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“Is everything okay?”
“N-no, it’s the new girl, Mia.”
Being student council president might not be as easy as I thought. It does feel good to be useful, to have people rely on you, but it gets somewhat tiring. The feeling of control makes me stay, though.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to talk to her.”
After a previous incident, I noticed that it was better for another student to talk with someone with “problematic behavior”. When the principal and teachers get involved, things feel a lot more serious and “official”. Whoever is causing the trouble gets more defensive, and it’s harder to defuse the situation. So I started to take care of this kind of thing. An honest conversation can solve most problems, and when that doesn’t work, a bit of persuasion goes a long way.
I’m just trying to help, but some people have a hard time seeing that.
I take a brief look at Mia’s record. Seems she got expelled from her last school, she really is trouble.
Violent tendencies, no respect for authority, every case of misconduct you can think of.
Why did St. Hammond even accept someone like her?
That doesn’t matter right now. She’s here, and I have to deal with it. Maybe, hopefully, she learned her lesson and is just having a hard time fitting in.
We share History class, if I’m lucky I can meet her on the way there and have a talk.
…
I prepare myself for the interaction, when she’s in my view, I already know everything I’ll do while we talk. Every inflection, How I’ll gesticulate with every phrase, the moments I’ll stutter, and repeat myself. I’m prepared, this is going to be easy.
She wasn’t hard to spot. A tall, blonde Parasaur girl with crimson scales. I can see why people would be intimidated by her, her tail had very sharp spikes, and she was taller than I. I could only hope the things on her record were in the past, because if she wanted to hurt me, she could do it easily.
“Excuse me. Mia, right? Can I talk to you for a moment?”
She turns around and huffs with a bored look, like she was expecting this interaction to happen.
“What?”
She looks me up and down, trying to get a read on me. She’ll see the same as everyone else. Someone who’s friendly, and supportive, someone normal.
“I’m Ben. I’m the student council president, and another student talked to me a-about you, you see… eehm.”
She puts her hands on her hips, waiting for me to finish, staring me down with her judgmental sapphire eyes.
“Y-you made her very uncomfortable by using a-a inappropriate term with her.”
The smug look she gives me is confusing.
“Like what?”
“What?”
“What did I say that bothered her?”
She’s baiting me, we’re in the middle of the corridor with students walking back and forth.
“You used a…a very bad insult. You can see how that’s problematic, right?”
She looks to the side, doing a mockingly thinking expression.
“Not really. You just came here and accused me of something and didn’t even tell me what it is.”
She’s having fun with this. I need to change my tactics. I take a deep breath.
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Mia. We’re just talking, you know, I’m not getting you into trouble or anything. In fact, I prefer to avoid doing this kind of thing.”
It seems that doesn’t go through her, but she doesn’t seem mad either. She’s just looking at me, puzzled.
“Why are you talking like this?”
What?
“What?”
I take a step back. I didn’t act weird. I’m pretty sure of it, I did what I normally do in this kind of situation.
“It’s really fucking off-putting.”
No. No. No. No. What is she talking about? I’m acting normal! Did I get anything wrong? I think of our conversation so far, trying to see where I went wrong.
“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me…”
I don’t even know what I’m apologizing for, but I need to salvage this.
She knows she managed to shake me, and I can see she’s enjoying it. This Mia girl, maybe she’s just good at reading people, good enough to see through me… No, that can’t be. She’s just trying to insult me, and it happened to hit it in a weak spot.
“M-Mia, I’m sorry if I’m bothering you.”
Again, saying that I’m sorry. Is this too much? I’m probably coming out as desperate now. Are my legs shaking?
“But I’ll need you to cut it off, okay? You’re not in trouble. I just hope you can treat the other students nicely. What if someone called you a name just because you’re a Parasaur?”
Empathy probably won’t work on her, but it’s all I could think of. She’s stressing me, I’m losing control of the situation. The tension is pushing my body down.
She takes a step forward, amused, like I’m some kind of comedian doing an act for me. She’s probably right.
“Sure, Mr. President. I’m not going to do it again, I swear.”
She says it in a mocking tone. This makes me nervous. This isn’t right, I shouldn’t be feeling like this. I should be in control. Mia sees my silence as permission to leave. I grind my teeth.
“You don’t want to be expelled again, do you?”
That makes her stop. I realize the mistake I made. It never came to this before, but she so easily made me feel weak.
That makes her smile. Why is she doing this to me? I finally notice we’re alone now, everyone has already entered their classrooms.
