Page 4 of A Dark Duet

I smile. “Thank you, Dean, that is so nice of you to say.” He looks at me and I think he might have a crush on me, but then I think he’s just being Dean.

“I’m sorry I shouted in the theater in front of the judges when you were done. I don’t know what came over me. I hope it didn’t affect your grade.” I notice he has a worried look in his eye.

“Oh, don’t be silly. It was nothing. I am glad someone was cheering for me.”

His eyes light up, relieved he didn’t mess up my grade. He smiles at me, showing his cute dimples.

“Hey, are you doing anything later?” he asks.

I swallow. I knew it was coming, him eventually asking me out. I feel bad about letting him down. I just don’t have time to date anyone or anything like that. It’s what has kept me focused here at Juilliard. Sure, I had kissed before when Brie had brought over some high school friends to ride horses on my parents’ farm.

One afternoon, in the summer of what should have been my sophomore year, Brie brought Jason over. He was a junior at Harlow High. I was supposed to attend Harlow High, but since I was homeschooled due to dance, I knew none of the high school kids Brie hung out with. My parents allowed them over in the summers and long weekends so I could socialize with kids my age.

I am riding my favorite horse, Jasmine, and Jason is riding Onyx. We decided to go horseback riding. We tether the horses to a tree so we can give them a break, and we start talking about what we were planning to do after high school.

He suddenly gets close when no one else is nearby. He looks around, making sure we are far away from the barn so no one can see us. Brie and the others are riding by the stream on the other side. Jason suddenly draws closer, moving a strand of hair behind my ear. He is a foot taller than me, with green eyes and brown hair a shade lighter than my own. I notice up close that he has a light dusting of freckles on his nose.

“Giselle?” he says.

“Yes,” I say softly, looking up into his green eyes.

What I find there is desire. I know at this moment that he wants to kiss me. I find him nice and attractive, but I don’t feel the pull I had read about in books or watched in movies. He’s just Jason, a friend who would come over to hang out with Brie and her other friends.

“I am going to kiss you,” he says. His head angles toward me and his lips hover just above mine.

“Okay,” I whisper.

Not protesting or denying him, I want to feel what it would be like to be kissed by a boy. I know if I don’t let him, I would probably never experience what it’s like. He isn’t mean. He treats me nicely, so I don’t think much of it. His lips continue to hover over mine slowly, and I close my eyes. When I feel the softness of his lips, my hands automatically go around his neck, as I have seen so many girls do when they’re kissed. He pulls me close while his tongue teases my lips. Holding me by the waist, I allow him to slide his tongue inside, tasting me.

I stand there, not knowing what I’m doing, and let him take the lead. He continues to kiss my mouth, and when I can’t breathe anymore, he breaks the kiss, letting me get air.

I smile, releasing my hands from his neck breathlessly. I place my fingers on my now-swollen lips and smile at him. He stands, looks at me, and steps away like the kiss never happened. I feel deflated. Maybe I’m not a good kisser, and he didn’t like it. I stop smiling at him and frown as he moves to give me the reins of my horse. I look at him, confused at his sudden behavior; he could have been a little nicer about it.

“Is there something wrong?” I ask him.

“No, nothing. We should head back.” He moves to help me on the horse, and I move out of his grasp.

“I don’t need your help, I’m fine,” I snap. I turn away, not looking at him.

“Look, I was just helping you out,” he says.

“Well, I don’t need your help, and for the record, don’t ever fucking kiss or touch me again,” I snap.

Taking off with Jasmine back to the barn, leaving him alone with Onyx by the tree, I don’t look back. I didn’t feel any spark or anything from the kiss. It was just a kiss, but my pride got the best of me when he suddenly turned cold like it was the worst possible kiss he had ever experienced.

I place Jasmine in the barn and run into the house. Closing the door to my bathroom, I slide down the door with tears streaming down my face. That was the first and only kiss I had ever experienced, and I knew in that moment I wouldn’t miss high school.

The following weekend, Brie and I go to a local hangout all the high school kids go to after a football game. Football is a big deal where I come from. Businesses would close early just to make it to the game. It gave the town something to do with the full spirit of tradition.

We make it to the taco spot, and all the football players and popular kids are there. Brie and I are walking to make the line, laughing at a joke we heard from a movie we had watched the other day, when we pass a table with Jace and Jason.

Jason looks up, and he stops talking to Jace when he notices me walking with Brie. His eyes are on me, not trying to hide the fact that I can see him looking directly at me. Jace stops mid-sentence to see what has caught Jason’s attention. He looks at Brie and me.

“Oh, it’s the ho and the virgin. How ironic.” Brie and I stop when everyone turns to see who Jace is referring to.

They all look at us, listening to what Jace, the star quarterback of the football team, is saying. My eyes widen in shock as I stand, not believing that he just called Brie a ho and me a virgin. I look at Jason. He is also on the football team, as a tight end. His expression reveals nothing as he just looks at me. They both have full-ride scholarships to a D1 school, hopefully making it to the NFL.

“Hey Jason, how was it kissing the virgin? It must have been nice to win the bet. Who could kiss the little virgin dancer? Nice way to make fifty bucks. I would have agreed now that I’m looking at her, she’s a fine piece of ass. Shit, I should have taken the bet.”

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