Ride (h.s)

10

Jane

He washed his hands while I put the flowers in a vase. I swear I almost kissed him when he gave them to me. It was a sweet gesture that might have pushed me into a place I dreaded. I liked him, but I was too scared to make the first move.

Maybe the flowers are his way of saying he likes me too? Maybe they're a way to say thank you for being my friend? Did he just want to be friends? I've never met someone and felt so comfortable around them so quickly. I thought about when I met Olivia and how it took me almost a month to even talk to her outside of class. It was just small talk in class for a month straight. But here I am, less than a month and we stood here about to make pizza together.

Even if he did like me how does one even flirt? Leanne mentioned once that she would flip her hair and the smell of her perfume would drive her ex-boyfriend crazy. But I wasn't wearing my hair down and that would be weird considering we're about to make food.

"Where do you keep your paper towels?" Harry's voice interrupted my thoughts.

My kitchen connected to the dining room where I stood putting the flowers in the kitchen table. I would have to explain that to my mom later.

I walked over around the kitchen island to open a cabinet and pull out a hand towel. "First the green peppers" I took off my sweater and washed my hands quickly. Harry had mentioned he liked peppers and pepperoni on his pizza, so that's what we were cutting up.

Harry had nicely placed all of the things I brought out in front of us and I thought of what he could do. "Can you cut the peppers?" He shrugged.

"If you show me how, I'm sure I could do it." He pulled the peppers towards him and I handed him a cutting board and knife and showed him how. I had made the dough earlier and right now it was in the oven so it could rise.

I took out the sauce and pepperoni slices and opened them. I went to check on the dough and it looked ready to shape. Taking them out I turned on the oven to preheat and I then realized we hadn't been talking much. Outside the sound of rain had started slowly getting louder and I texted my mom to ask her if she was okay. She replied instantly that they were just getting to their favorite restaurant and would be home late.

"Okay, I'm finished, what next?" He asked.

"We wait for the oven to heat up." I stood there and realized he had never actually been to my house. We could wait in the living room, but the t.v. wasn't working earlier. Should I just invite him into my room? Was this a way to flirt, or would I be giving off a 'let's do it' vibe? "Do you want to go hang out in my room?" Thank god it was clean.

"Sure, I can wear my shoes inside right, I didn't even ask." Why is he so polite?

"Oh it's okay, we don't mind." He walked behind me down the hall towards my room and when I opened my door he almost snorted from laughing. "What?" I sat down on my chair.

"I half expected your room to look like this." He pointed to my giant bookshelf that went from one side of the wall to the other. It was filled with mostly books but also, DVDs, and even comic books that my brother had given me.

"I told you I like to read." He walked over and looked up and down noticing a collection of vinyl records. Most of them were my parent's old records, but when I was sixteen I began collecting some as well. He kneeled down and pulled out a Pink Floyd vinyl stopping to look at me. "You can play them, my player is up there." He smiled carefully taking it out and putting it on the record player. The slow music started and he smiled for a few seconds before the loud guitar riffs of 'in the flesh?' Began playing.

"I love this album." He sat on the ground and listened along. In the kitchen, I could hear the timer go off and knew it was time to make the pizza.

While we made the pizza Harry began singing along to one of the songs we had just been listening too. His voice was so calming and smooth that I completely got lost in the moment and stopped doing what I was doing. He looked up at me and smiled awkwardly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, pass me the cheese?" We put the timer on once again and he helped me put the pizza into the oven. I heard him hiss and he grabbed his arm quickly. He frowned and carried on. "Did you burn yourself?" I walked over and grabbed his arm.

"I'm okay, just a little burn." The mark was red and began to peal I frowned at him, shaking my head and pulled him with me. We reached my room and I told him to sit on the bed. I pulled out a first aid kit from my bathroom and opened it to grab the burn ointment. "Jane, believe me, it didn't hurt." I put the ointment on ignoring him but as I placed it on the burn, I noticed some scars on his arm as well.

"Even if it doesn't hurt, I don't want it to get infected." I put some gauze on it and taped it down. "All done." I smoothed the last piece of tape down. He held my hands after I finished and looked at them. "What?"

"You have very small hands." He observed. I was now standing somewhat between his legs while he sat on my bed. He put his hand up against mine, his hand much bigger than mine. "You are very small, so it makes sense. What are you five feet tall?" He asked.

"5'2" I corrected. "Harry?" He was still playing with my hands. He hummed and I began to feel nervous and said something without thinking "Can you kiss me?" He stopped and I held my breath, waiting to be rejected.

He stood up making me take a step back. Right there in my bedroom he leaned down and pressed his lips ever so carefully to mine. It was so soft and gentle that when he pulled away I didn't know if it actually happened or not. I looked up at him and he leaned back into another kiss. This time his lips stopped for a second before he moved against mine. Slowly I began to move mine, capturing his bottom lip with my lips. I put my arms around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. He hummed wrapping his arms around my waist picking me up so he could kiss me without bending down.

I opened my mouth gently and I could feel his tongue touch mine, making me let out a soft moan. For a moment the world stopped and it was just us kissing when all of a sudden what sounded like lightning hitting right outside, caused both of us to pull apart.

"Jesus, that was loud!" He set me down and I tried to catch my balance.

"I'm gonna go check on the pizza." I walked out of the room and felt embarrassed about what just happened. I told him to kiss me and he did. If it wasn't for that lightning would I have kept going?

I looked at the pizza and it looked half done. Harry walked in a few seconds later and stood there. The thunder was loud but I could tell the lightning was farther away now. "You look like you're going to be sick," Harry stated. "Am I that bad of a kisser?"

"No!" I spoke louder than I meant to. "We just kissed." He nodded. "So, we're friends who kissed and now it made things awkward."

"Awkward for who?" He sat on one of the bar stools. "Jane, you asked me to kiss you." He seemed to get upset about what I said and I felt stupid for being nervous. "Do you regret kissing me?"

"Of course not, but I know you only did it because you felt bad or something." I didn't realize how insecure I could be until that moment.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him putting his hands on my waist. "Jane, believe me, I have never been happier in my entire life than the second you told me to kiss you. Why in the world would I ask you to the beach, or open up to you? Clearly, I really like you, hmm?"

All I could hear is the rain outside and my heart beating really hard. I leaned into him and he hugged me. "You're making me blush," I said into his chest.

"You're making me want to kiss you again." I looked up at him and pressed one kiss to his jaw. He smiled leaning down to kiss me once again.

The night was great, and the pizza was delicious.

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Thank you for reading. Xx

-k