Vienna's life is pretty ordinary until her sister persuades her to sign up for a charity event to raise money for a local, burned down animal shelter. The fundraiser consists of a random draw of two names of participants who get to kiss each other;...
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My eyes rake the audience in shock. They're staring up at me, waiting to be entertained. I'm hating Eden's Kissers Against Kruelty idea more and more. I think, as I'm standing here with a spotlight on me, I'm the only one who's not enjoying myself. I blame my sister and Alex. I probably wouldn't be trembling on stage now if they hadn't been sucking each other's faces off earlier today.
Deep down in my heart, I'm terrified. I'm afraid of kissing someone other than Matt. I'm scared because the last time we kissed, he wouldn't let me stop.
My head turns towards the stairs when an audience member whoops.
My eyes meet Alex's when he walks onto the stage.
Eden introduces him: "this is Alex."
Alex waves to the audience, a beautiful smile forming on his lips. They fall in love with instantaneously and cheer. I find my mom in the audience, and she puts her fingers in her mouth and whistles. Evelyn crosses her arms beside her, and glares directly at me.
I start laughing. I don't know why I was taking the so seriously.
I turn to Alex and hold out my hand. He shakes it, and I lean in to whisper, "pleasure to meet you."
He chuckles. "Pleasure is all mine."
He steps closer, his gleaming eyes fixed on mine, completely playful and amused. Something pangs against my stomach, and my legs begin to shake. I look away from him, "I don't think I can do this."
Alex leans a little closer and whispers hoarsely in my ear, "come on, Vivian, would it really kill you to kiss me?"
"We're going to start the time," I hear my sister's voice as if she were in the background of a very loud scene in a movie. Alex's eyes stabilize me when I realize that it's going to happen. His brows climb his forehead as if to ask if I'll be okay, and I let out a shaky breath and nod. I close my eyes. Eden's voice streams through the speakers. "And in three, two, one—"
Lips brush against mine. At first, they just close on my mouth and wait, and I wait too, afraid to move. And then his fingers touch my face, and he pulls away to place his warm, wet mouth against mine again, sucking on my bottom lip. My hands smooth over his grey blazer and find themselves making their way up his arms to fold behind his neck.
I can hardly hear the cheering in the background. It's completely muffled by the pounding in my ears. It's hard to focus on so many things at once: Alex's arm folding around my waist, pulling me into his body; a sudden ambience of comfort falls over me. His hand slides down my back, hot against the bare skin of my back, the other curling gently under my jaw.
I can't stop my tongue from licking his lips, and he opens his mouth and presses it down against mine even harder. A soft moan escapes my throat in surprise and Alex smiles against my mouth, his arm slipping further around my back to squeeze my waist, sending shivers up my spine. My stomach flutters and I have to stand on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around the back of his neck to tug him even closer, and his fingers slide through my long hair to tug on it.
