A/N: How do you know when it's exam season? I start posting stories.
This was just something I decided to run with, seemed more promising than studying. Anyway, leave a review if you have time. Hope you like it.
Have you ever had one of those random impulses? You know, when you have a quick thought that just ends up sticking? A moment when you know exactly what you want and, for the life of you, you can't figure out why you aren't taking it? It usually doesn't actually make much sense and you rarely ever know where it came from, but at that precise moment it seems completely logical.
For example, I sometimes find myself thinking that I shouldn't step on any cracks in the sidewalks until I reach the end of the block. Or occasionally I hit all of the buttons on the elevator just before the doors open to my floor. There was even one day when I made elaborate pictures on my living room walls out of painter's tape because, well, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, I remember wondering why no one else had ever thought to do decorating like that before…
You ever get those impulses? Well, that's what happens to me. Just last week, in fact, I had probably the riskiest, most illogical impulse I've ever had. But, dear God, am I ever glad that it happened.
It's not like I've never entertained the thought of kissing him before; the only difference is that those other occasions actually were just the fleeting ideas… this time there was something different. The urge wouldn't leave. And after years of experience, I knew that there was only one way to get rid of it.
I held out as long as I could; trying to convince myself that it was actually just a passing thought like the others, giving it time to be. But we were so close together and he smelled so good and he looked so amazing. My mind couldn't focus on anything but his lips. The idea of him and I made perfect sense to me and I was astounded that I had been too blind to really see that, too chicken to put my thoughts into actions without feeling compelled to. And in that split second there was nothing else I wanted to do except find out exactly what he tasted like. So I did.
But I'm a bit ahead of myself. Let me rewind a bit.
"Alright, I'm done." I said as I pushed through the door and into the room.
He jumped in his seat. "Geez Sara!" he looked over his shoulder at me and smiled, letting out a whoosh of air. "A little more caution next time, please," he gently scolded, putting down the sweater he was looking at to show I had his full attention.
Nick and I had been working on a case all night and had divided up the evidence about an hour ago; "Divide and conquer," he had exclaimed. I agreed and set off to a new room with some tools to print while he went over our suspects' clothing. I had worked my way through my half, finding disappointingly little, and decided now was a good time to rendezvous.
"I found three partials on two different tools and some gunk-y stuff off of one of the handles…" I strolled over to the table and absently flipped through the case file, conveniently located on the corner. "What've you got?"
"A charming personality and a winning smile," he replied without missing a beat. I glanced up from the file to find him beaming at me; I suppose trying to illustrate his point. In that instant I wouldn't admit it, but he was correct on both accounts. I couldn't quite smother my smile but I think the accompanying eye roll let him know what a cheesy line that was. "What have you got?" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Since it was par for the course with us, I brushed aside the casual flirting fairly easily.
"A crime to solve and very little patience," I smiled sweetly back at him.
"Fair enough," he chuckled and nodded appreciatively. "Okay," he cleared his throat and turned back to the clothing spread across the table. "Sadly, I've gotten even less than you. So far I've only gotten one usable hair, off of that striped button shirt over there," he indicated to the pile it was in.
"That's it?" I tease him. "I leave you here for an hour and this is all you have to show for it?" I love riling him up.
"Yea, 'cause you found a mountain of evidence," Nick scoffed.
I smirked at him, "Compared to yours, yeah. I'm beating you four-to-one."
"Three partials don't count as three items," Nick argued, "They're called partials for a reason!" I laughed at his flimsy logic. "The three of 'em combined should only count as one full item…"
"Fine," I conceded with a shrug, "I still have double your findings."
"That's fine. I've still got this sweater to process," Nick looked adorably indignant. Mind you, it's only in hindsight that I'm admitting I found it adorable; at the time I barely even noticed on it.
It was then that he turned back to his sweater and continued where he had left off. I took a seat and continued reviewing the case-file trying to see if we had missed anything that could help. We worked on our tasks in companionable silence.
I was on my second run-through when his excited voice broke through the peace. "Ha!" he yelled, "Tied!" I looked over at him and he continued. "I found some 'gunk-y stuff' too!" he mocked my sophisticated terminology from earlier. I stood up and plopped the file folder on the chair. He held the sweater, specifically the area with the unknown substance on it, up a little higher in a gesture calling me over to look at it.
I walked up behind him and leaned over his shoulder to study it. My hands came to rest on his shoulders for balance as I bent over, my head right next to his as we tried to examine the gunk as closely as possible. It was then that I realized how good he smelled. It was more of an observation than anything else.
He picked a bindle off the table and took a sample of the stuff. "Same stuff you found on the handle?" he asked, turning slightly towards me so that his breath hit the bottom of my chin. I didn't take my eyes off of the evidence but that was when I become conscious of how close he was to me. However, the most that accompanied that thought was, 'Why isn't this more uncomfortable?'
