How Did It Come To This?

Chapter 15-First Kiss

You sat on the couch with Alma, having now changed and dried off. Her hair remained down as to let it air dry as she didn't own a hairdryer. You leaned against her, playing with a strand of her dark blue hair while the woman smoked her pipe with one hand, the other propping up a book in her lap.

You hummed happily as you hid your face in her shoulder, breathing in the smell of vanilla. You turned your head to look at her and caught her already looking at you. She chuckled and blew smoke into your face. She held her pipe in question. Instead of taking it you leaned over her to wrap your lips around the end. You pulled back, blowing smoke into her face in turn.

When the smoke cleared you noticed the clear redness creeping into her cheeks. You smirked and leaned a bit closer to whisper in her ear. "My, Alma, you're turning red." You heard her breath hitch. You smiled, taking her book from her and discarding it on the nearby coffee table. You then wrapped one arm around her, your other hand going to take her pipe and let it rest loosely between your lips before wrapping your other arm around her as well.

She wrapped both of her arms around you before falling back on the couch with you on top of her. She took the pipe from your lips setting it aside with the book. You looked down at her, taking in every detail of her, not noticing her doing the same. "It's impolite to stare, Y/n."

You looked away, feeing your face heat up. "Is it hot in here?" You asked. "Are you hot? I- I mean you are hot!" You groaned at your own stupidity, letting your head fall down.. on her chest... She laughed a bit at your stumbling.

"Miss Peregrine!" Emma yelled as she ran into the room. "And Y/n-?" You rolled off Alma and fell onto the floor before jumping up and running out of the room. "Y/n?!" Emma yelled after you, but didn't bother following you.

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Dinner was no better. Alma's hair had since been put up in her usual updo. The children talked as they ate and didn't notice Alma staring at you. When you finally looked her way she smirked and winked at you. "Don't you look at me like that." You said, glaring at her as blush creeped up your neck.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, my dear." She said without even looking at you.

"What the fuck? God damnit!" You said, flushing red.

"Y/n." Alma spoke, glaring now, her tone stern. "Use of profanities is strictly prohibited around the children."

You saw this as a good opportunity and leaned over to whisper in her ear. "What are you going to do, Alma? Punish me?" She choked on her food for a moment, face heating up before she grabbed you by the ear.

"Don't give me a reason to." She growled. Now it was your turn to choke on your food.

"This is really hard to watch." Emma, who sat on your other side leaned over to whisper to you. "Just tell her already!" You shook your head at the girl but said nothing in response.

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You were in your room, sitting over a drawing pad, criticizing your own work. "The shading in all wrong!" You cursed yourself, going to fix your mistakes.

"The shading on what?" You looked over to the doorway to see Alma standing there. You jumped to your feet and flipped over the drawing pad so she couldn't see it then threw your pencil on the floor.

"Shading? What shading?" You said, looking around nervously. She chuckled, walking over to you, placing her hands on your waist to pull you closer to her. You wrapped your arms around her in response, holding her tight against you so she wouldn't try to look at the drawing pad.

"Can I see what you were drawing, love?" You shook your head, holding her tighter to keep her in place.

She sighed. "You do realize you're smaller than me, and I'm stronger than you, right?" Before you could respond she lifted you off the ground. You wrapped your legs around her waist to keep from falling.

"Hey! Put me down!" She ignored you and walked over to your desk, grabbing the drawing pad and flipping it over. She was met with a drawing of herself. "Don't look at that, it's not even good."

"No, no. Y/n, it's amazing! You're a wonderful artist!" She smiled at you, placing a kiss on your cheek.

"You missed a spot." You said with a small laugh.

"Did I? Oh well that won't do." She smirked before leaning in to capture your lips in a short kiss. "Now." She said  putting on her professional mask again. "It's late, we best be getting to bed." She set you down but didn't back away from you. You rested your forehead on her shoulder, resisting the urge to kiss her again. It was platonic, to her it meant nothing, to you it meant everything. But she didn't feel the same way you did, she was just playing along.

"Can I sleep with you.?" You asked her. You'd been sleeping with her the past couple of days so she could watch you. But honestly you were so used to it at this point that you didn't want to be alone at night anymore.

"Of course, darling. Change into a nightgown and meet me in my room." She said with a smile before leaving the room.

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I got the idea for this kiss from Amber_Sweets latest book; Just One Word?