Bird-Dogging: an Academy Fan Fiction [on hold indefinitely]

Chapter Thirty-eight

          I spent the next two hours losing every imaginable card game to Luke. I'd been cheating the whole time. And Luke was somehow beating me at cheating. Toward the end, I gave up trying to win and settled for making the games last longer so I wouldn't end up owing him as many favors.

          The favors had me nervous. Luke said I owed him seven. But seven what, exactly? I had no clue. I hoped he wouldn't ask for something I couldn't give him. Like a puppy from the shelter or free meal from the diner. I could probably get away with a milkshake or something though...

          Luke crowed as he laid his cards down. He licked his finger and made an invisible tallymark in the air. I huffed and threw my cards at him, making him laugh. "Aw, Sang. It's okay. You can't win all the time. Only I can do that."

          I shook my head at him. "Brat." In a very mature moment, I stuck my tongue out at him.

          "Ready to pay those favors up already, huh?" He grinned.

          With my tongue? A kiss? I blushed. Yes. No. But very much so yes. The idea of using kisses as currency made it feel cheap. I liked Luke a lot, and the way he was looking at my lips had me feeling all warm and fuzzy and nauseous. "Luke, I can't." Dang my morals! "I want to, but I can't pay you with kisses."

          "Thank God," Luke said. I didn't even have time to respond before he leaned across the coffee table where we'd been playing and pressed his lips to mine, stealing a kiss. He pulled back and grinned. "I was going to go through them pretty quickly. Now I can save all ten"—he held up both hands, flashing all ten fingers at me—"favors for something else." 

          I blinked a few times, my eyelids the only part of my body that didn't feel frozen in place. Luke's kiss had taken me off guard. I hadn't even had time to be nervous. Now that his lips were no longer touching mine, my brain was working overtime to try and catch up. His lips had been soft. I tried to keep the goofy smile off my lips. Wait... what did he say?

          He kissed me again, but I pulled back. "Ten!?" I scoffed. "Try again." I pushed one of his hands down. Luke stood on his side of the coffee table and walked over the top of it, dropping to my side and helping me stand.

           "Twelve?" He put his arms around my waist and all the little hairs on my arms stood out straight. Oh, there are the nerves...

          I poked his chest and laughed, trying to act calm. "More like six." Two could play this game. The teasing helped me not be as nervous. I was really new to this kissing stuff, and Silas had said that I needed a lot of practice. My mind was divided, half was trying to cheat Luke out of favors and the other half was trying to remember how far to tilt my head and how much to open my mouth. Or maybe Luke only did closed kisses?

          Luke faked shock. "Cheater!" he accused.

         "Takes one to know one." I laughed. Luke flashed me a brilliant smile, and like the first time I met him, I once again felt the desire to be a tiny bit reckless. He cut my laugh short with a kiss. And this time, I kissed him back. Not another peck on the lips, but something slower, deeper. I tried to remember what to do with my hands. What did I do when Silas kissed me? And then I wondered if Luke would even like the same thing as Silas had. His kiss wasn't like Silas's kiss, so maybe he wanted me to do something different. I had enjoyed kissing Silas, but maybe I'd only enjoyed it because of my lack of experience. The a horrible thought hit me. Maybe Silas is a bad kisser! Maybe Luke thinks I'm a bad kisser too!

          I decided to copy Luke and follow his lead. I was too new to this kissing stuff to be confident. I liked Luke enough to want him to want to keep kissing me. His had moved his hands up my back, and his fingers were working the muscles in my back, probably trying to help me relax.