Temptation

-15-

            "I'm an alien and I've come to abduct you," I whispered into his ear, so close that my lips brushed the tip of his skin.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, barely breathing. "But I like the life that I have on earth right now. Can you just transform me instead?"

"I think I can do that," I smirked, reaching down to his ticklish spot and attacking him until we were both laying on the floor, gasping for air between fits of giggles and bursting back into laughter whenever we snuck a peek at each other.

Earlier on in the afternoon, I had completed dare #7 – walk up to a stranger and convince them that you're an alien sent to transform them. I had made a lucky choice – She was clearly someone who watched E.T. religiously and she'd listened, captivated, hanging onto every word that I said with her eyes wide and excited. I had a feeling that she'd be disappointed when the clock struck 1AM and she didn't turn into a chicken, unless I really did have powers that I was unaware of.

As with everything else, Andy and I had never spoken of the kiss. On one hand, I appreciated that, but on the other, I was about to explode. I had too many unanswered questions floating around in my head at all times of the time, and my heart ached with the confusion of how I felt and how he felt and who I was and what I should do. I was stuck between a love lost and one just begun.

"Hey, do you remember the other night?" I asked abruptly, taking advantage of the short time that we had alone before the others got back from the gym.

"Mmmhmm," He murmured, uncertain of where this was going.

"Your feet were really cold," I said instead of coming out with what I really meant.

"Would it make you feel better if I wore socks next time?" He rolled up onto his shoulder, staring at me intently. My heart beat so violently that I thought it would beat right out of my chest.

"Yeah," I said quietly.

He looked at me for a second longer before making the move this time, leaning until our lips connected once again and I felt whole and happy and wonderful until the door creaked open and a chorus of feet pattered into the room. I could physically feel Andy's absence on my chest and face as we clumsily broke apart and put on our best 'not guilty' faces, even though I could tell that my flaming cheeks would give me away in a millisecond.

I quickly turned away from everyone else and crawled up to my bed, trying to teach myself how to breathe again. I slipped beneath the covers and positioned myself towards the wall, hiding myself as best I could in the broad daylight. I took out my phone and scrolled through the photos that I'd taken with Sophie and asked myself if what we'd had was ever real, for either of us. The pressing memories of hints of my sexuality pounded against the door that I had long since locked up and threw away the key on, and I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to hold them back.

I deleted every single photograph that I'd taken with Andy, even with the taste of him still on my tongue. As I stared at the rising number in my recently deleted, I couldn't bring myself to fully erase them from my phone.

I couldn't keep lying to myself and saying that I was somebody that I wasn't. I wanted to learn who I really was instead of constantly experimenting and then running right back to where I started. It wasn't fair to me, and it especially wasn't fair to Andy.

I had to make a decision, whether I liked it or not.