How Boys Think

Lesson #7: Friendly Competition Is One Thing, Betrayal Is Another

You know those moments in time that you constantly revisit in your memory when you daydream, going over every little detail, just for the sake of remembering? Those pretty little fantasies that are your only escape from whatever torture your calculus teacher has cooked up for you and the thoughts and feelings that distract you from the present and toss you back in time? Those moments are just so good that you feel sort of wistful as you play them back in your head and you get pissed when someone interrupts your thoughts to bring you back to the real world. 

This was one of those moments.

Olive juice. With those two little words Christian Jake had set me free with the very tools of my imprisonment.  Or maybe that was a tad over-dramatic. 

Christian kissed me dizzy and when we finally had to stop for air, I scrambled to pull myself together in order to speak somewhat coherently, despite the roaring tornado that was my mind. I was Mina, afterall.

Breathing quickly, all we could do was look at each other. 

"Whoah," I managed. I felt hot and knew my entire face and neck were flushed and my hair was hanging around my face, some irritating strands hanging in my eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to move my arms from around his neck. "What was that for?"

Christian just smiled in an almost shy kind of way that seemed both endearing and odd, considering the boldness of his kiss, and looked down. His arms loosened from around my waist and his hands slid down my body to rest on top of my thighs. I trembled as a new wave of heat coursed over me. This boy didn't seem to know what he was doing to me.

He glanced up at me through his lashes and I almost yanked him back to me and assaulted him again. "Go out with me."

I didn't think I'd heard him right. "What?"

His hands started moving on my legs, almost unconsciously, trailing up, trailing down, moving in circles, massaging, all slowly. And it did things to me that made my mind go places that should not be explored when one is perched on top of a kitchen counter with the love of her life standing between her legs, but he didn't seem to notice as my breath sped.

"I want you to go out with me," He repeated simply. His hands were still moving.

I released my hold on him and reached down to grab his wrists, stilling their movement. "I can't think straight with you doing this; you're driving me crazy."

A slow smile formed on his face. "I am?"

Oh, if only he knew. But God, he had just asked me to go out with him! Of course my answer was YES! Hell yes. Yes a million times over!

I placed his hands on my waist instead and wrapped my arms around him again. "Well, don't look too pleased with yourself, or I might have to shoot you down."

His hands tightened on my waist and he looked up at me, something hopeful and cocky at the same time in his gaze. He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a yes?"

I ran my fingers through his hair, feeling the soft strands curl around them. "It wasn't a no."

Christian laughed and plucked me off of the counter, spinning around with me in his arms. When he put me down, he kissed me again until I wanted to faint. When we finally broke apart again, I rested my head on his chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat. 

"What brought this on?" I asked him.

I could feel him playing with my hair. "You did. Mina, I've wanted this since eighth grade. Why did you run last time?" Since eighth grade? All this time..I thought it had just been me.

"I didn't think you'd remembered," I bit my lip.

"I remembered all right. I figured you just didn't like me back." He replied.

I laughed. "Trust me. That wasn't the issue. The problem was I liked you too much and I didn't want to. And...you kind of caught me off-guard. I didn't know what to say. Especially since we were just friends and you were always joking around back then and playing tricks on me. I didn't know if you were serious or not."

"Y