“I’m going to bed, mom. Goodnight.” I pick up my glass of milk and the copy of Romeo and Juliet I am reading and head for our lounge door. It’s late evening, and we just sat through hours of my mom’s favorite series in a binge session. She had a rare afternoon off when I came home from school, and wanted to do something together.“Is there still no response from him?” My mom is fluffing the couch cushions before heading to bed. It was just the two of us tonight, as Brian had a work dinner, and Dane never came home.“No. His cell is ringing out, and he isn’t replying to my texts.”Dane is doing what Dane does. After our talk, he dodged me all afternoon at school and blanked me at leaving time. Acting like a cold, ignorant jerk when we crossed paths in class. He went off with Tyler and hasn’t been seen since. Reverting to behaviors of before, and I don’t know why I'm letting it upset me. I should never let him get to me when he starts acting like a prize asshole.My mum checks her watc

He’s hit me with this so unexpectedly that I cannot get my body to react in any way. I don’t know if it’s the shock or the residual bruising from him wounding me, but I am like a statue. The intimacy of having his face pressed to mine, his eyes closed. The taste of his mouth and the heady smell of his natural scent and aftershave, as enjoyable as they are, don’t motivate me to move an inch. Before tonight I would have given anything for him to kiss me, but I can’t.Dane pulls back after a moment, aware I don’t respond, and it’s written all over his face for the first time. Dropping his hand to hang by his side, we stand a foot apart without contact. A real show of his inner feelings that he normally shields so well. A hint of fear that we’re truly not okay anymore. He doesn’t understand my lack of returning his affection. Given I am the one who kept pushing for it. Whatever his plan was about pushing me away, it seems to have evaporated completely.“Why did you do that?” My voice croa

“Earth to Kayla!” Elisa taps me on the temple with her pen and makes me jump out of my daydream with a start.“What?” I was miles away, lost in brain fog and a million stupid thoughts about last night.“You were so close to drooling with a wide mouth and vacant expression that it was frightening. I thought the body snatchers had gotten you.” Elisa smiles, jesting, and turns back to face forward, pulling her notebook closer and carrying on. Her red hair sweeping down to half conceal her face again, and I often wonder how that does not annoy her. Writing through her hair on her splayed notebook. “We’re copying from the projector, by the way… in case you have no idea what we are doing!” She points out, raising her pen to gesture in front of us, and I blink ahead, seeing an entirely new slide of notes our lab tech has put up for us. We’re in Biology, normally one of my favorite classes, and I have spent most of it zoned out. If I am being honest, this is how my entire day has gone, and th

My head scrambles into sense faster than when he did this to me last night, and even though Dane kissing me is quickly becoming a weakness, my sense of indignation intervenes and push him away. Not quite ready to jump into smooching without him having said very much at all. It’s so sudden, and too much is going on in my head after being avoided all day to be satisfied with a kiss.“You can’t just make a statement like that and then kiss me…. This isn’t us talking about it. This is you just informing me of your intention and then acting on it. If that’s even what this is…. I’m not a mind reader, Dane. I need actual words!” I don’t even know why I have an issue with this. He’s doing what my heart has wanted for a long while. He wouldn’t kiss me like this if he didn’t intend something to happen with us, so I don’t know where the doubt stemmed from. He’s pushed me away enough times to prove it.“I figured actions speak louder than words. A kiss is pretty self-explanatory.” Dane brushes cl