The Trouble with Kissing Connor

Chapter 4 (Connor)

I stood in the 7/ 11 scanning the shelves, there were at least twenty different flavors to choose from: Winter this, Ice that, fire and berry blazing, blasting and exploding in your mouth. Long lasting, teeth whitening. I knew the gum I was looking for was minty with a hint of cinnamon. At least that narrowed it down somewhat.

I grabbed all the cinnamon mint flavors off the shelf, six brands in total, and Sadie and I walked off to the counter together. She looked like she was still half asleep, and I smiled when I saw that the left side of her face still had a crease from her pillow.

"Wait," Sadie stopped me, "if you're going to drag me around at this hour, I need sustenance, and you're paying."

Sadie yawned and slapped a large doughnut and a soda down on the counter as well as a few chocolates. "For my stash," she said.

Sadie's mother had banned sugar from the house three years before, so Sadie kept contraband under her bed for emergencies. I happily paid- even though Sadie was quite literally the richest girl at school, thankfully she didn't act like it. Her dad did something complicated I didn't understand, and made shitloads of money doing it. Sadie's mom and twin sister, Mckenzie, had turned spending money into an art form, but that kind of thing meant nothing to Sadie as she shuffled around in her old Converse sneakers and unfashionable clothes.

We left the store and instinctively walked in the direction of our usual spot.

In the park on a hilltop, there's an old oak tree that has been our special meeting place for years. Not many people seem to know about it, but the thing looks like it has been standing there for centuries. We discovered the tree as kids and it became our home away from home. We spent so many days perched in its branches, watching people, concocting plans for world domination, planning our adventures around the world, talking about everything and sometimes nothing at all. When we were about eight, we'd carved a large skull and cross bones into the thing to ward off any trespassers—it was during our pirate phase. The two big parallel branches we sat on were now decorated with engravings from our years of going there. We got to the old oak and climbed into our usual sitting positions.

Sadie didn't waste any time shoving the entire doughnut into her mouth. "So what's the plan?" Sadie asked between bites, puffs of white sugar billowing out on each word. "Are you going to chew each one until you find it?"

I nodded. She had a smear of white sugar on her chin. "You've got half a doughnut stuck to your face."

She tried to wipe it, but totally missed. "Here." I reached out and wiped the stuff off her chin and suddenly she was looking at me strangely.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Just exhausted because some idiot woke me up at the crack of dawn." She pointed a sugary finger at the packets of gum I had in the bag. "So...start chewing."

I ripped the first one open and shoved it into my mouth, the flavors hit me immediately: cool mint followed by hot cinnamon. I can't say I've ever liked this flavor, that is, until last night. I closed my eyes for a moment and could almost feel the kiss again. I chewed a few more times, then pulled the gum out and smelled it.

"Eeew," she laughed.

"Too minty. Not enough cinnamon." I pushed the chewed gum back into its packet. I needed to be strategic about this. Eliminate them one by one.

The next one went in, and then the next one, until...there it was. That familiar mix of flavors hit me.

"Got it!" I held it up between my fingers. The packet was bright red with a blue strip down the side. It would be easy to spot. I waved it in front of Sadie's face. "Look at it. Burn it into your mind. Commit it to memory, because you're going to be on the lookout for the girl that chews this gum."

Sadie swallowed hard and then shot me her famous (though slightly rude) sarcastic look. "Um...and how would you like me to do that?"

"Use whatever means necessary. Watch them like hawks. Go through their jeans during gym class, ask for some gum...you'll think of something."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I'm not walking around the school spying on people, rummaging through their things and asking them for gum. What am I, your personal stalker-for-hire?"

I burst out laughing but quickly stopped when I saw the look on her face. She didn't have her usual I'm acting badass but you can twist my rubber arm if you ask nicely kind of look. She looked...like she was genuinely on the fence about helping me.

"You're my best friend. You have to help me. It's in our contract, remember?" I said.

"It's also in our contract that we always have to order the same flavour ice cream in case one of us drops ours and we need to share," she said throwing an eye roll in for good measure.

I chuckled. "Okay, so maybe the friendship contract we wrote at seven is a little outdated."

"A lot!"

"But that still doesn't mean that you're not the perfect person to help me."

"How?"

"Well, you're a girl. You can get close to them. You can infiltrate their lair. You've got the best chance of finding out who chews this. I thought you were... adventurous."

She scoffed. "I'd hardly call that an adventure. And what if there're ten people that chew the stuff?"

"That's okay. Once we narrow it down, I'll just know who it is."

"You'll just know? And how the hell will you "just know"?" she mocked.

"I just would. There'd be a vibe between us. I can't explain it... but I feel like we're meant to be together."

Sadie grew quiet. She opened her soda, examined it way too long and took a sip before looking at me again.

"What?" I asked.

"You can tell all that from some stupid five second kiss in the dark?"

"There was nothing stupid about that kiss.... Trust me. If you had been there, you would know what I'm talking about."

Sadie looked away, then after a few seconds looked back at me with a deadpan expression. "Connor, Connor, Connor."

"Sadie, Sadie, Sadie." I replied.

She sighed. "Fine. Whatever! But you owe me. Big time."

I reached out squeezed her hand. "Anything. Just name it."