The Kiss

.:Prologue:.

“So what movie do you want to watch?” Ellie asks as she flops onto her bed.

“Hmm how about a horror movie?” Tyler smirks, lounging on the beanie bag chair.

Ellie simply wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. “You know that I can’t deal with horror movies. How about a chick flick then?”

Tyler glares at Ellie and she just laughs, smirking at him. He sighs and props his hands behind his head, as if he’s pondering on what they should watch. “Why don’t we just watch a funny movie then? That way everyone wins.”

“Well how about ‘John Tucker Must Die’?” Ellie suggests.

“Isn’t that a chick flick?” he frowns, slightly giving her a joking glare.

“No it’s a comedy,” she replies. “And if you don’t like it, then you can pick the movie next time and I have no say in it.”

“Fine, you set up the movie and I’ll make the popcorn?”

Ellie nods and they both go off their separate ways. Ellie sets up the movie downstairs and gets two blankets ready and turns off the lights, grabbing the remote and fast forwarding all of the previews at the beginning. Over the years, Tyler’s perfected his popcorn skills and makes the best popcorn so he’s always in charge of that department when it’s movie-night-Fridays.

Every single Friday night, the two get together and watch a movie – whether they’ve already seen it or not. Sometimes they go out to the theatre but usually it’s always just in Tyler’s basement. He has a huge plasma screen TV so it’s as if they’re already at the theatre.

The two have been best friends since they were toddlers. As typical as it sounds, Ellie moved in and her neighbour just so happened to be Tyler. Their moms became quick friends and so that left Tyler and Ellie to become best friends, which didn’t take them long. They both have other friends but they’re closest to each other and tell each other everything.

Tyler comes down with a bowl of popcorn and Ellie plays the movie. He sits down beside her and wraps himself up in a blanket, grumbling to his best friend, “You better hope that this movie isn’t a chick flick or else you’re going to get it.”

 “Ooh I’m so scared,” Ellie laughs and rolls her eyes. “Now be quiet, I want to actually watch the movie instead of hearing you complain.”

Tyler rolls his eyes but doesn’t say a word after. He turns towards the screen and watches the movie in silence, scrunching his face when he realizes that this is in fact a chick flick. He doesn’t really pay attention to the rest of the movie; instead, he plots his revenge against Ellie and tries to think of the goriest movie out there.

Halfway through the movie, Ellie thinks of a great idea. Or so she thinks it’s a great idea, but truth be told she doesn’t realize what will come out of it. Not knowing what she’s getting herself into, she turns towards Tyler and says, “Hey, I have an interesting idea.”

“Is that interesting idea to stop this movie because you realize that I will get you back ten times harder for this chick flick?” he asks and smirks.

“Nope,” she laughs. “You know how you never reject a bet, even when your friends give you the stupidest bets ever?”

“Hey they’re not stupid,” he frowns.

“Ty, they made you ask if my grandma was single,” she says flatly and glares at him, as if to say ‘get real’.

“Hey,” Tyler frowns. “She thought it was cute.”

“Mhmm sure,” she replies, ignoring his last comment. “Anyways this movie got me thinking and I think you need a real challenge. Since John Tucker is a player, it gave me the inspiration for this bet. I think that you’ll like it.”

“Stop babbling on about how you’ll think I’ll like it and tell me what it is El,” he laughs.

Ellie nods and grabs the remote, pausing the movie. She then fully turns herself towards him and says, “The bet, choose to accept it or not, you have to get a girl to kiss you and you can’t initiate anything or hint at her. She has to literally kiss you and you can’t give her any tips or suggestions–”

“Easy peasy lemon squeezy,” Tyler interrupts, rolling his eyes.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Ellie sighs. “You have to get a girl to kiss you . . . in three weeks.”

“Three weeks? I could probably do it in two,” he says, getting cocky and smirks.

“You realize that you have to actually make a girl fall for you and that she has to kiss you and girls aren’t usually that straightforward. I could just make it two weeks if you want but–”

“NO! Three weeks is fine,” he cries out, suddenly nervous about this bet for some reason. “I’ll accept it, like I always do. So what do I get if I win?”

“You get to pick movie night for a whole month and you can pick absolutely whatever you want,” Ellie suggests.

“Nope,” Tyler shakes his head, “not good enough. I get to pick the movie night for a whole month, and you have to tell my friends that you think I’m the greatest person alive and that they should be more like me.”

“Fine,” she rolls her eyes. “But if you fail, you have to come to school in nothing but a Hawaiian grass skirt and a flower crow.”

“Hey that’s worse than mine though,” he pouts, crossing his arms. “That’s not fair.”

“Too bad,” she chuckles. “You should have picked something worse.”

“Fine,” Tyler grunts. “But know that if I win, I’ll pick the scariest movies that anybody’s ever seen and you’ll have nightmares for the rest of your life.”

“Please,” she laughs, “I already have to see you practically every single day, that’s already enough nightmares to last me a lifetime.”

“Oh sorry I didn’t realize that Sassy Ellie took over tonight,” he says and rolls his eyes. “Let’s just shake on it already.”

Ellie holds out her hand and Tyler grabs it quickly. They both shake and look into each other’s eyes, as if they seem to have an agreement, but both think of something completely different. Ellie’s thinking that it will be fun to see Tyler flirting with a girl and trying to win her over. She imagines herself laughing at the stupidity of the bet and imagines telling her best friend Jenn everything about it. She imagines feeling guilty for the girl that has to put up with him, because he’ll be constantly pestering her for the next three weeks.

Tyler, on the other hand, is already thinking of a plan to make this work. Unlike Ellie thinks, he’s not going to make it obvious and is going to keep everything very subtle so that it’ll work. He plans on talking to his friends and getting their advice and wants to have a plan that will not fail him by tomorrow night. He wants to say that he can conquer this bet – just like he did with all the other ones he’s already done. He wants Ellie to be the girl that ends up kissing him…