The following evening, I spent a little extra time in the bathroom. Waxing, and brushing, and flossing until my body was smooth, and my teeth were bright white.
Gran and Pops hadn't had the funds to pay for braces for me, but luckily my teeth were straight as an arrow. They were possibly the only good genetic trait I got from my mother. Or from my father. Who the fuck knew. I'd never met him.
When I was younger, I'd imagine him like some Daddy Warbucks type, that would swoop in during one of my mother's coke binges and save me.
But now that I was older, I wondered if mother even knew who my bio dad was. She'd had me when she was just nineteen, already far gone from her high school sweetheart. In fact, she was far gone from most things in her life. Her role as cheer captain, as prom queen, and as the prettiest girl at Vertie High. Pock marks covered her once smooth cheeks, and her blue eyes had that perpetual red tint of someone who was high.
I looked at my own clear brown eyes in the mirror. I wasn't her. I wasn't ever going to be her. I was going to Carter Community College in the fall, to play basketball and get my associates. Then I'd move onto one of the bigger schools, even further away, to get my bachelors and go to medical school. I'd only come back to this town, to visit Gran and Pops on the holidays.
"A penny for your thoughts?" A raspy male voice enquired, and I jumped right out of my pale freckled skin.
"Holy shit! You scared me!" I whirled around, my eyes taking in Hudson's towering form. In addition to being over six feet tall, he had a wavy mop of curly brown hair, a small gold hoop in one earlobe, and rope-like muscles that went on for days. Not that I really noticed his muscles, or how full his lips were...
He was my best friend, and not some high school fantasy. Even if all I could think about was running my hands along his arms, my fingers dipping into the natural grooves where he was all bare, and shiny, and firm...
"I was thinking about my dad." I spat, forcing my mind away from Hudson's muscles, and into a different course of thought.
"Yeah? What about him?"
"Just...just if we look alike..." My mother was all skin and bones, with bright blonde hair, and blue eyes. Meanwhile, I was much shorter, with curves for days, and reddish-brown hair that curled wildly. Not exactly the ideal lead for some harlequin romance novel.
"Maybe you don't look like either one of them. Maybe you just look like...you."
"And what an average me I am." I sighed quietly under my breath. I thought Hudson might have not heard me, but his body tensed.
"Don't talk about yourself like that." A gentle hand on my arm turned me. "You're absolutely beautiful." Ummm....what?!
Before I had another second to over-analyze his word choice, or the tender look in his eyes, his fingers tilted up my chin so his lips could capture mine. Our tongues slowly tangled, and his lips sucked and released my plump lower lip into his mouth. This certainly wasn't a friendly kiss either...
After a few moments, Hudson released me and I physically fucking swayed, gripping onto the bathroom counter for balance. Without even glancing back into the mirror, I could feel how swollen my lips were, and how my cheeks glowed red.
"Come on." He held out his large palm to me.
"Where...where are we going?" Damn my voice for being all breathy in places.
"Our space." He meant the shed out back. The one he'd kissed me in for the first time. I put a hand to my lips at the memory. His kiss had been firm, but soft at the same time. Not like the one we'd just shared. That one had felt...tender.
YOU ARE READING
The Impact of Intimacy
Romance***ONGOING*** Being the only virgin left in small town, Texas was a major fucking buzz kill. Bailey Sawyers didn't get invited to parties, she didn't get to gossip with the girls, and Bryce Hall certainly never looked in her direction. Which was wh...
