These Demons

Chapter Thirty

It's the second time that I kiss her, but it feels like the very first one.
This time, it's not just a quick impulse I immediately regret and pull away from, but a real kiss.
My lips devour hers, my fingers are in her glossy loose hair that feels satin-soft, and I wish I never had to let her go again.
She seems to think the same thing because she responds to my moves with a soft moan to cause my heart to flutter and my stomach to build knots, and the second our tongues touch, I swear I've never felt like this.
Juliet's image keeps flashing through the back of my mind, but I shove it away and fully focus on the beautiful woman in front of me here and now. 

When we let go of each other after what feels like an eternity of bliss, I can barely catch my breath, and her cheeks have reddened.
"You don't happen to have another cigarette, do you?" she requests and I'm relieved to notice she seems to be out of breath too as she tries to untangle her hair with her fingers. Without even noticing that I'm smiling like an idiot, I pull my pack from my pocket and hold it out for her.
"What?" she wants to know and puts a cigarette between her lips.
I give her a confused look while searching for my lighter in the other pocket.
"You're smiling," she explains.
"Is that such a weird thing?" I want to know and my smile unintentionally gets even bigger.
"For you, it kind of is," Zoe states. I light her cigarette and throw the lighter to some other stuff.
"Thanks," she says and that's the second I notice that I now don't have anything to light my own cigarette I just put between my lips. 

"Use my embers," she suggests and points to the bright burning end.
I shrug because it's definitely easier than to search for the fire once more, and bend forward to make my not yet lit roll of tobacco touch hers to make the embers spark.
When they do, I take a deep drag and as I exhale it slowly, Zoe catches my lips again because our faces are so close.
The taste of tobacco has filled both of our mouths and I know every nonsmoker in the world would disagree with this, but I believe it makes the soft kiss of ours taste even better. 

Both of us still holding our burning cigarettes, the kiss deepens again and one of my hands is suddenly trailing up her thigh until the part of it that's covered by the short blue dress. Before I can thoughtlessly go further in my passion, she abruptly breaks the kiss and takes a pull on her cigarette.
I return back to my seat because I practically had to painfully bend forward and across the entire center console to be able to really kiss Zoe, and she rolls down the car window to blow the smoke outside.
"That was..." I clear my throat, "nice." Fume still coming out of her mouth, she turns her head to me, snickers and repeats: "Nice?" 
"You know what I mean," I mumble and she continues laughing at me. 
"You sound like a virgin," she states. "And you love tearing down my self-worth," I counter.
Instead of responding, she bends forward to kiss me again and then continues smoking her cigarette.

"We should get out of here, shouldn't we?" she asks pointing outside to the meadows in the middle of nowhere where we are.
"Good idea," I agree and start the car to drive back to the street where we came from. 
"Want me to drive you home?" I offer and she vaguely tilts her head. "Coffee first," she then decides and I nod as I pull onto the highway. 

It's Los Angeles, so the next coffee shop is never far away and as soon as I have my pure espresso in my system and Zoe has gotten her dose of weird sugary stuff she considers coffee even though it mostly consists of factitious syrups with more calories than an entire meal, we get back into the car and look at each other questioningly.

"The day isn't over yet," she slowly says. "Right," I approve.
"So," Zoe continues and fumbles with the paper cup in her hands, "Do you want to come to my place? I mean, you already picked me up there, but you've never actually seen it..."
"Um, sure," I quickly agree. "That would be great."
My response seems to relieve her and another beautiful smile appears on her face.
Things are still awkward during the ride to her apartment because neither of us knows what we are to each other now that we've kissed, but when she takes my hand that rests on my leg and interlaces our fingers, hers warm and soft and mine coarse and cold, I already feel a lot more comfortable, and every time I manage to steal a glance at her, my heart starts to race.
I don't know what this evening will bring, but I know there's nobody I'd rather spend it with than her.

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The Rolling Stones - Out Of Control