A Tangled Web We Weave (Completed)

23. Newton's First Law of Motion

Elena

"I'm sure that sounded differently in your head, but please never say that again," I hissed, glaring at him as I sunk into my seat. We presented our Lust presentation and at the end of it, I was going to close without a single embarrassing moment. I was even a little proud of my partner. He stuck to the script. But, Hudson, true to form, had to crack a sex joke and use my thigh to bum-dum-tsh said joke. So now, the presentation that I had been working so hard on was probably going to get docked points because Hudson can't take anything seriously.

He laughed. "Calm down, Ellie. It was just a joke," he smirked, leaning back in his seat.

I shoved the papers on my desk into my backpack. "Next time you kid around, don't do it with my grade, ok?" As the bell rang, I brushed past him, knocking his chair over. I could hear him swearing and scrambling behind me, but I was still too mad to laugh.

He ran to catch up with me. "C'mon, Ellie, don't be angry, please." As I opened my locker, he leaned against the one next to mine, playing with my hair.

I brushed his hand away. "Hudson, just leave me alone."

"That's not what you were saying yesterday," he mumbled, sulking.

I slammed my locker, hitching my backpack strap higher on my shoulder. "It was just a kiss, Hudson. Get over it." Was I going to mention it was my first kiss? Never. Sure, I've had my share of boyfriends but nobody had ever gone so far as to kiss me. I think they were afraid to. Was it my ex-military, fearsome-looking best friend who hung around or my Latina blood? Or my thunder thighs?

He flinched. "That hurts, Ellie."

"What did you think was going to happen, Hudson? That one kiss could make all the angsty arguing go away?" I scoffed. "This isn't some stupid cotton candy romance book or rom-com." I walked towards my next class.

"Are you going to ignore the fact that you kissed me back?" He whispered behind me.

"Oh no, I reacted to the situation badly. Shoot me."

"It was more than just a simple reaction," he scoffed.

"Hormones." I whirled on him. He was the tiniest bit taller than me, but we were still eye level with each other. "This is not the place to talk about this. Meet me at the stairs by the band room after school and we'll go from there. Happy now?" I sped away from his smirk. And tried to remind myself about the important things, like Regan coming back to school tomorrow.

Throughout the rest of my classes, I tried to ignore the voice in the back of my head that said I enjoyed that kiss more than I was supposed to, but it was probably just the first kiss thing. It didn't mean anything. When the last bell rang, I basically ran from the classroom. I tried to convince myself that it was only so I could set him straight. The truth was that somehow he was even more annoying and irritating now that we kissed.

Hudson leaned against the wall by the choir room, looking at his phone, everything about him screaming, "I don't care at all". But if that was the case, why did he have to make such a big deal over a little kiss? It hit me I was doing to same thing. I protested against it too much for the kiss to really have not mattered to me.

I internally groaned and gave him a look. "Hudson."

His head snapped up and the right side of his mouth hitched up into a dimple. Friggin' stupid, awful, perfect genes. "Ellie, how's it goin'?"

"My name's not Ellie."

"This routine is really old."

"This is legitimately your fault. We are having this conversation because-"

"Nevermind, where's your car?"

"In the shop."

"How'd you get here then?"

"Tony gave me a ride."

He froze. "Who's Tony?"

I tried not to laugh, but it came out like a snort. He was jealous of Tony. Sure, Tony was really attractive and all, but I'd seen Tony in too many weird situations for me to think of him as anything as a friend or a brother. "One of my most favorite people in the world," I sighed happily. That wasn't a lie; Tony was one of my favorites. I knew how Hudson would take it.

His jaw clenched and I thought about how people who were attractive should be given some other very visible handicap. "Your boyfriend," he growled.

I hesitated. "No, not my boyfriend."

"But you want him to be."

"Nope."

Pacified and ego back in place, he smiled and grabbed my hand. "We'll take my car." He drove us to this quaint little cafe where we sat sipping frozen lemonades in silence.

Finally, I gave up. "Hudson, one kiss doesn't make us a couple."

"Then what does?"

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

He leaned forward, setting his drink down. "How do I become your boyfriend?"

"You switch brains with someone else and I go on Weight Watchers."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I."

"We have chemistry, Ellie. And when we aren't trying to kill each other-"

"When is that exactly? Because you get off on torturing me and I don't exactly look forward to sitting by you."

"Yes, you do."

"Hudson-"

"C'mon, Elena," he huffed sitting back in his chair. "What's stopping you?

"Your track record." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

He glared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The fact that you drink-"

"Used to."

"And smoke pot-"

"Used to."

"And hook up with people like McKenzie Pyle. Not to mention your friends-" I sputtered, losing momentum. "The list goes on."

He raised an eyebrow. "Coward." He smirked. "Just try it out, Ellie, okay?" And his grey eyes and his smile and his words.

"Fine," I snapped and, meeting his eyes, laughed at the entire situation as he held my hand.