Enhanced || JJK

XXIV. Informed Consent

"You're just talking about status and other superficial stuff... If you ignore that, we're not that different..." He pointed out.
"Give me some examples" I demanded, since I really couldn't see what we could have in common.
Our lives had always been so different. Even though we attended the same schools, we had different friends, different interests.
"Well, we're both into science, we both like to read the SDG, we both like Next World Gen... But, honestly, why would any of that matter if we like each other?" He asked, taking a step closer. "That's all the reasons I need to know that we do belong together..."

He was so close that I could feel his breath on my face and that mint taste was already tickling my lips.
I had forgotten all about my speech on our differences.

"Can I kiss you?" He then asked out of nowhere.
"What?" I asked under my breath, confused by the fact that he was asking instead of doing it already.
"It's for scientific purposes..."
"Say what now?"
"I need to test if it actually feels as good as I imagined it to feel..."
I laughed instantly after hearing it, it must have been his favorite pick up line.
"Oh come on, seriously? How many times have you used this? They all fall for it, don't they?" I asked, still laughing, but at the same time losing part of that eagerness to kiss him. I didn't want to be just another one of his conquest.
"I've never said this to anyone else before, because I've never imagined kissing anyone else but you... I know it sounds like bullshit, since I've dated other people, but the thing is I tried... I tried to get you off my mind, I just couldn't... And I'm sorry if that made you feel bad, I didn't mean to hurt you, you just didn't seem to care, so I tried to move on with my life but no matter how hard I tried to start liking someone new, my mind would just go back to you... And I would break up with whoever I was dating as soon as that happened, 'cause I didn't want to deceive anyone..."
After he had whispered all of that to me, I was taken aback. In other circumstances I would've thought he was lying, but something in his twinkling eyes and his wavering voice told me he was telling the truth. Somehow I could see how hurt he was, I always reacted badly to anything he would say or do, I always tried to avoid him and ignore him as much as I could. All to protect myself from getting hurt. I had no idea he liked me, but knowing that, in retrospect I could see how much I had hurt him by treating him like that.

"So? What's your answer? You know that, as a researcher, I need to get the informed consent of the patient to-"
I kissed him.

I pressed my lips against his and my hands reached for his face. He instantly responded by pulling me closer by my waist and deepening the kiss. My hands travelled through his hair to pull him even closer, even though it wasn't physically possible. And I felt like he was trying to do the same thing by wrapping his arms tighter around my waist.
It felt like we wanted to make up for all the time we had wasted being mad at each other.

We pulled away only when it started to feel like we didn't have any more air in our lungs. I kept my eyes closed and my head down, suddenly feeling shy and flustered. I couldn't believe what had just happened, what I had done.

"Wow, I was wrong..."
I lifted my head with my eyes wide open, scared of what he meant.
"It was better than I expected..." He then added with a smile, making me feel both more relaxed and more flustered at the same time.
"Bleah, I'm about to throw up..." I tried to play it cool, while pushing him away.
"What? It's true... And I don't care if I'm making you shy, 'cause now you know what you were doing to me last night... And don't lie, I know you remember everything!" He complained.
"What did I do?" I asked with an innocent expression, fixing my glasses.
"Be honest, were you doing everything on purpose? To get me to confess my feelings?"
"I didn't even know how you felt! Plus, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't remember doing anything that would make YOU flustered..." I said putting emphasis on 'you', to imply that whatever I did, he must've seen it many times from other girls who were into him and were trying to hit on him. Even though I was just drunk and didn't do it on purpose.

"Oh so you don't remember inviting me into bed?"
My eyes went wide and I opened my mouth in shock, while putting my hand on his lips, to make him shut up, embarrassed by his words. How could he say something like that out loud? Even though there was no one around, I was still flustered.
"You're making it sound like something it wasn't! I didn't... I wasn't..." I started stuttering.
"I know you didn't mean it like that, I'm just saying you can understand why I was taken aback when you asked... Or when you randomly touched my lips... Or when you decided you wanted to dance with me..." He explained, removing my hand from his face.
"Well, I wasn't fully conscious of what I was doing... Sorry..." I apologized, embarrassed of my behavior of the previous night.
"It's okay, but you'll understand I need to get my revenge... It took all my willpower not to kiss you last night, you made it so damn hard..." He admitted, making me feel extremely shy with that sudden confession.
I rolled my eyes to shake that feeling off.
"Shut up and drive me back home or I won't know what excuse to give to my parents..." I said, walking back to the car.

I didn't want that moment to end, I was afraid I would wake up and find out it was just a dream. But I had to walk away because otherwise my heart would've bursted out of my chest.
It was almost impossible to wrap my head around what had just happened. The guy I had liked for years and thought was never going to reciprocate my feelings had just told me he liked me, probably even long before I liked him. It didn't make any sense.
Why did none of us say anything sooner? We both thought the other person didn't like us back and we were scared to get hurt. It's just really crazy what fear makes us do, or better not do.

I got inside the car and a few seconds after he was on the driver's side, looking at me with an odd smile. Not the usual one he gives me, the one he puts on when he's about to tease me or make fun of me. It was some sort of sweet smile, the one people have when they're happy about something. I wasn't used to it.
I averted my eyes and looked outside the window. I heard him chuckle.
"This is gonna be fun..." He said, more to himself than to me.
I didn't know if I had to be scared. He did say he wanted vengeance. Plus, if teasing me was his way to get my attention and communicate that he liked me, I really couldn't imagine what being his girlfriend was going to be like.

His girlfriend.