Me Neither on the Kissing Scenes

Kissing scenes don't really come up in a lot of my stuff either. In my current WIP, however, I do have ideas for "a scene." Now these are kids, so we're not exactly talking steamy passion here, but in honor of the day I decided to try writing the scene. I'm not to this part in the book yet, but hey, it's a draft.

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She tried to take my hand, but I yanked it away. “Didn’t you hear me? I can’t do it!” I yelled. She looked hurt and even a little bit scared. I knew she wasn’t scared of me. She was scared of what my failure would mean.

“I can’t do it,” I whispered, overcome with my own despair and self-doubt. I slid down the wall until I was sitting in the dirt, my eyes closed and my head resting on my knees. All this for nothing. I’ve let everyone down. I’m really nothing special after all.

I heard Mattie start to walk away, her feet crunching over pine needles and dead leaves . Of course she should leave. I’ve failed. It’s over.

“Get up.” I raised my head. She was walking back toward me, her dark eyes flashing angrily.

“What?”

“Get up now.” She grabbed my arm and started yanking me to my feet. “I didn’t come this far to have you give up on yourself.”

I struggled to my feet and stood in front of her. “I tried, Mattie. We’re just kids.”

“No, Danny. You listen to me.” She grabbed my arm again. “Danny, you didn’t get it--”

“Gee, thanks for the pep talk.” I rolled my eyes, but she stamped her foot impatiently.

“Listen. You didn’t get it this time, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get it. You are special. You always have been. You have powers and abilities that no one else does, and I’ve seen you do good things with them.” She relaxed her grip on my arm and slid her hand down to mine. “I know you didn’t want this. You never wanted to be different, but you are.”

She paused and then softly added, “And I’m glad you are.”

I looked up until my eyes met hers. Her black hair reflected the moonlight. She leaned forward and gently brushed my lips with hers. A brief moment, a small gesture, but it spoke of hope and of a confidence I didn’t feel for myself.

She stepped back. “You can do this, Danny.”

I nodded. She was so strong, even with all she'd been through. She had enough hope and confidence for both of us. “I know what I need to do.”

  

So, apparently I don't write kissing scenes?

Funny, the two projects I have going right now have no kissing scenes.  Do I avoid them on purpose?  Seems odd.  So, I decided to write one this week, but since I've been on a break from writing - hello, new baby - I did some editing to get a feel for my project again.  And then, I realized... these characters are not ready to kiss yet.  What can I say?  So, here is about as up and close and personal as they've got so far:

And thanks for sharing yours, I enjoyed them!

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            We waited outside my highschool, moments before the bell would ring for lunch.  Gavin had insisted I come back, after he plucked me from the sky.  And not only that, he’d insisted that it be right before I’d left the first time.  So nothing would change.  At least, nothing would change if I didn’t want it to change.

            “I won’t drag you out of your world without your having any say about it.  I won’t be like him, whatever it costs.  You need to make the choice.  And you need to make it here, where you can see what exactly it is you’ll be giving up.”

            I knew it shouldn’t have been so hard.  After what I’d seen of Nikolas.  After what I knew Gav faced.  It should have been easy for me to take his hand and agree to leave my world so I could help save his.  But Gav understood something Nikolas never had.  It’s hard to change your plans.  It’s hard to leave the past behind.  It’s hard to make the right choice, especially when it might not work out in the end. 

            Beyond us, the bell rang.  Clumps of noisy highschool students immediately streamed out of the building and settled themselves on the lawn to eat their lunches and waste the twenty or so minutes of freedom they had left before classes began again.  They weren’t worried about magic or the forces of evil.  They weren’t worried about their world or even someone else’s being destroyed.  Instead, they worried about whether they’d pass the pop quiz they’d been warned about in math next period, or whether they’d get asked to the dance at the end of the month. 

            The funny part was, that despite how clueless they all seemed, part of me wanted to run from Gav’s side and join them.  Why lie, and say it wasn’t so?  After all, nothing was certain with Gav, not even him.  I barely knew him.  Sure, I’d known him as the Rat King.  I’d known him in a prison.  I’d known him when his mind was drugged by the Sugarplum Fairy’s magic – when he wasn’t even really himself.  But what would he be like in reality?  Who was to say I’d like him or his plans for my future any better than I had Nikolas’?  Who was to say I wouldn’t wish I had stayed here forever and forgotten the Land of the Sweets and all its complicated troubles?

