The Ghost of Sherman Oaks // Paxton Hall-Yoshida

9.

Chapter 9: S1E8

Wednesday, September 5th

Paxton's mind seems to be a million miles away as he pulls into my driveway. He stops the car, turning off the ignition and turning to me, much to my surprise.

"I'm sorry." He says quickly, like he's been wanting to say it for a while and just got up the courage too. "I just- I love my sister more than anything, and it was going to hurt her and- and I'm just sorry. I swear I didn't mean it."

"What does Becca have to do with any of this-?" I ask, but I go ignored. Before I can even finish the question, Paxton's lips are on mine, moving slowly but firmly as if he's trying to become a part of me.

His lips are as soft as I remember them, and when his tongue whisps across my bottom lip, I comply, letting him in. My eyes fall shut and my hand tangles in his hair, pulling him as close as I can. His hands find my jaw, holding me tightly to his mouth until I can barely breath. He breaks away a second later, both of us taking deep, harsh breaths. His forehead presses against mine as we recuperate from the kiss.

My head is spinning and my breaths are coming fast, trying to restore some oxygen to my lungs. Of course, I've been kissed before. By Jamie Baldwin in the ninth grade, but that was nothing like this. Nothing like Paxton. At the risk of sounding cliche, it felt like fireworks going off in my chest.

I never thought the movies were right before now.

"That was..." He starts as he breaths, but before he can say anything more, someone knocks on the window. We jump apart immediately, heads swiveling to look for the origin of the sound.

My brother, looking pissed off.

I roll the window down immediately. "What the hell, Jason?"

"Don't 'what the hell' me! What are you doing, kissing this idiot in the driveway? Are you insane?"

"He's not an idiot, Jason." I tell him, climbing out of the car to come face to face with him. He's taller than me by a few inches, but Paxton is taller. The latter quickly joins me on the pavement, standing just a few feet back.

"Oh yeah? Is he in AP Math with you? Or Biology? Latin? Look at this guy and tell me he's good enough for you, Aurora! You were crying over him like a week ago!"

"Jason! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You wanna end up with a deadbeat like dad, Rora? Is that why I'm working my ass off every day, for you to turn into a mom?"

"I'm not going to become mom!"

"Yeah, well, this was the first step for her. What's next, are you gonna get pregnant at seventeen? Leave the kid for me to take care of? There's a reason Aunt Rachel doesn't talk to us."

"I'm not going to get pregnant, Jason, we were just kissing! I just- I can't believe you're freaking out! I'm sixteen, I'm not your responsibility!"

"Yeah, you are. You are my responsibility, do you get that? Stay away from this boy, Rora. You have a future."

"Fine." I finally say after a moment, turning to Paxton. "Thanks for the ride home. I'll, uh, see you in school."

---

3rd Person's point of view:

Paxton has never been this angry before. Well... at least, not about a girl. He's never even cared this much about a girl before.

So, he does the only thing he can think of. He drives around, angry.

His hand lands on his steering wheel a few times as a few tears of anger threaten to escape his eyes. Paxton doesn't really hate much, but one thing he does hate is people assuming he's going to do nothing with his life.