I tell myself that in order to make my CD last for as long as I possibly can, I'll listen to three songs per week. It takes a lot of self-control, but it gives me something to look forward to every Monday night. And as for the songs I've already heard - I listen to those on the commute to Lincoln Park every day after school.

On the week of Halloween, I can finally finish the document I made where I listed all the song titles, artists, and what I thought of them. The last song I write down is called "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel, and though the title is pretty morbid, the content isn't that way at all.

After it's finished playing, I sit there in my room and feel a sense of emptiness that I know is misplaced. If I asked for another mix CD, Jackson would jump at the chance to make one, but I still feel a little hollow because the first one is over. I hold the physical copy in my hands and turn it over carefully, like it's holy, and then tuck it into my underwear drawer where it can never be discovered.

I read over the list of reviews and get an excited feeling in my stomach as I think about giving it to Jackson tomorrow. He's going to love reading what I wrote - he's been dying for my thoughts on the whole thing ever since he gave it to me, but I've made him wait. He's been counting down the days since the second week until I'd finish.

Jackson and I have gotten a lot closer. Since the weather has gotten colder, we have a favorite Starbucks that we like to sit in and study instead of the quad or Arts & Letters. He likes to buy me chai teas - and while I'd always fight him on it in the beginning, now it's just part of the routine. There's usually one sitting across the table from him, waiting for me by the time I get there, and even though it's a Tall size, I can never drink all of it. By the time 5 o'clock rolls around, he'll finish it for me.

The hour I spend with him is the best part of all of my days. I hold onto it tight and am able to get through some hard times at school because I know I'm going to see him.

Before heading off to the bus stop with my sisters today, my mom stops me. "Can you go with Alice to the dentist today after school?" she asks, touching my shoulder.

I shake my head. "I have tutoring," I say.

Mom's lips purse and she lets out a little sigh. "Are you sure you can't tell your teacher that you have to skip one day? Alice told me she'd rather have you there than Kimmie."

"I can't, mom," I say. "I'm sorry. Kimmie's gonna have to do it. This is for community service, it doesn't really look that good if I miss a day."

"I know, I understand," she says, then touches my cheek. "You're our dedicated one, you always have been. I'm so proud of you, April. You have such great grades, you're doing community service, you sent your application in already… my little Duckie is growing up on me."

"Mom…"

"I'm serious," she says, green eyes wide. "You should be proud of yourself, too. You are growing into a beautiful woman of God, and I couldn't want anything better for you."

I smile at her. Her words feel good, but for some reason I feel like I almost don't deserve them. I don't really know why.

"You do your tutoring every day and it's going so well; you always reach out to help others before yourself. That's such an important quality. Your sisters can learn from you."

I give her a tight hug. "Thanks, mom," I say.

"Have a good day," she says. "Kimmie can take Alice. I'll see you tonight."

I wave her goodbye and then head off to school alongside my sisters. We're silent on the way to the bus, and while my mom's words play through my head for a little while, they're soon overtaken by thoughts of Jackson.

Lexie and I are running around the upstairs track for the cross-country unit in gym, trying to talk as we wheeze along.

"I finished the CD," I say, glancing around for Mrs. Altman. When I don't see her, I slow my pace and walk instead.

"Really?" Lexie asks, matching my pace. "Took you long enough, geez." She laughs.

"I wanted to make it last," I say. "It's more special-"

"Kepner! Grey! No walking!" Mrs. Altman bellows.

We roll our eyes and start pumping our arms again, our feet quickening up, too. "Is Jackson excited?" Lexie asks, dark brown ponytail bouncing with each stride.

"He wouldn't shut up about me finishing it like, the whole time," I say, a breathless smile on my face. "I wrote out a review thing. He's gonna like it."

Lexie shakes her head and wipes some sweat from her forehead as she looks over at me. "So in love," she says.

"Shush," I say. My face is already red with exertion otherwise a blush would've shown up, I'm sure.

"When are you guys just gonna bang already?" she asks.

My eyes widen with shock and I stop running, which causes the person behind me to crash into my back and both of us to fall to the ground. As I untangle my legs and arms from them, I see that it's Callie Torres, and she looks angry.

"Watch where you're going, Fuckie," she spits, but says the last part quietly so Mrs. Altman won't hear.

