The Academy In My Head

How Many Licks...

A/N Stop it… geez… this is an innocent story, don’t go there… LOL

 ******

“Hi Kota.”

“Hey 10…” Kota smiled at me, pushing his glasses up slightly higher on his nose. “What are you doing today?”

“Not much. I was thinking maybe, if you’re not busy, you and I could hang out today.”

His green eyes flashed, and his smile widened. “Is that so?” I nodded. “I can’t think of anything I’d like better than to spend a good November Saturday with my girlfriend.”

“Perfect. We can figure it out as we go, but first… we count.” I said.

“Count?” He blinked. “Not that I’m complaining but what do you mean?”

I grinned at him and produced a handful of tootsie pops from my hoodie pocket. “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop, Mr. Kota?”

His lips quirked up at the corners. “Does Luke know you raided his stash? You know how he gets.” He asked, studying the flavors I’d grabbed.

“Of course.” I huffed. “He gave them to me.”

“In exchange for what?”

“Because I’m THE Sang doesn’t count?” I pouted as his gaze narrowed on me. “Fine. I have to make him chocolate chip cookies. And distract North while he “gets his cookie on”, whatever that means.” I said, using air quotes around the phrase.

“In other words, he’s going to go Cookie Monster on the. He’s always liked chocolate chip cookies.” At my confused look, he elaborated. “You know, Cookie always starts off eating nicely and then turns into Cookie… nom nom nom nom and boom, just crumbs all over the place.” I giggled at the thought of Luke being cookie monster. “Jessica has always liked chocolate chip cookies too.”

“And you? What’s your favorite, Kota?”

“I like a good molasses ginger cookie. Soft and chewy in the middle but with crispy edges.” He admitted.

“Hmm… spice fits.” I murmured. He always smelled like spices and I had often tried to place the smell but couldn’t, outside of that it was a spicy scent which meant Kota was nearby. Maybe it was actually gingerbread spices. I always relaxed more when he was around because the scent was comforting, nice and warm, like pumpkin pie, gingerbread and apple pie all at the same time. “Good to know.”

“What’s yours?” He asked, his eyes meeting mine for a moment before he started to study his candy choices again.

“I’ve never met a cookie yet that I didn’t like.” I smiled. “I admit that oatmeal raisin cookies give me trust issues but that’s easily remedied.”

“Luke has trust issues with those too.” Kota said, with a chuckle before he slid the grape candy out of my hand.

“Ah, grape. A worthy choice.” I said before picking the cherry one out.

“So, what’s the plan?” He twirled the stick between his fingers, waiting for me to tell him what our control factor was for our experiment before he unwrapped it.

“Well, no biting or sucking. Only licking allowed.” I stated.

His eyes widened, and his gaze snapped to mine. “Uh… Sang…?”

My face flamed red when I realized how my rules could be misconstrued. “Of the candy. Only the candy.” I clarified, smacking him upside the back of the head. “Get your mind out of the gutter,Dakota Jameson Lee.” I said sternly.

He laughed. “Sorry, Sang.” He said before leaning over and kissing me lightly. “So, the question is how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop and it’s licking only. No sucking on it or following in Mr. Owl’s footsteps and licking it 3 times before chomping it?”

“You got it.” I said. “Maybe later we can see how long it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop by sucking on it. I bet it would take an hour.”

“It very possibly could.” He said, unwrapping his sucker and studying the label for a moment before setting it aside. “So, counting our licks?”

“Oh, right.” I said before reaching into the hoodie again and producing click counters. “So that there’s no question, take a lick and click it in at the same time.” I said, handing him one.

“Great idea Sang.” He said. “Ready?”

I double checked that my counter was at zero and unwrapped my own sucker. “Cheers.” I teased, taping my sucker against his. “3… 2… 1… lick away.” I said before utilizing my clicker and choosing a side of the candy to launch my licking attempt.

* * *

“I’m tired of licking.” I whined.

“I know.” Kota said. “but hey, we’re at… 350 licks and I think I’m about to break through to the center. I mean, lick through to the center.

“That’s good.” I said. “I think I sprained my tongue.” I complained.

“It’ll be okay.” He reassured me. “Just don’t let Doc look at it or we will have all kinds of unwanted issues.” He said, making me giggle.

“Agreed, no Dr. Sean examinations of my sprained tongue.” I said. “Okay, ready?” I asked, completing a lick of my sucker, raising it to eye level and looking at it for a moment to find the ultimate spot to get to the center tootsie roll.

Kota glanced at me. “Sang…?”

“Yeah?” I looked up at him.

“This has been fun.” He said, leaning over and kissing me lightly. “Thank you for thinking of a unique way to spend our day.” He rested his forehead against mine.

“You’re welcome.” I murmured, taking initiative and kissing him myself. “We should go for a walk after we figure out this thing… fall leaves…?”

He grinned. “Go have lunch at the diner?”

“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed before pulling away. “Cheers…” I raised my sucker at him and took a lick. He laughed at me and we stuck to our goal of licking our way to the center of the tootsie roll pop.

It only took 375 licks, after all… and two hours.

But it was two hours of one on one time with Kota.

And that made me happy.

I really do wonder how long it would take to suck the way to the center of a tootsie roll pop.

But that’s an experiment for another day…

~Fin~