Falling For You (#wattys2016)

Chapter 9 The kiss

After a long bus ride, I was finally home. Corey would be here soon, and my hair was a mess. I hurried up to my room, and placed my new dress into my closet. I decided to push my hair up into a lose messy bun, that sat on the top of my head. I had a bad case of flyaways but decided not to care as Corey had seen me looking much worse.

One time in the tenth grade, I had decided to wear my bran new white top. It was a super nice top that showed off my collarbones, and made my neck appear longer. I had gotten many complements on it, and I was having such a great day. Unfortunately for me, it was raining that day and, I had to walk home, in the rain, with no jacket. By the end of it my top ended up becoming completely see through, and made my blue and white, polkadot bra very visible. On top of that, my mascara had began to run down my cheeks. I was a real mess. Lucky for me, I had Corey as a friend. He had seen me across the street and saved me from embarrassment by letting me wear his jacket. I felt bad, leaving him without a jacket, but when I would try and give it back to him he refused. I swear that was the day when I started to call him my best friend.

Suddenly, I was snapped out of my thoughts when Ginny marched into my room, wearing way too much eyeliner and lipstick. Without even glancing at me, she began to shuffle violently through my closet, before pulling out a bright yellow and orange sundress.

"Ew, Zoe. What even is this thing"? She asked, her voice sharp.

I rolled my eyes "Ginny what are you doing"?

"I need to borrow something. I have a date tonight and I don't know what to wear" she replied as she pulled out a short black dress.

"Fine, just don't make a mess"

Ginny rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room, with the dress draped over her shoulder. She better not get any food on that, I thought to myself as I watched her disappear into her room.
Suddenly I heard a loud knock at the door, and quickly I walked down our hard wooden steps. I greeted Corey who was standing out on our front porch, before gesturing for him to come in.

"Hey, Corey" I said quietly.

"Hey Zo" he replied seriously.

He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and black jeans. His cheeks were rosy, and his dark hair was in a mess.

"We can head up to my room, if you want" I said as I began to walk towards the stairs.

Corey shook his head.
"Oh no it's okay, we can just talk here" he smiled slightly as he took a seat on our nice leather couch.

We were Both silent for a few seconds before Corey turned his body towards mine. I stared at him, confused and wondered what he needed to talk to me about. I raised my eyebrows, letting him know that I was ready to talk whenever he was, but I don't think that he really understood my gesture.
"What did you need to talk to me about"? I asked him, as I pulled both of my legs onto the small couch.

Corey cleared his throat awkwardly, before speaking.
"When you first asked me if I had a problem with you hanging out with David, the truth is that I did-"

"Core-" I said quickly cutting him off.

"No, wait. I'm not done. I don't have a problem with it anymore because I know that you would never make the mistake of trusting that douchebag again. Like maybe this thing that you two have going on will last for a while but I know that you would never be stupid enough to be his girlfriend again"

Suddenly a wave of guilt ran through me as I violently shook my head.
"Corey..."

"It's okay Zoe"...

Slowly I raised my head, and saw Corey staring at me intensely. His dark eyes locked on mine.

"What are you doing" I managed to ask, my voice weak.

"Something, that I should have done a long time ago"

Corey grabbed my face in his hands, forcing my lips towards his. Our lips collided, my muscles tense at first relaxed as the kiss intensified. Our lips fit like a puzzle, as they danced together. Corey's lips were soft and perfect for mine. I pushed my fingers through his soft dark brown hair, as he pulled me closer to him. I could feel his heart beating against mine, and my heart fluttered wildly in my chest. His scent intoxicated me. It smelled so good. After about ten seconds, I realized what was happening and pushed him off.

Corey's eyes stared at me sadly. "I had to do that. Just once" he said smiling slightly. What I didn't want to admit was that, the kiss with Corey, felt right. So right.

Corey could tell that there was something wrong as he slowly stood up.
"I should go" Corey said his voice, hushed.

The room was silent. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. I felt so nervous, and I knew that Corey wouldn't be too happy with what I was about to tell him.
"Corey, David and I, we're back together...he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes...I'm" I started, "I-I'm really sorry"

Corey's face went white, and a look of shock spread across his face.
"What do you mean"? He asked as he quickly stood up.

How could I have done this to him? Dating the guy whose girlfriend had cheated on him with?
"Corey..."

"Holy fuck, Zoe he's such a dick! How could you do that to yourself? Don't you have any self respect"? He asked, his voice irritated.

"He's changed Corey"! I replied defensively.

"People don't change Zoe. It's an act"! He shouted.

Quickly I stood up from the couch, tears burning my eyes.
"Corey, why do you even care? It's my life"!

"Because Zoe! I love you! Haven't you even figured it out? You're the reason, why Rachael and I broke up! She knew how I felt about you. She got revenge on me by kissing David because she knew that I would be pissed at her. In my mind, as long as you were happy, that was all that mattered"

I stared at Cory and I found myself speechless. I could feel tears forming in my eyes and in that moment I realized that I had made a mistake by kissing David.

Corey cleared his throat before he slowly started speaking again, "I'm not done. When I found out that David was actually capable of cheating on someone as great as you, I knew that he was a complete idiot. I honestly just can't believe that you're back with the asshole who cheated on you. He did it once Zoe and he will do it again. You deserve better"

I stared at him blankly. I felt so overwhelmed. I didn't know how to react. This was so complicated and I Cory deserved so much better than me.

Corey waited a few seconds for me to speak, but I had no words. I didn't know what I was feeling and I needed to think.
Suddenly Corey's face turned red in what looked to be a mixture of humiliation and irritation, causing tears to form in his eyes.
"I wish that I had never kissed you" he whispered, his voice shaky, "It was wrong"

Quickly he turned around and stormed out of the door.
"Corey wait"! I yelled. It was too late Corey had already ran out.

I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks as I pressed my face into my cold, clammy hands. Corey had been such an important person in my life and I don't know what I would do without him. This was all my fault. I had never known that Corey had felt this way about me. I couldn't tell what I was thinking. Did I like Corey in the way that he liked me? I hadn't ever really thought about it, but I sure was thinking about it now.