A/n – I just wanted to say thanks to some people! – the-things-I-think-of, 12, Hsp9891, marisa mellark, katwizzle, triscarstairs, jaredhowe'sgirl, alessandra & iloveIanO - you're all great! Thanks so much for the reviews!
Chapter 12: The almost-kiss
(Wanda's POV)
'What the hell happened here?' Mel glanced back at where Ian had disappeared through the door across from us, 'we leave you alone with Burns for five minutes then come back to see you lip-locked with O'Shea!' She was in major rant mood; she paced around us moving her arms wildly while Jared just stared at me as though I was a mythical creature.
I could barely move, my side started to feel cold without Ian next to me, I went through the moment again and again - the feel of his strong arms around me, the way his mouth moulded mine.
I can only imagine how bright my cheeks are. Licking my lips I can feel how warm and slightly swollen they are, making my whole body tingle…I wanted to relive the moment forever.
Trying to listen to Mel, without my imagination going elsewhere, I noticed Burn's name…I shivered as I remembered how close he was, his cold hand lingering on my back and side, feeling uncomfortable so close to my skin…
{30 minutes earlier}
'Wanda, we're just going to go find Ian, he's not in the locker room with the others' Jared called over his shoulder before him and Mel walked away down the hall back towards the field hand-in-hand.
As soon as they were out of site Burns stepped closer placing his hand on my arm, 'are you cold?' I shook my head and glanced down at his hand – now rubbing circles on my skin with his thumb. I stepped back to try and get some distance between us; he was being inappropriate again – just like when he hugged me out front, although he claimed it was just friendly the look in his eyes now says different.
'Why don't we take a look at the photos I got?' He stepped even closer to me, but I couldn't step away, he had put me between his body and the wall, is he doing this on purpose? I nodded my head in response and tried to clear it of my thoughts – Burn's is just a friend, he knows that.
He leaned in towards me again so that both our faces were at the same level; he pulled his camera in front of us and started flicking through the gallery.
'I must admit, these are pretty good, you'll be a good photographer for yearbook' I smiled as he finished showing me what he'd taken, I looked up at him and noticed how close he still was.
'Thanks' he whispered as he looked from my eyes to my mouth. What? He started to lean his head even closer, is he going to kiss me?! I have to do something, but I can't move back‼ Help‼
His mouth was still getting closer to mine, my brain was on overdrive – I put my hands on his chest and tried to push him away but I just wasn't strong enough. Burns put his own hands over mine to pin me to him and smiled, 'I knew you wanted this too…' No! I Don't! I wanted to scream at him but my mouth couldn't form the words.
I turned my head to the side at the perfect moment so he only kissed my cheek instead of my lips, it still felt wrong and uncomfortable but it was better than Burn's being my first real kiss.
There were suddenly more football players running down the hall towards us, Burns quickly straightened up and put his hand around my waist to hold me against him… as we watch the line of players go through to the locker room I try to wriggle out from his grip without being obvious.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot, not knowing how to get out of this one – maybe just wait until Mel comes back and yells at him for having his arm around me? I glance up at his face, how does he not know how uncomfortable I am?
'Get your hands off of her' …
{Now}
'Earth to Wanda!' Mel waved her hand in front of my face, 'C'mon I need answers here!'
I shrugged my shoulders as a response, not wanting to go into why Ian had to rescue me. 'No, this wasn't just nothing Wanda, what happened?'
Sighing I go to tell her the Ian version of what just happened, not mentioning Burns other than to say he had to leave when Ian found us – I know it wasn't right to lie to Mel but I had to, I couldn't get into it here in the corridor of where it just happened.
Mel leaned in to hug me, 'I know you're not telling me something…I wish you'd tell me' she sounded sad as she whispered in my ear, 'later' I promise before she pulled away smiling.
As she turned back and walked over to Jared I saw the locker room door open again. A much cleaner Ian stepped out, looking around until his eyes met mine. I'm sure my cheeks were still red from before but I could feel more heat rush towards them, he grinned at me as he quickly made his way over and tucked me into his side again. I sighed as I leaned into him; I inhaled, preferring the smell of his freshly washed body and clean clothes to the mud and sweat that was there previously. He gazed down at me, a few drops of water falling from his hair onto his shoulders; he was obviously rushing in the locker room to be with me again – the thought made me grin from ear to ear, he chuckled as though he could read my mind.
'Well! We better get going!' Jared motioned towards the exit at the end of the hall, clearly awkward by how close we were – which just made us smile and laugh more.
'Do you want to ride with me? We can hang out for a bit if you want?' Ian looked down at me pleadingly, then at Mel, 'I'll bring her home later' she just nodded, grabbed Jared's hand and headed out.
I was suddenly nervous to be alone with him; I could barely look Ian in the eye without blushing again as we walked to the car park. As we climbed into his truck I watched him start up the car – he looked worried and tense.
