It Started With a Dare

Chapter 14

What's tickling my nose?

I slowly opened my eyes and immediately forgot how to breathe. Alex. Was. Right. At. My. Face. And he was asleep.

Alex was leaning forward and had his back slouched. His nose was against mine, and his soft, deep breaths was the source of all the tickles. In addition, my first kiss was at stake by a few millimeters.

How did I get into this situation?

~

Flashback

"Hey, uh, Alex?" I asked. Alex hummed to signal that he did hear, but he didn't take his eyes off the TV screen. We were already on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. "Can you toss me a pillow?"

"Why?"

"I'm sleepy, and Peter Pettigrew is about to scare the crap out of me."

Alex laughed and slapped the pillow on my face. I blew a raspberry at him and positioned myself. I lied on my side on the couch and tucked my knees to my chest to keep my legs from Alex who sat on the opposite side of the couch.

After the freaky scene passed, I was really getting drowsy. I began nodding off, but my head wasn't leveled properly, so I kept shifting. Plus, my legs were getting numb from being folded to my chest.

"You wanna use my lap?"

I blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You look uncomfortable there," Alex said. He patted his lap. "Come on," he grinned, "you know you want to."

"Fine, but I'm still using a pillow," I tossed the pillow onto his lap and laid down my head. I wouldn't admit it, but it felt better.

Then I felt his fingers entangling itself in my hair. He began petting my head while twirling my curls between his fingers. Just when it began to feel nice, I reached up and pinched his wrist, making his face contort in pain, but he made no sound.

"Off my hair," I growled. I tugged at his arm, wrenching his hand off my black strands. Once I let go of his arm, his hand returned to my hair.

"Just enjoy and watch the movie," was what he said before I get to pull his hand off again.

I didn't get to enjoy the movie though, because I fell asleep.

~

I slowly and quietly put my finger up and pushed at his forehead. His head lifted away, but the movement woke him up. Our eyes interlocked, and both of us didn't make any moves.

"Hey, Annie-chan," Alex whispered.

Despite the exact replica of the temperature of the sun on my cheeks and my shortness of breath, I was able to reply to him. "Hey."

Alex smiled. The smile that always gets to me. The smile that made me like him. The smile that he always uses to comfort me on the rarest moments. He started leaning back in.

Everything around me had already shut down from the moment he smiled at me. Speaking of shutting down, my eyes were also starting shut close. Just a little bit more...

Whine... Followed by a light bite on my foot.

Alex also heard it too, because he pulled away. Drowning in a sea of mixed emotions, I pulled myself on a sitting position and saw Puppy Alex licking at my toe and whined. Then I realised my surroundings.

It was already night. Or so I thought. The clock showed that it was already 2 in the morning. The entire flat was dark except for the TV screen showing the repeating title menu of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the two windows that let the dim moonlight in the living room.

Mixed emotions ran back to its hole, and uncomfortable took its place. I sheepishly looked at Alex and found him looking at me. I scratched the side of my face, a sign of my nervousness, and picked up Puppy Alex to feed him.

"Can you please turn on the lights while I feed Alex?" I asked, not being able to look at him in the eye. Once he nodded, I ran to the kitchen with Puppy Alex squirming in my arms.

I filled his bowl and settled him down. Then, I did the reasonable thing to be able to be reasonable again. I ran myself to the wall.

"Hey, you okay there, Annie-chan?" Alex made his entrance, being wary of Puppy Alex. Puppy Alex, on the other hand, paid no attention to him since he found his food more worthy of attention.

"Yeah," I mumbled, trying to stick my face to the wall. Wait, rephrase. Trying to mash my lips to the wall, so I can lose my first kiss to a non-living thing and not worry about losing it to a guy in my flat early in the morning.

"You hungry?" Alex asked. "We didn't have dinner after all."

Cue the sound of a dying whale emitting from my stomach. "Sure," I mumbled against the wall, "there's some leftovers in the fridge." I heard footsteps, the sound of a fridge opening and closing, and the beep of the microwave.

"I heated up some of that weird looking rice dish," Alex said. When I said nothing, he walked over to me and leaned to look at me. "Uh, are you okay?"

Just conflicted. But, "Yeah, I'm great," was what I answered. Then the microwave dinged. "The risotto is done," I said and scurried off to set the dish on plates.

"You wanna watch another movie?" Alex asked.

"Sure," I replied. Whatever takes my focus off you. "You take your pick." I took the plates and followed him to the living room.

"Hey, have you watched Frozen?"

"No, I was planning to," I said. "I keep forgetting though."

"It's awesome!" Alex said, placing the disk in the player. "I've watched it with my sister. She's a big fan of Elsa, so am I."

I sat speechless.

"What's with that look?" Alex pouted at me. "You're looking like I have leprosy or something."

"You're exaggerating," I snorted. "I just find it absolutely unusual for a male to get so hyped over a Disney movie and over a Disney Princess."

Alex's index finger pushed at my forehead. "Don't judge it until you watch it," he said.

~

"So, technically, Anna saved herself and Elsa," I stated.

Alex opened his mouth as if he was about to make a point. Then all he said was, "Good insight. I didn't notice that before."

"Well, it's cool, no pun intended," I laughed softly. "I'm watching again soon, if I have the time." Then I yawned. "I better go to bed."

"Sure," Alex nodded then he grabbed my wrist. "Hey, Annie-chan, if it isn't much trouble, you know, it's like three in the morning, and the dorms are probably closed already, so-"

"You can stay in the guest bedroom," I cut him off, already knowing where he was going with the blabbering. "But try anything funny, and your school will be missing a student because his body can't be found, which is actually hidden in a freezer."

"Got the message," Alex chuckled. "Besides, even if I did try anything funny, we wouldn't fit. You'll probably take up much space in the bed."

"One more fat joke," I warned, "and you'll be sleeping in the streets."

Alex laughed and raised his hands in surrender. "Take it easy," he said. "Wait, you have a guest bedroom? How exactly big is this place?"

~

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