"…I'm not… sure…" I replied slowly, squinting at the substance. He turned his head forwards again, completely unfazed by our proximity. He picked up some tweezers from beside him and began manipulating the substance: poking, prodding, pulling…
"I'm stumped," he admitted, "You have any idea what it could be?" He twisted his head to look at me once more, this time facing me fully, as he waited for my reply. I frowned as several possibilities rolled through my head before being promptly eliminated. I shook my head slightly and finally looked over at him; that was when I realized how very attractive Nick is. It wasn't actually a new discovery, but at that moment it felt like it was.
'I wonder what he'd do if I kissed him,' I thought as I met his eyes. He furrowed his brows together a bit, probably noticing something was up but not knowing what it was. I tried to banish my inappropriate thoughts like I've always done, but this one hung there, glued in the forefront of my mind. My breath caught in my throat as another sweet smelling, warm puff of air from his mouth hit my face. 'He smells like bubblegum,' was added into the "permanent thoughts" portion of my head, 'I wonder if he tastes like it too…'
I unconsciously glanced down at his lips and couldn't find the strength to look away until they had formed a rather cocky smirk. A look back into his eyes confirmed that he had figured out what was up. 'Shit.' That was one of those fleeting thoughts. It was quickly replaced by, 'Why aren't I dating him?' That one was permanent.
My eyes were drawn back to his lips. The smirk he now sported was incredibly sexy. 'The only thing that could possibly look better on him than that smirk is me.' And then entered the epiphany: 'I want Nick Stokes.' Again, not shocking but incredibly overwhelming. That was the last insight I received. My brain seemed to shut down after that; it only able to cycle through the same six thoughts, starting with 'I wonder what he'd do if I kissed him,' and going to 'I want Nick Stokes.'
I don't know how long we just stayed there, a mere inch apart and each too afraid to close the gap, but I finally decided that it had been long enough to classify these thoughts as impulses. And as I said, there was only one way that I knew to get rid of them.
Slowly, I broke the distance between our lips in half. And then in half again. And again. Now we were just millimeters a part and I shut my eyes, something he had done as soon as I had started my descent. There's some old theory by a smart-ass philosopher that says that we never actually make our goal when dealing with distance because we will always be dividing things in half rather than going the entire way. I just thought I'd take this opportunity to point out that I blew that theory to shreds as I finally touched my mouth to Nick's, my goal.
The kiss started off tentative. I think we were both trying to wrap our minds around the fact that this was actually happening. However, after a beat, Nick's mind seemed to clear and he carefully but blindly placed the sweater and tweezers on the layout table and stood up without breaking our contact. If possible, kissing him straight on was even better than kissing him over his shoulder. He placed one of his hands at the side of my face and the other drifted to my hip hidden by the lab coat. I wrapped my arms around his waist.
Nick gently began to move me backwards towards the wall, safely away from our evidence. It was once my back hit the wall that I felt Nick run his tongue along my lower lip. I eagerly opened my mouth to him and began the sexiest make-out session in the world. (By the way, he did taste like bubblegum: the pink Bubbalicious kind.) He stepped impossibly closer and pressed his body completely against mine. I was trapped but loving every minute of it. Hands and mouths began to wander, our brains conveniently forgetting that we were in a room made up mostly of windows.
It was his deep growl as I ran my nails lightly over his abs that made me take notice of our surroundings again. I placed my palms flat against his stomach and pushed gently against it to gather his attention. He pulled back, huffing a tad slower than I was. He looked at me inquisitively, obviously wondering if he had done something wrong. "Glass… walls." I managed to puff out. He nodded in understanding and took a step away from me. He placed his hands on his hips and tried to regain control of his lungs. I leaned against the wall for support and did the same.
"So…" Nick spoke up when his breathing had pretty much returned to normal. "What was that for?"
I smiled mysteriously at him and shrugged, "I felt like it."
"You feel like doing it again?" he asked, his tone a little huskier. I didn't trust my own voice right then so I just bit my lower lip and nodded. "Good. What do you say we go and take our break now?" I nodded again. I stepped up to him and gave him a brief kiss before striding to the door, him hot on my trail.
Well… you can probably guess how we spent our break.
Now, believe it or not, there is a point to this story… besides me wanting to brag about my boyfriend.
My point is that life is crazy and most of us spend entirely too much time trying to rationalize it. I think that's why those random impulses exist, at least for overly-analytical people like me. I believe that they're there to make us give up control from time to time. To challenge our stubborn selves. To make us let loose and be insane when we normally refuse to allow it. I still haven't quite deciphered how the sidewalk cracks, elevator buttons, and tape art fit into this theory… but then again I've been a little distracted by Nick lately and haven't had too much time to think about it…
The next time an urge overtakes you, do yourself a favour and don't bother fighting it. Whether it's a silly impulse to follow a superstition or a terrifying desire to finally tell that special someone how you really feel… do it. Yes, it can backfire in a lot of ways, but I think it's worth it just in case you get that one seemingly stupid action that can completely transform your world.
Have you ever had one of those random impulses?
The End.