“Kiss me.”
‘Wha-?” JC glances up at her from his spot on the carpet, a spoonful of chicken fried rice halfway into his mouth.
“Kiss me,” Kyra repeats as she gets off of the couch and sits in front of him on the carpet of her mother’s living room.
JC chews his mouthful of food as he watches her skeptically, he swallows and speaks flatly. “No.”
Kyra whines. “C’mon Josh. Please? It won’t mean anything.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Won’t mean anything?” He shakes his head and sets his take out container on the floor next to him. “What’s up with you Ky? Why do you want me to kiss you?”
Kyra stays quiet for a few moments as she looks down at her clasped fingers nervously. “I have a date with Jeremy next week. He asked me to the Winter Formal.”
“Killam? The kid down the street?”
She nods as she gets into a crossed-legged position and crosses her arms over her chest, already getting defensive. “Yeah.”
“Isn’t he a senior?”
“So?”
“You’re a sophomore. He’s too old for you.”
“What? You’d be a senior if you were still at school.”
“That’s different, we’re not dating.” It’s his turn to cross his arms; he raises a brow. “Anyhow, what do you want with him anyway? Isn’t he still a brace face with lots of pimples?”
She shakes her head. “He’s over six feet now and he plays on the basketball team. He’s got this great shiny, curly mane of hair and his lips are…” she drifts off as she sees JC’s expression.
“Soooo sensuous? Mmmmmm? He’s super dreamy,” he says in a lofty voice, using his hands to overdramatize his words.
She rolls her eyes. “Shut up. He’s cute. I like him and maybe he likes me.”
He laughs. “And all that causes you to ask me to kiss you because...” he questions, his hand motioning her to finish the sentence.
She sighs; he can be so daft at times. “I’m scared he’ll try to kiss me.”
“Okayyyyy,” he says and when she doesn’t elaborate he sighs. “Again, what does that have to do with me kissing you?”
She shrugs and her cheeks turn crimson. “I…I just thought that maybe if you kiss me first. You know, get rid of the whole nervousness of a first kiss and everything…” She trails off and licks her lips.
It’s his turn to look embarrassed and he scratches the back of his neck uncomfortably, “I thought you kissed that Ben kid on the playground like six years ago?”
She makes a pained face, “It wasn’t really a kiss…our lips touched. That’s basically it. I’m talking about…a real kiss.”
They sit there across from each other, not saying anything for what seems like a really long time. She takes a final stab at it, “Please? I don’t want to be really bad at it and then he tells the whole school and then my life is ruined forever and then-“
“Oh, shut up Ky. You’re so dramatic,” he says exasperated before he leans forward and presses his lips against hers gently.
She feels like she can hear her heart skip a beat as he exerts a little pressure against her lips but then his lips are gone too soon. Much too soon.
“That’s it? C’mon Josh!It’s like you were kissing your Mom.”
He makes a grossed out face. “I don’t kiss my Mom like that, and what more can you want?”
She blushes again. “Kiss me like you were kissing that girl...”
He looks embarrassed again and she remembers the time she’d gone to visit him on the MMC set and had accidentally walked into a supply closet looking for a bathroom. She’d found him in there with a very pretty girl, pressed against the wall, attached at the mouths.
It had totally embarrassed her, but for the rest of that week every time she’d see him she’d see the way he looked kissing the girl. It had stirred some strange feelings inside of her; especially jealousy which she’d been surprised had been the most prevalent feeling.
He shakes his head and starts to stand up so she grabs his arm. “Please? Just once? It’s not like we’re going to get carried away and end up in a supply closet...” she teases and he laughs dryly.
He takes another moment to mull it over before finally, he takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes. “Fine. One kiss. For your reputation’s sake.” He settles back down. “Come closer.”
She nervously gnaws on her bottom lip as she scoots closer so that their legs now press up against each other. She watches as the tip of his tongue peeks out and moistens his lips as he reaches forward and places his thumb and forefinger on her chin to pull her face towards his. This time when his lips press against hers, they feel softer and more relaxed.
Her eyes drift closed as he slowly uses his bottom lip to stroke her top one, and then pulls her bottom lip between his own to tug on it gently. He repeats this a few times before she feels the tip of his tongue tenderly run across the seam of her lips. She breathes in through her nose, flooding her lungs with some much needed air as she parts her lips and her tongue joins his. The kiss is slow and gentle, their lips and tongues move in a slow dance as he coaxes her to explore his mouth and does the same with his own.
She gets lost in the moment as their lips move apart slightly, just enough for the both of them to take a breath until their lips return to each other unbeknownst to either of them who initiates the second kiss. His hand slides up to frame her face and her hands press against his chest, grasping the material of his t-shirt tightly between her fingers.
Soon they have both moved up onto their knees, her arms have moved up from his chest and have wrapped themselves around his neck while his arms have slid around her waist where he presses their bodies together.
He angles his head and she digs her fingers into the back of his neck, tangling them in his hair while she feels him use his teeth to gently nibble on her lip. Just as a small moan of pleasure escapes her lips they are interrupted by the ringing the phone.
They pull apart with a gasp and are both breathing heavily with flushed faces as they watch each other as it rings a second time.
A third.
A fourth.
“That...was more than just one kiss...” He says quietly and runs a hand over his face. “I’ve-I’ve got to go...”
