title: kiss me hard before you go
summary: she figures that maybe she is sort of impartial to blondes. (or, the two people lisanna kissed and the only one she didn't).
notes: i wrote most of this a year ago if you can believe that
notes2: spacing keeps getting messed up? why?
.
.
(DAKE)
They meet on the beach. It's purely coincidental, as most beach meetings go. Lisanna had been hoping to spend time with Nathaniel actually, but Amber had been there and—and, well, Amber had been there. Lisanna had been ditched in the end and as upset as she was about it, she wasn't going to leave. It was summer, she was at the beach and she was going to make the most of it, with or without Nathaniel.
So Lisanna stalks further down the beach to maybe go swimming and she runs into him. His name is Dake and he's a typical surfer boy—all tan and toned with tattoos and blond hair and lazy grins. He's also Australian. And a total flirt.
Lisanna believes she has the right to say this because the first thing he does is call her beautiful and then asks her what school she goes to so he can enroll there. Lisanna rolls her eyes at the obvious pick-up line but she finds herself telling him anyway. And that's how she finds out that he's Boris' nephew.
"Boris is your uncle?" she asks in disbelief.
"What? Don't believe me?" he says tilting his head just slightly. Lisanna wrinkles her nose. He probably thinks he's being cute (he is, she won't admit that though because the arrogance on this kid is astounding already).
"No, I believe you. Actually, now that I think about it the resemblance is striking," she deadpans and he laughs.
"You're pretty funny," he says, "And cute too. Let's hang out."
"I—my friend," Lisanna tries to explain, "I was going to rejoin him, I think."
Dake raises his eyebrow but says nothing except, "Forget about your friend. Pretty girl like you, he shouldn't have left you alone in the first place." He holds a hand out for her to take and grins wide.
"C'mon, we'll have fun of our own." Lisanna hesitates for exactly fifteen seconds before she takes his hand.
/
"Okay, you're doing great, now try to stand up."
"Excuse me?"
Lisanna lifts her head to look at Dake, who's grinning at her and obviously enjoying this more than he should. "Try to stand up," he repeats. She just looks at him.
"Standing up is kind of the biggest part of surfing, babe."
"You want me to fall don't you," she says, eyes narrowed and suspicious, "I bet it's all part of an elaborate scheme. I'll stand up on this thing, fall over and you'll be right there to whisk me up like some golden surfer Prince Charming." Dake laughs at her theory (which she suspects actually isn't far off).
"C'mon, don't be scared. You're surrounded by water," he says in an effort to reassure her, "What's the worst that can happen?"
"Oh, hm, I dunno, maybe I COULD DROWN?"
"You're being a bit over dramatic here babe. 'Sides, I know CPR so it's all good." He winks at her.
"Okay see, that was probably meant to be reassuring or whatever but now I'm thinking that I'm right about this being part of your Grand Scheme," Lisanna says as she continues to just wade on the surfing board. She isn't sure why she decided that this would be a good idea. Sure, surfing sounded fun and cool before but that was when she was not on the unstable board and had completely forgotten how uncoordinated and unbalanced she could be.
Dake rolls his eyes again. "It'll be fine. Trust me." Lisanna refrains herself from pointing out that she has literally only known him for about three hours and that hardly qualifies as enough time to trust someone. She does anyway and somehow Lisanna finds herself, steadily rising to her feet. Behind her, Dake prepares himself to get ready to catch her if she does fall, hands just inches from her waist. Lisanna pretends not to notice this.
"There ya go," he says, "You're doing great."
"Oh my God, Dake I'm doing it."
"Yeah, try to keep your balance."
"Dake, oh my God I am actually doing it. You should take a picture or something and capture this moment of beauty. This is easy. I'm so awesome. Look out world, there's a new Surfing Queen—ACK!"
Lisanna falls over as a small wave passes by and as promised, Dake catches her even though the wave passes over the both of them. She coughs a little bit and blinks some water out of her eyes.
"Well that was kind of expected," she says after a while. Dake doesn't say anything and Lisanna realizes how close he is to her and that he still hasn't let go of her yet. She feels her face flush and is all too conscious of how fast her heart is beating because she has a feeling of exactly where this is headed and Lisanna doesn't think she minds too much.
"All part of the Plan, right?" she says softly and she can't stop staring at his lips. Dake smirks and his hands move to cup her face and Lisanna thinks she might faint but there isn't any time for that because suddenly Dake's lips are on hers and the only thing she can think to do is kiss him back.
His kiss tastes like sunshine and sea salt and it makes her toes curl.
The surfboard floats away, forgotten for the moment.
/
Lisanna does not see Dake for about three days. Not that she's been avoiding him or anything, she just hasn't seen him around, which is surprising since Amoris is a pretty small town.
