How it Happened is Irrelevant (Mabbell)

10

The day consisted mostly of me sneaking glances at Craig's lips, feeling guilty when he realized that I was looking at him, and being sick of being in this damn bus for so damn long. It was a torrential downpour outside for the vast majority of the day, so flooding was a major concern. Thank God for drainage, right? 

But the night was nearly crystal clear. At least at this odd hour that I'm awake for. I thought I was the only one too, that is until I got up to get myself a glass of water. The air conditioner that was blasting so loudly had been covering the sound of a guitar hero controller's strum bar clicking at a rapid pace. I saw Craig sitting there, playing Through the Fire And Flames on the highest difficulty, swearing under his breath every other second, his focus razor sharp. The end of the song came up, and he fell back onto the bench in a heap of disappointment. "It's fucking impossible!" He complained.

"You have to move the strum bar both ways," I muttered. He looked up, having not realized that I'd been there. 

"I was moving it both ways. Then I'd over-strum." He gave me a look that questioned if I was really being truthful in what I'd said. 

"Then you're doing it too fast. Let me try." I reached for the controller, which he handed over. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I bet you I could get a full combo on my first try." I'd never played this particular song before. I'd played the game, but never this song. I'd heard about it's challenges though.

"Yeah right."

I looked over at the counter and saw a single Hershey's kiss sitting there. Had Thrasher been trying to help me again? Last time, that didn't go over well. "I'll bet you a kiss." His eyes grew wide. I grabbed the chocolate and showed it to him. "This kiss."

"What's keeping me from just grabbing it and eating it right now?" He asked, maybe a little bit to suggestively.

"If you did, I'd stick my tongue down your throat until I got it back."

"I'd honestly like to see you try," He raised a single eyebrow in challenge. There should be pressure on me right about now, but I don't really feel it. I put the chocolate back on the counter, far enough away from him that he wouldn't be able to get it without reaching across from me. 

I set up the game and bit my lip as I prepared myself to be playing faster than I'd ever played anything in my life. Craig sat back and locked his view on the screen. I took a deep breath and started the beginning, not screwing up once. After about a minute of the song, my hands were already both tired as fuck. This was a lot faster than I'd thought. I still hadn't messed up yet, though, so I had to keep going. 

At about three minutes, and no mistakes, Craig started eyeing up the kiss. At least that what I think he was doing. I couldn't see very well out of the corner of my eye. I felt his arm snake around my back as he reached for it. Too caught up in not messing up, I leaned forward and let him take it. 

The fake Craig inside my head would've thrown the kiss away, grabbed my face, and kissed me with all of the passion and lust that he possibly could. And I would've gotten so lost in that kiss that even all of the screwed up notes and holds in the song wouldn't have even crossed my mind a second time. 

But that's the Craig inside my head. This is the real thing. So I just kept playing the game as though he wasn't going to drop that chocolate in his mouth and force me to get it out. I heard the wrapper begin to crinkle, but I didn't let my focus deter for a moment. Not yet. 

"Let's see if you can walk the walk, shall we?" Craig whispered. His voice sounded like it was in my ear, the heat from his breath tickling down my neck and sending a chill throughout my whole body. Forget focus, I was going to lose consciousness if this kept up. I heard him take the first bite of the kiss. Immediately, I broke the strap on the guitar, grabbed the sides of his face, and forced my tongue into his sealed lips. I'd done this enough times to know how to get the pieces of the kiss out of his mouth, and as soon as I had, I swallowed them and pulled away from him. 

Or at least I tried to.

He grabbed the back of my hair and brought me back to his lips. I gave in, running one of my hands up his arm, and the other in his hair. Had it always been this soft? I felt one of his hands run up my back, under my shirt. His fingers were ten thousand times softer than I'd imagined him, and his lips were equally so. But his tongue was nothing like that. It was a certified expert in the field of kissing. A graduate of Ivy League school Sexford, with a doctorate in sexiness. 

"What's going-?" I heard a voice say. I didn't want for this to end, but Craig broke the kiss and and looked at the speaker. I felt like a lump of Jell-O, and therefore just awkwardly slumped against his body, which he did nothing about. 

"Can I help you?" He asked casually. Although I put my fingers against his wrist and felt his racing pulse. I thought the beat raging through my ears was bad, but damn, that's really fast. 

"I didn't see this," The voice concluded, walking away. 

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Just Max. Don't worry about him." He pulled me off of his chest so that he could look at me. "I thought you said that you were going to get a full combo?"

"I got a little distracted," I said, gesturing to him.

"I'm a distraction?" He asked, feigning innocence. 

"I don't want you to ever stop distracting." I traced a shaking hand against the collar of his shirt.

"Make me believe it."