It was a Friday night. The last night of the Twilight drive in, and everyone was out. Trucks, cars, trailers, vans, you name it, were all packed in together to watch 'Rebel without a cause'.
Straight couples snuggled under blankets, making out in full view of everyone. It angered me. It angered me how easy it was for girls to find boyfriends and boys to find girlfriends. It angered me that they felt no judging eyes on them as they kissed passionately in front of hundreds. It angered me how they had no reservations about privacy: they didn't have to.
At least I had Veronica. All of our other friends were busy, or elsewhere: Archie, Betty, and Jughead being our best friends.
Veronica and I shared a bucket of plain popcorn that tasted a little past its best in its harsh, cheap-looking yellow tub. We had an old blanket that we'd found in the back of the truck and a blue slushy each. Despite the imperfect conditions we were so far having a good time.
Behind us were the Serpents, a gang situated in the Southside of Riverdale, they were making a huge racket and although I'm officially scared of them, they'd just about got on my last nerve.
"Shhhh!"
As I turned to shush them, for a split second I caught the eye of the most handsome man I'd ever seen, sat down in the middle of the lot. He didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the gang; many of whom were completely off their heads drunk, and didn't look all that clean or put together. He was different, young - maybe he wasn't officially one of them at all. Whilst the rest of the serpents jostled around him, cursing and intimidating the north siders, he sat looking quite unabashed.
Then, out of the blue, Cheryl Blossom pulled up in front of us and insisted she sit with us, forcing me to tear my eyes away from the hot boy behind. We didn't really have a choice about whether she joined us, Veronica seemed fine with it anyway though, so that's how we sat. The three of us, crammed in the back of my truck with just one popcorn to share between us.
"Refill?" Cheryl asked, well, more commanded, gesturing to the emptying yellow tub.
It was clear she wouldn't go and get more herself. Veronica looked at me pleadingly, so grudgingly I clambered out of the trailer and made my way to inside the refreshments block.
Once inside the slightly run down palace of popcorn, drinks, sweets and every other kind of junk food imaginable, I ordered the popcorn, and jelly sweets...and a hot dog. Which they were out of. What was the point in eating healthy anyway? Who was I trying to impress?
As I turned to leave, I came face to face with the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, the one I'd been staring at behind me just a few minutes prior: the one surrounded by serpents. He hadn't seen me looking had he? He had medium length, black and slightly curly hair that was slicked back effortlessly, a few strands decorating his forehead. His rounded eyes were as bright as a blue sun and framed by thick, black lashes and his lips, smooth and red-tinted, smiled slightly, cheekily.
Momentarily my mind went blank and wandered off to an imaginary world where I was grabbing this handsome stranger and making out with him. Ugh. Like that was ever going to happen.
"Not so tough without your beard huh?"
I snapped out of my brief, paradisal trance. His sexy, smooth yet slightly rough voice sent goosebumps tingling across my body. I'd never seen anyone before like him. My voice caught in my throat and I could in no way string together any kind of sentence. What was this boy doing to me?
He gestured to me to follow him. So I did. We exited the building, to a spot that was deserted, away from the steady bustle of the drive in - no prying eyes. Neither of us said a word. The atmosphere between us was filled with passion, I didn't know what kind of passion. It could be anger, lust, aggression, violence. This boy could be anybody, but something inside of me said he was good, and ok. I trusted him.
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Without a word, with a force I wouldn't have thought him capable of (or maybe I was just taken by surprise), he pushed me against some broken down, unstable railings. I found myself with my body pressed against his, his blue eyes piercing my own brown ones as he bore into them.
Then, as though taken over by a wave of fiery passion: he kissed me. A kiss like I'd never known, as our lips collided and danced together I realised his plump lips tasted of cherry chapstick - my favourite.
"My name's Joaquin by the way..."
What a beautiful name. Joaquin.
His fingers ran through my neat, styled brown hair getting entangled within it as I cupped his delicate face which was partially hidden by the shadows of the night, and explored his mouth hungrily yet gently with my tongue. Breathing heavily into each other, we went further. My hands traced his chest and back, whilst his roamed freely - everywhere. I moaned into the kiss and felt him smile briefly into me. It heated up, I pulled him closer to me, deepening the kiss and grabbing his ass roughly.
Snapping back into reality, I whispered, "I-I have to go." without wanting to.
I just knew that Veronica would grow concerned if I were to 'get popcorn' for much longer. He nodded to acknowledge what I'd said but didn't stop - and neither did I. The heat between us was a pure, burning passion, and I never wanted it to cool down. But it had to. I needed to get back to the girls.
"This time I really need to go... you have a phone?"
Hastily, he grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket and unlocked it. I quickly typed in my name and number and thrust it back at him.
"My number. Use it."
Joaquin - can we appreciate the beauty of his name please? Thank you - glanced down at the screen.
"Keller? As in Sheriff Keller?"
"That a problem?"
He pulled up his leather sleeve to reveal a snake, 'S' shaped tattoo. The symbol of the Southside Serpents; he was a serpent.
"Is this a problem?"
"I won't tell if you won't."
I grasped his face one last time as he grabbed the collar of my jacket, pulling me closer, and engaged in a final, passionate, lingering kiss.
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I hurriedly followed Joaquin - who was slightly shorter than me - whilst fixing my hair and wiping my mouth, as to not look suspicious as we walked innocently back through the refreshments building. When we both reached the exit we locked eyes again.
"Kevin."
God, what was this man doing to me? The sound of my name rolling off his tongue, in that quiet, sexy voice was enough to make me just about melt.
"Joaquin."
He grinned shyly at me, before we parted ways; him to the rest of the Serpents and me to Veronica and Cheryl.
When I got back to the truck, I handed the girls the popcorn that I'd had to repurchase after forgetting the last tub whilst being distracted with Joaquin. Veronica looked at me suspiciously.
"You're different. What's happened? Spill it Kev." she grinned.
"Nothing! Nothing.."
"You know I will get it out of you eventually.." she sighed jokingly.
"Sure you will." I rolled my eyes, smiling secretly to myself.
The Serpents behind us were still making a racket. I turned around and caught the sparkling eye of Joaquin, the mysterious, sexy man that had been so close to me just minutes ago.
He looked back at me, and winked.
