Faster Than a Kiss

6 - Heartbeats?!

How am I supposed to react when I look at you and see you already staring back?
- S. K.

No matter how hard I tried, my sentence always finished short. Usually starting with a 'what', yet never actually ending the question. Even when I finally came up with one, the look in his eyes drew my breath. Yearning? Annoyance? Confusion? Want? I didn't know what it was; maybe even all four. But it was clear enough to hold me in place, making me all too aware that it was a dangerously unfamiliar territory. Besides that, one thing was also fairly apparent; my want to touch him.

Now or never.

I leaned towards him, looking at his lips and slowly closed my eyes, my heartbeat still ringing in my ears. But the warmth I kept wanting didn't come. Again.

I opened my eyes and I could feel something snap in me once I saw him. His face was turned away, his hand trying to cover the grin he had as he laughed. I furrowed my brows at him, annoyance boiling in my blood.

"Oh my God, you're despicable!" I smacked his arm. "No-good," smack, "rude," smack, "insufferable," smack, "French sadist!"

Before I could smack him again, he caught my hand and intertwined our fingers, lifting us to a stand. He laughed one more time, looking down and then brought his face up, amusement painting his eyes. He apologized with his signature grin and confessed, a bit playful, "I can't help but tease you a bit when you look that adorable."

"You're asking to be hit again, aren't you?" I threatened, slanting my eyes at him, trying to hide the red urging its way up to my face. "And what's with you? What if Jeremy saw you pulling me into your class? It's like you're asking to be caught!" I said in rush, worrying about all the possible scenarios if the school found out. One stood out the most, making me realize how severe it could get. I would never forgive myself if Michael got fired because of me, his little charity case that was stupid enough to even think of marriage as an answer.

How incompetent can I get?

His face turned sour and he said almost immediately, "Why's that Jeremy kid suddenly sticking to you?"

I was confused for a brief second until realization and amusement dawned on me. "Are you... jealous?" I said more of a statement than a question, grinning cheekily. He widened his eyes at me, just realizing what he previously said and scratched the back of his neck; a light blush visibly rising to his cheeks.

Oh, sweet Irony.

"Uh, well that's-" he sighed in defeat, "Can you blame me? You are my wife after all."

"In paper."

"Nevertheless-"

"And it was on the spur of the moment."

"You're relentless," he said with a small smile, pulling me in for a warm hug and nestling his chin on my head "and yes it was on impulse, but I don't regret it. I never did and I never will." I couldn't say anything because, at that moment when I put my face to his chest, I could hear his heart beating just as fast as mine. That was enough for me to retreat in my little bundle of happiness, heart fluttering and all.

***

I finished my homework and took out my book to rehearse for the play. I was about 10 minutes into skimming through the pages when I stumbled on a word I didn't entirely understand. "Soudainement, elle m'embrasse en mettant sa main tremblante sur mon épaule." I read one more time, but I still didn't get it.

'Embrasse'. To embrace. 'Main' would be 'hand' in English. So I guess in this context, they're hugging...?

Suddenly, I got a text from Michael saying he would be home late since he had an errand to run. Having nothing else to do, I closed my book and began changing once an idea came to mind. Today was the same Friday since I intruded into his life and I couldn't help but feel like I had to make it up to him, either to apologize or to celebrate the occasion. I quickly finished and brought Thomas along as we thought of something to get Michael.

"What do you think, bud? Maybe a tie?"

"Yeah!" He then added, "Oh! Cake good too!" I couldn't help but nod in agreement. I never saw him in a tie, but it wouldn't be so bad for him to wear one once in a while. As for the cake, since he's always cooking dinner, I should also bring something to the table for once.

Bought or homemade?

A while later, I finally got a navy blue tie with tiny light blue patterns. I also decided to buy a cake, not wanting to kill anyone with my cooking just yet. Walking through the parking lot, I spotted Michael's car and giddily began skipping to the condo. Until two shifty looking guys stopped right in front of Thomas and me.

"Scarlett Kain." One of them said.

Upon further speculation, they didn't seem older, maybe in the same year as me in fact.

"Do I know you?" I questioned, putting Thomas behind me protectively.

"That's up to you." The other chuckled, walking towards me and pulled out his phone. He opened it swiftly and brought it up to my face. Once I saw the picture, I tensed, clenching my teeth and gripping my fingers in a fist. I glared at them in anger, but guilt seeped into my bones. It was a picture of Michael and me, earlier today in his classroom, being more intimate than what a student and teacher should be.

I knew it. This was bound to happen. Why couldn't I just be more careful?

"What is this?" I asked, raising my voice in outrage. "What do you want?"

"How about you come with us and we'll talk about it?" One said in amusement.

"Like Hell, I will." I barked back, irritated.

"Then I guess you wouldn't mind this," He shook his phone, "leaking to the board, would you?"

I gulped, not knowing what else to do. "Aren't you in the same school as me? Don't we even share some classes? Why the hell are you doing this?!" He didn't reply, instead he played on his phone as if to mock me.

"This is- This is beyond fucking stupid! What the hell do you want?!"

"FOR YOU TO GET IN THE GODDAMN CAR LIKE A GOOD GIRL AND STOP BEING SUCH A PRISSY LITTLE BITCH!" The one with the phone screeched.

At this point, I was truly lost. What else could I do? What else could I say? Nothing would make this any better.

I sighed in reluctance. There wasn't any other way to solve this that I could think of. I had no choice, as much as I didn't want to go with them, I didn't want Michael to lose his job because of some poor orphan girl even more.

"Fine."

They just grinned twistedly and neared a car, signalling for me to get in. I clenched my fist and looked at my brother, "Go to Michael, Thomas." I whispered.

"The brat stays!" One shouted. Ignoring his demand, I urged my brother to run away, but the other was too fast and caught him by the arm, dragging him to the car. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM!" I screamed, trying to punch them, trying to hurt them in any way I could. The one closest to me gripped my arm and shoved me in the vehicle.

I looked towards the balcony of our condo and saw Michael in a heated discussion with another guy who had the same blonde hair, but had a slightly shorter stature. I tried to scream for him one last time, to a certain avail. Right before leaving, I could see him push past the person, going closer to the edge of the balcony and yelling my name from the distance; outrage and panic ever so clear in his voice.

.

.

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|| A/N ||

Hi! I just wanted to apologize for not updating in so long. It wasn't a writer's block, rather I got annoyed and bored from the story and characters, probably even frustrated. 'Cause I MEAN WHY CAN'T THIS BE TRUE IRL. Anywayss, Author-chan will hopefully stop being an unfaithful chiggah and write some more!

RYAN: As always, if you want more of yours truly, don't forget to comment for some flirting, a vote to let me know you liked it and an add so we can see each other more often;).

|| A/N ||