Page 59 of The One I Hate
“But I don’t know what happened before I got here.”
So this is how she wants to play it? “Charlie. I promise you that I didn’t touch them. Yes, they were dancing next to me, and I didn’t want to be a dick in front of a hundred people by pushing them away.”
“Really, Simon? Hot girls were grinding on you and you didn’t touch them?”
“No. I didn’t. And do you want to know why?”
“I’d love to.”
“Because they weren’t you.”
My words echo in the empty sky. She doesn’t say anything at first, and I wonder for a second if I actually said that or if I was making this up in my head.
Then I hear the faint sound of her whisper.
“You wanted them to be me?”
I laugh, because I don’t know how much more serious I can be. I tilt up her chin, holding it so she has no choice but to look in my eyes. “Charlie. Since the day I turned around and saw you in that coffee shop, you’ve had me under your spell.”
“A spell?”
“Yes. A spell. Now, I know sometimes I come across as the asshole or the jokester.”
“Sometimes?”
“Fair. But I want you to know who I’m not. I’m not the guy who’s going to lie to you about thinking you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. I’m not going to be the fucking dickhead who tricks you into going out with him because I’m bored like that douchebag did. I’m not the guy who’s going to take advantage of you. I’m not the guy who’s going to talk some game just to hook up and then bolt before you wake up the next day. No matter how bad I actually want to have sex with you.”
Her eyes double in size. “You want to…have sex…with me?”
“More than I want my next breath,” I say, pushing down the thought of Charlie and I together. No. Not the time. “If you toldme that I could kiss you right now but never do anything else, I’d take it. Because you, Bug…you’re fucking everything, and I don’t know how to say it so you believe me. Hell, all of this has probably freaked?—”
I know I started rambling, and I think I blacked out. Yes, that has to be what’s happening.
Otherwise it’s real life that Charlie has grabbed my face and is kissing me.
Holy shit, Charlie is kissing me!
It’s…I don’t have words. I could talk for hours about nothing, and right now I can’t think of a single one.
So I don’t.
I just kiss her back.
Holy shit, this feels amazing. She tastes like cherries, and from here on out, that will be my favorite flavor.
But before I can settle in she quickly pulls away. Her eyes are wide, and I think it’s her turn to black out.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“Why?”
“Because I kissed you.”
Oh, this girl…she doesn’t realize that since she’s now kissed me, she’s stuck with me forever.
And I don’t share.
“Bug…” I take her hand and pull her to me. She doesn’t resist as I pull her up, signaling for her to sit across my lap. “Did you like it?”
