Disclaimer: Don't own the greatness of 'Stickin' Around' or any of it's characters.
***********************************
"READY OR NOT! HERE I COME!!"
The group of friends were playing a game of Hide-and-Seek at the park. Bradley, Stacy and Polly had already been found by Dill who was the seeker. Last was Melody.
"Ok-ok, Dill! You found me! Quit rubbing it in, ok?!"
"GEEZ, MELODY! QUIT BEING SUCH A SORE LOOSER, OK?! I WAS ONLY DOING MY JOB!"
"I'm not! You're the one being the sore WINNER!"
"Can we save this argument for another day?" The youngest of the group, Polly, interrupted. "My parents would like for me to get home at this reasonable hour. Being out too late isn't good for your physical and mental state in the future, you know?"
"That's…great, Polly." The boy with the red backwards cap, known as Bradley, looked at his watch: it was getting late! "Well, I gotta get going. My mom's gonna be home from work soon and I don't want another comic taken away for being late for curfew again!"
"Goodnight."
"GOODNIGHT, YOU GUYS!"
"Bye everyone! Get plenty of rest for tomorrow!"
Three of the five friends left. Bradley turned to his best friend and said a goodbye as well.
"Wait, B-Man!"
He turned around at the reaction of Stacy Stickler's grab on his wrist.
"You…you mind playing one more game?"
A baffled look crossed his features. "Stace, I can't! My mom's gonna kill me if-"
"It'll be really quick. I promise!"
Two pairs of eyes stared at each other. One looking with a calm and soft face, which confused the other. Especially since she knew how important the comics were to him! What's with her tonight?!
"Don't tell me you're being chicken now! Are ya…Bradley?"
He scoffed. " Am not! Fine! I'll play you're stupid little game! But if I get in trouble, you owe me big time!" Bradley then covered his eyes and started counting.
"And don't cheat either! I know how you are!" Stacy's footsteps ran off somewhere.
"One…two…three…" Bradley peeked around. "Fou - eight-nine-ten!" The chase was on! Stacy couldn't have hid very far, Bradley knew that. So of course he thought he could find her in a good five minutes. After ten minutes of looking in bushes, behind trees and around playground equipment, Bradley got frustrated. "Where IS that girl?!"
Finally after looking in a different area of bushes, he spotted a little something that helped him: a speck of pink at the corner of a clump of them.
Bradley walked over to that bush and pulled it back. "GOTCHYA!"
And he was right! Stacy was sitting behind the piece of shrubbery, staring up at him with a curious glare.
Then that glare suddenly turned to an evil smirk.
Before he had time to react, Bradley's shirt was grabbed as he was pulled into that little corner with his friend, landing on his rear in the process.
"Nah. I got YOU!" And then she kissed him.
Wait. WHAT?!
Bradley was WAY beyond the realm of shocked! Stacy: his best friend. KISSING HIM??!! What does he DO in a situation like this?! He flapped his arms, waved signs around, pretended he was dreaming - YEAH! That HAD to have been it! DREAMING! The ONLY explanation to something as insane as this! The REAL Stacy Stickler would NEVER kiss her best friend! Bradley knew she was starting to like guys, but STILL! Wait! Does this mean-
He finally got the thought to push the kiss off.
"…STACE! WHAT-"
She put a finger to his lips. "Did you like it, B-Man?"
"Wh-…WHY?!"
"Because I…I like ya, Bradley."
Bradley stared at her. At one point he noticed a slight pink appear on her cheeks. Yeah. She likes him.
"Stacy…"
"Did you like it?"
"Huh?"
"When I kissed you. Did you like it?"
No way! It's a kiss! Kisses are gross! Disgusting! Why would ANYONE- Well, it DID feel ok- NO! What was he thinking?! Even if he MIGHT'VE liked it, it's his friend! His FRIEND! He can't just- But it felt kinda ni-
STOP THINKING LIKE THAT! Hopefully it's not what his mom's been saying. On how he's starting to grow up and all. He doesn't wanna grow up like this! Or at all! Why, WHY are adults INTO all this stuff?! WHY?!
"Well…it was…" Struggling to find the right words… "Good."
"You liked it?"
"Yeah," Bradley unconsciously leaned in, "I liked it." And kissed her back.
So they sat behind that bush and continued to kiss. Both got grounded for a week for being late, but it was worth it. Hey, they still have school.