"Everyone alright, ladies?" Mrs. Altman calls out.

Callie puts on a sickeningly sweet, big smile. "We're fine, Mrs. Altman. April just stopped and made me fall."

Mrs. Altman walks up to us and looks at Lexie, who's stayed hovering nearby. "Grey, not your business. Move along." Lexie looks down at me where I'm still sitting on the floor and then back up to the teacher. "Move along," Mrs. Altman says through her clenched jaw.

Lexie begrudgingly trots away, while throwing a desperate glance back over her shoulder.

"Tell me what happened, Torres," she says.

"Well, I was just running and trying to make my best time. And April just stopped. And I think I might've twisted my ankle or something," Callie says.

"I didn't mean to stop, I was just-"

"This wouldn't be the first time I saw you stop today, Kepner," Mrs. Altman says. "And if I hear you talk back again, you're getting a trip to Webber's office."

I keep my mouth shut.

"Let me check out that ankle," Mrs. Altman says, and feels Callie's leg. "You're fine. You can put weight on it. Come on girls, get up." We both stand and she looks between us. "Kepner, if I see you stop one more time, you're out of here."

I nod a little bit and then she walks away. As her back is turned, Callie shoves me by the shoulders so hard that I run into the guardrail on the side of the track and have to grip it so I don't fall again. She runs by me, and then Lexie comes back around the track looking winded as ever.

"What happened?" she asks.

I shake my head. "Doesn't matter."

After gym lets out, it's time for us to head to AP English. Lexie leaves first because she has to grab her books from her locker and I already have mine with me, and I tell her that I'll just meet her in class. I take my time putting all the pieces of my regular uniform back on; my black buckle shoes, knee-socks, button-up cap-sleeved white blouse tucked into my navy blue skirt, and my blazer over that. I brush my hair and pull it back into a ponytail, and then glance in the mirror before I walk out of the locker room.

The hallway is mostly desolate, and I think that I'm the only person around until I see Callie standing just outside the door, seemingly waiting for me.

I lose my breath for a second and see that she's not done from earlier; she's coming closer, so I make myself as small as I can.

"Kepner, if you make me look stupid again…" she says, her face close to mine. She's backed me into a corner between the two drinking fountains where I have no means of escape. "You're gonna fucking regret it."

"I didn't mean to, I- I didn't know-"

"I didn't mean to! I didn't know!" she mimics in a squeaky voice. "Shut up. I said what I said. Don't…" She takes a two handfuls of my white shirt by where there's extra fabric by my stomach. "Do it again." After she speaks the last word, she pulls her fists in opposite directions and rips the shirt up the middle, popping at least half of the buttons. She turns her head quickly to look over her shoulder, where Alex and Izzie are standing, looking curious. "Oh, my god, Kepner - I'm not gay!" she sputters, her voice rising. "Get away from me!"

"What the fuck?" Alex says, sauntering closer.

Tears have sprung to my eyes as I try to cover up my bare stomach that's been exposed. I pull the two sides of my blazer in, but it doesn't do much good.

"No wonder she's not getting laid - she's into girls," Izzie sneers.

"She totally came onto me," Callie says, extending her arm to point at me. "Did you see that? She even tried to take her shirt off."

I back myself against the wall, still between the drinking fountains. Tears are streaming down my face and I'm hiccupping with sobs; I have nothing to say for myself. They're not going to listen to me, even though none of this is close to the truth. I have no chance here, and they're only drawing closer.

"What's going on here?" I hear, and look desperately to where the voice came from. I see Ms. Montgomery coming, wearing her classic black glasses, pencil skirt and heels, and she looks mad. "I said, what exactly is going on here?"

"Oh - we were just going," Callie says, backing up off of me.

"Oh, no you're not," Ms. Montgomery says, then her eyes flood with recognition once she looks at me, flush to the wall. "April."

She's the teacher who I'm the closest with; the one who gave me the tutoring job and the one who understands me the most. I write for her, so of course she does. We talk about a lot of things. She knows a lot about me, and the fact that she showed up rather than any other teacher tells me that God is looking out for me.

But she can't prove anything; she and I both know that. I can see it in her eyes, too. "The three of you, get to class." They stay standing where they are, looking like deer in the headlights. "Move!" Ms. Montgomery says harshly. "Go, scatter!"

