That Obscure Moment

{2} Pre-arranged

"Are you serious?" The look of disbelief on his face was incredible. It was a mixture of a petulant protest and a touch of confusion.

"Well yeah, what's the problem?" I respond innocently, snatching a lock of hair between my fingers and twirling it absentmindedly with full awareness. Tossing my head to the side, I raise my eyebrows and widen my eyes, knowing they looked gigantic when I do that. I waited for him to respond, already knowing how the rest of this conversation would go. Why couldn't we get to the part where he grumbled and indulged my request already?

Peter stuck his chin out, which made him look like he didn't have a slight double chin anymore. He should do that more often. "Don't you think it's a bit shallow?" He disputes. There we go. Exactly as I had suspected.

I raise one eyebrow and cross my arms. "Is this your way of saying you don't want to take photos with me? If you're trying to hide the fact that I exist, I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed long ago." I say in a cool tone. That was the most sass I planned on revealing to him today. If he were telepathic and knew how much I was withholding, we would have gone our separate ways a long time ago.

"No, no! Babe, you know I love taking photos with you...but you only wanna do that so you could post it, which is basically just asking for attention..." He trailed off as if he didn't want to trigger any more feistiness out of me. I scoffed but didn't answer, hinting at him to save face. Peter's expression remained aggravated.

"Whatever. Let's do it." He was annoyed, but didn't want to argue. Just as it could have been with any girl, I could've started a fight over nothing. There was nothing Peter liked less than squabbling. Sometimes I start them out of boredom and resolve them just as easily.

I could have closed the topic right then and there, but I wasn't finished quite yet. I grabbed his hands and squeezed them, but not too tight – just to add emotion to my following response. I really wasn't good at being mushy or lovey-dovey. But I knew this was necessary for the cause.

"Peter," I address him for effect. "I don't want this picture for bragging purposes. I just think it would be so romantic to be together when they start the fireworks on the beach. I want to have this memory forever." I donned a small half-smile and lifted my shoulders a bit, eyes cascading to the side. The silence was prompting me to finish with an Oscar-winning ending.

"Besides, it wouldn't hurt to share such a Tumblr-esque picture. I want people to see how happy we are together." I could have said 'I want people to see how happy I am with you', but I chose not to.

I added a girly little giggle to ease the tension. When I met Peter's eyes again, I knew I won him over. This small triumph made me pleased and exultant. I grasped his face, squeezing his cheeks together and creating a fishy face. He started making bubbly noises with his mouth which he undoubtedly assumed to be charming, but it made him look a bit mentally incapacitated. But I laughed and met his lips with mine, releasing his face only to wrap my arms around him.

He had one arm around my waist and the other tenderly cupping my cheek. Peter canoodled harder and I responded eagerly, parting my lips and circling his tongue with mine. I felt my heart race as I tangled my fingers in his messy hair. We continued kissing ferociously until I broke it off. It was always like that. I left him wanting more every time.

It's a shame he needed me more than I needed him. But kissing him felt nice. It gave me a warm feeling in my tummy. And he couldn't say anything that irritated me. We were just two souls intertwining.

Sometimes, I feel like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman". Not that I'm a hooker. In the movie, she wouldn't bat an eye over sleeping with a stranger, but she refused to kiss any of them. To her, a kiss was more intimate than sex. It became clear she was in love with Richard Gere the moment she kissed him, which was like giving up her leverage.