            “It’s okay if you don’t want to come, Cami,” said Gavin from beside me.  “I’ll figure out how to fight him either way.  You need to decide what’s right for your life, what’s right for you.  That’s why we came here.”

            I turned away from the school to look at Gav.  Those green eyes of his stared right back at me.  They were what had started this all.  So long ago, when I was only ten.  How often had I dreamt about that color, and then tried to deny it in the morning.  And here they were, looking at me from barely one foot away.

            “Do you think we can do it?” I asked.  “You’ve been waiting for so long.  What if I’m not the one who can help you?”

            Gavin opened his mouth and then closed it again.  He shook his head and looked away from me.  Nikolas was always so ready to spout off his opinions at me, that I wasn’t used to Gav’s silences.  Of course, when it came right down to it, the silence was almost as annoying.

            “What?” I said.  “What were you going to say?”

            “It doesn’t matter.  I don’t want to influence your decision,” he said.

            I sighed.  “Look, I’m going to do what I want, regardless of what you say.  I think we’ve established that I make my own decisions, even when it comes to jumping off large buildings built in the sky.”

Gavin gave a small and crooked smile. 

“But I do want to know if you think it’s supposed to be me,” I said, “and not some other Clara, from some other time.”

            Gavin’s eyes flickered back to mine.  He looked at me for a moment, nodded slightly, and then leaned in to bring his mouth closer to my ear.  As he did so, his shoulder bumped mine gently, and his nose brushed lightly against my hair.  I shivered.  With his touch, I couldn’t help but remember the second when I took his hand inside that tidy white cell of his.  I couldn’t help but remember how everything had changed from that accidental moment in time.

Across the lawn,  almost like it was the dream, I suddenly heard Trina call my name.  She and Derek must have spotted me from our normal spot beneath the old oak.  Still, I didn’t turn, or even acknowledge that I’d heard her.  All I knew was that I needed to hear Gavin’s answer now.  I needed to know what he thought about me, and about my role in this play people called “The Nutcracker.”  Because when it came right down to it, his words meant more than I would ever have imagined.  Nikolas had thrown his words at me, forced them down my throat whether I wanted to hear them or not – and he couldn’t make me want to hear what he had to say.  But it was different with Gavin.  His opinion mattered.  His words mattered.

            Gavin’s breath whooshed out against my cheek as he spoke, warm and soft against my skin.  “I’ve known it was you for seven years, Cami,” he whispered.  “You were the only one who saw me inside that Rat.  You were the only one who didn’t kill me without one other thought about what was the right thing to do.  You were the only one who thought to offer me your hand, and pull me out of the prison I’d been dropped inside for decade after decade.  How could it be anyone but you?”

            I let myself breath again and twisted my head to face Gavin directly.  “Then ask me to come with you,” I said.

            Gavin’s shoulders dropped and he let his forehead come to rest against mine.  “But you know I can’t do that.  I won’t let it happen that way.  You need to know that you can make either decision, and that it won’t change what you’ve done in the past or how much it already means to know you saw who I really was.”

            “You know, asking me to come doesn’t make you like Nikolas,” I said.  “He never asked for anything.  He only took.”

            “But think of all you’ll give up here.  Your family.  Your friends.  Your schooling.  Possibly your whole future.  What if we fail?  What if I can’t even bring you back afterward?  It’s only luck that I had enough of her magic to drag us both here this time.”

            “Look, all I know is that if you don’t want me there, I can’t come.  Because if you don’t want my help, if you don’t really want it, then all of this is too much.  I need to know you’re sure.  I need to know you think we can do it.  I need to hear you ask me to come like it matters.  Like it’s important, this thing that I’m doing.  More important than anything I could do here.”

            Gavin shut his eyes tight.  His hands came up and took my shoulders.  “Then come with me, Cami,” he said.  “Come with me.”

            The words were almost silent between us, the way he barely breathed them out, but I felt them in the pit of my stomach.  Beside me, I heard Trina calling me, yet again.

            “Cami???” she yelled across the quad.  “What are you still doing here?  And who is that you’re with?  Aren’t you leaving?  Where’s Henry?”

            Count on Trina to get out four completely complicated questions in zero seconds flat.

            I turned to face her, my hand taking Gavin’s.  “I am leaving,” I called. 

Then, my eyes went back to Gavin’s.  “Let’s go do this thing,” I said.

Kissing Scene from my slave-boy story.

