The Price of Falling

Chapter 12

We had been working on his physics makeup work for three hours. I was looking over Conner's paper to check his answers. I glanced up and caught the smirk peeking between his hands. We were lying on my bedroom floor and Conner had his head resting on his palms as I coached him through his pile of work. I had my feet up in the air as I pointed to two words on his paper.

"You got these two definitions mixed up," I said, comparing his paper to the one I had received a grade on four weeks ago. He peeked over onto my paper and compared them as well. As soon as he spotted the mix up, he grabbed his paper and started fixing his mistake. While he did that, I continued doing my own homework.

"What're you working on Griffy?" Conner smirked. He had refused to call me anything else the entire time I had been tutoring him. I rolled my eyes at the nickname, but I had gotten used to it. I had become more comfortable with Conner's presence in the six days he had been coming over for help.

"Government," I replied as I read my current events for the week. I peeked at him through my eyelashes, and was surprised to see he was intently watching me.

"What do you think the Creative Writing final will be on?" He said. I started to respond to his question, and it took me a beat longer than it should have to realize that he was distracting me on purpose, so that he could grab my planner from its place in front of me.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Give that back!" I reached for the planner and almost had my fingers around it when he jerked his hand up, just out of my reach. I pulled myself up and crawled closer to extend my arm again. I swatted for the booklet again. This time, Conner rolled over on his back and scooted farther away. He was playing a game of cat and mouse with me, and I was annoyed. "Come on, Conner! We've got work to do." I lunged for my planner, and ended up almost falling flat on my face. I caught myself just in time, my hands landing on either side of Conner's hips. I reached up once more, then Conner took the planner and moved it behind his back.

"Nope," his breathy laugh was almost a whisper, but I heard it perfectly. A puff of air hit my ear and I turned to face him. I suddenly realized how close we were, and the position that I had put myself in. I was on top of Conner's legs and my face was inches from his. I felt my stomach jolt, and the air in my lungs disappeared. I swallowed, and hoped that the sound it made wasn't audible to him. In a split second his eyes went from plain gray to almost black as his pupils dilated. Why did I keep putting myself in these situations with him? My mind kept trying to deny my attraction to him, but my body--my body had other plans. The back of my neck tingled and I moved closer to him. I had lost my free will to my hormones.

This time, Conner closed the space between us. His mouth was warm against mine, and his kiss was electricity. The tingling sensation moved from the back of my neck and crept all the way down my spine. I felt Conner's hand on my back, and I moved so that I was straddling him. I waited to hear warning bells, but again, my mind was silent. No voices telling me to stop, no alarms going off, nothing. Pure silence. My mind was never silent, not even when I slept. But the two times that I had kissed Conner Finley Price, my anxieties had been put to rest.

Conner's tongue traveled over my bottom lip and my mouth opened of its own volition. I placed my hands on his face and felt the hint of stubble there. His mouth moved expertly, whereas I felt like I was stumbling around with my tongue. I really wished I had more experience, because my lack of kissing skills was embarrassing the living daylights out of me.

Conner's other hand grabbed my ponytail, and he gently pulled my head to the side. His mouth left mine and left me feeling empty. Until his lips found the base of my jaw. He left a trail of kisses from my earlobe to the collar of my shirt, and when he got to my sternal notch, a moan escaped my lips. My hips jerked, and Conner let out a low growl.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and ripped myself off of him. We both straightened our clothing, and Conner hurriedly handed me my planner. I ran my hands through my ponytail, cleared my throat, and picked up my papers just as my mom stepped into my doorway. Today was one of her day shifts and I had forgotten that she'd be home at 5:00. She smiled at my company and said, "Well, hello there."

"Hello, Mrs. Smithey," Conner said sweetly. His voice showed no trace of embarrassment or nervousness. Although, if I had spoken right then, I'm not sure if a sound would've come out. I was almost positive that my face was as red as the marker I had used to correct Conner's homework.

"I brought home Chinese for dinner. I'm going to shower really quick and then I'll be down," my mom said. I looked at her and smiled, trying to hide the mortification I felt.

"Okay, I'll wait for you," I said.

Mom started to walk to her bedroom, and then stopped and leaned back into my door frame. "And, feel free to stay for dinner, Conner," she said. As soon as he heard Mom's door shut, Conner burst into laughter. Laughter!

"What are you laughing at?" I widened my eyes at him. I wasn't sure why on earth he thought this was funny. We had already been caught making out once. I couldn't imagine what would happen if my mom had seen what we were doing. And I also didn't know what I would've done if she hadn't shown up when she did. The idea that Conner would have most assuredly found out about my nonexistent level of experience if we had kept going made my neck and cheeks feel like fire.

"The fact that we've been caught twice. The fact that you act like you don't want it to happen after it's already happened. It's just hilarious. And then your mom inviting me to dinner really iced the cake," He kept giggling.

"You're not staying," I said.

"Oh, yes. I am," he retorted.

"Why? Do you love to torture me?" I asked. God, he was annoying.

"No. I love Chinese food. And when I get offered Chinese food, I'm not going anywhere," he stated this as if he were telling me his favorite color.

So Conner stayed for dinner. My mom asked him about tutoring and how close he was to graduating. And he and my mom made fun of how I love to be in control of everything throughout the entirety of the meal.

***

I tossed and turned the entire night before my first exam. I was battling test anxiety, on top of the worry about how I would find a Summer fling before the senior week trip. Molly had brought it up again at lunch that day, and Conner and Jason had almost overheard. Scratch that. Conner had definitely overheard. As if he could read my thoughts from his house, I received a text message that said, So, Summer Sex Guide, huh? I groaned and hid my face in my pillow. Are you kidding me? Couldn't I catch a break from embarrassment with this guy?

Goodnight, Conner  I responded a few minutes later. Still, tossing and turning and thinking and worrying. The cycle kept on and on. Then, I had a lightbulb moment.

Meet me at Cup O' Joe tomorrow after school, I texted Conner.