Fandom: John Tucker Must Die
Title: All I Have (1/10)
Pairing: Kate/Beth
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,109
Disclaimer: I don't own JTMD. If I did, this would be the entire movie.
Summary: A different take on how the kiss scene could have gone.
A/N: Done for the fabulous iPod shuffle prompt at houseficpens community at livejournal, which is just so popular in my House fandom right now. Except, well, this isn't for my fandom... Not ready to write slash yet. And this just happened to be what I watched right after I found all the prompts. Each song is supposed to be a 100-word drabble, but I'll make mine longer and call them chapters. Each chapter title is the song that I used, and the title of the whole story is also a song by Snow Patrol that I decided to use randomly because I couldn't think of a better title.
Chapter One : Lips of an Angel
Kate Spencer climbed into the jeep, the darkness concealing her panicked expression and fidgety movements from anyone who might be watching from the beach. She closed the door and tried to stop herself from hyperventilating. John Tucker wanted to take her home. She hadn't prepared for this. Heather, Carrie, and Beth had explained to her exactly how her first "date" with John should be and told her exactly how to act - and she thought she had pulled it off wonderfully. She had been calm and cool and collected; she had been funny and had tried to be in control. She had been ready for anything that John Tucker could throw at her. Except this. She wasn't ready for this! Her voice of reason told her that it was perfectly normal for the guy to take the girl home after a date - not that she had any experience in the area - but still! It wasn't part of the plan, and therefore, she had every right to be freaking out.
Kate nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock on the other window, and turned just in time to see Beth sliding it open. Kate thought had never been more relieved to see the other girl, even if she was one of the three responsible for getting her into this mess in the first place.
"Hi!" Beth whispered loudly, quickly looking around to make sure no one else was coming.
"Hey!" Kate squeaked. "Okay, a-a ride home?! W-What do I do?!"
"Just breathe. This is really good; it means he's into you," the brunette said, nodding. Kate wasn't exactly comforted. He was into her and wanted to take her home… and this was a good thing?!
"Do you think he's going to make a move?" she asked, incredulously.
"No, if anything it's just gonna be a kiss goodnight. He usually keeps it PG-13 on the first night," Beth said and rolled her eyes in annoyance. But the words had barely registered to the blonde, whose stomach had dropped at the word "kiss". A kiss? Just a kiss? Kate hadn't even had her first kiss yet - she didn't know what to do! She couldn't just kiss the most popular guy in the entire school, just like that. For the zillionth time that night, she wished she'd never agreed to this insane plan.
"Okay, are you a good kisser?" Shocked, Kate turned her attention back to the brunette.
"I-I don't know - how does anyone know?"
"Do guys tell you you're a good kisser?" Beth asked obviously. Kate paused for a moment. She hadn't had any boys to not tell her she was a good kisser. Did that count? Kate didn't really think so.
"Oh, my God! I'm a bad kisser!" Kate cried, panic flaring.
"Okay, stop!" Beth said sternly. Kate really tried to. "All we need is one kiss, and then you leave him wanting more. It's not that hard, okay?" Kate stared at the other girl in horror and disbelief, slowly shaking her head. Beth rolled her eyes. "Oh, my God, I'm gonna have to show you aren't I?" she said, exasperated, and climbed into the jeep.
Suddenly the space inside John's jeep seemed way too small.
What? "Right now?!" Kate managed to cry, though she was surprised to get that much out. Through the whirlwind of thoughts racing through her head, she wondered if could make a run for it. But as she looked around for an escape, Beth moved her hand around the other girl's head and pulled her back. Before she had time to process what was happening, Kate found herself inches away from Beth's face. "You lock in on him, grab that gorgeous head of hair and take control," Beth was saying, her voice low and her tone causing chills to run down Kate's spine. "Hold his gaze…" Kate looked up into Beth's eyes, which were focused on her own and gleaming mischievously, and though she desperately wanted to pull away and back out of the whole thing, she found it impossible to look away.
"Your lips might just touch, but not yet -" Beth whispered, moving slightly closer and then pulling back again. A teasing smile played at the corners of her mouth. It was obvious that she wanted to draw out the moment, to teach Kate to draw out the moment, to make her all the more impatient for the kiss but still hold it just out of reach. And Kate had to admit that she was doing a pretty damn good job of it, but she was so close, and that little distance was driving her crazy. "It's just gotta be the temptation…" Her heart was pounding and her mind was racing and everything was spinning around her, but in the middle of the chaos Kate was held still by the other girls spell, unable to pull away from the insanity, unable to move in and end her suffering. And she was so close and can't breathe and god, the distance was killing her.
"And then you give him one… light… kiss…" Beth's voice trailed off and her whispers died on the other girl's lips as she moved in the last inch and suddenly the distance was gone.
If Kate had tried to envision her perfect first kiss, this would still be ten times better. None of the many fantasies she had had even came close to this reality with Beth. (Of course, Beth - or any girl, for that matter - had not appeared in even one of those fantasies.) As soon as Beth's lips had closed over Kate's mouth, everything just… stopped. Every thought that had been spiraling through her mind, every worry, every fear, vanished at the light touch, the gentle kiss. The only thing Kate was aware of for what seemed like an eternity was the forceful pressure against her lips and slight warmth against her face. From somewhere in a very far away and unimportant place Kate heard a voice, but it slide away from her thoughts, dismissed as insignificant. In fact, only when Beth moved away did Kate realize she'd even heard it.
Kate's attention turned to the boy standing in front of the jeep, gawking stupidly at her, and she forced back into dealing with the present.
But later night, when she kisses John Tucker outside of her house while Beth slips out of her skirt and makes a break for Carrie's waiting car, her mind drifts back to that moment. And even though it's John's lips that are pressed against her own, all she can think about is Beth.