"Dude. Just spin the freaking bottle," Kai growls, annoyed. River sets the empty bottle in the centre of the table and spins it. It spins around in eight full circles before stopping in front of Ashton.
"Yeah, Ashton!" River smirks, "Let's see who the lucky girl is." Kiara, Rani and I glance at each other as Kai spins the bottle a second time. It completes nine rotations before landing directly on...
...me. Crap.
The room goes completely silent. Ashton and I stare at the ground, and everyone else glances at the ceiling. "Um..." Rani starts, but stops. The silence is so deafening you can practically feel the awkward hanging in the air. I sigh.
Ashton and I aren't exactly... Buddy-buddies. Actually, we're more like mortal enemies. Everyone knows that for whatever reason, Ashton enjoys tormenting me and I'm constantly driven insane by everything he does. Fantastic. I think to myself. Seven minutes in a closet with a guy I've hated since the sixth grade.
"Well?" Kai breaks the silence. "Go get in the closet."
I roll my eyes. Kai is notoriously impatient. Yet, I'd still rather be trapped in a closet with him over Ashton.
"Whatever," Ashton finally speaks up. He looks at me. "You coming?"
I sigh again, and get up off of the floor, following him to the closet. We both slide inside and shut the door. Light peeks through the cracks of the door leaving just enough light for us to see each other's faces.
I sit down, cross-legged on the floor. Ashton flops down opposite me. "So," he says, quietly, "are we going to sit here in silence for seven minutes?"
"What else would we do?"
He snorts. "It's seven minutes in heaven, Alaska. What do you think?"
Now I laugh. "Please. I'm not kissing you."
"Well, I don't want to kiss you either."
I glance down at my watch. Six minutes left. I hear banging on the closet door. It's River.
"You guys better not just sit in silence." He yells. "Because if you do, we'll add another 7 minutes!"
"Come on," I groan.
I look at Ashton, only to see him staring back at me. "Well, you better kiss me, then."
"No," I scoff.
"Why not? Why do you hate me so much?"
"Are you kidding?" I whisper. "You've been nothing but an ass to me since the day we met. Why do you hate me?"
"What makes you think I hate you?" He whispers back, arching an eyebrow. A ray of lights hits part of his, and I can see his blue eyes sparkle.
"Dude."
He sighs and runs his hand through his brown-blonde hair. "I don't hate you."
"Then why do you always give me such crap?"
He swallows and stares at his hands. "It's complicated."
"No," I say, "It's not. You're either nice to someone or you're not. Why aren't you nice to me?"
"I just have a lot going on in my life," he snaps.
"Well, why take it out on me?"
"Because, you don't fight back." He pauses, and then resumes after a moment, "I feel like crap enough already. But you are the only person who doesn't fight back. Who doesn't try to make me feel bad. You just suck it up."
Now it's my turn to look at my hands. "How do you think that makes me feel?"
Ashton doesn't respond. He just closes his eyes.
"Yo!" River bangs on the door again, and I jump. "One minute left. If there is no evidence that you two are making out, we're adding ten more minutes."
"I thought it was seven!"
"Well, now it's ten."
"Hey," Kai yells, "If there's any way you two can sort out your problems, it's this. Now, go, make amends." He and River laugh, and I can faintly hear Rani giggling.
Ashton smiles. "Losers."
I crack a smile, too. I stare at him. He is actually a beautiful boy with his sky blue eyes, perfect imperfect fringe and dimples. He looks especially muscular in his heathered grey v-neck.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, releasing me from my thoughts.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. I had a lot of crap and I took it out on you." He looks at me, his eyes wide. He has such thick eyelashes. I'm jealous, actually.
"You know, instead of indirectly taking everything out on me, you could've just talked to me." I say, crossing my arms.
"Ha. Right," the corner of his mouth turns up, revealing his adorable dimples. "We can bond over tea and watch The Notebook. Then, we can cry, and hug until the pain goes away."
"Bite me."
"Bite me." He laughs.
Suddenly, the door slides open, and River and Kai lean in. "Stand up." They stare at us until we obey. River picks up his stopwatch. "Ten. Minutes. Go." They shut the door and walk away.
"They're going to keep us in here for all eternity. We'll suffocate." I mumble.
"You know..." Ashton begins, but stops himself. "Nevermind."
"No, what?" I pry. He's standing about two feet from me, fumbling with is keychain.
"Nothing."
I watch him until he looks up at me. "You were going to say we should just play the game." I say, my hands on my hips.
"Pshh, I was not going to say that."
"Liar."
"I'm not lying."
"Fine. Then we'll sit here forever." I pick at my finger nail polish, waiting for him to reply.
After about a minute of nothing, Ashton finally breaks. "Okay, fine. But we don't have to for the whole ten minutes."
"I know," I say, "We're down to eight."
"So, we'll kiss for a minute and they'll let us out." He slides his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do.
"Fine."
"Fine."
Neither of us move. We just look at each other. It's growing hot in the closet and I'm getting irritated. "Oh, screw it." I dive forward and press my lips against his. He slowly puts his hand on my waist. I kiss him gently and soon, he pulls me closer.
Our kisses slowly grow more intense. My mind is spinning. I'm like 90 percent sure that it's already been a minute, but I strangely can't get myself to break away. Ashton seems to feel the same, because he pulls me even closer, pressing his body up against mine.
Suddenly, things get heated. Ashton presses me up against a wall, and slides his hands further down my back. It feels like we're being held together by a magnetic force that refuses to let us separate. I kiss his lips over and over. I feel Ashton's hands slide underneath my thighs, and I'm lifted up onto a shelf. We break away for a second, our faces inches apart. I stare at him for a moment.
"I think it's been more than one minute." He whispers, cracking a smile.
"So, you're saying that you want to stop?"
He gulps. "Absolutely not." He slams his mouth back onto mine and I wrap my arms around him. I reach down to his lower back, and lift up the bottom of his shirt. He grabs his and pulls it over his head. I grab his face and pull it back to mine. My hands wander down his chest, and I can feel the muscles moving beneath his skin. Holy crap.
I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him as close to me as possible. His hands run up and down my back and he gently tugs my cardigan off of my shoulders, and tosses it on the floor. He removes his mouth from mine and travels downward, kissing my jawline, then my neck, my shoulder, and then my chest.
We are radiating burning heat by this point, and I have this uncontrollable hunger for him. I lift his face back up to mine and crash my lips onto his. His arms wrap around me and mine tighten around him.
"Times up!" River yells. "You can come out now."
Ashton and I pull back and look at each other. I can see the longing lust in his eyes. He rests his forehead on my chest, breathing heavily.
"Guys." River repeats.
"Give us ten more minutes!" I yell, and Ashton raises his head, biting his lip. Ugh, you're so hot.
"...what?!" River and Kai yell.
"You heard me!"
"...uh...okay..? Ten more minutes then."
I breathe a sigh of relief and Ashton returns lips to mine. We kiss passionately, holding each other as closely as humanly possible. He slides his hands up under my tank, touching my bare back. Sparks fly throughout my body, and I pull my shirt off. Now, his skin is touching mine, and adrenaline races through me. He kisses my chest again, gently holding my waist. I sigh happily, and he laughs into my neck. We're both sweaty and it's a mixture of cologne and fruitiness. I'm sky high and I almost don't hear it when our ten minutes are up.