As a Friend

Chapter 5

"Who is that?" Dominic watches Eli's retreating figure.

"Just some boy," I tell Dominic. "I gave him my number."

"Mmm, you're giving out your number now?" A smirk lines his lips as he lightly taps on the wheel.

"To one boy, yes. But that was the only entertaining part of the party."

"How was the rest of it?" I put on my seatbelt and he starts driving, hooking a u-turn to head back to school.

"Just as I expected it to be," I confess with a shrug.

"That bad?" he mutters with a disappointed frown. I let out a slow sigh and his expression quickly turns to a smile. "At least you look good."

I grin at him and shake my head dismissively. I'd say thank you if I didn't think he'd continue to compliment me, which would result in me turning into a red faced mess. "I have a question..."

"Yes?" he urges me to ask.

"You have a lot of experience. Have you ever felt sparks when you kissed someone?"

"I never have...but I'm sure some people do, if it's the right person. If you have chemistry with the person you kiss, it probably feels a lot better than kissing some random person. Why? Did you kiss someone?" The latter of his answer is excited.

"I almost did," I admit as I roll my hands in my palms.

"Really?!" he asks a little loudly. He looks at me for a few seconds before remembering that he's driving. His eyes go back to the road but he glances at me and waits for the story.

"Yeah. I was going to. He was cute and all, but I don't want my first kiss to be with someone I hardly know." Not to mention, he was a little pushy.

"All the more reason to let me be your first kiss," he jokes and I roll my eyes for show. I'd actually consider it if it wouldn't detrimentally damage our friendship.

"I told him I'd be right back and, well, here I am. I didn't want to waste my first kiss," I explain weakly. "I didn't want to end up regretting it and beating myself up about it."

"You're allowed to make those decisions, you know? You don't have to kiss people you don't want to. You don't have to do anything with people that you don't want to do." He offers me a small comforting smile and I sigh.

"I know..." I rub my hands together.

"I'm sorry if I pressured you into going out and doing things you don't want to do," he apologizes.

"No, you didn't. I just...I don't know. I thought about what you said, you know, the whole aspect of life that I'm missing out on. And I figured that because I never have crushes that I probably won't ever want to have my first kiss, so what's stopping me now? But when I was about to kiss him, I realized that I don't want to remember it as my first kiss," I explain before forcing out a laugh. "This is going in one ear and out the other with you, right? A kiss probably means nothing to you."

"This isn't about me. It's about you. And what you're saying makes sense, and even if it doesn't make sense to me, it makes sense to you and that's all that matters. You don't ever have to explain yourself for saying no. Not ever. And if any guy ever tries to make you do anything you don't want to do, you just stomp with all your might on his-"

"Okay, okay, Dominic." I don't even have male body parts but it makes me cringe to think about.

"And then you call me," he finishes with a content grin. "And I'm sorry the party sucked that bad. Well not that bad if you gave your number to a boy."

"Yeah, he's cute," I reply with a small smile as I think about Eli. "He kind of reminded me of you."

Dominic looks at me with a smirk on his face. "Are you insinuating that I'm cute?"

"No." Why didn't I consider that interpretation? "I'm just saying that he's funny and cool."

"So you're calling me funny and cool?" We slow to a stop at a light.

"Yes." That compliment I can give out.

"Thank you," he coos and puts his shoulder up to his face and pretends to blush.

"Anyway," I say dramatically with a small laugh. "I think the next party with you will be better." His head snaps in my direction.

"You still want to go?" He sounds excited now.

"Yeah, I said I was, so I am." I can't let one bad experience ruin them all.

"I didn't know if this one scared you off." He seems relieved.

"I'm not close enough to Kat to enjoy myself. She introduced me to everyone, talked to me for about twenty minutes, hooked me up with Jaden, and then left."

"That was his name? The boy you almost had your first kiss with?" Dominic asks and I nod. "It's going to be me in due time, I can tell."

"Shut up." I chuckle quietly and roll my eyes.

My phone vibrates and I look at the screen: an image from an unknown number. I open it and start laughing when I see a picture of a Frisbee.

Elias: Found it!

Me: That's clearly from Google but I'm happy for you.

"What's funny?" Dominic wonders and I shake my head with a smile on my face.

"Nothing," I say.

"Here we go again with the secrets! I thought we got over it!"