As He Held My Hand

16. Study Later, Kiss Me Now

16. Study Later, Kiss Me Now

Grant’s POV

“What is ‘average speed’?” Gemma asks me. She sits with her legs crisscrossed facing me, her back against the headboard of her bed. I sit the same way, my back facing the end of her bed. We have textbooks scattered in front of us, studying for our upcoming Physics midterm.

I try to remember the definition for average speed while looking at the details of her bedspread. “Grant? Are you still with us?” she asks. I look up, suddenly remembering the answer. “What? Yeah, um, the average speed is the distance traveled divided by…the uh, the time it took to travel the path.” I say. “Right!” she exclaims and then hands me the study guide questions.

“OK, now it’s your turn to ask me one.” she says as I scan over the possible questions. “What is the equation for average speed?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. She barely takes a second to answer. God, she’s so smart. “Distance traveled over time elapsed.” she says, and I smile at her. “Don’t you think we’ve been studying for long enough?” I ask, handing her notebook back to her.

“No.” she says, scanning over the study guide for a question to ask me. “Um, OK, we’ll do this one. You’re driving an old car along a straight road for 8.4 km at 70 km per hour, at which point the car runs out of gasoline and stops. Over the next 30 minutes, you walk another 2.0 km farther along the road to a gas station.” she starts off. “What is your overall displacement from the beginning of your drive to your arrival at the station?” she finishes reading the question but keeps looking at it like she’s trying to figure it out for herself.

I watch her eyebrows scrunch up a little and she carefully wets her lips with her tongue. She chews her bottom lip gently, and I can almost see her figuring out the answer. She looks so goddamn cute right now. “Gemma.” I say. “Yeah?” she asks, keeping her eyes on the paper.

“Gemma.” I say again, moving closer to her a little. It isn’t that hard, considering her bed is not that long. “Do you know the answer?” she asks. “No. Can we please take a break from studying?” I ask her. She sighs quietly, becoming frustrated with the question. “If you can’t figure it out then there’s no way I’ll be able to get it.” I tell her. “Oh shush, you don’t give yourself enough credit Grant. And besides, I know what the answer is, just gimme a minute.” she says. I move closer to her, and start counting out loud. She finally looks up at me and smacks me gently with a throw pillow. I close my eyes and laugh. “Ouch.” I say. She looks back down at the problem. My face is inches from hers and I try to look into her eyes, twisting my neck so it’s under her intense gaze.

“What are you doing?” she asks. “Trying to kiss you. You’re making it quite difficult.” I tell her. She looks at me and blushes at my abruptness. I lean up to kiss her, but she won’t let me. “Answer the question first.” she tells me, looking at the paper again. “Study later, kiss me now.” I say, nodding my head slightly. She laughs, so instead of kissing her lips I kiss her neck, and she barely seems phased. For the first few seconds. Then she gasps.

“Grant.” she laughs and tries to push me off, but I can hear the smile in her voice. “Answer the question.” she says. I stop kissing her neck but leave my face buried in the crook between her head and shoulder. “I don’t know the answer.” I say, my voice muffled. I move to press my lips to hers and catch her off guard. She doesn’t push me away.

“What’s the answer?” she asks against my lips. Barely able to form a coherent sentence because of how close we are, I stutter out a random number. “3.” I say, and kiss her again. “10.4 km.” she pulls away and laughs out the answer. “You need to study more.” she says, flipping the page to the study guide. “Yeah, but not right now.” I say, closing it and tossing it aside.

She watches as it smacks the wall and falls to the ground and she laughs her little laugh that makes my heart beat faster. Then she looks back over at me and finally allows me to kiss her.

She rests her hands behind my neck, tangling her fingers in my hair, and I hold her waist while I move closer to her. Kissing her was like igniting a fire within me, and I instantly want more. But at the same time, I wanted what I have with her to be slow, special...and nothing like I’d had with other girls in the past. Gemma was different than them, but in the best way there could be.

The want and nervousness pools in my stomach. I’ve never been nervous about kissing a girl before. I’ve done it plenty of times. Why is Gemma so different? I pull her onto my lap and stretch my legs out in front of me, giving her a few seconds to breathe. She soon closes the gap between us, and moves her hands to the side of my face, caressing my jawbone. She runs a gentle finger over my cheek, like she did when I got punched in that fist fight that day in the cafeteria after the party.

A low moan forms in the base of my throat, and I feel her smile. My hands are still on her waist, so I circle them around her and pull her closer to me. Suddenly I fall backwards, and she starts to laugh against my lips. I laugh with her, and soon we’re laughing too hard to continue kissing. She rolls off me and lays next to me, her head resting on my shoulder.

I drape one of my arms around her shoulder, pulling her to me. She traces a small section of my clothed chest with her finger, and I look up at the ceiling. I want to ask her something.

“Gemma?” I say after a few moments of calming silence. “Yeah?” she asks, looking up at me. I look down at her. I look back up at the ceiling, suddenly not able to form the sentence I’d been longing to ask her. “Er, uhm…” I stutter and I feel her shift from underneath my arm. “Will you, uh…” I mumble, and the urge to run my hand through my hair painful. Suddenly, she sits up. “Will you just ask me already?” she says with a deviously cute smile, taking me by surprise.

“This feels so seventh grade, but will you be my girlfriend?” I ask, giving a crooked smile that also captures my nervousness.

“Yes.” she sighs, as if she’d been waiting for me to ask for forever.

She leans forward and against me, and I sit up quickly, pressing my lips to hers again. “Thank you.” I stammer and she smiles in response, pulling me closer to her in a kiss better than the last.