in the autumn breeze.

5- Tension

"Well..." I trail off nervously. Quinten motions for me to continue. "I can't tell you." I deadpan. He groans. I play with my fingers. "He kissed me." I say quietly after a few minutes. "And that's a big deal why? You guys shouldn't be so awkward now. It's just a kiss." Quinten replies. I feel anger bubble up inside me but I don't say anything. I don't want him to know it was my first kiss. I feel the car come to a stop and notice Quinten pulled over. He turns towards me. "Seriously, it's not a big deal. You should talk to him. It's nothing if I do this," he stops and leans in to my face. All of a sudden, his lips are on mine and I'm frozen. But he pulls away almost immediately. "Right?" He finishes. Oh. He was just showing me that a kiss means nothing. Right. I should remember that next time.

Next time???

What am I thinking! Anyways, I shake my head. "You don't get it." I say and burry my face into my arms, embarrassed. He sighs. "Get what?" I shake my head again, refusing to tell him. "Braelynn, tell me or I'm not moving this car and we won't go to school." School. Ah, he got me there.
"That was my first kiss, Quinten! And then he says it was a mistake. A mistake! He's the one who did it intentionally. My first kiss was stolen by one of my friends and was just a mistake!" I vent and pull my knees up to my chest. At this point I was just pissed. I look over at Quinten to see him looking at me with pity in his eyes. "Stop that right now, Reed." I hiss, using his last name. "Stop what?" He asked, hurt and confused. "I don't want nor need pity. I just, I'm angry. At first I was happy because ya know, I was being kissed, but then I was just hurt and sad, and now I'm just really pissed off honestly." I sigh. "I don't mean to be so rude, sorry." I say. At this he smirks. "You truly are a special snowflake, Braelynn." He says with a laugh. I frown, the corners of my currently light peach lips turning down. "Hey! I take that offensively!" I say. All he does is chuckle and drive off again, finally taking us to school.
When we pull into the school parking lot and park, I open my door with a sigh, not quite looking forward to the day. I hop out of the car and shut it gently, not wanting to take out all my anger on the poor car. I suddenly feel arms around my neck and weight on my back, causing me to stumble forward a bit. "What the he-" I tell before getting cut off my am excited and overly joyed Molly. "Brae-Brae! Come to the party at Michael's house on Friday with me! Please!" She begs me, yelling in my ear. "Molly, relax! I just got here!" I say with a giggle. She gets off my back with a frown. "But will you at least come to the party with me? I've been dying to go to one forever now!" With a hesitant sigh I answer. "Okay." I say softy. Parties have never been my thing. Well, the drinking part. I hate alcohol. It's a horrible thing. "Yay!" Molly squeals and throws her arms around me, giving me a bone crushing hug. People really like to see me suffocate, eh? I force a smile which Molly sees as completely real, but not Quinten. He narrows his eyes on me as I mouth to him 'another day'. He sighs, giving up, knowing that he won't get the answer from me today.
By the time Molly is done cheering there are only 3 minutes until the bell rings. "Crap!" I exclaim. "We've gotta go!" Quinten checks his phone and his eyes widen at the time. "Yeah." He says even though I am already dragging Molly into the school building. "Okay bye, Molly. See ya later at lunch!" I say with a wave. "Of course, Brae. Bye!" Molly replies and walks quickly down the halls and to her locker. I shake my head at myself. "Ugh hurry up." I mumble as my lock finally opens. I switch out a few textbooks and walk to my first class of the day just as the bell rings. At least I have five more minutes until the late bell.

As I'm on my way to lunch, a hand is clamped around my mouth and I am dragged to a janitor's closet- how stereotypical. Finally, my kidnappers lets go of me and I turn around only to see, yes you guessed it, Rowan. I sound like I'm not happy to see him. I mean I'm not since he won't talk to me but I am because that means he's talking to me. Ugh, I've just been so salty. But of course, as I go to say something, I am cut off. Not by words, but by a kiss. Again. Forgetting my previous anger from this morning, I am captivated by Rowan's soft lips as he kisses me gently, as if trying to apologize. I wrap my arms around his neck as he places his hands against the wall on either side of me. I kiss back, not wanting to have this tension with Rowan anymore. I wanted to say that I'm also sorry. After a few moments we both stop and let go. Rowan places his hands around my waist and places his head in the nape of my neck. I feel his warm breath dance across my skin. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Braelynn! That kiss wasn't a mistake to begin with. I'm so sorry!" He says, squeezing me in a hug. I chuckle lightly. "It's okay, Rowan." I say softly. He raises his head and looks into my eyes with a faint smile, having to look down a bit due to being taller than me. "Even though I like you quite a bit, I believe we should stay friends for the time being and get to know each other more." Rowan explains with an apologetic smile. "I get it. That's a good idea." I say honestly. He claps like a child as his eyes light up. "Good! Now let's go eat!" He says and open the door beige dragging me out, all the way through the hallway, and into the cafeteria where our group of friends sit at our usual lunch table, not at all concerned about our absence.
Rowan clears his thought loudly, getting their attention. "I have two things. One, guess who has reunited together and is ready to kick butt again?" He starts. I roll my eyes. "We never did that in the first pla-" He places a finger against my lips to silence me. No one says anything. "Well, second, why weren't you guys worried?" Rowan finishes and asks the question on my mind. Once again, they're all silent before looking around at each other. "Alright bitches, we win, tpay up!" Molly says with a devilish and looks at Emma who matches her expression. All the boys groan before pulling out two five dollar bills, one for Emma and one for Molly. "What do you win?" I ask confused as I sit down next to Quinten and Xander. "Emma and I bet that you guys would make up before Friday and everyone else disagreed." Molly explains proudly. Rowan gasps and places a hand on his heart. "What little faith you guys have in our friendship." He says, faking a sniffle. "Yeah yeah." Gage says with a small smile as he rolls his eyes. Quinten looks over at me with a genuine smile. "Well, I'm glad that all this horrible tension between you two has been lifted. Really brought down everybody's moods ya know." He says. "Yeah. Sorry." I say sheepishly. "It's all good. We all knew it would end. You two are stuck like glue." He says with a wink as I swat at his chest, a blush covering my cheeks. It's almost like these people hate me.