Sink or Swim✓ (Teen Romance)

Chapter Five

            "Can I kiss you?"       

            I nearly choked on my breath. He could not be serious. Why would someone like him even think about kissing someone like me? There are a million reasons why I should not kiss Elliot Parker. First off, I barely know the guy, and good girls like me don't randomly kiss strangers. Most importantly though, I've never been kissed, and choosing a super-hot British guy as my first seems like the worst idea on the planet. I mean seriously, I'll probably be horrible at it and just embarrass myself.

            But despite all of that, I somehow find myself nodding at him.  

            Our faces are already close, so he barely even has to move.  One second, he's leaning against the chain-link fence, and the next, he has my face cupped between his hands.  There's a slight pause, a brief moment as an electric hum resides in the space between our lips.   And then, he dips forward, pressing his lips against mine.  Though the kiss is gentle in touch, I feel a raging fire tingle beneath my lips.  It seems to course through my body, racing through my veins and sending my heart into a frenzy of uncontrollable beats.  My mind is muddled, but at the moment, I don't really care.

            All I can think about is the feeling of Elliot's soft lips, pressed against mine.  One of his hands slides away from my face and tangles into my hair, somehow pulling my tighter against his body.  Yet it doesn't seem close enough.  My own hands have fallen to Elliot's shoulder, grasping at the T-shirt as if it were a lifeline.  I honestly don't know what's overcome me, but I can't seem to control myself.

            A sudden parade of footsteps causes me to jerk backward.  By the sounds of it, half the team has decided to randomly check the car lot.  My cheeks are flaming with embarrassment, making me glad that it's black outside.  The footsteps grow closer, but I stay silent, ignoring Elliot's gaze.  He's still staring at me—I can sense it—but there's no way I'm looking at him now.  What if I was an awful kisser?  I was too caught up in the moment to pay attention, which probably means I was horribly clumsy.  My cheeks burn even further and I drop my head down, letting my hair drop over my face, just in case.

            "I found them!"  One of the sophomore boys pops into view with a gigantic grin plastered across his face, as though he's just discovered Atlantis, or something.

            "Did we win?" asks Elliot, not missing a beat. 

            I'm still too awed to speak, so I just continue staring at my lap.

            "Nah, there's still a few missing kids.  I think they went out of the limits though."  The kid says this grimly, like the rules to this game actually matter. 

            "Oh.  Well, I think it's time for me to go now."  Elliot pushes to his feet.  I can't help but be surprised when he offers a hand to help me up.

            "Thanks," I say.  Simply touching his hand causes butterflies to erupt in my stomach, but I force my face to stay neutral.

            Everyone starts heading back toward the house, goofing off and playfully shoving one another.  By the looks of it, the team's getting bored of this game.  In fact, I doubt they'll even look for the rest of the stragglers.

            "Elliot?" I say, turning to face him.

            He nearly bumps into me, but manages to stop in time.  In the moonlight, it almost looks as though his cheeks are blushing, but I decide it must be a trick of the light.