“It was just an innocent mistake, Prez. Don’t worry, I’m going to be a good girl from now on. I promise,”
I can’t tell if she’s just mocking me, or if there’s some truth to her words. I’m losing my grip on the situation. No one has ever made me feel like this before.
I need to recover from this.
“R-right. That’s all w-we had to talk about…”
That smile, a smile that says ‘I’m better than you’ and ‘You’re a joke’.
“R-remember you promised…”
“Of course, a promise is a promise.”
She winks at me and leaves. When she’s out of my vision, I run to the nearest bathroom and puke my breakfast out. I stay locked inside the stall for a while, unable to muster the strength to get out and face the world again.
I spent the last two years building up my image, even after the Olivia thing, and this girl just…
Finally able to leave the stall. I take off my glasses and clean my face on the faucet. I’ll manage, I always do.
Leaving the bathroom, I regain my usual posture, greet some people along the way and go to my next class.
Mia… I can’t take her off my head. Even if her attitude wasn’t the best, she still was very beautiful. Her smile, her hair, her height, her tail, those entrancing blue eyes… I need to stop thinking about her, she’s far from being a nice person, calling carnivores stuff like bone-crunchers and killers still has some bad social implications. Nobody wants to be called out for their species.
She’s trouble, nothing but trouble.
…
I sit at my usual table at the cafeteria, surrounded by people I talk to every day, but wouldn’t dare call friends, our conversations never diverge much from student council and other school related subjects. I look at Mia at her own table, with two other girls sitting with her. I recognize the monochrome raptor, Lunara. I can’t remember the name of the triceratops with them, though.
I wonder if they’re talking about me. Mia seems like the kind to definitely share this kind of thing, and get a laugh out of it too. The thought makes me shiver, I’m pretty well known around school, so whatever embarrassing story is told about me is sure to spread.
She called me off-putting, by next week everyone would be calling me a weirdo, giving me ugly looks, avoiding me…
Breath, Ben! I need to take control back. She’s not even trying, and she’s messing with me! What should my next step be? Try to be affable? Say I’m sorry again? Just hope she doesn’t say anything?
She’s looking at me. I got lost in my thoughts and have been staring at them for I don’t know how long. Mia stares back with a blank expression, says something to the rest of the table without taking her eyes off me, and now the two other girls are also looking. They say something among themselves, and I look away, awkwardly shifting my focus to the table I’m in. It was too late to pretend I wasn’t looking.
I stare at my food as I eat, desperately trying to lose focus on the world around me. I’m normal. I’m normal. I’m normal! I’M NORMAL!
This place is so fucking hot. I finish with my meal as fast as I can, put the tray in its place, take my jacket off and make my way out of the cafeteria as fast as I can. I’m only able to breathe again when I reach the empty corridor. I should be able to get to the classroom earlier without problem.
“Hey.”
It’s her voice, no doubt. Is she going to yell at me? Just mock me? Maybe hurt me? I’m not going to turn around and find out, I’m not courageous enough to do so.
“I’m talking to you, Ben.”
I can hear her steps. I should act normally, saying that I’m not feeling well, find any excuse to not make this any weirder.
“Do you want to tell me something?”
Her voice is playful, I can’t spot any malice in it, but I know from our previous conversation that Mia is hard to read, but has an easy time reading others.
I turn around, Mia has her arms crossed, waiting for an answer.
“So?”
What does she want me to say?
“S-sorry.”
“Sorry about what?”
“For staring, I-I…”
Don’t stutter now, you fucking idiot!
Mia smirks.
“You sure have a weird way of getting a girl’s attention.”
“W-what? T-that’s n-not…”
“Then what is it?”
I blush hard, I can’t believe I did this to myself. I lost my grasp on the situation, now things got even messier. What can I say to salvage this? I can’t think of anything to say!
“Just be honest.”
She answers as if she had read my mind. Mia lays her back against the wall, crossing her arms, attentive to what I’ll say next. I take a deep breath and prepare myself.
“I was worried I gave the wrong first impression.”
I’m not lying, but I’m not telling the whole truth either.
“Ugh, whatever… Why the fuck do you care anyway?”
Because I know what happens when I don’t force myself to act normal.
“I just try my best to be friendly.”
It seems that’s not the answer she wanted, dismissing it with a loud ‘tch!’.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not!”
I am.
“Whatever. Like I give a fuck, anyway.”
She puts her hands in her pockets and just…walks away.
“Wait!”
Why do I care so much about her approval?
“What?”
“Are we okay?”
