I was frozen on my spot. Brian was kissing me. His lips were against mine. It took me some time to process that before I began responding to him. I didn’t know why I kissed him back. I knew it was wrong but I couldn’t stop myself.
His lips were soft against mine. It made me feel dizzy. I had never been kissed before but this was the best kiss of my life.
The moment he kissed me, it was like my feelings burst out into the open and I couldn’t hold myself from kissing him back.
My hands travelled up from his waist to his shoulders and I hooked my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. My fingers dug into his soft hair. Our lips moved in sync.
His arms were on my waist and he was holding me tightly, refusing to let me go. Not that I wanted to go.
His tongue licked my lower lip, asking for entrance and that was? when I snapped to the present.
What the hell was I doing? I was on a date with Darren and I was kissing Brian. That was so wrong of me.
I immediately pushed him back. His eyes widened at my sudden action and he let go of me at once.
“Why did you do that, Brian? I don’t want to cheat on Darren!”
“Brooke, you’re already doing that. You like me, I know that.”
“I like you but Darren-”
“Break up with him,” He said quietly, as if it was the easiest thing in the whole universe.
I didn’t answer him, but started walking towards the door.
“This shouldn’t have happened when I’m still dating Darren,” I whispered to him before turning around to leave.
I returned to Darren, he was waiting for me. The soup, whatever it’s name was, was already on the table. I sat opposite him.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for long,” I said, glancing at him.
“No you didn’t,” He said, smiling brightly at me.
I took my spoon and eyed the soup.
“Frankly, I don’t like how the soup looks. And the onslaught of information you provided me with, the ingredients of this soup, isn’t helping.”
“Hey, just taste it, it’s good,” He said simply.
“Fine,” I said as I dipped my spoon in the soup and put some in my mouth.
It wasn’t that bad. Actually, it was quite good.
“It really is good,” I commented and Darren gave me a small smile.
“Told you.”
The rest of the date just blurred past. I wasn’t paying attention to most of it as my mind involuntarily wandered to the first kiss I had with Brian. It was, without a doubt, the best kiss I had in my life, even though it was my first kiss.
I requested Darren to drop me home early. He asked me if I was feeling better, which I was but I just wanted to get home as soon as possible.
Brian and Gemma had mysteriously disappeared and although I was glad I wouldn’t have to see them on their date, there was a nagging feeling in my mind and I wanted to know where they were and what they were doing.
Darren parked the car in front of my house. The whole car ride, we were silent, and I was grateful for that. Darren probably sensed my mood and so he kept his mouth shut.
“Thank you so much, Brooke. This was the best date of my life,” Darren said, smiling brightly at me. I imitated him but my smile dulled the second my thoughts crept to what happened today. “I hope we can do this again?”
“O-okay,” I said, but honestly I didn’t want to go on a date with him again even though we were in a relationship now, and practically dating each other.
I smiled at him before grabbing the car door handle to unlock the door. Suddenly, I felt a warm hand wrap around my wrist and I turned around to see Darren biting down on his lip.
“What?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything but instead, leaned down to me and pressed his lips to mine. And I didn’t see that coming. Two kisses in one night from different men was just too much to handle.
I jerked my head back, which caused it to hit the window.
“Ow!” I exclaimed, rubbing the spot where my head hit the window.
“I’m sorry, are you okay?” Darren asked.
“Y-yeah I’m fine. I think I should go now. I’ll see you later. Good night, Darren,” I said, hastily removing the seat belt around me and stepping out of the car.
I gave Darren one last wave before he drove off. I sighed. Out of all the things, my love life had to be a mess, right?
I opened the door from the key we kept in one of the flower pots, in case someone got locked out.
I tried to be as quiet as I could be so that I wouldn’t wake up my mom or brother. Giving a detailed description about my date with Darren to mom was the last thing I wanted to do right now.
I dragged myself up the stairs to my room. Once I was in, I threw myself into the shower and changed into my clean and comfortable Mickey Mouse pyjamas.
I checked my phone for any messages or missed calls. There were two missed calls and three text messages by Claire. I opened her messages.
Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for snapping at you. I’m really sorry, Brooke. I didn’t mean to talk rudely to you. It was just that I was scared if what you were saying was true. And it turns out, that you really were true x
I hope you’re not angry at me. Please call me back, I can use some movies and ice cream with you x
Oh, I just remembered you have a date with Darren. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you two. Have fun!
P. S. I love you. And I’m with Jake, if you’re wondering 😉
My eyes widened at the last text. She was with Jake?
