"People in the world like to take big leaps to achieve; others like to take baby steps."
Athena never thought she'd find refuge in the arms of a boy who takes care of her and her son as if they were family. But in all the hardships they faced, the...
It was time to go home and the pair still felt the tingles of their kiss from only a mere thirty minutes ago. The kiss had been replaying in both their minds and Athena couldn't help but blush every time she did think of it. Her lips still tasted like his and the fire was slowly turning into embers, it was only after the kiss did she realise what she had done and although feeling scared of what could happen, Alejandro had wrapped his arms around Athena's whole body and held her close to her so his chin was touching the top of her head as they both enjoyed the bonfire.
It felt good to be in each other's arms, but when they had to leave to get Drew, the silence only grew. As Alejandro opened the car door for her, Athena thought about the drive ahead, would it be awkward? Or would it feel comfortable? Would she regret everything in the morning? Or will she feel better for doing something like this? The answers to her questions were endless, but she pushed all of them back and slid into the car and waited for Alejandro to start to drive.
When they started to drive, Alejandro had turned on the radio and the music filled in the silence. It wasn't very loud, but it was enough to make the situation a little bit more comfortable, a faint tint of red was still on their cheeks as they drove down the highway.
"Thanks for taking me to the party," Athena said, breaking the silence as she stared out the window. Alejandro had taken a quick glance at her before humming in reply, his mind was too clouded with images of Athena grabbing him by the collar and kissing him straight up. He felt guilty for kissing her as she was under the influence of alcohol, but felt better to know that she was willing to kiss him. He did not know if she liked him like that or was it the heat of the moment? He'd have to ask her to find out and that was what worried him.
"Uh, so, um, where does this leave us?" Athena boldly said, the same questions running through her mind as she pictured the kiss. He did kiss her back, but was it because it was the right thing to do, or were there feelings behind it all? She just had to ask. Alejandro took a few seconds to reply, trying to figure out what to say as he thought of good answers.
"I-I, honestly don't know really, maybe we can figure this out in the morning when the alcohol has left you system," he replied back to her, trying to break it down slowly to her. Athena felt something sink in her body, she realised that if there was not any alcohol, she wouldn't have made a move on him, she made thing awkward by kissing him and now they don't know where they stand. She wanted to cry out in frustration for being so stupid, but, she held back her tears and nodded.
"T-that's a good idea, I mean, I am slightly drunk, right? I need to be sober so we can have a proper chat," she said in a shaky voice, testing her words out, hoping it wouldn't offend him. But, Alejandro did feel the offence.
'She was under the influence of alcohol, she probably wouldn't have kissed me if she wasn't. Dammit, why am I so stupid? She probably doesn't even like me,' he thought out in frustration at the thought of losing Athena to a kiss she'd probably regret.
"D-do you regret it? The kiss I mean?" he said slowly, trying to hold back the emotions that threatened to come out as he drove down the road, passing a few houses hidden by walls from the highway.
'Do I regret it? I don't think so' Athena thought hard, she knew that if it wasn't her drunk state and kissed him, she wouldn't have regretted it unless he did. She didn't want him to regret it at all.
"I-I don't know, I think I don't, but my mind doesn't really want to work right now," she said, trying to find the right words again, hoping it wouldn't make Alejandro feel bad.
"Oh, yeah, right, it's ten-forty, we'll be at your friend's place in a bit, probably around eleven-thirty since there doesn't seem to be any traffic," Alejandro said, feeling his heart drop and the thought of Athena regretting the kiss, cause he sure as hell didn't.
"Okay," she replied in a quiet voice and then the car ride soon was engulfed with silence.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
They made it to Athena's apartment at around eleven-fifty, it was still quite cold and Drew was sleeping soundly in his cot as Athena prepared for bed. Alejandro was preparing to sleep on the couch again, but Athena felt bad for leaving him on a terrible couch on a cold winter's night, so she offered up half of her double-sized bed and after some arguing about either sleeping on the couch or bed, Alejandro had sighed deeply and nodded.
Athena was quick to make a pillow wall as she still felt uneasy about sharing a bed with another male, especially if she had kissed him. She made sure the blankets were thick enough to keep everything warm when they left as well as Drew's cot to make sure he wasn't so cold. Alejandro was busy in the bathroom changing into spare clothes he brought with him, it was a simple grey-longs sleeved shirt and blue pyjama pants. His hair was ruffled and his face was tired, however, his lips still tingled with Athena's lips and it made him recall the amazing scene in his head.
The girl who kissed him was already laying in bed, playing on her new phone with the light from the ceiling still on. She was trying to rid her thoughts of the scene, if she didn't do it now, then she might not be able to sleep so she played two games as she waited for Alejandro to step out of the bathroom. She wore a blue sweatshirt and grey fluffy pants as well as a grey robe which fell to her knees. Her hair was tied up into a loose bun and her fluffy white socks were warming up her feet.
Once Alejandro had finally stepped out of the bathroom after overthinking everything, he glanced at Athena who looked beautiful in her plain clothes. He smiled lightly at her as he went over to the light and flicked the light switch off, allowing only the moonlight to be the only thing to help them see. Athena switched off her phone to stare at him as the moonlight hit the side of his face, the contours of it were prominent in the light and he looked more innocent than ever. Athena blushed at the thought, he was too handsome for her own good.
"Do you have work tomorrow?" Alejandro asked before slipping under the covers and peering over the two pillow wall. Athena's head was laying on a pillow as she stared up at the ceiling.
"Yeah, eight till eleven," she replied as she remembered her duties for tomorrow. She had to do her laundry and clean up the house, plus, her bills were coming tomorrow and she knew she'd have to pay a little bit more than she usually did as she had to use the utilities more since another person came from time to time.
"You need better hours," Alejandro told her and she laughed softly, immediately Alejandro wanted to hear it again.
"Yeah, but the restaurant pays extra for college students working after ten," she informed him and then she heard a hum in reply.
"Today was great you know, thank you for making it worthwhile," Alejandro grinned, having two different meanings, one was the regular things and the second one was the kiss. Athena picked the meanings up quickly and blushed brightly in the moonlight as her mind recalled the kiss she wanted to forget so she could sleep.
"You're welcome and same goes to you," she giggled out, the alcohol still affecting her slightly as it wore off. Her sentence had two meanings too, making Alejandro chuckle again, his ears feeling warmer than usual.
"Anything is worthwhile when you're around," he said before his eyes shut to a close and started to fall into a dreamless, but peaceful sleep. Athena blushed again before she too closed her eyes and fell asleep next to the person she oh-so really liked.