As the phone rings a fifth time and the answering machine picks it up, she hears the front door shut while she continues to just sit there with a stunned look on her face.
“Here, you look like you really need it,” Kyra heard Alison say, breaking her out of her memories to find a large cup of coffee held up in front of her face. “What happened last night?”
Kyra sighed as she accepted the coffee and took a large gulp of it. It burned all the way down but she didn’t care. “Thanks. Nothing. Had a few drinks, went back to my room,” she lied and took another sip.
“Right,” Alison said in a skeptical tone as she handed her a handful of colorful sharpie pens. “Anyway, I don’t really care. Here, you can use these to sign the books.”
“Think anyone will actually show up?” Kyra asked, her eyes scanning the mostly empty bookstore. After all it was a Wednesday afternoon; she didn’t think many people would take off work to come to a book signing.
“Probably not, but it’s good to get out here. Sign a few books, get people interested…it’s good publicity and you know what our ultimate goal is…”
“Get a movie deal, I know,” Kyra answered automatically. Alison had been on her ass forever to let her submit the book to a screen writer friend of hers. She really thought there was no way that anyone would want to make a movie out of her book, so she’d finally relented and let Alison submit it just to shut her up. They hadn’t heard back yet, but Alison seemed really hopeful.
“So um, we have you all set up over here,” Alison said as she led her over to a table in a corner of the book store. The table was piled with her book and there was a tall poster standing next to her chair of the cover art. Alison looked down at her watch. “We’re set to start in about ten minutes, so if you want to walk around or something in the meantime, do whatever you need to do to get ready to talk to-“
“Excuse me, um…Kyra?”
Kyra and Alison turned to find a tall, slim man standing nervously at the table, his face shaded by a ball cap tucked low over his face. He looked up enough for them to be able to see his face which was also covered up with wide sun glasses.
She didn’t need to see his eyes or his long curly hair, which he’d seemed to have hidden under the cap, to know who he was.
Josh.
“Hi,” she said quietly, looking up at him all the while fidgeting with a sharpie she had clutched tightly in her hand, clicking and un-clicking the cap.
“Hey,” he replied, his lips breaking out into one of his signature smiles. He seemed to gain confidence and he removed his sunglasses so he could look at her. She felt Alison still and then grab her forearm tightly.
Very tightly.
Her nails were digging into her arm.
“Ow…” she said under her breath and she pulled her arm out from her grasp before turning more fully toward JC. “What are you doing here, JC?”
His eyes narrowed at the use of his nickname, which she’d used on purpose because she knew it would bother him, but he answered anyway. “I wanted to come buy your book.”
“You didn’t have to come all the way out here to do that. You could have had someone from your…team come buy it for you. I know you’re busy…and stuff.”
She eyed the store again and didn’t see or hear a throng of crazy fans which she assumed was the usual when he went out nowadays. It must have taken some quick thinking and organization to get him here without him being recognized or followed.
Then in her peripheral vision, she saw two very large men who seemed slightly familiar to her hovering around very closely trying to look nonchalant but who were very obviously bodyguards that didn’t want to cause a scene.
Aha.
His smile faltered a bit and he shook his head. “Nah, I wanted to be here. I promised.” His last statement was punctuated with a serious look.
The look didn’t stay on his face for very long before he smiled again and reached for one of the books. “Here, can you sign it for me please?”
As she accepted the book from him and opened the front cover, the tip of her sharpie hovered over the blank page.
She was torn.
She wanted to hard and unfeeling. She wanted to not be happy that he had come.
She wanted to forget that he’d been there for her last night.
But she couldn’t.
They had been best friends at one point.
They’d loved each other like siblings until…they didn’t.
Things had changed.
And he hadn’t cared enough to come after her.
With a sigh, she made a quick annotation inside the book before handing it back to him. When the tips of her fingers brushed against his during the exchange, she couldn’t help but look up at him. As their eyes connected, she couldn’t help the feeling of yearning that creeped up from her stomach and took over her entire body.
It had been years since she’d admitted to herself that she missed him. But now, as he stood in front of her with his most familiar blue eyes trained on hers, she couldn’t help but admit it.
The moment was broken as one of the large men she’d noticed earlier came up to him and quietly told him, “We’ve got to go.”
Kyra suddenly became aware of the people around her again; Alison who had been apparently struck speechless, which was an accomplishment in itself, still stood next to her, the two body guards who had quietly moved on each side of him and finally a small group of girls that had seemed to have amassed out of nowhere and who were giggling and talking to each other excitedly as they pointed toward him.
JC put his sunglasses back on and handed the book to the man on his left before he reached into his back pocket. “I’ve got to go…but I’d really like it if you would come out to the show tonight.” He pulled out two lanyard necklaces from which plastic coated identification cards hung. “Bring your friend.” He smiled over at Alison who was still standing as still as a statue.
Kyra hesitated for a moment to accept the lanyards until he placed them in her hands and squeezed them. “Please, Ky. We need to talk. It’s been too long.”
Finally she nodded and he smiled before he walked away. She watched as he went up to the small crowd of girls and spoke to them, signed a few outstretched things and then offered a few hugs before waving goodbye.
Before she knew it, he was gone.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to elle-miranda for the beta service again!
Chapter End Notes:
Hope you enjoyed it!
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