'…what's wrong?' I barely whispered as he turned the car out of its spot. I moved closer to him, thankfully it wasn't separate single seats like in smaller cars. I bravely put my hand over his resting on his leg and squeezed his fingers.
He laced his fingers through mine without taking his eyes off the road, 'I want to know what happened with that guy. Why were you with him?'
I guessed he would ask this at some point, I don't know what part of what happened in the corridor Ian walked in on. I figured I'd just tell him everything, I hated lying and I didn't want to keep anything from him.
'His name's Burns…Bernard…he's a transfer student, we're in yearbook and we've got a class together at school; so he asked me to come along today while he took photos of the game.' I sighed, settling my head back onto the worn leather, 'I didn't even know you were in a football team…' why didn't he tell me that before?
I continued my story, detailing everything from the hug Burns gave me at the beginning of the day, to the almost-kiss before Ian, thankfully, interrupted the uncomfortable hold he had on me. I could see the knuckles of Ian's right hand go white as he held onto the steering wheel while I was explaining the corridor scene and what Burns tried to do.
I stopped the story when I got to the moment Ian arrived…he knew the rest, just thinking about it made me shy again, I doubt I'd be able to say what happened out loud.
'I wish I was there earlier so you didn't have to go through that…' he sounded angry, and still tense from before, I leaned my head down to his shoulder as I traced patterns on the back of the hand that was still holding mine. 'I should have hit him right there…that scumbag. If I'd known he was back in town…'
He trailed off as my head snapped up, 'What? You know him?' Back in the corridor I thought he recognised Burns…
Ian shook his head slightly, as if to clear his thoughts and release some tension, 'yeah I do, but I don't want to get into it now…I just want to spend the rest of the day with you, if you want to?' He pulled up on the curb outside of a house that must be his.
I nodded my head, 'Okay…yes that'd be great' I knew he was hiding where he knew Burns from, but I didn't care, for now I just wanted to be close to him.
(Ian's POV)
It might have been selfish but I didn't want to tell Wanda my secret…I didn't want the chance of losing her, I almost lost her once and I never want to go there again.
She turned around back towards me in the front of the truck; she must have guessed this is where I lived. Her smile still made me speechless; I squeezed her hand and moved closer to her, trailing my finger along the side of her face down to hold her chin. I held her head still as I leaned in to kiss her again, I don't think I'll ever get enough of feeling her lips on mine. I looked into her eyes before our mouths met; asking silently if this was okay. Her slight nod was all I needed; I tilted my head slightly and pushed my lips to hers.
It wasn't a hungry kiss as it was back at the stadium; this was slow and electric, making the hairs on my arms stand on end as blood pumped quickly through my veins.
Wanda's hands crept up my arms to pull my closer, one hand finding its way to my neck – up into my hair, god how does she already know that's my weakness…
I couldn't hold back any longer, I wanted to feel her against me again. I lowered my hand from her chin to her legs, the other wrapping around her tiny waist. I lifted her body so she settled onto my lap, her legs swinging across the seat. The side of her body now pushed against my chest as her arm encircled my shoulders.
The kiss deepened as she caught my bottom lip between her teeth and pulled slightly, I felt like I was on fire – I groaned as my mouth moved against hers, increasing their rhythm. My tongue traced the outline of her now-open lower lip, her tongue moved out to touch mine and she shivered noticeably against me as they moved against each other.
My hand lingered on her legs, moving up and down the outside of her left high, wishing I could touch her skin rather than the jeans she was wearing. Her hand tugged my hair in response to my touch causing another groan to go through me…I could see the windows start to cloud over out of the corner of my eye; our warm breaths mingled in the truck as we breathed deeply and loudly.
As much as I wanted to continue, I knew we should stop. We were still in a very public place and I wanted her all to myself. Plus the way she was sitting on my lap was making things…uncomfortable; I had changed and was now wearing constricting jeans, not my loose fitting football shorts.
I broke the kiss unwillingly and leaned down to put my head to her neck and my arms moved to be around her waist, 'you make me go crazy…' I covered her neck with gentle kisses as she sighed and shifted her weight to hug me back. I winced as my jeans now went from uncomfortable to down-right painful.
Wanda leaned back to look at my face, 'What? What is it? Am I hurting you?' she quickly scooted back to where she was sitting earlier in the truck, the pain left but I could still feel an ache below my waist.
'Yeah, but its fine…' I lifted my butt off of the seat slightly to rearrange how my jeans were positioned; she must have seen the bulge in my pants as the next thing I heard was a small gasp. I looked over to see half her face bright red as she stared out the window, trying to hide behind her hair.
This made me laugh to myself as I climbed out of the truck, the cold bitter air outside was refreshing but unwelcome, I'd have much rather stayed where I was – I'd even settle for the crotch pain if it meant having Wanda in my arms.
I sighed, rearranged myself quickly after checking no one else was on the street, and walked around to the side of the truck to open up Wanda's door.
(A/n… okay, so fluff? Good or bad?)
