I rear back. “What?”
“I’ve never kissed anyone. I’ve been waiting… for the right moment.”
“And when is the right moment?”
He doesn’t supply an answer, only gives me an impudent look.
I scoff. Doesn’t he know I’m the arrogant one here? How dare he look at me with a smirk on his lips and a twinkle in his eye? Like heknowssomething about me.
“I guess we’ll see,” he utters covertly.
As the countdown to the end of our seven minutes starts from outside, the rest of the party chanting loudly, we stand. My fingers flex by my side before I cross them over my chest. This hasn’t beenhorrible.Anxiety-inducing, sure, but that has nothing to do withhimand everything to do with the judgemental spawn of this town hanging outside the door, waiting to catch us in some sinful act.
“This was fun,” he says, and I narrow my gaze at him. I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not.
“Ditto,” I respond and then there are forty seconds left and I’m panicking.
He looks at me and there’s a new look in his eye. It travels down to my lips and I exhale on the next breath, parting them under his gaze. Then he’s leaning forward. Something jolts inside of me, but I can’t seem to move. I’m completely frozen as he places his lips on mine, a tiny shock of electricity shooting through me at the movement. It’s short and chaste, no tongue or anything that I was fearing. It’s there, sending a shutter over my spine, and then it’s gone just as fast.
When he pulls away, the shadowof the kiss still lingering, I stifle a shriek. “Why did you do that?!” I whisper-yell.
At first, he shrugs, but then he grins. “I wanted to be your first.”
The door opens then and he walks out, leaving me behind to deal with my shock. How did he know? Have I really been that transparent? No one else has been able to see through my lies, not even the people who are supposed to be my best friends.
How isAxl Ritchieable to see right through me?
I compose myself and walk out, trying to look as unphased as I possibly can. When we get out there, they all look at us expectantly.
“Well?” Gabby asks, eyeing the two of us.
“It was certainly Heaven,” Axl says dryly.
Everyone snickers, and it’s the first time I’ve felt my skin physically flush from embarrassment.
“Nothing happened,” I hiss at them with enough venom to make them look sheepish.
“Chill, Stace,” Gabby says. “We know nothing happened. You’d never kisshim.”
That makes everyone laugh again, but it’s no longer at my expense. I turn and catch Axl’s eyes. There’s nothing negative there, no shame or anger. He only watches me, his lips curving up in an arrogant smile. For half a second, I think he’s about to call me out, tell everyone the truth about what happened in there, but he doesn’t. He lets everyone laugh at him while he smiles knowingly.
“Well, I’m going to head out,” he announces, heading toward the stairs.
“Oh, so soon?” Gabby taunts.
Quinn’s eyes light up, but she feigns concern. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He waves a hand behind him. “I got what I wanted.”
He leaves, but his last words linger like smoke from a lit match. My face flushes once more, but I cool it, my features hardening until there’s nothing left to show that he got to me.
“Are you sure nothing happened?” Hannah asks beside me, and I turn my glare on her.
“Yes,” I say, my face void of any emotion. “Nothing but him annoying me to death. Let’s see who’s next.”
Luckily, the bottle spared me for the rest of the party. There were no more forced closet dates for me, and good thing, too. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss, how gentle and normal it was, and how I didn’t completely hate it the way I thought I would. It’s a shame, too, because it can never happen again. Not with the town freak.
ONE