They jump at her tone and then head off in different directions, and she gets closer to me. "Oh, April," she says, eyes skimming down to see the rip in my shirt. "Oh, honey," she says. "Let's get you to the office and we'll get you a new shirt."

I haven't said anything yet. I don't know if I can. I'm still shaking from the encounter, and a new shirt sounds like the best thing right now. I don't want to be wearing one that Callie's hands have touched and destroyed.

Ms. Montgomery hands me a size small and I go into a side room off the office to change into it. Once I come out, I smooth out the creases and button the middle button of my blazer, and try to take some deep breaths.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

I meet her eyes. "Why won't they leave me alone?" I say, and my voice shakes. "I don't do anything to them. I don't understand."

She lets out a long sigh. "Because you're good," she says. "You're smart and sweet, without a bad thought against anyone. Bullies like them - they're gonna try to take that away from you." She caps her hand over my shoulder. "Don't let them."

I bite my lower lip and nod shakily. "I'm going to make some calls to their parents," she says. "You head back to class. Your friend, Lexie, was wondering where you were. That's how I found you."

When I get to class, I slink in the door unnoticed and sit down next to my best friend while keeping my head low. "Apricot," she says urgently. "What happened?"

My outward appearance is back to normal, but Lexie can see it on my face.

I shake my head.

"April…" she says, turning sideways in her chair to face me. "What?"

"Callie," I murmur under my breath. "She tore my shirt."

"She what?"

Her eyes dart to my shirt to try and find where it happened. "I got a new one," I say. "Ms. Montgomery stopped her. She's calling their parents right now in the office."

Lexie's face turns red, and not with embarrassment like mine usually does. She's mad. She clenches her fists and cracks her knuckles, then turns to face forward again. "She's gonna gonna get away with just a slap on the wrist," she says.

"She's not," I say. "Lex, don't go and do anything. Just don't."

She looks sideways at me. "She's gonna get away with doing stuff like that to you."

"She's not," I repeat. "Ms. Montgomery called all their parents. They're getting punished." I reach over and touch her arm. "If you go and do something stupid, it's only gonna come back on you."

"I don't care," Lexie says. "She deserves it. And it wouldn't be stupid."

"No, no," I say. "You can't fight fire with fire."

"So what are you gonna fight it with?" she spits. "Prayer?"

I feel like I've been punched in the gut. The look in her eyes is so fierce and I know she's trying to defend me, but she's only making it worse. "Yeah," I say submissively.

"April…" she sighs. "It doesn't always work that way."

"Just leave it alone," I say, and cross my arms over my desk.

"This has to stop sometime," she persists.

"It will," I say.

She doesn't respond, and I don't look over at her. Moments later, Ms. Montgomery walks in, makes brief eye contact with me, and then stands at the front of the room to begin the lesson.

I meet Jackson on DePaul's campus like usual, and it doesn't take him long to realize that something is up with me. "I forgot my computer at my house like a dumbass," he says. "Do you mind if we stop there? It's on the way."

I nod, mute. I feel him give me a funny look, but he doesn't bring it up. He continues to talk as we go along, telling me different things about the apartment complexes in his neighborhood and what kind of people live where. When we finally get to his doorstep, I still haven't said a single word.

As he unlocks the door to walk inside, he ushers me in by the small of my back. "You're surprisingly quiet today, Talkie Tina," he says.

I look around his place. It's big and clean, which I hadn't expected. He has enough money to not have roommates, so it's quiet. He has nice furniture and a big TV across from the couch, bigger than any I've ever seen.

"Wanna sit down?" he asks, coming out of his room with his laptop under his arm. "April, I gotta ask. What's going on with you today?"

I look up at him and sit down on the couch with my hands on my knees and my feet placed next to each other on the floor. It's overwhelming to be in a space that's so much him. It feels much more intimate than I thought it would, and I'm not sure what to make of it. It smells like him, overpoweringly so. I want to bury myself in it and run out of here at the same time.

"I'm fine," I say.

He plops down next to me, his arm over the back of the couch where I'm sitting. "I don't know why you think I'm going to believe you," he says. "It never works. Who fucked with you?"

I snap my head to quickly look at him before looking back down at my lap.

"I knew it," he says. "Can you talk about it? What can I do?"