 Ok, people. I'm posting mine. Now you have to post yours. Please?

A little background, in case you're interested: Anakwa is a nineteen-year-old puppet ruler without power in a city ruled in fact by powerful lords and priests of the God of the Evening Star.  Kusiya is the daughter of an out-of-favor lord. She and Anakwa were friends as children, until the lords displaced Anakwa's father and put Anakwa in power as the Earthly Embodiment of the Evening Star God.  Anakwa was the one who actually killed his father, though he was only a child and was horrified about what he'd done. Hence, the bit at the end about Kusiya wanting to stick Anakwa with a knife.

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Tucomsi’s daughter is definitely not dressed for battle. So and no wonder Olo acted so dazed. She wears a red, silky long-cloth—that fine stuff the Yellow-Hairs sell, I think—her one bare shoulder just peaking through the mass of hair tumbling all loose and long down her back; eyes quick and bright as a chickadee’s.

             “It’s really not fair for you to come in here looking like that when I’m sick.” I give her a pitiful look.

            “Sick? You don’t look sick.”

“Sick…of…things.”

“Or pouting because I beat you in that Tchunkee game?” She walks over to my raised throne-bed, where I sit cross-legged and wrapped in a fur, trying to look as ill as possible. “It’s not like you to be such a bad loser. I used to beat you all the time. Or maybe that was just the little boy Chigwe. Maybe the grown-up prince Anakwa is too used to being the brightest star in Kusa?” Kusiya tilts her head to search my face. “You didn’t come to see me.”

            “I…couldn’t.” It’s too hard to meet those eyes. “Something came up. Both days. Very urgent.” What an idiot. What kind of excuse is that?

            She frowns and chews her lower lip. Her perfect lower lip. Not that her upper lip isn’t perfect, too…Unh! Stop that, Anakwa, you selfish brat.

“Something bad happened. Tell me, Anakwa.”

             Theh. I can’t hide anything from her. Her eyes see everything. “Can’t. I should never have…Urgh. Kusiya.” I take a breath and frown. “I cannot…see you again. Ever. It will be better that way for you—and for your father. Much better. I am a dangerous person to have as a friend. It was wrong of me to have asked your father for help.”

            She gazes at me for a long time. I cannot help gazing back. Really. I can’t.

“That’s very self-sacrificing of you,” she says.

            I shrug. “No. It’s utterly selfish. I don’t want to lose you.”

She frowns at me with her head tilted to the side. Then the daughter of Tucomsi hikes up her red long-cloth, climbs up onto my throne-bed, and before I can take a breath she is sitting beside me. Kneeling on my bed. Taking my face in her two hands…

I shiver.

“You don’t have to be alone, Anakwa.”

Her lips brush mine, as warm and feathery as a fluttering bird.

“I should never have left you alone,” she whispers in my ear. “Even if you are the Earthly Embodiment of a god. By the way, in case you were wondering, it is quite a nice Earthly Embodiment. Your Glory.”

“Mother of Night. You’re making this really hard,” I murmur. My face is still in her hands.

            “Get out of bed and come for a walk with me.”

            “No, Kusiya.”

            She kisses me again.

So, and I’m feeling about as resolute as a lump of deer fat. “You should know Lord Chawa thinks…you’re my, um, lover.” Maybe that will put her off, make her angry.

            “Let him.”

            “He thinks you’re my latest little fling.”

            “Because you have so many?”

            “Er. Just you. Actually.”

            “Good.”

            But I’m desperate now. I take her hands and remove them from my face. “No. Kusiya. It is not good. When they realize, they will hurt you—or your father. The way they have always hurt everyone I love. Please.” I wrap a coil of her hair around her two hands to keep them tied in her lap. “Stay there,” I order them. “Kusiya, you need to understand. You aren't safe--”

            Her eyes flash. “Was I ever safe? My father was King Utuwa’s most loyal friend. And I have always been yours. It is my choice, isn’t it?”

            “Always?” A laugh sticks in my throat like a cough. “A few days ago I think you said something about wanting to stick me with a knife.”

            She leans in. “Proof I’m no flatterer. The only person in all of Kusa you know will never lie to you.”

            Mother of Night. My mouth is such a traitor. It’s the one doing the kissing this time. Like it will never get another chance in this world. Because probably it won’t. Yes, I am a selfish brat.

