Page 15 of Surviving You, Scotch and Sammy 1

“What if I suck at it?”

“We’ll learn together. Everything we do, we’ll learn together. That’s the beauty of finding your soul mate when you’re our age. We get to experience all these things together.”

Her head snaps back again. “Wait. You’ve never kissed anyone either?” She looks horrified.

I shake my head and run my thumb along her soft cheek. “Nope.”

“But you’re… you. You’re Sam Turner.”

“And I’ve been waiting for you. I met you when I was fourteen years old, Ricci. I was clamoring to kiss girls before that day, but ever since you walked into first period science, I didn’t wanna kiss other girls any more. I just wanted to kiss you.”

“You should stop being so nice. You’re ruining all other men for me.”

I laugh softly. “As far as I’m concerned, there won’t be any other men for you. There’s just me, and I swear I’ll make that enough…” She watches me for a long minute, studying my eyes as my thumb strokes her jaw. “Kiss me now?”

She nods and her hands shake, but she moves her face closer to mine. Thank god! I lean down and find myself shaking too. This is the culmination of years of longing and hopes and dreams, and now it’s here, it’s happening, and I’m shaking like an idiot. I press my lips to hers, both of us nervous and hesitant and unsure of our actions. It’s closed mouth and slightly awkward. Our hearts slam against each other’s through our shirts. We’re both painfully scared, but then she sighs against my lips, her breath fills my mouth and intoxicates me. Her tongue darts out shyly, wetting her own lip but tapping mine in the process, and at the very moment our tongues meet, we both shed our insecurities and we kiss for real.

Her body melts against mine. Her hands squeeze and flex against my chest. Her arms come up and wrap around my neck and we’re both done for. We pull away reluctantly, both of us breathing heavy, our chests lifting and falling in unison. “I wasn’t wrong, Sammy.”

“Huh?”

I lick my still tingling lip, and smile when I taste her. “I wasn’t wrong about us. I knew what I knew and I know I’m not wrong.”

“Sam--”

“And just so you know.” I stroke her cheeks and my muscles relax against her slim body. Mine now. Finally, mine. “My mom and dad have been together since they were fourteen and fifteen years old. They married when they were only nineteen and twenty and they’re happier now than any adults I know. My dad still rubs my mom’s calves every night, and he brings her tea and cookies while she reads her girly books. My dad still brings home her favorite candy, which, by the way is M&M’s, and he still steals flowers from our elderly neighbor’s garden and he plops them in the very same mason jar he dropped and glued back together when he was our age.”

“Your parents never fight? They’re never unhappy?”

“Fuck yes, they fight plenty. My dad told me one of his greatest pleasures in life is doing something he knows will piss my mom off, just so he can watch her fire up. He’ll buy her the wrong snack, she’ll cuss his ass out, she’ll throw a frying pan at him when he laughs, then he’ll pull a packet of M&M’s out of his back pocket. They kiss and make up, and then they start again the next day. He does it on purpose because he knows she has that fire and he loves bringing it out in her.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

I laugh. “It really is. My mom’s a psycho, but my dad knows how to handle her. They complement each other perfectly. They grew up together and they know everything there is to know about each other. I’m not asking you to marry me Sammy, not today anyway. I’m just asking you to give me a chance. I swear I’ll bring you tea and cookies and I’ll massage your legs when you’re tired.”

“Will you purposely annoy me so I throw a frying pan at your head?”

I smile down at her, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “Maybe. If you get too quiet for too long…”

“I’m gonna need more bitch pills.”

“Huh?”

She snickers. “You’re a guy. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Okay… Kiss me again?”

Her eyes dance and her tongue comes out to lick her lips. “Okay.”

“Do I have to ask you every time?”

“No,” she whispers as our lips hover mere millimeters apart. “Surprise kisses are also okay.”

“Okay.”

– Sammy –

Freedom

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