Bad Habits

chapter four: misery business

5 years ago

Bucky slams the storage closet door open, the handle banging against the opposite wall. It makes Lilly jump. She spills a little of the champagne that she was pouring into her mouth. There's so many bottles floating around she didn't figure her mom or Mrs. Barnes would notice one gone.

"Excuse me, sir, this closet is taken." She wipes her mouth and grins up at him.

Bucky's heart thuds a little in his chest. He hasn't seen her dressed up in a long time and the past year has meant a lot of changes. The pink dress she has on brings out the rosy undertones in her cheeks that appear more often lately when Bucky is around.

Bucky pulls the door shut behind him and loosens up his tie, taking a seat on a box beside Lilly.

"Yeah, well it's my birthday party, so I can do what I want."

He grabs the bottle and takes a big gulp.

"Ugh, jerk."

Bucky grins. "You've been hanging out with Steve without me?"

"Oh, yeah. All we do is talk about you." Lilly deadpans, grabbing the bottle back from Bucky. Bucky elbows her in the side as she drinks, making her spill more champagne on herself.

"Hey, you asshole, this is a new dress!"

"Language!" Bucky's eyes grow wide as he fails to hide his grin behind the shocked expression.

"Okay, you know what, Barnes..."

Lilly puts down the bottle and starts punching Bucky in the shoulder. Bucky knows Lilly's first response to anything is violence. Even when she laughs, he sometimes gets a slap on the shoulder. At sixteen, he's grown a lot broader over the past few months, so her fist feels like it's hitting a brick wall. Bucky laughs even harder, grabbing at her arms. He holds her fists in his much larger hands.

Lilly stops, her face is all flushed and she's breathing heavily. Bucky didn't even break a sweat getting her to stop. She's now incredibly aware of how small the space they are in is. Lilly gets so lost in the gray flecks of Bucky's eyes that she doesn't realize he's moved closer to her. Her heart is pounding her chest and she can feel her hands getting sweaty.

In the blink of an eye, Bucky leans in and presses his lips to hers. It's soft and sweet, better than Lilly could have imagined. She's done a lot of imagining about him lately. It makes goosebumps rise on her bare arms.

After a minute, Bucky pulls back. His eyes scan her face for any sign that he did something wrong. The stunned look on her face tells him all he needs to know.

"Lillian Grace Connelly, was that your first kiss?"

Bucky licks his lips and grins, brushing a strand of hair from her face. Her blue eyes are a little unfocused from shock and a new feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Shut up."

She yanks her hands out of Bucky's and faces the door. Lilly feels even more heat rise to her face. Out of all her friends, she was the only one who had never taken that next step. Lots of boys were interested, but Lilly has only wanted one.

Bucky takes in and lets out a deep breath. Lilly is doing everything she can to not look at him, suddenly very interested in the boxes on the shelves above them. The older boy pulls her hand into his, holding it between them. He runs a thumb over the back of her hand, looking down at their entwined fingers. She has never seen Bucky Barnes this shy the entire time she's known him.

"Well...could I be your second kiss too?" He says so low that Lilly almost doesn't hear, still rubbing circles over the back of her hand. Bucky looks up at her through his eyelashes, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling.