Prank Me Love

Read Me That Part With The Kiss

"Because,' she said, 'when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."

―from the story "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman 

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CHAPTER NINE:

It was too fast.

Everything was just too fast.

"Shane?" James whispers against my ear, his breath tickling my neck. I was half-lying on his body, snuggled under his arm. We were on my bed, and it was already five in the morning. The whole night was supposed to be about sleeping but I didn't feel like sleeping for the first time. I wanted to enjoy this moment with James while it lasts. Neither one of us had still bothered to get up. It felt nice, so nice, I didn't want to move anymore.

"Shane?" James whispers again and I slightly look up to see his face. He was staring down at me.

"What are you thinking?" he asks me, his brows meeting halfway and I subconsciously tried to brush them apart with my fingers. Like a habit I used to do... A familiar thing I used to do.

"You feel so familiar," I tell him, but it wasn't my intention to say it out loud. He looks at me for a second and slowly grins, kissing my nose.

"You feel so familiar, too," he says, pulling me closer, his forehead resting above mine.

"I feel like I've known you before," I say, shifting so I could meet his eyes. James remained silent, a strange look passes on his face.

"Have we?" I frowned at him, suddenly anxious about it. "Have we met before?"

James just looks at me with those intense eyes and I wonder if we really did meet before. But I doubt I would even forget such a face if I did, cause James is literally not the kind of face you'd easily forget.

"James?" I say, worrying now.

"Maybe we did," he says, averting his eyes away from mine. But I got a feeling his words has some kind of meaning behind them. "Maybe we didn't... It doesn't matter."

I just stare at his eyes, trying to read them. But whatever it was that James was keeping behind that gaze of his, it was already shut closed.

"It doesn't matter now, Shai. Now that we have each other, that's all that we need." he tells me, kissing my forehead and closes his eyes. I thought about what he told me, even if it didn't really matter... Why do I have a feeling he's keeping something from me about it?

"Wow."

Beth looks at my newly-groomed Belle with her mouth hanging open. "You did a miracle!"

I laugh at her as she looks at James with widened eyes. James closes the driver's side with a smirk. "It wasn't really a miracle if you know a lot about cars."

"Dude!" Evan hollers from behind Beth, who just appeared out of nowhere. He had that same comical expression like Beth's as he notices Belle, my truck. He whistles. "That's a sweet ride, you got there."

"Hey, man," James greets Evan, and Evan tips his head back as acknowledgment. When did the two even start to be all too friendly? I haven't realized that they had already established the buddy zone quite somehow.

"Morning, guys," I decided to butt in, stealing my friends' attention, "We need to get to class now," I say, pushing my way between Beth and Evan as I take both of their arms with mine to start walking to the campus' entrance.

"Hey," Beth looks at me, smirking, "Aren't you going to give your boyfriend a goodbye kiss first?"

I roll my eyes at her and turn around for a second to look at James. He was leaning beside the truck, his arms crossed as he watches me. I gave him a small smile and a little pucker of my lips, faking a smack. He laughs and gives me a flying kiss which made me grin wider.

"What was that?" Evan says, when I turn around again to look to where I was walking. He gives me a teasing grin and I nudge him away. Apparently, the whole scene didn't go unnoticed to him. And Beth.

"Oooooh," Beth teases beside me, giggling. "Is that a see-you-later-kiss we've just witnessed there?"  

"Shut up, you two." I grunted, making them both laugh. But I knew I was grinning already since I can't help it... And so does my heart inside.

It has been dumbly grinning since yesterday. And I don't know if I could ever really stop it now.

"What's that, huh?"

Classes done and I stood at the driver's side, surprising James on the process who was busy jotting something down on a small notebook by the driver's seat. He look up right away, his eyes widening and his face breaks into a huge grin when he sees me.

"You done?" he asks, and I just rolled my eyes at him. Isn't it obvious?

He laughs at my face and puts down what he's holding for a moment, his hands quickly coming around me, pulling my face towards his to give me a soft kiss.

"I don't think I would ever get used to this," I say in between kisses as I close my eyes, smiling like an i***t.

"You don't have to," he say, still brushing his lips against mine. The warmth of his touch, sending chills right down my spine, "We don't have to."

"Let's go home," I say, after we pull apart, gazing into his brown eyes. They are so beautiful.

"Get in, princess," he orders, smirking and I gave him one last peck on the nose before I walk around the truck to settle myself on the passenger's seat.

"What were you writing a while ago?" I ask, staring at him as he backs us up from our parking space. 

"Oh, that?" he says, glancing at me for a second, "It's something I just do when I feel like in the mood."

"What is it about?" I go on, "Some sort of love letter you're secretly writing for me, hm?" I tease him, leaning my face towards him with a grin on my face. He laughs back, shaking his head.

"You're full of yourself, princess," he teases back. "But yeah... It was some kind of a thing for you."

I pause for a moment, suddenly blushing and feeling so giddy inside. He's writing something for me? Oh, god. Isn't this guy just so perfect?

"You're speechless all of a sudden there, huh?" James says, giving me glances as he drives, "Are you blushing, princess?"

"No!" I retort, prolonging my vowel as I try to hide my face by looking to the window on my side. "I'm not blushing."

