Worth It

Chapter 3: Feels Right

He grinned at me and put his arm around my waist. I moved closer to him feeling temporarily mesmerized.

"Kevin," I questioned with a raised eyebrow, "whatchu doing?" He tilted my chin upward.

"I really want to kiss you right now."

I leaned closer to him and let his lips linger above mine for a little bit. Before he could kiss me, I grinned. "That's not what I'm here for," I said just before playfully pushing him out of the way. "That's not funny," he chuckled as he watched me put the remainder of the menus back inside the drawer. I quickly turned and grinned in his direction. "I hope you're in the mood for Korean tonight, because that's what we're having." I headed into the living room to call in the order. Kevin stood in the kitchen for a moment and grinned to himself before making his way into the living room behind me.

After placing the order, I hung up. "They'll be here in thirty," I said placing my phone on the table in front of me.
....

After we ate Kevin and I talked. I asked him what drove his art and in return he asked me about my love for history and art. He was so fascinated. As the hours passed, we began to settle into each other. I leaned back on his chest as he slowly stroked the sides of my arms; his fingers occasionally trailing down the length of them both.

"You are so refreshing," he said as his fingers ran down the palm of my left hand until our fingers interlocked. He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it, before quietly relinquishing his hand from mine and kissing promises first, into my palm, and then up my wrist. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would learn what each kiss meant.

I sat up and turned to face him. I stared at him with the strange urge to ask him if I could kiss him, but never worked up the nerve. Kevin spoke. "Alyssa," he started, "I know I can be a flirt and everything, but I want you to know that I really do respect you and that I don't want to rush into anything prematurely with you, including sex. When I said I wanted to get to know you, I meant that. I'm willing to wait, if you are."

My mouth crept into a slow grin. I could tell Kevin was a little nervous making that confession. "Ugh! Why haven't I met you sooner Kevin? A man after my own heart," I giggled as I buried my face into the juncture of his jaw and neck; kissing him there. I soon released him and sat Indian style in front of him.

His eyes looked of both relief and joy all at once. I offered him a warm smile and grew silent for a short moment. I stood on my knees and held his face in my hands. "Hold still," I said. "I want to get a good look at you." With my thumbs I traced his jawline, then his eyelids, and lastly his lips. After a moment I leaned down to kiss each previously visited place.

He looked up at me and grabbed the sides of my neck before stroking my left cheek with his thumb. "You are special you know that," he said before pulling me in.

"So I've been told," I grinned.

He kissed my forehead and then my lips. I smiled and leaned into his chest. I inhaled the space around him and felt at peace. It's weird that I've only known Kevin for a short time, yet I feel like I've known him forever. I just hoped that we weren't moving too fast.

"You're really quiet. What are you thinking about," Kevin asked me.

I exhaled slowly. "Do you think we're moving too fast?" Kevin took a moment to think it over. "I don't think so. Do you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe. I mean this is only our second date and I didn't think we'd get so comfortable so soon. I don't know. This all feels so new to me. Maybe I'm over thinking it."

He chuckled. "You are. We haven't rushed anything. The connection we have exist with no effort from us; it's happening all on its own. Lys, I feel like I've known you for a lifetime. It's rare that people meet the person they're supposed to be with at such a young age." He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. "You just feel right to me."

I could not control the smile that stretched acrossed my face. "So we're meant to be together huh?" I swear I could hear him smile from behind me.

"Yeah. I feel that deeply," he kissed the top of my head, "but we'll get into all that when you're ready."

I laughed. "Oh. When I'm ready? How do you know I'm not ready now?"

He grew silent for what seemed like a long time. "Because I think my feelings for you are stronger than your feelings are for me. I've been doting on you for a minute now."

"But Kevin," I started, " I like you. I've enjoyed spending time with you and I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes."

"Good," he responded, "because I'm looking forward to it too." Just then my phone buzzed on the table. I reached across Kevin and grabbed it. I looked at the lit up screen and saw that it was a text from Janelle.

"Who is it," Kevin asked.

"Janelle. I know her ass don't want nothing," I said as I turned the screen off.

"You can text her back. I don't mind."

I turned to look back at him. "Are you sure? I don't want to interrupt our date."

"Yeah. I don't mind."

"Okay." I unlocked my phone. I read the text from Janelle and laughed. "See what I tell you," I said texting Janelle back, "She don't want nothing. She sent me the little eye emojis asking me where I'm at. Her nosey ass. I guess she thinks I'm supposed to be back by now."

Kevin chuckled behind me. "How'd y'all meet?"

"I met Janelle at freshman orientation. We were in the same group with a bunch of girls who were there together. When we were sitting down at one of the table's waiting for the president to welcome us, she mentioned that she was a history major and I got excited, because I was one too."

"So that's it? Y'all became friends just like that?"

I laughed. "Well not quite. Later that day, when we seperated from the group, we were discussing our concentrations and were so excited to learn how different they were from each other. My concentration is in postcolonial art and hers is in African diasporic studies. We were interested to see how our two concentrations overlapped with each others. Yeah. So we bonded over our love for history. We're lowkey nerds, but we're lit." I laughed.

"There's nothing wrong with that. I prefer girls who are brainiacs anyway," Kevin said hugging me tighter and kissing me on the side of my cheek.

I grinned giddily as I eagerly accepted his warm embrace. "You know what? I get it; what you said earlier."

"What?"

"About this feeling right. It does."

Kevin leaned down and chuckled in my ear. "See. I told you."