Kissing Cupid

Hello, everyone! My name is Hollie, and this is my debut story on Wattpad! To ease myself into the community, this is a little Romance Short-Story, which will probably be around twenty parts or less when finished. I hope you enjoy reading this, and I hope you will join me in my first ever writing journey with the world!

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                                                              Kissing Cupid

                                                    'One embrace is all it takes . . .'

                                                 [Prologue] - Cupid is the Name!

                January the fourteenth - exactly one month until the world famous ‘day of love’. Considering the time of year, it was a perfect day; cloudless, crisp and cool. A day I was spending with my three best friends, Harriet, Adelle and Dean; in my jungle of a back garden. We were hidden amongst some bushes, our backs pressed up against a cluster of rocks and trees. The topic of conversation: love.

                “I’m perfectly happy being single; but hey, if Jason asks me out sometime, who am I to refuse?” Harriet piped up loudly, giggling. She and Jason, who was a friend of Dean’s, had been on-again-off-again lovers for two years.  I looked over at Adelle, my best friend, and we rolled our eyes in unison.

                “Well, I’m happy with my love life; I love Jamie and I intend to keep it that way,” Adelle spoke up softly, referring to her boyfriend of recent, Jamie. For such a quiet girl, she went through boyfriends like my little brother did goldfish – Tommy, my 5-year-old brother, somehow couldn’t grasp the concept of goldfish needing to live in water to survive, much to my amusement. 

                “My turn, my turn!” Dean yelled, punching a fist in the air excitedly. I seriously doubted his sanity sometimes! Could you blame me? That boy gets excited over anything! His expression then grew serious, and he looked me in the eye. “Well, as you all should know by now, I’m thinking of breaking up with Sephy, because I think I might like someone else,” Dean announced, eyes averting themselves to the mossy grass beneath him.

                I poked him on the arm, hard, which earned me a grunt and a slap on the hand. “Come on, Dean! Who is it you think you like? We are all ears, aren’t we, girls?” With a pointed look at Harriet and Adelle, we leaned forward, all three pairs of eyes trained to our best guy friend.

                “I can’t tell you,” Dean said, cheeks burning brightly. This was the worst thing he could have possibly said, only sparking our curiosity even more. After seeing the murderous looks us girls we throwing his way, Dean sighed. “Alright, alright, I’ll give you some clues, shall I? But the rest is guessing on your part, I’m not confirming anything!”

                Harriet and I were nodding our heads; resembling those nodding dogs people put in the backs of their cars, I’m sure; whereas Adelle was just smirking, her doe-like eyes boring into Dean’s vibrant pair.

                “Okay, okay – clue time! The girl I like has a very . . . loud personality. She’s very pretty, of course, but she’s down to earth as well. I suppose she could be considered popular, too. Oh, and you all know her!” Dean announced.

                I cocked an eyebrow. “If you call those clues, we might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack, Dean! Honestly!” I clicked my tongue, shaking my head in mock-disapproval.

                “Well excuse me, Miss Alana, but I don’t see you dishing the dirt of your love life!” Dean shot back, eyebrows raised. “Got a secret fancy man you can tell us anything about, eh?” He cracked a cheeky grin, to which I returned.

                “My love life is non-existent, and I am proud of that! I don’t intend to become someone’s girlfriend until I am perfectly sure I can love them that way,” I announced, sighing. “I, unlike all of you, take that childhood pact seriously.” I was referring to a pact the four of us had made as children, which stated that we couldn’t kiss anyone until we were sure we loved them. Naturally, hormones had taken over the other three, but I had stayed loyal, as always!

                “Oh, please, Alana! That pact was years ago! You're just hanging on to the past - we're all growing up now! You really need to lighten up, you know that?” Adelle told me seriously. “Why not try your hand at the dating game? What's stopping you? You should start to play the field, and with your looks, it wouldn't be that hard at all!”

                “Adelle, that’s a great idea!” Dean exclaimed suddenly, “I can set you up on dates with a load of my friends, Alana, and if you like any, you can meet up with them again and see how it goes! This is the perfect plan! You could call me your personal Cupid!” Dean chuckled, bouncing up and down with excitement.             

                “I think it’s a great idea, too! You should totes go for it, Allie!” Harriet chirped, though her eyes were focussed on reading a message on her phone. I looked over at Adelle, and she nodded encouragingly, smiling.

                “Guys, I don’t know . . . it’s not really my thing . . .”

                Adelle took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly, mouthing the words 'you should go for it'. I gave her a wobbly smile back. A thick silence enveloped our group, though it was calm, not awkward. The only sounds were some birds hooting softly in the distance, and the tapping of keys on both Harriet and Dean's mobile phones.

                A sudden, persistent, bleep signalling a text message cut through the silence like a knife. With a quick sigh of relief and a small squeal of delight, Dean (Yes, Dean was the squealer - typical behaviour from the strange boy!) looked up from his phone, grinning from ear to ear. “Alana, tonight you are going on your first ever date!"