"What's it like?" asked Crescent Darnel, laying on the blanket that her best friend, Carswell Thorne had spread out on the green spring grass in his backyard. The spring air was nice, almost too warm as summer approached.
The two had lived on the same street all of their lives, just two houses separating the pair. When Thorne's family had moved in when he was twelve, Cress just ten, the two had been forced to spend time together when their parents became fast-friends. Thorne's father worked with Cress's father. Well, her adoptive father. She had been an orphan, until she was adopted at the age of five.
As the two spent more and more time together, they bonded over how drastically different they were. Thorne was very arrogant for a boy going through puberty, with the acne he tried hard to get rid of and his hair that he spiked up with hair gel. Cress was little, but so was he at this point. Well, not little, but about average for a twelve year old boy. She was also very shy and timid, always avoiding eye contact and looking at her shoes. Thorne learned to bring out the outgoing side of her, and the two became the closest of friends.
Thorne rolled over onto his stomach and looked at her, his face now clear of acne and stubble covering his chin. He had matured into quite the looker. All of Cress's friends were majorly jealous of her handsome friend, but she considered him to be her brother for most of the time she had known him. Until the last year she hadn't even considered anything romantic with him.
His blue eyes searched hers, and she smiled. The two, now eighteen and sixteen, had decided to stargaze after a stressful night of studying for their spring semester finals at school. Thorne would be graduating two days later, and the thought of that stressed Cress out to no end. Losing her best friend was something she wasn't willing to consider until after finals; and until it was real and actually happening. She would hold onto every moment with him while she still could.
"What's what like?" he asked, yawning and turning back to look up at the night sky. He took deep breaths, feeling content.
"Kissing," Cress said, her cheeks turning rosy.
Everyone at their school had known of Thorne's reputation. He was, and always has been, quite the ladies man. There were all sorts of rumors about his first time, the girls he'd been with yet never dated, and the infamous "list" of girls he had kissed. It was rumored that there were ninety-nine girls on the list, and every girl with a heartbeat and two eyes wanted to be the one hundredth girl that Carswell Thorne had kissed. Cress, had still never kissed a boy, or had a boyfriend. She'd always stuck to Thorne's side and heard all of his stories about girls and relationships. No boy was bold enough to approach her if they had ever crushed on her, and she didn't mind it so much. No one could ever interfere with her friendship with Thorne, which a stupid boy would probably want her nowhere near the school manwhore. High school relationships were just messy and dramatic, so she decided to avoid them entirely.
Thorne laughed. "I forget that you've never had your first kiss sometimes,"
Cress immediately scolded him for laughing, sitting up and hitting his stomach. This only got him more riled up, laughing harder. When Cress raised her hand to hit him again, a smirk playing on her lips, he held his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" He still laughed, which was always contagious, and as hard as Cress tried to stand her ground, she laughed too.
"It's so frustrating," she blew out breath, rolling back onto her back to look closer at the stars. "everyone's had a first kiss. You had yours in kindergarten!"
Thorne, now on his side, tugged on a piece of her long blonde hair. "I've always been a natural when it comes to making the ladies swoon over me." Cress turned her head tolook at him and he winked, which brought on her eye rolling.
"You are so full of yourself," she said, looking back to the sky. Thorne adjusted and put his head on her stomach, now looking up at the stars too.
"Do I have any reason not to be?" he joked, smiling. Cress ignored him, lost in thought.
She hadn't ever felt anything but brotherly love towards Thorne over the years she had known him, until last year, her freshman year in high school. She didn't hang around him too much at school, but they had designated lunches on Monday's just for each other, so they could tell their stories for the week and sit at their favorite cafe and sip coffee and pastries and act much more mature than either of them truly were. She had finally started to notice how attractive he really was, one afternoon at the cafe.
It was the middle of December, the weather cold and snowy. So instead of their usual coffees, they had decided on hot chocolate to get into the spirit of Christmas. Cress sat across from Thorne at their booth by the window, nibbling on a blueberry muffin as Thorne told her a story about how he had received his black eye.
"He came up to me in the middle of our lab, fists raised, yelling 'You stole Scarlet from me!' Then, just socked me! Right in the eye!" Thorne shook his head. "Aces, it was painful. I've been icing it all weekend with snow because a snow ice pack is way cooler than a bag of frozen peas."
Cress frowned. "Who was it?"
"That one weird muscular senior with the facial hair. Ze'ev or something?"
"I don't know him," she shrugged. "but you should probably stop making out with every girl you see."
Thorne gasped. "I don't do that! We were at a party and I just kissed her like, a bunch, but there was no tongue, excuse you. Not a makeout, technically…"
"Thorne!" Cress sighed, shaking her head. Thorne shrugged and sipped his hot chocolate, leaving a whip cream mustache. He grinned.
That's when it hit her.
She laughed at his silliness, and butterflies flew around her stomach. It was unfamiliar and strange but she knew what it was. He looked adorable, absolutely precious. This handsome boy in front of her had a whip cream mustache and such a brightness in his eyes that made her heart do back flips.
His hair was a little messy, but in the sexy (oh my god his hair is sexy) kind of way. His blue eyes were oceans, so clear and so vibrant. She couldn't look away from him, and damn those eyes, they were so beautiful, and also staring into hers, watching her. His cheesy grin changed, his brows furrowing. His eyes began to look confused as he watched her. God, no. She had been staring.
"You okay, Cress?"
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She closed it and tried again.
"Yeah, just zoned out there for a minute, sorry."
Now, she knew how she felt about him. She wouldn't call it love, because she didn't know how that felt, but she was crushing. Hard. And she had been for a whole year.
Cress sighed, her eyes unfocused on the night sky. "So what's it like?"
Thorne contemplated it for a moment. "Depends on how you do it. The right way or the wrong way."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, you have to do it right or it won't be all that special. A kiss is literally putting your lips onto someone else's and isn't always as magical as some people make it out to be. I didn't have my real, right first kiss until I was fourteen. You'll know it's the right kind of kiss when it makes everything else disappear. I know I sound ultra cheesy right now, but it's true. A kiss that you can melt into and that is your only focus, that gives you chills and a longing in your chest. It's almost electric, like floating on clouds." Thorne smiled, content with himself.
"What's the wrong way?" Cress asked, twiddling her fingers.
"When you do it with someone that doesn't mean something to you, it isn't usually as great as it is when you have feelings for the person. It's so much more intense and captivating then. And don't be drunk when you do it. I have made out with many girls while inebriated and it is disgusting every time."
Cress laughed, then sat up, easing his head back into her lap as she did so. "Interesting take on kissing, Thorne." He rolled his eyes and a slight blush came to his face.
"You shouldn't have a lousy first kiss, I'm just trying to help you out." He tilted his head and looked up at her. They both grinned.
"Well, thank you, Mr. Romantic." He groaned.
"God, no. I'm Mr. Ladies man."
A/N: YAY FOR A NEW STORY! I hope you guys liked, I'm so excited to continue :) I'd love to hear your opinions and any ideas you have on what's going to happen next ;)