Wait, she knows Jesse was using her? Oh my gosh. That would have hurt her so much.
I quickly dialled Claire’s number and waited for her to pick.
I heard a sniff before she said hello.
“Hi, Claire. You’re at Jake’s?”
“Y-yeah,” She stuttered. “How was your d-date,” She asked, hiccuping in the end. So she had been crying.
“Screw that. Tell me where Jake lives, I’m coming there right away!”
“No no no, don’t come. I’m fine!” Claire said. “Thank you Jake,” She said after that so I assumed Jake had given her something and so she thanked.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind coming there right now.”
“Brooke, I said I’m okay. And I’m sorry. I should’ve trusted you. I confronted J-Jesse about our relationship and he accidentally revealed about his other relationships at the moment. I broke up with him, he was just u-using me all this time,” She stuttered.
“Don’t cry over him, Claire. He’s not worth your tears. I’m so sorry I didn’t try to stop him when he was using you.”
“It’s not your fault. I-I was the one who was blind to the obvious.”
“So… why are you at Jake’s?”
“He saw me crying after I broke up with Jesse after school. He offered to drop me home as Jesse just left me there. But I didn’t want to go home so he brought me to his place. If mom asks, I’m at your place, please.”
“Okay. Take care, Claire. Don’t cry.”
“Yeah, I won’t. Good night.”
“Night,” I said, before I hung up.
Okay, too much had happened within a day. I fought with Claire about Jesse, I went on a date with Darren, Brian kissed me, then Darren and now Claire and Jesse broke up.
I didn’t know what to do next. I had to break up with Darren no matter how much it hurt him and me because that was for the best. He could get a better girl. I didn’t deserve him.
I would tell Darren everything and break up with him tomorrow. With this resolution, I went to bed and snuggled under my covers, wrapping them around me like a cocoon.
I was only half asleep when I heard a soft thud in my balcony. Why the hell was he here? I peeked from my covers to see Brian about to open the door. I quickly pulled the covers over my head, closed my eyes and let out deep breaths to make it look like I was sleeping. I hoped he would take the hint and leave. I was in no mood for a talk.
I heard the balcony door open. For some time, I didn’t hear any sounds from within the room. Maybe he thought I was asleep and so he had left.
I was about to check when I felt my covers being lifted. The bed dipped beside me and a warm and strong hand wrapped itself around my waist. I was pulled against a hard chest, the body radiating heat due to which I wasn’t cold anymore.
I sighed. How did he know I was pretending?
“Why are you here?” I whispered to him, still not facing him.
“I wanted to see you,” He whispered in my ear, causing me to shiver.
I didn’t say anything and neither did he. We just laid there together as I tried to sleep.
I didn’t know for how long we just laid there. I couldn’t sleep. But when I looked over at the clock hanging on the wall, it displayed the time 1:42 in the morning. It was too late and we had school tomorrow.
“Brian, you need to leave,” I whispered as I turned around in his arms to face him. I thought he fell asleep but he was staring at me.
“I don’t want to leave, Brooke,” he said as he tightened his hold on my waist and drew me closer to him, my front pressed against his hard chest. He dug his face into the crook of my neck, breathing softly on it.
“Tomorrow is school,” I tried to reason with him.
“I don’t care.”
I sighed, “You should leave,” I said as I sat up on the bed. I tugged at his arm. “Get up, Brian.”
He reluctantly did so. I pushed him towards the balcony.
“Can’t I stay for just a bit longer?” He asked.
“No,” I said firmly.
“Please.”
Suddenly I got an idea. If he stayed here, he must give me something in return. And I exactly knew what I wanted. I just hoped he would give it to me.
“Okay,” I said as I watched a grin form on his face, “but on one condition.”
He frowned at me. “What condition?”
I hesitated. What if he got upset again? “Will you tell me about your past?”
I instantly felt him tense up and I immediately regretted asking him about that.
He didn’t say anything for the longest time.
I sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you. Go home, Brian. We have school tomorrow,” I said, turning around to my bed.
He held my hand. “Wait.”
I turned to look at him, “What?”
“I’ll tell you,” he said, his face set in an expressionless mask.
“Are you sure? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“No, I have to tell you. You deserve to know. You trusted me with your past and it’s about time I trust you too. And I already trust you a lot, Brooke.” He said, cupping my cheeks in his hands and brushing the pads of his thumb over my cheeks lightly. I smiled up at him.