The Kissing Contract

Chapter sixteen

"Sign here," he turns the page almost immediately. Nate flicks through the purple binder to find the next dotted lines. "Oh, here and...here." He shoves the folder in my direction and slumps down opposite me on the rotten bench- the same bench where we met five years ago. An old oak tree looms over his figure, casting him in a deep amber shadow.

"You put this together quick," I note, opening the first page and glancing at the scrawly mess on the page- I can just about make the words 'Kissing' and 'Overview' somewhere in there. I flick through the rest of the pages and see that, luckily, its typed up from page 2 to the end. 

"Oh, Cherry, I've had this little thing hiding under my bed for weeks," he smirks, leaning back- cockiness radiating off of him.

Nate Myers is the poster boy of smugness. 

I place the binder on the bench table to make it easier to find the pages that have to be signed. "Can we go through the rules again?"

He leans forward with a sigh and flicks through the folder to find the list of agreements. Its scrawled on the back page in splotched black ink making it hard to read. Nate takes the purple binder off the table and begins to read out the rules for me.

"I know we decided on ten but I could only think of eight and besides some apply to both of us so that's basically two rules," he clarifies, skimming over the page.

"Just get on with it already," I say, tapping the back of the folder.

"Fine," he grumbles, flitting his eyes over the top of the page to roll them at me. "Rule One- make-out sessions can happen whenever and wherever." 

It's my turn to roll my eyes. Of course that would be the first rule. After all, Nate thoroughly enjoys pulling me into random cupboards just to get a kiss. 

"That, Cherry, is non-negotiable," he punctuates the line with a wink. "See, it says here in brackets."

But just between you and me? There have been a few times when I've seen the stupid ass and just wanted to smack a kiss on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," I try and brush it off with an air of carelessness, desperately fighting the blush that's slowly creeping up my cheeks to spoil my face. "Next rule."

Nate runs a hand through his hair before turning back to the page; his face is consumed by concentration- I'm shocked he's put so much thought into this.

After all, its just a kissing agreement.

Or as Nate would say: The Kissing Contract

"Make outs can't escalate," he pauses, glances at me, a hint of blush running up the left side of his face. Nate scratches the back of his neck, "you know, cos'-"

"Cos I'm a virgin?" I say, resting the side of my face on my hand. I roll my eyes and shoot him a look to continue, but he just stares at me.

"You're so blase about it," he comments, his eyes conveying his unexpressed confusion.

"Being a virgin isn't something to be ashamed about." I don't really know how to take his comment. 

He shakes his head with a small smile and glances down. "I know. I'm not saying that. It's just most girls-"

I cut him off in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere and encourage some banter to flow between us again. The wind begins to pick up around us, blowing my hair around like a lost kite in the sky. "Do I look like most girls to you?"

The thing is, it was supposed to be one of those cool girl moments. You know, when you punctuate the line with a wink, flick your hair and leave the boy totally stunned. But I'm not that girl and so when I say it, the wind blows a large clump of my hair into my mouth causing me to spit and stutter and splutter after saying the sassiest line Nate Myers would've ever received.