“Why do you care?”
I couldn’t answer. Mia took my silence as a cue to leave. I can only hope she leaves me alone from now on.
==================================================
“Ben, What happened?!”
I see Lunara walking towards me, an appalled look on her face.
“Uuuh, what?”
“Why didn’t you say anything to Mia?”
I still don’t understand what she’s talking about.
“We had a conversation earlier. I assumed we left on good terms, I-”
I can only assume she’s mentally slapping her face by the look she’s giving me.
“She went after you and you didn’t even try!”
“Lunara, you’re not making any sense.”
“Right, right… Let me collect my thoughts.”
The excitable girl takes a moment to breathe, calming her nerves.
“The way you were looking at Mia, she went after you earlier because she thought…you know.”
“I don’t?”
“How can someone be so smart but so oblivious? She thought you wanted to ask her out, Ben!”
What? That’s what was going on? I admit she is beautiful, but the problem was something else entirely. After Olivia, I had a hard time thinking about other girls as something more than colleagues.
“She might be very direct and…honest, but she wanted you to show you’re interested first.”
Mia gets on my nerves, in a strange way. She makes me nervous, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I never went on a date or even had a girlfriend. Does everyone else just…meet each other and do this kind of romantic thing? I wonder what the way she makes me feel means. Am I attracted to her?
“So?”
Lunara brings my attention back to reality.
“I’ll talk to her. Thank you, Lunara.”
The answer satisfies the raptor girl. She squeaks and jumps in place.
“You guys will make such a good couple. You have no idea! I have to tell Mia.”
I’m really going to do it. I felt like I had no choice.
…
Class ended, and I went towards the parking lot, where Lunara said I should meet Mia. Just like instructed, she was there, resting by her car, waiting for me. She welcomes me with a smile, very different from earlier today.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Finally grew a spine, uh?”
“Y-yeah…”
Awkward silence. Even if I had all the time in the world, I wouldn’t be prepared for this. This girl… Her attitude, her beauty, her body, it was making my head spin. She wants me to ask her out.
“I’m waiting, Mr. President.”
“Mia, would you like to go out with me some time?”
I say it as properly as I can, trying not to stutter.
“Sure. See, it wasn’t that hard.”
She giggles. Not at me, but at this situation we found ourselves in, it feels nice. I can’t help but chuckle as well. Even if it wasn’t my intention at first, the fact I got to do something other people also do, it makes me feel better about myself.
“Yeah, I mean, I really did it, uh?”
Mia seems amused at my reaction.
“Never asked a girl out?”
“Never.”
I say it bluntly, already knowing lying wouldn’t work with her, and I wouldn’t want to lie to her either.
She nods, and walks around the car, an old muscle car with a sunburnt orange paint job, all I can tell is that it’s a Chevrolet. Even if I have no interest in cars, I can’t help but appreciate seeing such a well-kept relic.
“So, where do you want to go?”
She says unlocking the door, I was afraid she was going to ask that.
“I’m not sure.”
I knew a few nice restaurants, but nowhere I could take her without asking my parents for permission first. I had a very good allowance, but not good enough for a fancy place.
“I wouldn’t mind a burger.”
“We could go for Mooby’s then?”
Mooby’s might be my favorite fast food brand. Their stuff has a good price to quality ratio. Mia thinks to herself but accepts it.
“Get in.”
She points to the passenger’s door, and I follow her entering the car. The interior of an old car is very different from modern ones, but it all looked brand new.
“Nice…”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s just that, you take very good care of your car, it’s awesome.”
For once, I’m able to catch her off guard. Slightly embarrassed, she nods and focuses on her keys instead. Turning the engine on, a roar emanates from the hood.
“You don’t mind if we take the longer path, right?”
“N-no, not a-”
She doesn't allow me to finish before she shifts from neutral to first gear, leaving St. Hammond’s parking lot fast and with precision.
Mia has one hand on the steering wheel, while the other is messing with the radio, way more modern than the rest of the car, since it seems to have a CD player. Dangerous behavior, but I don’t find it in me to complain about it.
She skips the first three songs, until she seems to find the one that interests her, some kind of loud punk or metal song. I’m not that interested in music to know for certain. It does make a good conversation starter, though.
“Eeeh, what band is this?”
“Element Eighty. They’re fucking awesome.”
The music seems to excite her, as her hands eagerly shift the car into 2nd gear. We’re on the speed limit, but Mia doesn’t seem to worry all that much.