I'm glad that I don't feel like crying. I feel numb more than anything, like I just want to forget that it happened. If I pretend it never happened, I can just go about my day as normal.

"Don't make it a big deal," I say. "I'm going to tell you, then can we go to Starbucks? I just want my chai."

"Okay," he says, with a slight smile. "I can get you your chai."

"And I have the CD review for you," I say. "I finished listening last night."

He perks up. "I can't wait for that," he says.

I sigh. "I accidentally knocked Callie down in gym today, it was stupid. It was an accident. Then she cornered me after class and ripped my shirt." He looks for the rip just like Lexie had. "I got a new one since then," I say.

He grits his teeth; I can see his cheeks move from it. I'm still staring ahead, but his eyes are heavy on me, and before I know it his arms are wrapped around my shoulders with one of his hands on the back of my head. I melt into him; it's not such a new feeling anymore, we've hugged a few times now. I rest my cheek on his shoulder and stare at his neck.

"You already know what I think," he says. "And one day they're gonna get theirs."

I nod against him and he strokes my hair. My heart is hammering so wildly that I'm sure he's able to feel it, too. When we break apart, he tucks a curl behind my ear and I look right into his crystalline eyes. "Let's go," he says.

We're sitting across from each other as usual at Starbucks, taking a break from his newest assignment, when I pull out the review and slide it across the table to him. It's a little crinkled from being in my backpack, but still legible.

He looks away from his computer and his eyes light up. "Is this it?" he asks excitedly, and I nod. He greedily takes the paper and reads it, taking his time with each song review and laughing at some of them.

"Oh, you liked This Will Be Our Year, huh?" he asks. I nod again. "Knew you would." He giggles. "Sarah Smiles, yeah… definitely." His eyes are more than lit up now, they're sparkling. "And Come On Eileen gets stuck in my head every damn time, too." He sets the paper down. "I'm gonna like, frame this."

"Don't," I say. "That's so embarrassing. My handwriting is horrible."

"Your handwriting is cute," he says, glancing back down at it. "This is going up somewhere. That's all I know."

I shrug one shoulder bashfully and lace my fingers together on top of the table. "Hey, um," he begins. "What are you doing this Friday night?"

I feel all the blood drain from my face. "Why?" I ask, trying to sound calm.

"Well, it's Halloween," he says.

A sense of urgency appears in my gut and makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. "I… I don't really celebrate," I say. "Sometimes I volunteer at my church, we do a food drive. I don't know if I'm… I'm doing that this year or not - I haven't talked to anyone… I don't really do anything for Halloween other than that. At all. I'm not allowed to."

His smile curves upwards on one side. "Are you allowed to come hang out with me at my house?" he asks. "I hate Halloween. I always just stay in and watch movies, usually alone. But I'd like if I wasn't alone this year. You know, if you were there. Just hanging out. With me."

I sip my chai to stall my answer, and suddenly become very interested in the lid. There's nothing I want more than to spend more time with him, but this doesn't feel real. It feels like there has to be a catch somewhere.

"Jackson, I - I don't know…" I trail off, clutching my cup tightly.

"Okay," he says, and his tone has a lilt to it that shows up sometimes. "Here's what we'll do. Look into my eyes and tell me you don't like me. Then I won't ask stuff like this ever again."

I stop breathing. My mouth gapes open, but no sound comes out. I practically drop my cup to the floor, but to savor the drink, I don't.

"I… that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," I stammer.

"Look at me," he says. "Say you don't like me, and I'll stop."

I take in a short breath and hear it waver in my chest. We meet eyes for a long time; I can't do it. I can't tell him that, and he knows it.

But what comes next?

"That's what I thought," he says softly, with a kind smile. "Because, for your information, I happen to really like you, too."

My body is feeling so many different things; there are so many different thoughts whizzing through my head that I can't begin to pick out a single one.

"Really?" I ask, my voice at a near-whisper. He nods.

"So will you hang out with me on Friday?" he asks. "Don't leave me hanging. I already feel like an ass, I don't think I could deal with rejection right now."

It doesn't even cross my mind that I'll have to think up a lie to tell my parents; actually, nothing crosses my mind besides the fact that I'll be with Jackson, not doing school stuff, hanging out. Alone.

"Sure," I say. "Friday."

