𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 || baxter radic (discontinued)

10.

𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗

All at once everything in my brain collides shooting fireworks off inside of me. I am on fire and every part of me gives into Josh's warmth. I kiss him back, because at least it was practice right? Practice makes perfect. But if we were being honest, I had been staring at his lips for weeks wondering what it would be like when this moment happened. And with how flustered I feel, I'm glad that it wasn't done off camera.

When his lips part from mine, he stays close. He doesn't depart like I half expect him to. In my mind this was some silly joke, because there was no way he wanted me. But when he stays, I know that it's more than that. He kissed me to do more than shut me up. He kissed me because he hasn't been able to stop thinking about it. The thought has lingered in his mind, as much as it has in mine.

There's a thumping in my head as heat fills my cheeks. As much as I want to look at him—stare him dead in his eyes for a confession—I can't. My bashful side had risen to the surface and if I look at him I might scream.

"Much better." He mumbles out past deep breaths. His own actions seem to have caught him off guard as well.

"You gonna kiss me every time you want to shut me up?" I speak softly, almost a bit embarrassed by my question.

"I'm tempted." He warns as he steps back from me. "But don't get too excited. Just because I may be tempted, doesn't mean it will actually happen." He chuckles to himself.

"Funny." I roll my eyes still trying to come down from whatever high he's decided to throw at me.

"You know you liked it Buttercup. I can see the wheels turning in that pretty little head of yours. Just know, Josh doesn't wait forever. Time is ticking." He raises his arm in the air as he starts to walk away, showing off the watch on his wrist.

I don't follow after him, even though my body is screaming at me to do so. Instead I pull my phone from my pocket and call my best friend. She doesn't answer, so I spam her until she does. I'm met with a groggy annoyed tone when her voice finally sounds through the speaker. "What?"

"He kissed me. What do I do?" The panic in my voice either must not radiate over the phone or my best friend doesn't care, because she doesn't react at all.

"Confess that you like him. I don't care, I'm trying to sleep Stell." I hear shuffling on her end of the line and roll my eyes. For the first time ever, she really is no help to me.

"You've begged for this to happen and now that it has you've checked out? Am I really that alone in this world?" I throw myself a pity party because what else am I to do.

"I'm tired. I'll talk to you later." The call ends before I have a chance to say anything back. I guess I really did have to deal with this alone.

Was there anything to really deal with? It was just a kiss. It didn't mean anything. It didn't mean that he liked me, or that I liked him. A kiss was inevitably going to happen. It was written in our script. It just happened way sooner than I planned and way out of order. What did it even mean?

I couldn't just walk over to my costars and ask their opinion. They were on his side. Honestly, I guess they were on my side too. Because no matter how many times I try to deny the way I feel, there is this spark deep inside of me that ignites when he's around. That feeling was something I had no control of.

My phone dings in my pocket and I ignore it at first. But then it dings again, alerting that it might be important. I can confirm that it's not. It's just Josh rubbing in my face that he had me wrapped around his finger. I am just trying to figure out how I even got here.

I message him telling him to come back. He doesn't. Instead, he insists I rejoin the group. Which I do. I am really just his stupid puppet, following orders like I'm his bitch. At this point, I guess I was his bitch. He had marked that claimed sticker on me when he crashed his lips into mine. Then again, no one really knew about that.

The others clear out to get pampered before they have to film again, leaving Josh and I alone once again. It seems we find ourselves like this way too often. Then again, it did come with being a background character couple. If we filmed, it was normally together.

"Can't stop thinking about my lips on yours can you?" Josh teases, reaching out to nip my lip with his thumb.

"I can. And I have." I lie straight through my teeth. It hadn't even been an hour. Of course the action still ran at the complete forefront of my mind. How could it not?

"Highly unlikely by the blush still on your cheeks. You're not very good at hiding your emotions Buttercup. You should take a few lessons from me." He winks, resting his elbows against the table between us.

"You should take a few kissing lessons, you're a bit shit." I lie. A man that looked like this, there was never a shot of him being an awful kisser. He without a doubt has been able to have a lot of practice. Man's got charm, he's easily able to swoon anyone. If he could swoon me, he could do it to whoever.

"Want to teach me? I mean, we have to look good on camera Buttercup." Josh leans toward me, but just barely. He's engaged in the conversation, fully locked into his charming ways.

"How about you tell me why you did it instead? The real reason, not the shut up me up reason." I match his stance at the table, leaning slightly toward him in a challenge.

"Because I like you and I know you like me. You're just a stubborn brat that's been on her high horse for far too long. Needed to knock you down a few pegs to put us on the same level. You make that pretty easy." A smirk tugs at the corners of his lips.

"You think you like me. You don't actually like me though. You like me because we have to be a couple on screen, not actually like me like me. Right?" I've got to make this extremely clear. Though I'm pretty sure he's made it abundantly clear where he stands.

"Wrong. Can't knock a guy for enjoying a bit of a challenge when everything has come so easy before." Josh shrugs his shoulders. "I normally get what I want. I just didn't expect to have to try this hard."

"Sorry I'm just an inconvenience to you." I defend myself.

"Just take a compliment and stop being so offense Drama Queen."

"Now you're the one who has coined that name for yourself." I point fact to his Instagram handle.

"Would you like it? It fits you better." He slides his phone across the table between us. "We can make it official."

This man is smooth. And god do I hate him for it.