The Awkward Best Friends Kiss

Book Title: HOW TO MAKE OUT
Author: Brianna Shrum
Heat: Flirty (and a little awkward)

***

I finally look up at him. “I need you, um…this is so stupid. I need you to teach me to make out.”

His jaw drops. “Are you serious?”

I stand up. This was a ridiculous idea. “Never mind. This is stupid. I need to go home.”

He catches my wrist and looks up at me, tugging gently. “No, stay.”

I slowly sit, and look at him, though I’d like to be looking anywhere else.

“So you need to teach your loyal readers how to suck face, and you’re asking my expertise?”

“That’s disgusting. And yes. I am. I don’t have anyone else to ask.”

“Not even April? I bet she’d help you out. Invite me over.”

I hit him in the chest and he falls back, laughing. “Seriously though, you have to become a ‘certified expert’ on this topic? Have you ever even kissed a guy?”

I scoff. “I’m sixteen. Of course I have.”

He scoots a little closer. “With tongue?”

I purse my lips and look away.

“That’s what I thought. Maybe you should just let me ghostwrite this one for you.”

“Okay, enough. Are you going to do it or not?”

The little smirk on his face reduces and he looks me in the eye. “So you’re asking me then. To kiss you.”

I draw in a shaky breath. “Yes.”

He scoots closer to me and moves his face toward mine. I find myself inching backward. “What are you doing?” I blurt out.

“I’m gonna kiss you.”

I move back closer to him and he leans forward, not touching me anywhere. And when he kisses me, it’s like that scene from Sixteen Candles, where Molly Ringwald and Jake Ryan lean over the birthday cake. It’s a small kiss, almost innocent, and it doesn’t send shivers down my spine or anything.

He pulls back and grins, licks his lips a little. “Green apple gum. Interesting choice.”

“Shut up.”

“I just need to say one thing before I kiss you again.”

“Shoot,” I say.

“I’m…you know I’m in love with you. That’s not a state secret. So if I get caught up in this, if I go too far, anything, I need you to tell me. Because I’m being honest with you here. I might, if I’m kissing you, I might start thinking with [PG-13 words have been edited out] and it does not know I’m doing this for a blog.”

“Eloquent.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know,” I say. “And I trust you. You go too far, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay.”

We both sit there in silence for a minute, then he inches even closer than he was before.

“I’m gonna kiss you again. And I’m gonna use tongue.”

I steady myself; my heartbeat is wildly out of rhythm. “Okay.”

He leans forward, slowly this time, and I can see that he’s shaking. And then he kisses me, soft at first, just his lips on mine. This time, maybe because it’s real, maybe because I know what’s coming, I get tingles everywhere. Then he nudges my mouth open with his and there’s a tongue. There’s a guy’s tongue in my mouth. What am I supposed to do with this? Oh no. Do I lick it or something? I don’t even think there’s room for me to move mine. I think maybe I’m biting it a little. This is not good. Mayday. Mayday. And then he slides his hand up my leg and I jump so far back, I hit my head on the wall.

He jumps back too, like I’ve just stuck him with a cattle prod.

“You touched my leg. Your tongue was in my mouth. Drew, you freaking, you licked my mouth.”

“I did not lick your mouth.”

“Well, I don’t know what else you’d call it. And what was that? With your hand?”

“Excuse me,” he says, clearly annoyed. “Sorry for touching you while we made out. I apologize; I usually touch a girl with something other than my lips when I kiss her. It’s not like I was fondling you.”

I shake my head. “This was such a bad idea.”

“No it wasn’t. You just need to chill out.”

“I need to chill out? Okay Shaky McGee, master of tongue. You’re the one giving me semi-rapey pre-kiss warnings and I’m the one who needs to chill out.”

He narrows his eyes. “I’m going to ignore that for now, and teach you how to kiss a guy, okay? You’re overthinking it. When I kiss you, you’re thinking about where your tongue should go and if this is exactly how it’s supposed to feel, and Oh no, his fingers are touching me in completely appropriate places. Just stop. Stop thinking about it and let me kiss you.”

The crazy pulse again. Now I’m shaking. He brushes a lock of hair behind my ear and runs his fingers through it with one hand, and he brings the other one to my bare waist. Then he inches closer to me, so close that I can’t believe we’re not kissing yet. He just lingers there for a minute until I can feel myself moving toward him, wanting to kiss him.

When our lips touch, it’s me who brought them together. But Drew takes control fast, pulling my head toward his, fingers tangled in my hair. This time, when he slides his tongue between my lips, I just let it happen. I try not to think, try not to analyze everything, just let myself feel the rush of it, the intoxicating touch of his fingers in my hair, gripping my lower back, his mouth moving against mine.

He pushes me back against the wall lightly, and when I reach out and let my fingers play at the base of his scalp, he breathes out a low sound and pulls me closer. And that’s when I know I have to stop. I don’t want to. But I do, pushing gently at his chest.

He sits back, and I swallow hard, just staring at him.

“Not bad for your first time,” he finally says, his mouth smirking, but his eyes looking almost pained.

“Oh thanks. You sure know how to compliment a girl.”

“Maybe not, but I know how to kiss one.”

***

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