She takes a right, going through a smaller, more empty street. It seems she knows the way very well. After the turn, she speeds up again. Reckless behavior, but the smile on her face…
She looked at the anxious mess on the passenger seat, and gave me a wink. That made me calm my nerves, she was enjoying herself. Why couldn’t I do the same?
I dared to look at the road ahead of us, we were actually getting away from downtown Volcaldera.
“M-Mia, I think you’re going the wrong way. There’s not going to be any Mooby’s in this direction!”
I said loudly, trying to overpower the car’s speakers.
“Who said we’re going to eat in Volcaldera?”
“W-what?”
We were now in some suburban neighborhood. I’ve never been here before. I thought about calling my parents, they would kill me if they heard that I was leaving the city without telling them, but the thought of looking immature in front of Mia somehow felt even worse.
“The road to Palmont is amazing, you’re going to love it!”
Thankfully it’s the nearest city, just half an hour away, but even then, we had no plans to get back. If I’m not home by 6, when my parents come back from work, I’m going to be in trouble.
“S-sure…”
The music changes, surprisingly not another Metal song, but…is this Britney Spears? The mood changes completely. We both exchange a glance, just for her to focus back on the road, blushing.
“Whatever…”
Neither of us changed the tune, though. When “Baby One More Time” ends, we’re on the outskirts of town. As we reach the free way, another heavy beat comes from the speakers, as if the radio knew Mia was going to shove her feet on the pedal.
“Ready?”
She asks, but doesn’t wait for my answer. Burning some rubber before speeding forwards. I’m pretty sure there are radars, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She takes her fringe away from her eyes with one hand while the other keeps the car in control with the steering wheel, then her hands go from her hair to the gear shift. Fourth gear.
We speed through a straight patch of road. I’m too focused on watching the road and the other cars passing by to see… her hand on my thigh. Oh dear… She must have made a mistake trying to reach the gear shift. No, we’re still on top gear, she wouldn’t do that on purpose, right?
As we finally come to a curve, she slows down, and finally seems to notice where her hand was.
“Oh, my bad, Prez.”
“I-it’s fine…”
Her eyes went back to the road with a smug smile. Playful, direct and reckless, so that’s Mia. Everything that I’m not.
…
Quickly we reach Palmont City, basically a smaller version of Volcaldera, sharing most of the attributes of a coastal town. It was the middle of the day, so the sun was shining on top of us, making the beach on our left look awesome.
“Want to make a quick stop?”
“S-sure.”
Luckily, we managed to score an empty space. Being the middle of the week, there’s still a lot of cars parked, but not that many people at the beach.
“Leave your shoes in the car, alright? Don’t want the floor to get too dirty.”
“Of course.”
We take our shoes and our jackets off, and leave the car behind, taking the small flight of stairs and stepping into the sand, fluffy, it feels so nice around my fingers. Both of us take a moment to enjoy the texture of the sand and the sounds of the sea, before walking towards the ocean.
We’re the only ones here, apart from a middle-aged couple with their son.
“So, want to go for a swim?”
“S-sorry, I didn’t bring any clothes…”
“You’re not going to let that ruin our fun, will you?”
Mia unbuttons her jeans, and my first instinct is to turn away.
“M-Mia! What are you doing?”
“What? Never went to the beach?”
“I did, yeah! What’s your point?”
“Not a lot of difference between underwear and a bikini.”
“Of course there’s a difference!”
“Whatever.”
She throws something at me, I take it off my crest, it’s her shirt. Again, reckless.
“What are you scared of? Some old farts checking your pecker out?”
I was scared of it, yeah, but what made me more nervous was the thought of seeing Mia with only her underwear on. That’s not something you do on a first date! That much I do know!
“C’mon, you idiot! What are you waiting for?”
I stay in my position, holding her shirt, not daring to look in her general direction. That peace didn’t last long, as she got herself in front of me before I could react.
A lean, defined belly, wide hips… Don’t look at her breasts, Ben! With all my might, I look her in the eyes and in her eyes only.
“So I had to take my clothes off so you would actually look me in the eyes.”
“T-that’s n-not…”
“I’m just fucking with you, relax. Now take your clothes off.”
“W-what?”
I drift my vision away, preferring to stare at the sea again, the beautiful, calming, dressed up sea. I’m pretty sure I’m shaking at this point, I was wearing boxers, but even that was too little to wear in public!
“I’m not going to laugh at your little weenie, Ben. Even if it’s very, very small, I promise.”
She really went there. I’m pretty sure m-my manhood is not…whatever! I pull my sweater off, then shove my pants down right after, kicking it to the side.