"Yeah, right," James chuckles and I try to punch him lightly on the shoulder, groaning but still grinning like an i***t.

He's just like that... He's my daily dose of romance every now and then. 

My jerk.

"You are the sunshine beneath the dark clouds, when I look upon the sky, I know you're just there... Waiting to peek a shiny smile."

I look down on James' old notebook, and read the latest poem he just written for me--as he had said it. I was grinning at the words as I feel the butterflies exploding inside my stomach. We were sitting on my bed, our backs leaning against the headboard, James' arms all around me and my head resting on his shoulder.

"Did you just write this today?" I say, daring to flip the pages back to see more of his writings.

"Yes," he replies, kissing my forehead. Dad and Mom still doesn't know about this 'whole-sleeping-together-with-James' thing, though I doubt Dad had already hinted something when he saw James early this morning coming from the upstairs. James was too casual with the whole incident, while I was panicking. Luckily, dad didn't ask anything about it but I knew he was already suspecting something.

"Can I see the rest?" I ask, looking at him.

"You don't have to ask," he says, smiling. 

I flip the pages back and as I skim through his works, one particular piece just caught my attention. Maybe it was the way it was written, or the first words I've read, or the color of the pen James had used to write it... Cause something inside my head just told me, it was so familiar.

'I kiss her today, the ripples of emotion come exploding, 

I kiss her with every need I have, the time stops ticking,

I kiss her and she was kissing me, my heart is beating,

Suddenly, unknowingly, my mind goes back to the day I first met her,

"I want to kiss her", that's all my head had been telling me since the day I found her

And now, my thoughts are all coming true... She was real, she was here, and I'm kissing her,

The moment was a bliss.'

"Bliss," I whispered out loud, my fingers brushing the word as I speak.

"It was the day of our first kiss," he tells me, his voice against my ear.

The day at the cliff. 

"But you were kind of wrong here," I tell him, glancing up with a sweet smile on my face.

"Really? How do you say so?" he asks me, grinning back.

"You said you found me," I reply, "but it was me who found you on the driveway, not the other way around," I recalled that day, his glorious beauty lying there before my very eyes and now here we are. I never even thought we would have ended up here. And it feels so enchanting.

James looks a little startled by what I said, as I watch him, but the expression fades away as soon as it appeared. "Yeah," he says, looking away and I suddenly felt something was wrong.

"You found me," he whispers to nothing. Yet, somehow... He kind of sounded too far away.

"Honey," Dad was looking at me from across the dining table, his newspaper kept close beside his coffee mug as he gives me 'the look'. The look, that I know means that he knows something and he was going to confront me about it. Oh, here we are. I'm dead.

"No one's going to die here, honey," Dad tells me, and I mentally slap my face for saying that thought out loud. "You shouldn't say that."

"Sorry, dad," I tell him, slouching down on my seat. I fidgeted with my skirt as I look everywhere around me but dad.

"I guess, you should know by now that I already know what's going on in your bedroom every night." Dad says to me and I cringe at his words. Hearing him say that makes it all sound so indecent.

"We're not doing what you're thinking, dad," I explain, sitting up, "We're just..."

"I know," Dad cuts me in as he tips his head down. And I notice a smile appearing from his mouth. "I've been there, honey. It's not all new to me. That's how youth really works."

Is that a teasing grin? I can't believe he's letting me off this fast. Wasn't he supposed to be scolding me for my inappropriateness and failure to comply with strict house rules? Where's my real dad?

"You're surprisingly handling this all too well, dad," I say as I take a deep breath, watching him from my seat. Dad has already picked up the newspaper, so I knew that he would just barely hear whatever I'm going to tell him now.

"Why won't I?" he says from behind the paper covering his face. And I know he was smirking. "I already know James. And he's a nice guy. A gentleman."

What?

"That's it?" I frown back, "You're totally okay with our sleeping arrangement? No 'I-won't-tolerate-such-things-inside-my-house, Shai?" I said carefully, slowing down on the words, just in case, dad was still processing it.

"Why? Do you want it to be hard for you?" He glances up from the newspaper as he stares back at me with that serious paternal look and I quickly shake my head no.

"Good," he tells me and smiles, "Now, go. He's already waiting for you outside."

So, I did.

"I just had the weirdest conversation with dad a while ago," I say as I got into the truck with James already waiting inside. He started the engine right away as I close the door and back us up from the driveway.

"Yeah, he also gave me the speech this morning," James replies, his eyes still glued on the road.

"So that's why you didn't share breakfast with me this morning," I say, looking at him. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing much, really," James frowns and slowly smiles, "Though you must be happy to know that he approves of me."

"Really? You must be some guy, then," I say, chuckling. "But it's kind of weird, honestly."

"Why weird? Aren't you glad?" He tells me, glancing at me.

"I'm glad, of course. But... It's just that... Somehow, Dad seems to accept all of this quite too fast. He already trusts you so much and me. And..." I trail off.

"And?"

I look at James for a minute and shrug. "Never mind," I say, looking away, "It's silly. I'm just overthinking, anyway."

But something tells me, there's something I've been missing out here.