He didn’t know what he was thinking. It was in the spur of the moment.
It was the letter he’d been thinking about for days. It was seeing her kissing her best friend at the rooftop, then finding out she was drinking for the first time. Her blushed face, her cute laugh, her yellow starred underwear underneath her caught up plaid mini skirt. It was her telling him she wanted to know how it feels like to kiss a guy for the first time.
Then there was Lee.
It was everything that led to that moment when he did exactly what he just said, a guy wouldn’t be able to stop himself to kiss the girl he was in love with. Only after the kiss, he remembered that he has a girlfriend and a best friend that would kill him if they ever find out.
He couldn’t remember exactly when he started looking at Hazel differently. Max’s little sister that he grew up with. There was a point where it was weird for him to start thinking of her romantically. Maybe it was when puberty hit him like a freight train when all the hormones started to kick in and girls started to occupy his mind.
But this was Hazel. She was not just another girl. She was the girl that will be in his life for the long run because his friendship with Max was becoming more like family as time goes by. And she was the one girl that Max had made very clear to all his friends to stay away from. He didn’t want anything weird going on between his friends and his sister that will jeopardize their friendship.
So he backed off even before he let Max know how he felt about Hazel. He found other girls for sure, but his mind drifted off every so often to the girl his heart couldn’t seem to deny. The days and the years seemed to make it even harder for him because she had grown into a girl that his other friends were talking about, and now a guy named Lee was getting close to.
When the moment presented itself, he took the opportunity. Why? He couldn’t quite explain it. When their eyes met, it felt like he was under a spell. Nothing else mattered, no one else existed, it was just him, and Hazel and the thing he knew she was thinking about too.
They ended up spending that night in the streets of downtown Chestnut where the lights kept the small town alive. Ignoring Peyton’s miscalls the entire time he was out talking and laughing with his best friend’s little sister. They enjoyed the breeze against their hair and faces, she raised her arms up on the backseat, closed her eyes, and pretended she was flying. She felt a bit nauseated afterward from the motion and asked to pull over by the city park. She laughed her head off when she couldn’t vomit, but she said she was glad she was with him instead of Max who would’ve given her an earful about drinking beer.
By the end of the night, the kiss had disappeared in the back of their minds. It didn’t seem like it meant that much to her, it was just an innocent experimental little kiss. She was pretty much sober when he left her at her house, he didn’t stop by because it was already late, and he was supposed to pick up Peyton after her girls’ night out.
“It’ll be our little secret,” he said before he dropped her off.
She curved her lips, “Sure,” she tapped the top of his car door. “Thanks for the ride.”
“We should do it again sometime,” he waited for her answer.
She smiled, “See you, Theo.”
And then he left.
She wasn’t sure what that night was all about, one thing was for sure, she wasn’t keeping it a secret from Jan. She had been texting her all night to see how she was doing after the three beers. She called her immediately after she got home.
“Oh, my Loooooorrrdddd … you are freakin’ kidding me? You guys kissed?”
Hazel had to pull back her phone because Jan’s scream was so loud.
“Sssshhhh … don’t tell anyone … it was just … I don’t know what it was,” she giggled.
“So what are you gonna do about it?”
She twirled her hair, and thought about it, “Nothing … it was nothing, he has a girlfriend, it didn’t mean anything, it was like you kissed me.”
“How is that nothing? I mean yeah … it’s not a kiss kiss, but it’s Theo … well how was it? Was he good?”
She fell back on her bed and laughed, “I don’t know, it was brief, it was … just a kiss … I thought there would be like fireworks or something … hahaha … or maybe a confetti, it was just his lips on mine and it was sweet … I kinda like it.”
Jan was laughing, “Oh my God …. I’m glad that happen though … he would be dead if Peyton finds out.”
“Exactly … let’s not make a big deal out of it, I don’t think he meant anything by it, it’s because I told him about our kiss … which was so embarrassing, and then that happened.”
“I don’t think a kiss from a guy who has a super hot girlfriend means nothing, but … whatever … if you say so … I think he has the hots for you, babe, maybe he didn’t realize it, or maybe he’s not sure … I don’t know, but you’re right, let’s not make a big deal out of it and let’s hope you can have a good night sleep after that,” she laughed again.
She did. She fell asleep in less than 10 minutes from laying her head on the pillow. Maybe it was the beer, maybe it was the night stroll, or maybe it was the sweet kiss that sent her to a soundless sleep.