02-Jules
782 Words
The Butterfly Effect—"A small action can lead to massive, unpredictable events.”
Once upon a time, I’d accidentally emailed my love letter to my Biology teacher instead of my assignment.
It was the most mortifying thing a teenage me had ever done. But nothing, not even that, prepared me for standing here blabbering about s*x to Killian Kingsley.
A hot, appalling minute and forty-five seconds passed before he broke the silence.
“Excuse me?” He sounded alarmed, and unmistakably cautious. “I… What?”
Yes. Of course, he'd be shocked. Who wouldn't be?
Self-preservation would have been the next best course of action for anyone. Unfortunately, I didn't know what it was.
“s*x. f*****g. I want to have s*x with you.” Someone, please shut me up.
A pause. Silence. And then: “Is this a joke?”
“Uh… no?”
A beat. And then another. “I see.” He stared at me for another moment, and then he nodded slowly. “I see."
Crap. I’d broken Killian Kingsley. Me and my big mouth. If he didn't consider me an absolute mess before, now he most certainly does. How the heck was I supposed to salvage this?
“Yeah…” I pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. God, this was awkward. No, this was more than awkward.
“Of course, I'd like to go out with you first. Then that. Obviously.” Okay, good that was smooth. “But if you prefer f*****g, then dinner, then that's also fine with me.” It was only after I said that did I realize how easy that made me sound. My face turned bright red. “Crap, what I mean is—”
“I understand. So stop talking.”
Oh.
Okay.
I pressed my lips together. He sounded like he was on his way to getting mad. Like maybe he was already mad. Just how had things gone so wrong? Where was Kia when I needed her?
He studied me for a moment, looking puzzled. Oh, maybe he wasn't mad after all. “Is this how you usually ask people out?”
I shook my head. “Well… No. Not usually.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “So, you've done this before?"
“No!” I blurted out hastily. “I meant no. I haven't.”
He studied me for another long moment, his strong angular face serious and something else, something that I couldn’t quite make out because I was too busy noticing all over again how damn towering and broad he was.
I’d known that he was tall, of course, from seeing him around court or walking towards the library, and that one blurry incident as a first year, but we’d never interacted. Never been this close.
A line appeared on his forehead. “Why me, then?”
“What?”
He was staring at me with a strange light in his eyes. "We ran into each other by accident. And then you proposition me out of nowhere. You could've asked any other person, yet you didn't. So why me?”
“Um…” It wasn't like I could tell him that it was a dare. “Because…” I swallowed. "Because… because I like you.”
Another bout of silence settled between us.
My gaze fell down to the ground. f**k, what was I thinking? Killian Kingsley wasn't stupid. He wasn't called ‘The Executioner’ for nothing. Why did I even bother lying? I should have just said the truth and—
“You… like me.” he repeated slowly.
I looked up. Killian Kingsley appeared… stunned. Wait. He didn't actually believe me, did he?
“Since when?"
Oh. He did. He actually did. "Um… I can't really pinpoint when."
“Try."
“It shouldn't really matter though.”
Silence.
I sighed. “Around…” My brain stuttered a bit. “May.”
His jaw tightened.
“May?” he asked.
“Yeah, May."
“Before or after the moot court finals?"
It was my turn to look at him weird. Why did that matter? “Before."
Silence again. Then, he looked to the side, muttering something unmistakably Irish under his breath.
I tilted my head. “What?”
He glanced back at me, eyes piercing again. “I said, okay.”
“What?"
"I'll go out with you.”
My mouth dropped open. Closed. Open again.
“Meet me at Rosa's on Friday, 7pm.”
I nodded.
He gave me one last measured look, then turned and walked away.
What.
The.
Hell?
Did he actually say yes? Did I actually just score a date with Killian Kingsley?
- Writer
