Who knew Shirin Kellner’s tea towel collection would prove so useful?
After I dried the last plate, Landon took the towel from me and wiped up the sink and counters and backsplash. He looked up at me. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
What did you do when you were home alone with the guy you were seeing, and there were no more chores to do?
I grabbed my messenger bag off the chair. “I guess I better put this away.”
Landon followed me up the stairs. My pulse pounded against my eardrums.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Your face is all red.”
“Oh.” I swallowed. “It’s just. Dad didn’t leave a note or anything. And we’ve never been alone like this before.”
Landon sat on my bed. I hung my bag on the hook in my closet and turned to face him.
“And I feel like maybe we should be kissing or something.”
Landon laughed at that. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to. We can just talk.”
“I like kissing you, though.”
Landon smiled and bit his lip.
“I like kissing you too.”
He brought his hand up to my face, and then ran his fingersalong the edges of my fade. I hadn’t had bare skin there in a long time, and it made me tingle all over.
I really liked that.
I also really liked how Landon was very slow and deliberate with his lips. He had the fullest lips I’d ever seen on a white guy.
I didn’t like it as much when Landon put his other hand on my stomach, because I had to suck in my gut, and that made it a little harder to breathe and still keep up with the kissing.
I did like how it felt when my tongue met his. How careful he was with it.
But then I didn’t like it when Landon moved his hand lower, and his fingertips brushed the skin beneath my waistband.
I couldn’t tell if he was doing it on purpose or not, but I didn’t know how to stop him. Especially since, like I said, I really did like the kissing part a great deal, and to say something I would have had to stop.
And then, of course, I didn’t like it at all when Dad popped his head into my room.
“Darius, can you come help me with Lal—oh.”
Landon yelped as I accidentally bit down on his tongue. We sprang apart.
I covered my lap with my hands.
“Oh.” Dad’s face was at Red Alert. He looked down the hall. His eyes flicked back to my face and then away again. “Sorry.”
My own face was at Red Alert too.
“Your sister got sick at gymnastics. I had to pick her up early.”