She doesn’t seem to mind. The hair I wrapped around her hands comes undone. Mostly because my hands are in it. And hers are wrapped around me, pulling me close to her. I close my eyes and wish the world would go away.

A perfect day-dream.

Theh—and an even more perfect nightmare. Because that actual nightmare from last night floats behind my closed lids and will not go away. So and when I open them again, I am fiercer than I have ever been.

“I will not let them hurt you. Go now, Kusiya. Do not come again.”

Meeting Scene

I don't have a kissing scene yet, just an awkward introduction scene....

And so to awkward introductions... they're part of Valentine's too, right?

I turned sideways and bent down slightly so I could use my shoulder to budge the beam from its place.  Luckily Meri had never seen a barn either, so my inability to open the door didn't appear to be as ridiculous as it should have.

At least not as ridiculous as it obviously appeared to the male voice which suddenly interrupted my efforts from behind.  “It looks like you’re having a hard go at that.  Can I help you?” it said.

I twisted in surprise, almost slipping on the wet grasses beneath my feet, and roughly shoved my sister behind me.  What was a stranger doing here?  And I knew it must be a stranger, for our home was made up almost completely of girls.  My heart knocked inside my ears.  Three feet to the side of us a tall black-haired young man stood where he’d obviously just turned the corner of the barn.  His hands twisted a rope in a figure-eight, wrapping it expertly from elbow to fist.  

How did he get here?  The house was only supposed to let visitors in the front door, and only after we’d checked their motives for good or evil in the old grandfather clock The Magician had prepared.  No stranger could gain entrance to the house, or its grounds beyond the front walkway, without our knowledge and permission.

After all, no matter how well liked my father might be, there were those who would find pleasure in harming an heir to the throne.  And there were most definitely those who would seek to destroy the kingdom by destroying one of us.  We were supposed to be protected here.  The magic was meant to make it so.

“I knew this house was broken,” I hissed beneath my breath, the angry words escaping despite our danger and their uselessness.  “Lilly should have listened.”

“I’m sorry?” said the young man, taking a few steps closer to where I stood with Meri.  “I didn’t hear you.  Do you need help with that door?  I think you’ve missed the latch on the beam.”

Hoping my confidence might make him retreat, I squared my shoulders and straightened from where I’d fallen against the barn.  “I’m perfectly fine, thank you,” I said.  “Although I would ask what you're doing here?  Visitors are expected to enter at the front of the house, you know.  This is private property.”

As I spoke, I felt Meri peek her head around my waist so she might see the boy more clearly.  I pushed her behind me again, my mind considering our options.  I could not let this stranger harm little Meri, no matter how he had managed to get on our land, or what his plans might be.  Perhaps I should tell her to run back to the house right now, before he came any closer.  But would she make it?  If only I knew how he got here, if only I knew what he wanted from us.  It would make a difference to know who had sent him.

“Oh, I see,” he said, and he laughed as though I had told him a joke.  “You think I’m one of those from the homes nearby.  Coming to beg help from the royal princesses.  But I’m not.  I’m not a visitor at all.  You needn’t worry I’ve gotten lost in your backyard.”

His laughter smacked against my scrabbling fear, and my back pulled straight.  Who did he think he was to laugh at me like that?  I took a step toward him, little Meri dragging behind me from my skirts.  My arms clenched at my sides.

“Excuse me?” I said.  “I think I would know if you belonged here or not,” I said.  “In fact, I must demand that you give me some explanation for…”

“I came with the barn,” the young man said, his eyes tight against my angry ones, his voice flat in its interruption.  “The animals couldn’t be expected to get along on their own, could they?”

My mouth fell open, and I blinked away the many crazy possibilities I'd considered only moments before.  Kidnapper.  Murderer.  Certainly not this – so tame and understandable. 

“With the barn?” I said.  “You came with the barn?”

“Yep.  With the barn.  You weren’t planning on mucking out the stalls yourself, were you?”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of what he said, hoping to regain some of my dignity.  Muck out the stalls?  Truly, I’d never considered the need for a stablehand when the barn had made its entrance.  Of course, having help was not completely out of place.  We did have a cook in the house.  And thank goodness, since none of us could make a soup worth its own salt - though we were trained to do so.  And we had a gardener for the grounds - he kept all our upscale neighbors from complaining when the house popped between their hedges.

But Joanie and Mr. Loftus had been around forever.  They didn’t appear all out of the sudden, complete with muscled arms full of ropes and obviously over-amused eyes that continued to challenge me in my silence.  They didn’t frighten me into almost falling all over myself and into the mud. 