“Happy?”
I look at her and open my arms, she just raises her shoulders dismissively.
“Sure.”
Not going to say anything? No funny remarks?
“That’s it?!”
She’s already walking forward. I try my best to not look at her bottom, but even I don’t have all this self-control, even if her panties were somewhat modest, it didn’t hurt her features at all.
“Well, yeah, I just want to go for a swim.”
Feeling like I have no choice now, I follow along, trying to act properly as she shoots quick glances at me through the way to the water.
Without a second thought, Mia gets inside the water, immersing herself and disappearing from my view, just to appear a few meters farther, her wet hair completely covering her face, her snoot sticking out. I follow along, choosing to walk instead of swim.
“You’re not even wet!”
She throws some water at my direction, my pathetic attempt at dodging it fails, and I irk in pain.
“I’m going at my own pace, thank you very much.”
“Boring! You’re boring!”
Mia giggles and grabs my hand, her fingers are lean, a little coarse, but it still feels nice, we look at each other, she brings my body a little closer to hers, I feel so warm insi-
Betrayal. With a swift motion, abrupt but painless, she does some manner of judo maneuver, making me lose my balance and fall into the water. I stay inside for a few seconds, enjoying the chilly water very slightly lowering my body temperature.
I raise my head, gasping for air, Mia is beside me sitting on the seafloor, the water up to her chest. I really shouldn’t look…
“Damn. Why are you so frisky? It’s just some tits, dude.”
It might be easy for her to see someone of the opposite sex undressing, but it sure isn’t easy for me. Did Mia ever do… that ? The thought angers me, and makes me uncomfortable.
“I’m not used to this kind of thing, okay?”
“What? Swimming?”
“You know what I’m talking about…”
“ I really don’t.”
An open, cheeky smile. This girl…
“You basically took your clothes off in front of me!”
“Not really. You looked away, remember?”
I slap my face and sit beside her, enjoying the weak waves hitting our backs, accepting my defeat.
“You worry too much, four eyes.”
She boops my snoot, and I get aware of the fact I didn’t take my glasses off before entering.
‘Damn, I could have l-lost these, I-”
Before I could take them off, Mia does it for me, putting the glasses on her own face.
“Fuck! You’re, like, totally blind. Are you sure you don’t need a cane to walk around?”
She puts the glasses back at my snoot. I’m not happy with the comparison, but I try to brush it off.
Mia sinks into the water again, staying immersed for an impressive amount of time. When she raises again, she’s a lot closer, her heavy breathing making her chest move up and down.
“Look at me, Ben.”
I instinctively tried to move my head away, but her command stopped me.
“Stop being such a fucking virgin, and just look. I expect you to do it. We’re on a date, you moron.”
“S-so-”
“And don’t say you’re sorry! That’s really damn annoying!”
She says it louder. I forcefully shut my mouth. I nod.
“Good, you’re learning.”
Mia smiles.
“Anyway, I’m hungry. How about we bail?”
I nod, and get up after her. Still feeling a bit ashamed, I peek at her body as we wait for our bodies to dry, and then dress ourselves. We used a convenient faucet to clean the sand off our feet and got inside the car.
It’s a quick drive until we reach the closest Mooby’s. Mia stops at the parking lot, a statue of the dumb cow mascot greets us as we enter.
“I’m telling you, man. You never, ever do ass to mouth, that’s fucking disgusting!”
“And I’m telling you, man. That it is a completely understandable thing to do under the circumstances.”
Great way to be greeted. Mia walks to the counter and I follow right behind, I’ll probably just get whatever she gets.
“Can I get some service here?!”
The girl says in a loud and annoyed voice. A human man comes from inside the kitchen, chewing gum with his mouth open.
“What’s up?”
“A vegetarian double combo. What do you want, Ben?”
“The same for me.”
The clerk gives a disinterested ‘hum’ in response as he taps the screen in front of him. An aquilops comes out from the kitchen, and gets besides the human.
“Do you actually?”
The Aquilops seems to be polite enough to not scream out their private conversation this time, but we are still here waiting for service.
“Sure, what’s the problem? I do it all the time, or are you going to tell me you clean your mouth with soup after going down there.”
“I don’t, but it’s different.”
“It really isn’t.”
This idiotic behavior has gone too far.
“E-excuse me, this seems f-far from appro-”
“So, blue guy. Don’t tell me you’re prissy like him. Ass to mouth is totally okay, right?”