So it's just a little bit surprising when she bumps into him while she's out riding her bike. And by bumping into him she means almost running him over with said bike.
"Oh, hey," she says and tries not to feel awkward because looking at him makes her think of the kiss and that makes her feel guilty because she's supposed to like Nathaniel right and isn't this kind of cheating?
He grins at her, his white teeth in stark contrast with his tan skin and dirty blonde hair. His green eyes seem brighter in this sunlight and Lisanna wonders if he was this handsome the last time she saw him and she just didn't notice. She stares at her bike pedals because she can feel herself blushing and doesn't want him to notice.
"Hey," he greets, "I feel like I haven't seen you forever. You should give me your number so I can give you a ring sometime, yeah?" He hands his phone out to her so she can put her number in.
"Oh. Okay, sure," she says and takes the cell phone, typing in her name and number, pressing save when she's done. Lisanna hands the phone back over to him and doesn't ask why he has so many other girls' numbers in his contacts.
"I'll call you," he says, "Maybe we'll hang out tonight." His smile is flirty and it sort of makes her sad.
"Looking forward to it," she says half-heartedly. He doesn't notice.
Instead, he presses his lips to hers. It's quick but it does the damage so when he walks away with a "Later Lise" she's still sitting there with her bike and her goodbye still stuck in her throat.
/
He doesn't call that night or any of the nights after.
Lisanna isn't really surprised.
(AMBER)
The janitor's closet smells like a mix between dirty mop water and cleaning product. It makes Lisanna's nose burn and her head hurt. She turns around to face Amber, who's glaring at her. Surprise, surprise.
"So," Lisanna starts, "Wanna tell me why you dragged me in here?"
Amber flips her golden hair over her shoulder. "Stay away from my brother," she says simply.
"You couldn't have told me that somewhere that's not in here? Seriously, it smells," Lisanna says and wrinkles her nose to emphasize the point.
"I thought I'd save you the humiliation of crying in front of everyone," Amber tells her in that haughty voice, nose upturned and looking every bit the Queen Bee. Lisanna rolls her eyes. As if Amber would really pass up the opportunity to humiliate her.
"Oh, please Amber, like anything you'd say would be enough to make me cry," she says and sidesteps her in order to get to the door, "Now if you'd excuse me. I've got a bus to catch home."
Amber's face reddens with anger. "I'm not done with you yet!" Amber yells and grabs her arm almost hard enough to hurt and this is the real reason why they're in here, Lisanna thinks, because there are no witnesses—just the way Amber likes it.
"Get your hands off of me," Lisanna says and Amber ignores her.
"You're decent looking at best, you're clearly not as smart as he is, and your clothes are ugly. Bottom line; you aren't good enough for him. Don't talk to Nathaniel anymore. I forbid it," she says. Lisanna looks at her in bewilderment. Is she—is she serious? She snatches her arm away from Amber's grip.
"You forbid me?" Lisanna repeats, annoyance and anger lacing her tone, but mostly anger because she is so tired of Amber telling her what to do and bullying her all the time. She's so pissed off and only Amber can make her this angry because Amber pisses her off more than trigonometry confuses her.
"You know what Amber, your older brother complex is starting to get really annoying—"
"I do not have an older brother complex!" she shouts, furious blush and fists clenched at her side.
"Could've fooled me."
Amber makes a noise of indignant rage and storms past Lisanna to leave, obviously having had enough. Except she can't get out.
"Oh dammit."
/
Lisanna sits on an overturned bucket and watches as Amber paces back and forth in the cramped space because she refuses to touch anything and get her clothes dirty.
"You're brilliant Amber," Lisanna says sarcastically, "So fucking brilliant."
"Oh shut up," the blonde bites back, "How was I supposed to know that it locks from the outside? This is not my fault."
"Says the girl who dragged the both of us in here in the first place," Lisanna mutters and then louder, "Can't you call one of your little minions to get us out of here. Or Nathaniel?"
Amber mumbles something, looking away, embarrassed.
"What?" Lisanna says and blinks, "Speak up."
"I said, don't you think I thought of that already?" Amber repeats, annoyed (like she seriously has the right, come on). Lisanna looks at her expectantly.
"And? Did you call them?"
"I kind of left my phone in my purse…in my locker."
Lisanna groans. "You idiot."
Amber bristles. "So? What about you then? Where's your cell phone, Miss 'I Know Everything'?"
"The battery's dead," she explains. Amber's eyes widen.
"Then…I really am stuck here with you," she says, like she almost can't believe it.
Lisanna rolls her eyes. "Are you sure this wasn't part of your plan to have your way with me?" she says sarcastically.
"Shut up, I don't want to have anything to do with you."
"Then why are you blushing?" Lisanna teases because even though the light in the closet is dim she can still see the red in Amber's cheeks.
