Hold My Hand

20

*VANESSA*

Cat hit my shoulder. "YOU KISSED GEO!?"

"Shhh!" I warned her. "The whole house is gonna hear! Yes. This morning when I was on the beach."

"Oooh. Is he a good kisser?" She laughed.

"Um...I mean, I think so. I wouldn't know."

"Huh?" She asked.

"I have nothing to compare it to. That was my first kiss. The better question is, am I a good kisser?"

"Hmmm. Ok well when you pulled away from each other did he look disgusted?"

"He was smiling...we both were..."

"Then don't worry about it. If he smiled it means that either he doesn't care that you suck because he likes you so much OR that you're a fantastic kisser. Either way you're safe."

I inhaled a deep breath of air and then exhaled. "Good."

"So are you guys...a thing now?"

"I uh- I don't think so."

"Awww. That's no fun. You guys would be such a cute couple! Oh! Your ship name could be Veo! Or Junessa! Or...Vuwany!"

I laughed at Cat's ridiculous combinations of our names and finished painting her nails.

"Ok, I'm gonna go downstairs and make something to eat because I'm starving. DON'T YOU DARE PICK UP YOUR PHONE. If you ruin my master piece I WILL ruin you."

Cat gulped and nodded her head at me.

"Smart girl." I told her, then walked out of our room.

I went downstairs and started making a grilled cheese. Just as I put my sandwhich in the pan, I could sense his presence. I turned around to find Juwany sitting on a stool by the counter.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi."

"Can we talk for a second?" He asked.

"Sure."

I sat on the stool next to him and we turned to face each other.

"So...this morning." He said.

"We kissed." I nodded.

"We did indeed. And how did you feel about that?"

I started blushing. "Wany what do you mean?"

"I mean I like you Vanessa. And I like you too much to be just friends. I need to know if you feel the same way I do."

I nodded. "I do."

"Okay. So...do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"Do you wanna be my boyfriend?" I challenged.

"Yes."

I laughed lightly. "Then yes."

He grabbed my hand and then kissed my cheek.

He smiled from ear to ear and pulled me off the stool. "Come on. I want everyone to know."

We first went to our moms, who were in the pool with Mario and the twins' mom, so we just told them all.

"FINALLY!" Ms.Roman said, high fiving the other moms.

"I called it!" My mom cheered.

Juwany and I laughed. "Um...ok. Well we're gonna tell the rest of the house..."

Mrs. Jara started clapping. "Have fun!"

No one else gave that much of a dramatic reaction, I guess everyone saw it coming...everyone but me.

My grilled cheese burned because I completely forgot about it during the excitement, so I made another one and went back to Cat, who decided to curl my already wavy hair.

"We NEED to go somewhere, you're hair looks too nice to not be seen by the world."

"Thanks Cat." I smiled. "Can I see it now?"

"One second."

She played with my side bangs until they curled just right, and then ran her fingers through my hair, loosening the curls until they were more like pronounced waves. Then she let me walk to the bathroom to see.

I turned the light on and smiled at my reflection. The waves really made my lilac hair look like that of a mermaid.

I never look in the mirror for too long, but now I was taking time. I studied my facial features, my body, and my hair. I ran my fingers through my hair and smiled a little bigger. I'm not that bad looking...

"Woah." Juwany said, coming into the mirror's frame.

I turned around. "Hi. Do you like it? Cat just did it."

"I love it."

"Thanks."

I stepped past him to head back to my room, but he touched my shoulder.

"Hang on. Do you wanna go somewhere with me later? Like a date."

Cat did say I should go out somewhere while my hair looks like this...

"Um sure, where?"

"Not too far down the beach there's an area where movies get projected onto a giant screen. It's not till 7."

I nodded. "Ok, sounds nice." Again, I tried to step past him, but stopped when he laughed quietly.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm just trying to figure out if you're avoiding me or not."

"What? Of course not."

"Then why are you rushing to walk away from me?"

"I'm not, I just..." Busted. "I need to tell Cat that she did a good job on my hair."

"Riiight."

"Seriously!"

"Ok. But can I have a kiss first?"

I gulped. "Juwany..."

"Aha! You have been avoiding me."

"I'm sorry!" I confessed. "I just...I don't know how to kiss you and I don't want you to hate me because I'm a bad kisser."

He put his hands on my shoulders. "Nessa, relax. You aren't a bad kisser, you're just new at it. You can't get better without practice."

"I'm nervous right now." I confessed again.

"Why?" He smirked.

"Because you're very close to me."

He kissed my cheek and laughed.

"I'm not pressuring you. I just don't wanna spend the whole relationship NOT kissing you. I wanna do it too badly. Take your time."

He didn't let me respond, he just walked away.

"Woah." I whispered to myself.

I wanna do it too badly.