A/N: Inspired by the user PaperWork, although it isn't exactly how you asked it to be (sorry!)
I Dare You
I sighed at the mess I was staring at in the mirror. I was attempting to flatten my hair down with a bit of water, considering it was sticking up all over the place like I'd just been flung through the air at two hundred miles per hour. It wasn't really working.
I was so damn tired today. School was being a real drag, it was only second period break so I had fifteen minutes to get myself together enough to face another classroom full of wild teenagers. I was already starting to get a dull ache from the mere thought of it.
I ran my fingers under the running water and then through my hair once more. One last attempt to try and tame the dull strands of hair that used to be a dark brown. The dye had soon wore off, and I didn't have the money to keep up with maintaining the colour.
It was then that the door to the restroom opened. I had otherwise been alone, but now I was joined by a taller boy, he had a little more length to his legs than me, who headed straight for the urinals. I watched his back in the mirror, my hands had returned to the running water in order to make it look like I was washing my hands and not just standing there like a moron.
As he approached the sinks by my side, I quickly squirted some soap into my palms and washed them off, taking slightly longer than usual due to being distracted by the fact that I frigging knew this guy. I'd sort of recognised him as soon as he walked in, but it was when I saw his face clearly that it hit me.
We had classes together all last year, but we never really spoke. Well, he just never seemed to acknowledge me, really. I'd crushed on him for far too long, and I was just beginning to let go of my hopes of ever getting to know the guy, now that we no longer shared classes.
Life clearly had other, more frustrating plans for me as we were now sharing sinks in the damn toilets where I'd spent far too much time hiding and thinking about him and god damn just wishing he would look at me. At least just look at me. See me. Smile at me? I don't know, was that pushing it?
I almost choked when I glanced back up at the mirror to see his eyes staring back at me, brown irises matching mine almost identically. He'd noticed my presence for once, and there was a smile on his lips. It was slight, but it was there. I smiled back at him and then ducked my head timidly.
“You hiding from the chaos out there?” He said, drying his hands with a paper towel, balling it up and tossing it in the bin once he was done with it.
“Yeah,” I rubbed at my eyes awkwardly. “Too tired to deal with it all today.”
“Yeah, I get that.” His smile grew a little wider. It made my chest tighten. “I know you from somewhere, don't I?”
I leaned against the sink and crossed my ankles, trying to appear calm and casual as I said, “We had classes together last year, I think.” I don't think, I know. I didn't want to come across too eager, though.
“Oh, really? What's your name?”
“Ryan Wentworth.”
“Wentworth, yeah! I remember hearing that quite a lot. You had a pretty shitty attention span. Teachers were always calling out your name, telling you to focus.”
My cheeks very nearly turned pink. He actually remembered something about me. I didn't know how to react so I simply laughed, averting his gaze. Eventually the silence between us stretched for far too long, so I had to think of something to say.
My something came out as, “Today's been such a boring day.” It was only the second god damn period, the day had barely begun.
“Well, why don't you do something to liven it up then? Instead of hiding in the toilets all the time.” One corner of his lips curved up into a cheeky smile as he folded his arms across his chest. He'd shuffled a little closer to me, leaning against the sinks just as I was.
“Like what?” I asked, voice too quiet in the emptiness of the space around us. I felt like a small child. I just hoped he didn't see through my forced, casual demeanour.
“I don't know,” he pushed off from the sinks and dropped his hands into his pockets, moving a little closer. “Do something unusual. Something you've never done before.” He shrugged. It was a slow, fluid motion. He somehow managed to make it look graceful.
“I've always wanted to know what it was like to kiss a guy,” there was that shrug again, accompanying the carefree, if slightly suggestive, tone he spoke with. I looked up at him immediately, a question in the way I tilted my head and furrowed my brows.
“I dare you.” He said, dropping his voice to a low hum.
I swallowed and attempted to clear my throat. “Dare me to what?” I wasn't stupid, I knew what he was asking but I needed to hear it. I needed that reassurance that this wasn't just me being hopeful and interpreting it all wrong.
“I dare you to kiss me.” Another shrug fell upon his shoulders, lifting them up and carrying them back down with that same fluid motion as before. This time I noticed a slight blush creeping up the side of his neck and into his cheeks.
“Wh-” I cleared my throat again. “Why would you want me to...?”
“Because like you said, today's been pretty damn boring. I want to see if I can feel something, anything, other than boredom today. Help me out?”
His left hand slid out from his trouser pocket and his fingers placed themselves lightly against my hip. I could barely feel their presence, but it still lit a fire inside of me that had me pining for a glass of ice cold water.
My fingers curled around the edge of the sink, grasping for something to hold onto as I lifted myself up on my tiptoes. I focused on his lips as they grew nearer and nearer, before our nose bumped against each other and he closed the rest of the distance, opening his mouth invitingly against mine.
There was no tongue introduced – thank god, because I had no idea how to even kiss someone normally never mind with all this fancy tongue action – it was, I assumed, a relatively simple kiss but god did it feel like someone had drained the entire life out of me.
My knees grew shaky and my heart thumped heavy in my chest. I could barely get enough air inside my lungs to keep me from passing out, at the sheer thought of his lips on mine. Never mind it actually happening. Right Here. Right now. How was I even still conscious?
I moved my lips with his, in what I hoped was the right way. I had no idea. This was my first ever kiss. My first kiss, and it was with the one guy I could never get out of my damn mind since the first day I saw him. It was really happening. In the gents toilets. In school. On an ordinary Monday morning?
I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't still in bed, down with a fever and simply hallucinating. That would surely be more likely than it actually happening. Especially on a Monday. Nothing good ever happened on a frigging Monday.
And then he pulled back and I let the balls of my feet lower back to the floor. I felt like all the air came rushing out of me, leaving me in resemblance of a deflated balloon. I kept my eyes closed for longer than I should have. When I finally opened them, I saw him with an arched eyebrow and a subtle smirk.
“See? The day isn't as boring as it started out to be.” His smirk stretched into a grin. And then the bell for next period rang obnoxiously throughout the school halls. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was slightly relieved. I needed a bit of time to put myself back together so I could function properly.
“You look a lot more awake, now.” He laughed. “I'll see you around, Ryan.” He exited the toilet without looking back, leaving me standing there in utter shock.
“Better than caffeine,” I muttered to myself as I also made a swift exit, heading for my next class with a mind fogged up with thoughts of how much I really enjoyed kissing someone. How much I wanted to rewind time to go back and re-live it all over again. I barely knew what lesson I'd sat myself down in. Was it even my classroom? Huh, who knows?
The sad thing about the whole situation, was that when I next saw him, he didn't wave at me with a welcoming, “Hey Ryan!” In fact, he didn't even really look at me.
He gave me a quick glance as I passed him in the corridor, and I gave him a rather wide smile but it wasn't returned. He simply lowered his head and walked away. We didn't speak to each other again for a very long time, and when we did it was about a year later.
I won't go into the details. It was a little too hard to recall the memory fully. Turned out he wasn't looking for anything more than an exchange of experience in a restroom, to liven up his day. He wasn't even looking to be friends.
And while he went on, walking the corridors with his group of friends, completely oblivious to my existence. I was still falling for him every single day. Honestly, I think I'd be falling for him for the rest of my life. After all, you never really forget your first kiss. Do you?