The Kiss List

Six

💋 THE LIST 💋
- Lip ring...
- Harvey

I wake up on Saturday morning, still feeling a little guilty. I stare at the ceiling and try to remember what Maia told me - I don't have to be nice to everyone. She is right, I would have had to break it off eventually, and it's probably better that it happened sooner rather than later.

He probably won't want to be friends anymore, though. As I brush my teeth, I wonder how Maia manages to stay friends with guys when she rejects them. I shrug off the thought and wash my face.

I grab a bowl of cereal and sit down at my desk, with the express intention of finishing an essay for my history class, which is due right before Thanksgiving break. But between the sounds of my siblings playing and my parents doing their weekend cleaning, my house is way too loud to get any schoolwork done. I decide to make the library my workspace instead.

I gather my things and pad down to the kitchen to ask my dad for a ride, and he agrees. When we arrive, he tells me to call him when I want a ride back and reminds me to study hard.

The library is surprisingly packed for a Saturday, but I still manage to find a seat among the work tables and put my headphones on. I'm about halfway through my essay when someone sits in front of me with a huff. I ignore them, turning up the volume on my study playlist to avoid getting distracted.

Suddenly, the person taps the top of my laptop impatiently. I look up and find myself face to face with Nathan, his black sunglasses resting at the top of his tousled blonde hair.

"Hi..." I say warily as I pull off my headphones.

"You are a ruthless little thing," he grins at me.

I furrow my brow in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Oh sure, keep up the innocent act. You're a heartbreaker in the making," he says, leaning further across the table.

I inhale sharply. If I lean forward a bit, we would be only inches apart. Somewhere in my subconscious, a voice eggs me on, telling me to do it. I choose to indulge her and lean across the table myself.

This shocks him, I remark quietly. His eyebrows raise, and I could swear he looked down at my lips for a second.

"Care to tell me what you're talking about?" I ask, feigning confidence. My heart is definitely beating faster, and I really hope I'm not blushing.

"I'm talking about you crushing poor Yorkie's dreams over the phone last night, you heartless minx," he smirks. My jaw drops in surprise, and he leans back in his chair, not breaking eye contact.

"Oh my god..." I murmur, "you're joking, right? I didn't really hurt his feelings that much, did I?"

He chuckles and rubs his jaw, unintentionally bringing my attention to how chiselled it is. "I'm joking, you can relax," he says, shaking his head at me. "Well, I'm half-joking. He was pretty upset about it, but that's his own fault."

I open my mouth to object, but he continues. "No, it was pretty stupid of him to ask you that over the phone, and after knowing you for, what, 3 days?" He smirks again. "You know, most people call him Yorkie because of his last name, but I do it because he's like a little puppy... a lost little puppy."

I chuckle softly, shaking my head at him. "And you call me ruthless..." I remark coolly.

He leans over the table again. "Relax, Rachel, I'm only joking. It's good that you did that, even if it was over the phone. I probably would have judged you if you'd said yes."

"So good to know," I say sarcastically. He laughs, and I notice that his eyes are actually green, not brown like I'd originally thought. I turn my head slightly, examining his face. He's kind of gorgeous, actually, and he clearly knows it, or he wouldn't act the way he does.