Mia looks at me with new-found interest, eagerly waiting for my input.
“I’m not going to answer that!”
Mia is not satisfied.
“Yeah, Ben. Ass to mouth is yay or nay? We wanna know.”
“That’s disgusting.”
The Aquilops look at his friends and open his arms, as if he won an important battle.
“No, no, no. Red chick, what’s your input in all this? You’d kiss a guy after he licked you…there.”
Mia thinks to herself for a moment.
“Sure.”
She looks at me as she answers. I just want to die.
“See!”
“This is not over yet, Andre!”
“Whatever, dude.”
The Aquilops goes back to the kitchen, hopefully to make our food. As if nothing had happened, the human clerk went back to the screen.
“That’s going to be 20.”
I take a step forward, offering my credit card. After a quick exchange, we get a paper with a number written on it, and the human vanishes to the kitchen like his friend.
“Can you believe this?”
“Yeah, bunch of retards.”
Less than five minutes later, we have our food in hand, we go outside and use one of the tables there. It’s almost five, the sun covers us in an orange and pink tint. The sky isn’t like this in Volcaldera.
“Hey, Mia. How are you liking St. Hammond?”
“It sucks like every other fucking school.”
“O-oh, I guess.”
“There are a few cool people around, though.”
“That’s good…”
Do we stay in silence to eat? Or do we stop to talk? I’m not sure about the procedure, so I followed her lead. Finishing our meal in silence.
“Hmm, that’s very good, right? For fast food, at least.”
“Yeah, I like it.”
“Do you always go around driving like this? Just to hang out somewhere else?”
“Sure, it’s fun. I’m normally alone, though. It’s good to leave the shithole that is Volcaldera every once in a while.”
I don’t feel the same disdain for Volcaldera, but I do understand wanting to get away from your problems.
“Yeah, I get it. Your driving is a bit dangerous, though.”
“Don’t worry, dad. I have it under control. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have the skill to pull it off. I’m not an idiot.”
“Of course not. I just worry.”
“Oh, worrying about lil’ me? Already falling in love, Ben?”
“W-what? N-no, that’s not- I mean.”
“Just fucking with you. Relax, will you?”
“I try.”
“That’s the problem. You’re putting effort into it. This whole thing is about just letting things flow.”
“It’s not…easy for me.”
“We’ll work on it.”
…
She explained to me how she got her car. A Camaro SS 396, she said. Her dad bought it, but didn’t use it, so she took it for herself. Then I explained to her how the student council works. How clubs rely on us for their activities, and how we help on the organization of events.
We went back inside and got some ice cream, when we got back outside. We tried talking about the future, but neither of us knew what they wanted to do exactly. I mentioned photography, but I don’t know what I’ll do as a job. Mia says we should take some good photos sometime, I agree.
“Hey, Ben. I wanna show you something in the car.”
“Oh. Sure.”
She unlocks the door in the driver’s side, and pulls the seat forward, allowing me to take a look at the back seats.
“What is it?”
“Can you get inside, I’ll show you.”
I obey, sitting on the right side. Mia follows behind me. The seat is small, making our legs touch. My heart skips a beat. I can only assume what she’s trying to do.
“Ben, I want you to kiss me.”
It is what I assumed.
“Uh?”
“I noticed trying to be subtle doesn’t work at all with you, so I’m just going to say out loud what I want.”
“O-okay…”
My eye meets hers.
“Are you sure?’
“Yeah, I’m sure you idiot. What kind of question is that?”
“S-”
“Don’t say you’re sorry.”
“Okay.”
I would prefer her to lead. I have no idea what I’m doing, my body is just getting closer to Mia, not sure of what to do when it gets there. She puts her arms over my shoulder, locking me in.
“You’re taking too long. Don’t you want it?”
“I do…”
I reply weakly, and connect our lips. I don’t know how I thought kissing would be, but this is a lot better than it. It just feels so good. I’m still nervous, but it’s fine, Mia is here. I’m happy, I’m really happy. This is my first kiss, my entire body feels it, this jolt of lightning going through it, making my muscles weak and my brain blank.
We interchange between making out and breathing, following this rhythm without pause, getting more eager every time we reconnect. Mia grabs my pulse, leading my hand to her waist. Losing my inhibition, I hold her, and I grab her and I squeeze and I feel her body against my palms.
It’s a completely new, overwhelming feeling taking control of me. I don’t want this day to end, or even this moment. I want to stay like this forever, with her.
“Mia…”
“Ben?”
“Today was wonderful.”
“Yes, it was.”