"I am red with anger!" Amber denies and crosses her arms. Lisanna stands up and makes her way over to the other girl slowly.
"You liiiike me. You want to kiiiiss me. And maaaaarry me," Lisanna sings as she corners Amber against the wall. She's grinning wide. Amber sneers at her but her heart is beating too fast for her liking and it's all because of this stupid girl (emphasis, Amber thinks, on girl).
"Who'd wanna kiss a monkey-faced girl like you?" she asks.
"Oh, Amber, you're almost as cute as your brother." Lisanna leans forward so that their noses are touching.
"Almost?" Amber says, only half playing at insulted and Lisanna smiles against her lips.
/
Her hands grope Amber's breasts while Amber's fingers tug on the pale pink cotton of Lisanna's underwear, slowly pulling them down.
It's only when they hear voices outside of the door that they stop what they're doing completely and pull away from each other.
/
Nathaniel finds them on opposite sides of the closet in an attempt to be as far away from each other as possible.
" Everyone's already gone home—I've been looking for the two of you everywhere," he explains, "Luckily I ran into Alexy who said he saw you guys come in here." Nathaniel raises his eyebrows at them.
"What were you doing in here anyway?" he asks and then spots what looks like a bruise on Lisanna's shoulder. His eyes narrow and he quickly turns to his sister. "Amber what did you—"
"A bucket fell on me," Lisanna quickly covers up as she starts to walk out, "No biggie. Anyway, thanks for coming to help us Nat. You're a life saver." She smiles sweetly up at him and touches his arm.
He blushes a little bit and Amber rolls her eyes at the two of them but her heart is still racing like crazy.
/
The day after, Lisanna finds a note in her locker.
It didn't mean anything. I still hate you.
"What the hell is that all about?" Alexy says, reading it over her shoulder. Lisanna crumples the paper and throws it back into her locker. She shrugs.
"Nothing," she says and shuts the locker door and clicking the combination lock into place. She turns around. "Ready for Faraize's class?"
Alexy makes a face. "Not really," he says as they walk, "I didn't study at all for the quiz today."
"Did you stay up all night playing the The Last of Us again?" she asks. He looks guilty.
"...No?"
Lisanna laughs. They round the corner and Lisanna pretty much bumps into Amber as she does so. The two of them just stare at each other for a moment until they remember where they are and that their friends are watching.
Lisanna breaks the silence first, lips curving up into a smirk as she looks her up and down. "Nice scarf," she says and Amber's cheeks dust with pink as she opens her mouth dumbly before she finally composes herself.
"How's your shoulder?" she asks instead, a gleam in her green eyes and a smirk on her face. This time it's Lisanna's turn to blush.
"Fine. It's nice to know that you care though," she says. Charlotte, Li, and Alexy exchange looks. Amber sneers.
"Out of my way freak," she says.
"With pleasure," Lisanna replies as Amber pushes past with her friends trailing behind her.
Alexy stares at Lisanna in confusion and amusement.
"Okay, what the hell was that all about?" he asks. She smiles and shrugs.
"Nothing."
(NATHANIEL)
She shouldn't be here— in his house, in his room, on his bed— but she is. She wraps her arms around him even though he's shirtless and she's nervous and he's— what? Tense? Scared?
If anyone caught them, like this, they'd be in trouble but at the moment Lisanna can't really bring herself to care and Nathaniel won't say anything else and God, that kind of makes her worry even more.
She buries her face into his back and whispers all kinds of things into the purple bruises that run along his spine, things like 'i wish this hadn't happened to you' and 'i wish i could save you' and 'i'm sorry nathaniel oh god i'm so sorry'. Her lips brush against his skin like a kiss and Lisanna wishes it wasn't like this.
His breath hitches like maybe he's going to cry and she wouldn't blame if he did, but he doesn't (or maybe he does, she can't even see his face to know if the tears are there because he won't look at her) and that's okay because Lisanna ends up doing all the crying for him anyway.
"N-Nathaniel," she says after a moment, "I— "
"You should go back to bed," he says softly, "It's late and we have school in the morning after all."
Lisanna sits up and swallows. "Right," she says, her hand never leaving his arm, "Right, of course."
She sits there, beside him for another three seconds before getting up and heading towards the door. It feels wrong, leaving him alone like this when all she really wants to do is stay and hold him a little while longer, to make all his troubles to go away even though she doesn't know how.
"Lisanna?" Nathaniel says from the bed, "Promise you won't say anything? About any of this?"
Her hand lingers on the doorknob for a moment and she keeps her back to him because she can't face him— she can't promise him something like that and she can't lie to him.
Lisanna breathes in. "Good night Nathaniel," she says instead as she leaves, closing the door behind her