My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Eighteen

"Who wants their face panted!?" Mrs. Chandler shouted over the chatter of Spanish and art club members. The two groups were having a meeting together to celebrate The Day of The Dead festival. People were getting their faces painted and eating food and drinking pop. Our group of friends all sat together at one of the tables in the lunch room. Michael and I kept our distance. Even if it was only a few feet apart.

We had told everyone we broke up, a mutual split, simply to pull attention from us. Because let's face it, wether you are popular or not, once you start dating someone, within a day, everyone knows about it. Only a few friends had we informed of our plan. This however, excluded Alex. He wasn't too fond of one of his best friends dating his older brother in the first place. So we thought it would be better if he didn't know. The ones who did know of this were Sabrina, Taya, Thomas and Mrs. Chandler. After Thomas explained the entire situation to her, she gladly agreed to give us time in the art room.

Sabrina, Alex and Aura all got up to get something to drink. "Sabrina, you should get me a pop."

"Nah, bro. Get it yourself." I pouted then shifted my foot, tangling my leg with Michael's. Warmth filled my face and chest at this small amount of contact. The three friends walked to the pop cooler and got their drinks, then returned to the table. Aura positioned herself in the chair on my left with her A&W root beer. A joking bickering was tossed from person to person at the table. It resulted in Alex sliding his pop can across the table, colliding with Sabrina's knocking off the table and skidding over the floor. She demanded he get her a new one. So he looked around to see if anyone was looking, ran over, picked up the drink, hurried over to the cooler, put it back, the returned with a new one. Laughter erupted from several members of the table.

"Oh my gosh. It's going to suck so bad for whoever gets that." Taya gasped through laughs. I joined in on the laughter and tightened my leg around Michael's and I thought I saw him smile.

I realized once again that I was thirsty. When Aura turned away to talk to Brandon, I slide her drink across the table to my own space and took a quick drink before setting it back. Apparently I wasn't fast enough, because Aura turned just as I pulled my hand from the tin can. "Ugh!" She glared at me. "That's disgusting!" Aura had a germ phobia. "You keep it. You drink that."

"I'm not that thirsty." I smiled.

"Bella, I swear. You're such a sauce." She paused for a moment. "Let's go to the park." We agreed to the suggestion and everyone stood to leave. I didn't want my face painted anyway, I had church on Wednesday nights. As I stood, I felt my body tremble. Michael and I had had a conversation the night before. On the topic of kissing. When I explained the situation with my grandmother to him, I also told him I had planned to kiss him today. He was elated. And I was nervous as could be.

Our group of friends walked out of the cafeteria to the hallway when I told then to wait. "What?" Aura asked.

"Just... Wait..." I took Michael's hand and pulled him down the opposite side of the hall and into the soda room. He backed up against the wall and I wrapped my arms around him. We hugged for a few moments then we pulled away. Still shaking, my eyes flicked between his eyes, then his lips, hoping the message would get through. But after a few second, I assumed it didn't and with a heavy heart, I went to move out of the room, but he stopped me.

"I want you to know that I love you."

"W-what?" I stammered, my face lit up like Christmas tree lights.

"I'm not even kidding... I genuinely love you." Michael ran a hand through his hair. Was he nervous too? My breath caught in my throat and I couldn't breath. Not sure how to react, I stared at the ground, digging my teeth into my lip. Scared that he'd assume I didn't return his feelings, I pulled him into a another hug. Sighing, I pressed my check against his chest. Then after a few moments of comfortable silence and embrace, I let go and smiled at him, a red glow still visible on my cheeks. We left together.

"Can we go now?" Aura complained impatiently. I bit the inside of my lip.

"Uh... Wait for us at the exit." A slightly confused bunch of friends headed down another hallway to the main doors. There was a section in the wall where the cement receded back to form a small empty space. I leaned against the wall there and he took a step toward me. Thinking he was leaning in for the kiss, I moved forward and our lips touched. A small electric shock seemed to course through me and another, even stronger as I felt his teeth bite down on my lip. Slowly, we separated. I had taken his first kiss. A strange feeling of giddiness stirred in the pit of my stomach.

"That was the most amazing thing I have ever done..." Michael murmured. I could feel the coolness of his breath tickle along the wetness of my lips. A small 'hah' passed through my mouth without my knowledge. We both smiled.

Not wanting to keep our friends waiting, we walked to the front entrance where they stood. "Where's Alex?" Michael asked as we drew closer.

"He went to catch the bus." Taya responded. Suddenly concerned, Michael took his phone from his jeans pocket and looked at the time.

"I have to go." He pulled me into a hug then sprinted through the sets of double doors. As soon as he was out of sight, I grabbed Sabrina by the shoulder and pulled her closer to me.

"I did it."

"Good job, bro."

"He bit me."

"I didn't need to know that, bro."