It took you almost a week for you to even speak to me, but you did. You finally smiled again and agreed to help me work on my painting. I'm not sure if it had all been because of your hormones, but you didn't bring up the incident again, as if it hadn't happened.

You even agreed to go swimming after. You laughed as you swirled the paints, and I smiled watching you. Hours later, we went down to the caves to swim. You always just wore your bra and underwear because your mom never let you wear a two-piece bathing suit. I didn't stop you, but I felt hesitant to let you wear so little. You were so hormonal already, and it would only get worse. It was human nature.

You were already stripped down to your undergarments when we reached the water, which you jumped into without even thinking. I followed behind in my boxers, first allowing you to do a somersault.

Later that night, I promised we would play Twister after dinner. You said you loved the canned chili I made for dinner as you ran to set up the game.

It started out so innocent, our bodies not even touching, but before I knew it, my body was laying over yours like a bridge, and you laughed as you spun the the needle on the board again. Your body finally collapsed when you tried to slide your hand to the dot behind you. You laughed so hard, rolling yourself out from under me.

"Ty, do I get a loser's hug?" You asked.

I agreed, and you pulled yourself over to me, both of us still sitting on the floor. You faced me as you climbed onto my hips so that you were sitting on my thighs, your chest against mine as you embraced me. I felt the heels of your feet dig into my lower back when you tightened your hug, causing me gasp. You finally pulled your face from my shoulder and looked at me.

"I've read every book in this house," You whispered almost mournfully, "I know this feeling is not imaginary."

You leaned down to my face until your lips met the corner of my mouth. There must have been a piece of leftover chili still on my face as you kissed it before taking it into your mouth. I saw you briefly pull away to smile, before closing your eyes and pressing your lips to the spot again, grazing your lips against mine. You formed a trail, moving your lips across my mouth to the other corner.

"Gemma," I whined, nervous about where you were going with this.

"I want to," You whispered before finally capturing my lips.

You pulled at them whilst grabbing the back of my neck in desperation. I surprisingly kissed you back, my eyes closed, even when you let out some kind of noise. I rested my hands on your thighs as you continued to manipulate my lips, massaging them. When you finally pulled away, you hugged me.

"Why have you never kissed me?" You whispered in tears.

"It's time for bed, Gem," I told you.

You did not protest. You crawled off of me in tears, pushing yourself to your feet.

"I-I have to brush," You mumbled, taking careful steps toward the hall.

"I'll be right there," I said quietly as I folded up the game.

The kiss felt so wrong. You were still a child. I shouldn't have let it happen, but I did. I practically raised you, and I was somehow taking advantage of you. You didn't understand that a sixteen year old should not kiss a twenty four year old man. You were so naive and yet so innocent. You only knew what you saw in the movies when you were small, and the books you loved to read. You knew that they kissed and married and had kids, but this was complicated, different. You didn't even know what sex was or how babies came to be. You didn't know that grown men didn't love teenage girls without getting arrested. You didn't know what was right...and I blamed myself.

As I finished reading the rest of Eragon to you, you looked up at me with. You tugged on my shirt, pulling me down to you.

"I'm sorry that you don't love me," You whispered. "All the girls in those books, they-"

"They are nowhere near as beautiful," I muttered, and I leaned down to your face, our lips touching long enough to feel your hot breath.

"Thank you," You whispered, keeping your eyes shut, even as I had pulled away.

I didn't answer you as I walked to the door, closing the door until I heard it click behind me. I would let you kiss me because I knew that you needed it. You needed to feel what those girls had in your books. As long as it never went any farther than that, there was no reason for us not to. I just hoped you wouldn't experiment anymore. You found kissing me through a book's instructions, and it would soon turn into you reading about how other things worked, too. I even shivered at the thought...you were so young.