And, besides, they were old, even older than my parents. 

I stood there, staring at our supposed new stablehand, and Meri leaned around me again.  This time I let her stay.  After all, he didn’t seem to be out to murder or kidnap us.  But I still didn’t know what to say.  The entire situation was completely out of my element.  I might live in a house that changed locations every two to three weeks, but the day-to-day passings of my life hardly ever changed.  The boy lifted his eyebrows at me.  As the quiet turned obviously awkward, Meri poked at me from behind.  I jumped and let out a small cough. 

“I’m sorry to be so rude,” I said, not quite sure if I really felt bad at all.  “It’s just that you frightened me.  The house doesn’t usually come with... well, with people when it moves.  I didn’t expect to find anyone here.”

“No, I’m sorry.”  Finished with his rope, the boy tipped it onto the ground beside us and reached out his hand.  “I should’ve thought of that, and not snuck up on you.  I’m Andrew Forster,” he said.  “Glad to make your acquantaince.”

I returned the handshake, hoping my own hand didn’t tremble too noticeably inside his.  He wore rough work gloves, but his grip was tight, and he paused a moment before releasing my hand.

“You look just like the pictures they showed me,” he said.  “I would have known you anywhere.”

“Pictures?” I said, wondering what exactly he saw when he looked at me.  I was nothing like Lilly or my other sisters, all of them belonged to my mother’s side of the family – charming and effervescant.  I was my father’s daughter – dark and tall, and ever so ordinary.  I kept my long brown hair knotted in a simple braid down my back, its length and thickness being the only things about it that pleased me.

“Sure,” Andrew shrugged.  “They showed me pictures and taught me your names and all before they sent me down.  To make it less confusing, I guess.  You’re Starling.  And the little one is Meribelle.”  He looked at me, his jaw suddenly squarer than I’d noticed before.  “Though I should call you Princess, I suppose.”

The way he said ‘princess’ made my neck begin to heat, as it often did before my temper got away with me.  I lowered my eyebrows.  “The whole point of us being here, Mr. Forster, is to avoid that type of thing,” I said.  “You may call me Starr as everyone else does.”

Meri scuffed her feet against the ground and leaned into my side.  The stablehand's hard stare leaned into mine.  But then, his jaw broke into a smirk of a grin.  He laughed again.

“And you can call me Andrew,” he said.  “As everyone else does.”

The Kissing Scene from the Firebird Story

Ok, so my kid was complaining about how he had a dry patch on his hand that wouldn't go away, no matter how much Aveeno he put on it.

"Maybe you need something stronger," I said. "Maybe you should try Vaseline."

"Gross," he said. "Mom, in that story of yours about the Firebird and the Queen of Vaseline, when he kisses her, she doesn't have Vaseline on her lips, does she?"

Um, said my brain. My baby is thinking ahead to the kissing part. He is almost fourteen, I know.  But I'm not sure I want him to think about the kissing part.

"Of course not," I said. "That would be disgusting."

I hadn't written that scene yet--because I'm working on Amarath, really hard, and not the Firebird story--but now that my kid was thinking about the kissing part of my story, I couldn't help thinking about it, too. I had to whip something out. And since it's February, month of love, and just because I love you guys so much, I'm going to share my kissing scene with you, from The Grey Wolf, The Firebird, and the Queen of Vaseline. And then I'm going to put Vaseline away and finish Amarath. Really. I am. Here's my offering to the love gods. And to you. Feel free to bash.

Oh, and just for some background info, Alex and his mom were in a car wreck that killed his mother and put Alex into a three-day coma. When he woke up, his mother was buried and the funeral was over and he hasn't spoken since.

The Kissing Scene

The bell rings and a swinging paper heart hits me in the face and sticks itself to my forehead as I walk out of Orchestra into the hall. Purple, red and pink hearts hang from all the florescent lights all down the halls of Timberland High School, Home of the Grizzlies, in honor of February. HEART ATTACK! banners announce all up and down the halls. TELL SOMEONE YOU LOVE THEM TODAY!

I brush away the paper heart. Blech. Doesn’t seem very grizzlyish—or even romantic, either—but who’s asking me? And I’m not saying anything about it, am I? It’s just somebody’s attempt to combat the general suckiness of this month, when the air looks like something you don’t want to step in, let alone breathe. They thought dangly purple hearts were the answer. Huh. Weird. And a dried-up green-painted twig of Christmas mistletoe strung from the florescent light in front of the office in B-wing.

