Midnight Heat - Josh Kiszka

Chapter 6

After their reintroduction, Annie and Josh sat in silence Annie's living room for a minute or two.

"What do you look for in a partner?" Josh asked.

"I haven't given it a lot of thought. Sam was my one and only. I was a good kid and school and he was the only one interested. We grew closer and closer and grew together." Annie answered.

"If you had to think about it."

"I guess someone intelligent. Has to have a good heart." Annie said.

"Hmm."

"What about you?"

"She has to have a nice smile. Care about me." He replied.

"You have a nice smile." Annie grinned slightly.

"You do too." He smiled, looking at Annie's eyes. "Wanna sit with me?"

Annie bit the corner of her lip. She moved herself in position beside Josh on the bean bag. It was more comfortable than she expected.

"Annie, I think we're both interested in each other. Can we skip to the part where we make out?" Josh said.

"I can't tell if you're joking." Annie locked eyes with Josh.

Josh raised his hand to Annie's chin, gently pulling her to him. Annie's eyes closed on instinct. Josh's lips connected with hers. It felt like electricity. Like she was finally alive. She never really understood why people referred to kissing as 'fireworks' until that moment.

Annie's lips slightly parted, and she felt Josh's follow suit. His tongue brushed her bottom lip. Annie found her fingers curling into his hair. She adjusted her body to where she was sitting in his lap. Josh pressed his tongue further into her kiss. Annie inhaled through her nose. All she could feel was electricity. She pulled away, keeping her forehead touching his.

"Wow. That was a kiss." She giggled.

Josh exhaled with a smile. "We should go back outside before it hits midnight."

"Just one more time."

Josh brought to his lips to hers once again, this time a little more aggressively. He nibbled her lip while placing his hands on her sides, lifting her onto him even more. Annie giggled. "I guess you weren't joking."

"Let's go." Josh laughed.

Annie climbed off of Josh, offering her hand to help him up. He took her hand and pulled himself off of the sack.

"What are we gonna say when Grace asks?" Annie questioned, opening the front door.

"That's a good question. For now we can just say we got to know each other a little." Josh said "no need for all of them to jump to conclusions."

Annie nodded as she walked down the stairs and onto the grass. Josh followed her closely, his hand occasionally grazing her back. They walked together back to the bonfire and sat next to each other in the circle that was still established.

Josh rested his hand on Annie's knee. Annie smiled. This might actually work.

"What happened?" Grace asked

"I apologized." The pair said in unison.

The group was silent. They didn't know how to react to the pair.

"What time is it?" Grace asked, breaking the silence.

They all pulled out their phones. "11:11" Sam announced.

"Make a wish" Annie said. "I know what mine is." She said glancing at Josh, who hadn't stopped looking at her.