It wouldn’t be my first kiss. That honor—or chore—had gone to Arian on the first movie night following my eighteenth birthday. I had developed a bit of a complex around the topic due to a steady diet of 90s teen movies, which all seemed to suggest I might as well be dead if I didn’t hurry up and smush my lips against someone else’s.
With some playful urging from Thalia and Charles, Arian had obliged my desperate request for about five close-mouthed seconds. I learned very little from the experience other than that Arian possessed very little range as an actor, but my lips hadn’t shriveled up and fallen off from neglect, so I guess I should be grateful. Judging from Finnian’s furtive glances in their direction, I probably wouldn’t have gotten my own movie theater without them.
He sat besi
