Hide and Seek

Shhh

I was trying to be a good little sister and stay out of sight at my brother's party. But his best friend - my crush ever since I could remember - came inside to summon me. It didn't take much to convince me to join the game of hide and seek.

Chris, my brother, was explaining the rules as we joined everyone else. He glared at Tyler for a brief second, glanced at me, then back at Tyler. He definitely didn't want me there.

Once Chris started counting, I went into the wooded area until I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face and became disoriented. I heard voices to my left, so I began walking that way, with my arms held out in front of me.

Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind, wrapping one arm around me, and covering my mouth with the other hand. I fought until he snickered, and I realized who it was.

"Tyler!" I yelled against his hand.

The corner of Tyler's lips touched my ear when he whispered, "Shhh."

I nodded my agreement, and Tyler loosened his hold. I turned around too quickly, which threw me off balance, and I instinctively reached out and grabbed for anything I could reach, which happened to be Tyler's arms. In turn, he placed his hands on my hips. I freaked out a little and took a couple steps backwards, right into a tree.

It wasn't the most comfortable position to be in, with the rough bark pressing against my skin. But I was more concerned about Tyler's hand moving to my cheek and his lips hovering over mine.

He stayed there, torturing me, for several seconds. My lips parted slightly in anticipation of what I hoped was about to happen. Then he moved those last few millimeters to close the miniscule gap between our lips.

It was just a simple, soft union of our lips, lingering for a few sweet seconds. Yet, it exceeded every expectation I'd ever had.

"Kelsey," he whispered.

"Hmm?" was all I could muster.

"They're yelling for us."

I hadn't noticed, obviously.

"Oh. I ..." my words trailed off as he kissed me again, this time quickly.

He lead me toward the awaiting voices and laughter. As we were about to reach the open field, Tyler came to a halt.

"I hope that was okay. I - " he hesitated. "If you want to pretend it never happened, I'd understand."

I knew it was speak now or forever hold my peace. "I don't want to forget it. I've hoped for that since... forever." I was thankful that it was still really dark because I had to be 20 shades of red.

"Really? I had no idea." He seemed genuinely surprised.

We both laughed quietly at ourselves. Then Tyler said, "Then we should talk about this later. If you want to."

"I'd like that."

Suddenly, there was a light shining on us.

"I knew it," Chris said, gruffly.

There was a brief wordless exchange between the boys. In the end, I knew everything was cool when Chris shook his head and said, "Whatever, man. Ready for the next round?"

The game resumed without further ado.