Sunflower

14

I scooch closer to Hero on the bench. "When do I get my selfie?" I want to capture this moment, this night, this kind gesture of his. 

He looks at me skeptically. 

"C'mon – we can pretend I work at Starbucks," I joke, leaning into him as I hold my phone in front of us with an outstretched arm. I'm not taking no for an answer.

"Here," he says, taking my phone. "My arm's longer." 

He leans his left side into me, bowing his head towards mine so that we both fit in the frame. We pose at the phone, me smiling and him giving a guarded expression. Click. I press my cheek in closer to his, my eyes still trained on the phone, and he smiles revealing one dimple. Click. I turn to face him and plant an innocent kiss on his cheek while looking back cheekily at the phone; this gets a two-dimpled grin out of him. Click.

Swiftly, he lowers the phone and turns to look at me. Our foreheads are almost touching, our eyes are locked and the invisible electrical current that tethers us is back. Surrendering to the moments I've been resisting all night, I angle my head, lean in and kiss him softly on the lips. 

I feel him smile as he returns my kiss. We stay like this, leaning into each other, kissing chastely with our bodies joined only by our mouths, until I part mine, giving his tongue permission inside – a move that kicks everything into overdrive.

Without breaking contact from my mouth, he pulls me onto his lap so that I'm straddling him. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling myself closer to him, while his hands firmly lock on my hips, securing me in his lap. I tilt my head the other way and, when my mouth finds his again, I kiss him long and hard. He moans softly in response, which unleashes a hunger in me that makes me dig my fingers into the longer hair on top of his head. 

I'm caught off guard by how quickly things have escalated and my brain fights to make sense of it all. I can't deny Hero is attractive, but I honestly didn't start the night thinking it would end like this. When he came to my dorm room, I thought I was going out with a new friend, someone who was eager to show the naive American the right sights of London. Yes, I felt sparks at different points tonight, but I chalked it up to vodka and Post Malone. Now I don't know what to think - other than I want him to take me right here on this park bench.

I lean back, breaking away to look at him, my hands still wrapped around the back of his neck. I'm breathing heavy but I focus my eyes on his face. Maybe if I stop kissing him and look at him, I'll realize this is all just a random flirty night with a cute foreign boy?

He opens his eyes at the loss of my mouth. 

"Hi," I whisper, staring into his eyes and smiling to inject some lightness in what could probably be misconstrued (or rightly interpreted?) as creepy behavior.

"Hi," he says, his face melting into a smile.

"This is nice, yeah?" I ask. I don't really know why I'm asking this.

"I'm enjoying it," he says with a raised eyebrow, clearly confused as to why I'm stopping us. My lower half can feel the hardness of just how much he's enjoying it.

"Me too," I say leaning back in to kiss him. I don't have the brain power nor the desire to figure this out now.

We make out on the bench for what feels like hours before breaking apart. My lips are swollen and throbbing, and every nerve in my body is awake, standing at attention, ready to receive more pleasure.

"Do you still want to go dancing?" he asks me, his eyes so close that I can count at least seven different hues of brown, yellow and blue that make up the green.

"No, but I don't want to go home either," I say with an indulgent look, all but spelling out what I'd rather be doing instead. I tell myself a one-night stand with a hot Londoner can't be a  bad thing.

"Hmmm," he says as he looks into the air, searching for an answer that will satisfy us both. "Do you want to meet my dog?"

I feverishly nod my head. Then, a pragmatic thought pierces the bubble of my excitement. "Wait, what about your mom?" I ask, realizing the only thing can put a damper on this idea is having his parents in the next room.

"My mum and sister are out of town, so it's just me and Diesel tonight," he answers, a glint in his hooded eyes.