On Friday morning, I'm practically exploding with nerves as I meet my mom in the kitchen. It's a gloomy, gray day outside - perfect for Halloween - and I'm about to tell my first big lie.

"Mom," I say, and clear my throat to make my voice sound stronger. She turns around from where she stands at the kitchen sink. "I - I know that I usually help out at church on Halloween, but… would it be okay if I went and watched movies at Lexie's tonight with her and Arizona?" I open my mouth to say more, but know that that will lead to rambling. Short and sweet is better. Plus, it's like a half-lie. I am watching movies, just not with them.

"Oh," she says, drying her hands on a dishtowel. "Yeah, sure, honey. That's fine. You help out so much, you deserve it."

A huge weight is lifted off of me. "Thanks," I say. "I'm not gonna spend the night or anything. Just a couple movies. Then home."

"Okay, sounds good," she says, and I start to walk towards the door to meet my sisters outside. "And April, remember!" I turn back to look at her. "No horror."

"Right," I say, and give her a wave. "Bye, mom."

Throughout the school day, I feel guilty for not feeling guilty. I want to tell Lexie what I'm doing, but we haven't been on great terms since earlier this week when we got into that mini-fight. We're still speaking, but not like usual. I'm not sure when it'll blow over, but now isn't the right time to gush about Jackson. She's the only person who I want to tell. If I blab to Arizona, the whole school will know. So I keep it to myself.

Later, Jackson and I barely work on his paper; I think we're both a little on edge. It's like there's an elephant in the room and neither of us are talking about it. Yesterday, I told him that I liked him and he said he likes me back. That's not small. For me, that's actually huge.

While he reads problem parts of his paper out loud, I can't stop staring at his face. I know he notices, too, because he smiles during places that aren't funny. I can't stop, though. The hour seems to drag by, but once it's finally 5 o'clock, I wish that it wasn't. How bad would it be for me to cancel on this thing and run home as fast as I can?

"Just a question," he says as we walk to his apartment. The sun is already setting, even though it's barely past 5. "I've been wondering this. Do you own normal clothes?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask. "These are normal clothes."

He looks at my uniform and raises his eyebrows. "Yeah, for a junior nun."

"Maybe I am a junior nun," I say.

"You?" He scoffs. "Yeah, right."

"Hey," I say, and smack his arm.

"I mean normal like, normal. Jeans. T-shirts. Leggings, I don't know. The shit girls wear."

"My mom would die if I wore leggings," I say.

"What are you gonna do next year when Mommy isn't around to police you?" he asks lightheartedly. "Well, you won't be that far away. She'll probably still police you."

I give him a look. "One, shut up. Two, you're not wrong."

We both laugh and make our way into his apartment. My nervous feeling is back as he throws his stuff on the ground and motions for me to do the same. I gently set my backpack down by the door and he walks into the kitchen. "Are you hungry?" he asks. "I have some Halloweeny-type food, I guess. A half-eaten caramel apple. Some candy corn. Leftover spaghetti?"

"I'm good," I say, because I don't think I could eat right now. My stomach is way too nervous. I think if I ate anything, I'd probably throw it up, and I really don't want that to happen.

"You sure?" he asks, coming around the corner.

"Yeah," I say, and stand awkwardly in the middle of the room as he looks at a tower of DVDs that are stacked very precariously.

"So…" he says, kneeling down with a handful of candy corn in his fist. "I have Evil Dead, the new one. Way better than the old one. The Exorcist, a classic. The Mist, which is really good but the ending is fucked up. Let's see, what else…"

I'm disobeying about 15 of my parents' rules right now, but the one that's sticking out most to me is no horror. Plus, I've never seen a horror movie before and I know it'll scare me beyond belief.

"I've never seen a scary movie before," I say, wringing my hands.

He looks back at me. "I figured," he says. "I'm not that dumb. Also, you can take your shoes off. Make yourself at home, seriously. Sit. You're freaking me out with the hovering."

I smile to myself and kick my shoes off by the door, then go over and sit in the middle of the couch to watch him continue to try and decide. "Okay, so Poltergeist isn't too scary," he says. "Old ass special effects. I think you can handle it, and it's also a classic. Does that sound okay?"

I shrug. "Sounds fine to me."

"Cool." He pops the DVD in and then comes to sit by me, his left arm resting on the armrest while the other one rests along the back of the couch behind me. As the beginning credits roll through, he turns his head to look at me. "Do your parents know you're here?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Huh?" I ask, playing innocent.

