hide.
I want her to give me her all. Because fuck, if I thought Weslyn via text messages and FaceTime was worth so much more than I could have imagined, having her in front of me is doing something else to me entirely.
She's unlike anyone I've ever met and even when she recluses, she's cute as hell. But something about this does kind of feel like starting over, getting to know each other in a different way and I am okay with that. I know I'll do whatever I can to put a smile on this girl's face.
"Remember when you got drunk at that party and called me?" I turn to ask her with one hand on the steering wheel of the car as I drive us back to my place.
"Oh my god, please do not remind me of that." She laughs and I love seeing that she's relaxed a bit. "That feels like so long ago," she adds, and I agree. It's crazy to think that it only happened a few weeks ago.
"I was so worried you'd do something stupid that night," I admit.
"You hardly even knew me, and you cared for me then?" she asks with a playful and teasing tone to her words.
I smirk, because the truth is . . . yes. I guess when you just know that someone might be important to you, you know. Even if you have no thoughts about what might come from a single interaction.
"You can say that."
"So, I'm sorry that my choice in movie sucked," she says to me as we enter the door to my condo.
"Weslyn, it didn't suck it was just…" I trail off, not wanting to say something that may be offensive or will hurt her feelings.
"No, don't try to beat around the bush here. Honesty, Kyran. It was awful." She grins as she sheds both of her jackets.
I approach her after closing the door to grab them from her, and I smile down at her.
"For a movie that sucked, you sure were pretty scared," I tell her before walking the jackets to the closet.
"Hey! I told you I get scared easily. It could have been a little kid in a clown mask and I'm sure I'd scream then too!" I love the playfulness in her tone as she argues with me.
"Sure," I say sarcastically, causing her to shoot me a look with her pretty eyes and pouty lips.
I offer for her to take up the spare room to change—which I guess I should have done earlier—before I go to my own room to change from my jeans to some sweats.
It takes a minute for us to get settled but when we meet back in the living room, I can tell she's apprehensive once more as I watch her approach me with caution.
"Come here," I say to her as I motion her to the couch in the middle of the living room. She follows and sits down next to me, not quite as close as we were in the theater, but I don't protest.
"You up for some vampires?" I ask her and immediately, her brows perk up.
"I thought you'd never ask," she says, and I chuckle as I flip through the TV to find the show and once I get it on the episode we’d left off on, I head to the kitchen.
"Do you want something to drink?" I ask her and I watch as she turns around at me from the couch.
"I'll take one of those beers if you don't mind?" I grin at her before grabbing two bottles from the fridge and walking them back.
I hand her one, top popped already, and sit down with my own. "Thank you," she says to me and I reach my glass in for a cheers. "To first dates and being afraid of little kids in clown masks," I quip and she immediately pulls her bottle back in playful offense.
"Hey, I will not be cheersing to that!" We both laugh before taking a swig of our drinks.
From then we watch the show and it's almost like we've done this before. Because we have, really. But mostly, as we fly through one episode and then another, I find myself watching her instead.
She's got this charisma to her, a passion that comes out when she watches her favorite show.
It causes me to want to know everything about what makes this girl passionate.
What else she gets so invested in and what things she likes most. I've learned a lot about her over the course of our conversations but seeing her react in person gives me a high I didn't know I needed.
I'm captivated by her. How she rolls her eyes at the characters she doesn't like and when she turns to me to tell me her favorite line is coming up and repeats it word for word.
She drinks down her first bottle of beer slowly and I appreciate the pace, but when she jumps up at the end of the episode and starts going into a full-blown argument about some guy named Matt, I realize I've zoned out on her for far too long.
I have to remove myself, distract myself with something because as she stands in front of me and I try to focus on what she's saying, but all I can see is this beautiful, passionate woman throwing her hands around in theatrics and I can't seem to think about anything other than wanting to pull her into my lap.
"You want another?" I get up and tilt my empty beer bottle at her.
I realize I've interrupted her, but she doesn't miss a beat. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she mutters off before going back to her rant about how so many people hate Matt Donovan and she doesn't understand why.
"I mean, Stefan is like way worse than Matt and I…" I let her words trail off a bit as I head into the kitchen.
I'm still listening to her. Or at least I want to. But it's really fucking hard when all I can think about is…
Fuck it.
I leave the empty beer bottles on the counter before walking back over to Weslyn.
She looks behind her as I approach and I can see her eyes go wide, causing her to stop mid-sentence.
I gently grab one of her arms to turn her toward me.
She gasps, her eyes switching from the look of having a heated argument about a television show to now being caught in the crossfires of my desire for her.
She doesn't protest as I reach for her and grab her by the waist with one hand as the other reaches for her chin to bring her eyes up to mine.
"Weslyn, I…" I lose myself in her. The way she's looking at me, the way she smells. Fuck, even the way she’s defending a character in a silly TV show has me utterly obsessed with the girl in front of me. Everything she does drives me insane and I can't hold it back anymore.
"I really want to kiss you," I admit to her, and I watch as her lips part slightly. Her eyes flutter a little and I can tell her breathing starts to come in short, like her heartbeat is pounding in her chest with anticipation. Mine is too.
I wait for any ounce of resistance from her, any sign that she doesn't want this. And when I don't get that from her, I take the risk.
"Matt Donovan can wait," I whisper to her as I lean in, letting my hand slide up to hold her cheek and I press my lips against hers.
Weslyn leans up on her toes to reach me, pressing our lips closer together and I feel satisfaction.
It's a fleeting peck; a single kiss that leaves me in fucking shambles that I can't just be selfish with her.
But she deserves more than that and I have to prevent myself from urging for more, so I let go of my hold on her waist and take a step back as we lean apart from the kiss.
She brings her fingers up to her lips, touching them with her eyes still closed. I wait, eager to know if what I did was okay. She opens her eyes and brings her head back up to look at me, fingers still caressing her lips.
"I've been waiting for that," she says and after that, everything changes.