Title: "Cherry Kisses"

Disclaimer: I own nothing - Tom Lynch and The-N own all rights.

Rating: PG

Summary: It's not Spashley, that's all I'm saying.

Feedback: It's my crack, whether you loved or hated the fic', any input is always welcome.

Authors Note: I haven't written in months, so I'm rusty and therefore this isn't that good.

I want her, I know I shouldn't but I do.

Don't get me wrong, I still love (and want) Ashley, but there's something about her that draws me in. She's addictive, her looks, her laugh, her brain, the way she looks at me when it's just us – I need it, I need her. All of her.

It's lust. A lust like I've never felt before – sure I've had crushes, both chronic and fleeting, and I'm no stranger to shallow fixations. But this is something more, I long for her, I long to be inside of her, I long to be with her, to listen to her talk, to hear her laugh. I want it all.

We started talking in an English class we shared – much to Ashley's dismay – we just clicked. Maybe it was just a mutual love of Shakespeare, maybe it was because she didn't know anyone else in the tutor group, maybe it was because she enjoyed my company – I don't know – but we started to sit together in lessons and then we started to hang out, outside of school.

We did the typical "friends" thing; we saw movies together, went shopping, borrowed each other's clothes, just the norm'. Of course my developing feelings for her weren't quite "the norm'", but I rationalised that it was okay to feel that way about her, just as long as she didn't find out.

She did find out though, we were at my house, trying on clothes, well she was trying on clothes, I was openly gawking. Quite obviously, she caught me – I started to blush and looked away sheepishly, she wanted to know what was going on, she took a few steps towards me, invading my personal space, only clad in her underwear. She was so close, I could feel the heat radiating off of her.

As her hands went out to clasp my forearms, questioning my thoughts – wanting to know, "What's going on in my head?" – all I could think about was how good she smelt and how my skin tingled with fire when she touched me. Her gentle touch sending chills of pleasure throughout my body. She said my name and I couldn't meet her eyes, she dropped one of my arms and I instantly missed the feeling of her skin on mine, her free hand moved to my chin as she turned my head towards her. I involuntarily shivered, my insides doing little flips as my eyes met hers.

I watched her delicate mouth moving; she was saying something, something that I couldn't make out. Her close proximity was apparently making my brain incapable of deciphering sounds, "Spence', what's going on?" The question finally reached my ears.

I shrugged and muttered something about not knowing what she was talking about. She took another step towards me, so was so close, close enough for parts of our bodies to bump together. Her propinquity was making my body hum. I tried moving backwards, needing to get away before I did something stupid. Unfortunately when I tried to move my legs backwards, they bumped into the foot of my bed. I had nowhere to run.

She was still looking at me, her eyes questioning – she held my gaze and I was powerless to look away. I could feel myself slipping into those eyes, they held so much warmth, I didn't ever want to leave them.

It's funny what you don't notice when you're gaze is fixed on something, like that day, I didn't notice the gap between our faces dispersing, I didn't notice how my mouth suddenly felt warmer – as if someone was breathing right across my lips – and I didn't notice one of my hands moving to the back of her head. That was until I felt her lips on mine. Her eyes disappeared from my vision, as my eyes closed of their own accord.

Her lips were soft and tasted like freshly applied cherry lip-gloss; the balm providing just the right amount of lubrication for our mouths to move in perfect sync together. I sighed and pushed my tongue between her velvety lips, and she let me.

We pulled apart moments later, out breaths somewhat laboured. I was expecting a slap, physical or verbal. I received neither.

Instead she just walked back over to the mountain of clothes on my floor and started to dress again. I was confused, had we just kissed or was that some kind of mental fabrication? She was halfway though buttoning up her shirt when she turned to face me, "I was starting to doubt how you felt about me," huh? "I mean, at first I thought you liked me as a friend, then I thought that it was more, but recently I was starting to think otherwise – I wasn't sure if you actually felt that way or if it was just me hoping that my feelings were reciprocated."

At least I know that I didn't hallucinate that kiss, I nodded softly and croaked out, "They're reciprocated."

And then she kissed me again.

After that day, we started sneaking around, although to any outside observer, nothing had changed, we were still friends that hung out with each other. The only difference was that when we went to see a movie, we left the theatre with absolutely no idea what the film had been about.

We're in the school parking lot, in her car, making out in the back.

We shouldn't be here – we're skipping our English lesson for this. Not that that matters anymore. Nothing matters when she touches me – the world just melts away and all that's left is her and me, and my overwhelming need to kiss her. She's kissing down my neck and I don't want her ever to stop when her phone alarm starts to go off. She pulls away to turn the device off and says that we need to get back, so that none of our friends notice our absence. I pout at her words and she giggles, I grin, loving the sound. She gives me a stern look and reiterates her previous statement.

Grudgingly I get out of the car and we make our way towards the lockers, the bell going off as we walk across the quad, with our fellow students starting to pour out of each classroom, the quiet grounds erupting in noise.

We look at each other as we mutually let go of each other's hands – I can feel the loss of warmth immediately. I want to feel her skin on mine again. I'm just about to suggest that we skip our next few lessons when Ashley walks up to us, "Hey Spencer," she grins at me and places a soft kiss on my cheek, she pauses to regard my companion and with a nod says, "Hey Kyla."