"They don't, do they?" he says, smiling and shaking his head.

"Well, um, they know I'm watching a movie…" I say. "But they think I'm at Lexie's until later."

"So what you're telling me," he says. "Is that tonight, you're a little rebel? Because of me?"

I giggle. "Kinda," I say. "I guess."

"And how do you feel about that?"

I turn to look at him, and his eyes steal the breath away from me. "Good," I say breathily. "Really good."

"Me, too," he says, and looks back to the TV.

A few moments later, he moves his arm down from the back of the couch so it rests across the backs of my shoulders instead, with one of his hands on my opposite arm. I press my chin to my chest and feel the blush creep up my cheeks, right on cue.

I hear Jackson chuckle, so I press the backs of my palms to my cheeks in attempt to cool them down. "Oh, does that make you blush?" he asks, his voice rising in pitch. "Wow…"

I ignore him with an uncontrollable grin plastered on my face.

"How about this," he says, unwinding his arm from around me and using that same hand to grip mine. He rubs his thumb over my skin, and the blush that I had forced away before returns with a vengeance.

I still can't stop smiling. I open my mouth just to close it again. I don't want him to stop.

"How about this?" he asks again, and lets go of my fingers to place his hand on my thigh.

I gasp, and electricity jolts up my entire body to make every hair I have stand on end. I feel myself start to breathe harder; my heart might just beat out of my chest if he's not careful. His hand is on my skirt. No one's hand has ever been that high before, and my face is on fire.

"Or this…" he says, and uses his free hand to cup my jaw and draw my face closer to his. I've never been this close to another person before. Ever. In my life. I'm breathing his air and he's breathing mine, and I can feel his wild pulse through his wrist. "April, can I kiss you?" he breathes..

"I've never kissed anyone before," I breathe.

"Do you wanna try it out on me?" he asks, the tip of his nose touching mine.

I nod. There's no way I'm able to form any more words.

When our lips touch, I don't think about the YouTube video "best kisses of all time." I don't think about the bullies at school, my best friends, my parents, or God.

All I think about is Jackson. One of his hands on my thigh, grip tightening slightly as he leans into me, and the other one framing my face. I think about the way his subtle stubble feels grazing my cheeks, and the way his nose presses softly against my own. I don't wonder if I know what I'm doing. For the first time in my life, I let myself be.

I let myself experience him for all that he is.

When we pull apart, it feels like time has stopped. I'm breathing heavily, chest heaving, as I stare into his face. I wonder if I look as bewildered as he does right now.

I come to the conclusion that I probably do.

We spend a moment just watching each other, gauging what the other will do next, as our chests heave with excitement. His eyes dart down to my mouth and then back up to my eyes, and I feel myself give him a subtle nod.

He takes my face in both hands and kisses me again, and it's different this time. His lips move against mine and I follow his cues, and I think I'm doing something right when I hear him inhale sharply and then graze his hand down my torso to rest over my hip.

I involuntarily push up against him - I'm not sure what makes me do it, but I do. He makes a small sound in the back of his throat and opens his mouth against mine, and I can feel his eyelashes flutter against my cheeks as I hold the back of his neck in my palms.

In the next moment, he dips his head beneath my jaw and presses his lips to my neck, which causes me to whimper softly and lean my head to one side so he can reach more skin.

I never knew that neck kisses could feel so good. I never knew anyof this could feel so good. Right now, my body is feeling things I don't recognize. There's a tightness between my legs that is new to me but not entirely unwelcome. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I can't spend a lot of time dwelling on it because I get distracted with one of Jackson's hands undoing the middle button of my blazer and then venturing lower to try and untuck my white blouse.

I pull away. "Wait, wait, I-" I stammer, and he pulls back, too.

He looks embarrassed, which was the last thing I expected. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he says insistently. "I didn't mean to - it got away from me… I got caught up. I… I don't wanna do that." He looks at me, his eyes sober. "I don't."

"Okay," I breathe.

"I'm never gonna pressure you to do something you're not ready for," he tells me.

"Okay," I say again, smiling as I whisper.

"I just…" he trails off. "I really like kissing you."

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and bite my lower lip, then say, "I really like kissing you, too."