When Worlds Collide

Chapter 23

"You think it's gonna snow?" Ethan muttered, almost pressing his face against the window.

I hummed, continuing to type on my school laptop. "Probably not, it usually doesn't snow until February here."

"I bet you're wrong. I think it's gonna snow."

I sighed, running a hand down my face, frustrated at trying to solve this one algebra problem. If only I could have had less incessant talking in my ear during that lecture. Ethan turned around with a frown, leaning down to pluck my laptop from my lap and place it on his nightstand.

"It's break time. Let's just talk," he chirped, sitting across from me on his bed. I leaned my head back against the wooden headboard, thinking of something to talk about.

"Um. . . what do you want for Christmas?" I ask, my eyes downcast to my lap as I played with my fingers.

He snorted, pulling at a loose thread on his comforter. "To get into Harvard."

I sat up with a smirk so I could flick his knee. "Hey, I thought it was break time? You just brought up school."

"You're right, you're right, that's my bad," he chuckled, lifting his hands in surrender. We ended up sitting there for a second, just enjoying each other's presence without having to speak. I noticed Ethan started fidgeting, something I realized he did a lot when he had something on his mind he wanted to bring up. I stared at him, waiting for him to eventually spit it out.

"Can I. . . kiss you?" He whispered, biting his lip. I looked at him confused. He kisses me all the time? When he gets me in the morning, when we say our goodbyes after hanging out-

"You already do?" I questioned in confusion, my eyebrows furrowing.

"No- not like-" he blushed. "Not like that."

"I. . . don't think I understand," I admitted.

"I mean kissing like. . . like making out."

My eyes widened, and I looked away in embarrassment. We've been dating for almost two months but have never done anything. . . like that. I had never even thought about doing that.

"We don't have to! I can tell you're uncomfortable with it so forget I said-" he started rambling.

"No!" I said with a little too much force. "It's- it's fine. I want to. I've just never. . . done something like that. You were my first kiss," I mumbled, finding picking at the hole beginning in the knee of my jeans suddenly very interesting.

He nodded slowly, brows furrowed in deep thought. "I can. . . show you? I'm no expert or anything either, you don't have anything to be embarrassed about. Half the time I don't know what I'm doing either."

I smiled a little, feeling my heart start to go into overdrive as he scooted closer to me, sitting in between my legs. I stared into his eyes as his flitted over my face, probably making sure I wasn't going to completely freak out.

"I love that little smile of yours. You shouldn't hide it," he whispered, smiling gently as one of his hands came to rest on the side of my neck. I felt like I had stopped breathing as he slowly crept closer, in fact, I'm pretty sure I just heard him remind me to keep breathing.

"I'm just going to start moving my lips, and I promise you'll get the hang of it. Just follow my lead, okay?" He nodded, eyes wide.

I nodded numbly, knowing my voice wouldn't work if I even wanted it to. Ethan and I had kissed many times since we've gotten together, but the energy surrounding this kiss was different. It was so much more intense, like we were moving into uncharted territory. Well, uncharted for me, at least. And quite frankly, that scared the shit out of me, but I trusted Ethan. That's all that mattered.