There’s Eva. I lean against glass beside the front doors and wait for her to catch up.

“Give me a smooch, Queen of Vaseline. Please. I’m dying.” Marco is standing under the twig, sticking out his lips as she walks by.

Before Eva has a chance to say anything, he grabs her arm and pulls her into a dip-kiss. The hall erupts with cat-calls and whistles as she shoves Marco’s face away.

“Ugh! That’s so gross!”

He falls to his knees, mock-begging. “Please. I love you. Will you marry me, Vaseline?”

“Go away, Marco. Don’t be disgusting.”

Watching them makes me feel sort of sick. Tight. My neck is suddenly way too hot, and I sort of want to punch Marco in the face. Which is not the kind of thing I usually even sort of want to do. Usually I just want to disappear. Eva sees me watching and heads my way.

I don’t punch Marco in the face. I walk out the door and head for the parking lot.

“Wait, Alex! Would you wait for once?”  

#

“Can we go to your house today? Do you mind? My mother has a meeting with a bunch of realtors in our living room, and I really don’t want to go home right now.”

We pick our way through piles of crusty snow and sheet ice across the parking lot to where Koshai sits waiting for me by the stop-sign across the street. Eva watches my face as I rumple Koshai’s ears. And try not panic.

Don’t want her to meet Dmitry. Or Nick, though he won’t be home for hours, probably. Don’t know why I care. The thought just freaks me out. Totally illogical, I know. There’s no reason.

Maybe sort of a reason.

Maybe because Eva is my friend and a totally nice person and she deserves never to have to interact with my rude brothers.

But I shrug, like it’s no big deal.

“You sure, Alex? I could go to the library. Doesn’t matter.”

I shake my head. That would be stupid. I don’t want her to go to the library. We head up Ivy Street to my neighborhood.

“Why are your fists all clenched up like that?”

I give her a look and unclench my hands. Didn’t realize I was still thinking about stupid Marco and the stupid mistletoe.

“Oh, Marco. He’s just stupid.”

She read my mind. Again. How does she do that?

Those red curls go boing, boing as she walks up the street.

“You know, one of the things I like about you, Alex, is you never try to make-out with me. We can talk and hang out and eat xocoatl and butter cookies and do homework, and just be friends, and everything is comfortable and nice, and you never try anything stupid. Most guys, all they want to do is make-out and, well, you know. Not that I wouldn’t want to make out with you. That’s not what I meant. You smell like peppermint and honey, did you know that? Don’t ever go back-packing. The bears would totally eat you. You really should consider Vaseline for camping, for the bears. It has no scent, you know? I mean, I don’t even know if you think I’m pretty or anything. Because you never talk to me.”  Her voice is shrinking and she’s staring at me and those huge green eyes are suddenly looking a little freaked out. “Sometimes,” she says in a very small voice, “I really wish you would talk to me.”

Yeah, I don’t say anything. But my mind is spinning like my ex-firebird’s wheels going ninety miles an hour down the free-way.

Three guesses what I’m thinking about.

Definitely not homework.

 “Crap,” Eva says. “I have no filters on my mouth. What I mean is, you’re my friend. I don’t want to wreck the cookies and cocoa thing. Ugh. Just forget I said any of that. I really need to shut up right now. And wow. I really need my Vaseline. Uh! Where is it?” She’s digging around in her backpack like she’s dying of thirst and searching the desert for water.

Yeah, but it’s just Vaseline she’s looking for.

Not water.

She pulls it out, triumphant.

And I’m not too much of an imbecile, no matter what my brother Dmitry thinks, to recognize an opportune moment.

So I stop right there at the top of Ivy Lane. Take Eva’s Vaseline right out of her hand while she blinks at me with those brilliant green eyes. Tuck the Vaseline away into the pocket of her back-pack. And her boing-boing curls behind her ear. And kiss her on her totally Vaseline-free lips. Long and sweet as xocoatl and butter cookies. And not even greasy at all.

She smiles at me.

“You’re really cute, Alex. Huh, your eyes really are that blue, aren’t they? I thought it was contacts, maybe.”

I smile back. First time since…well, yeah.

“I was right. You smile like you’re bringing in the summer.”

#

When did the sun come out? I didn’t notice it before.

 #