Passion

Chapter 14

I am...so sorry. Its been like a year since I've updated, but this chapter hopefully makes up for it. Probably not but hey I'll let you decide that for yourself. Again really sorry, I've had awful writers block and haven't so much as picked up a pen except for writing notes for school or doing 4 page essays on books I don't understand. Enjoy!

I worked through endless heaps of homework, papers and binders strewn across the desk I was hunched over, scrawling words languidly on my lit-comp homework. Mr. Hecht loved to give us five paragraph essays for homework once or twice a month; everyone hated him for it. Personally, I didn't mind having homework, since it prevented my mind from drifting, but most people didn't have to deal with that, so I could understand where they're coming from.

Mr. Hecht was a generally O.K. guy when outside of class, since I held a few conversations with him--decently funny when he's comfortable, surprisingly--, but god he loved his homework, always saying that it made us improve our writing skills. But if I was being completely honest, most of the class didn't even have said 'writing skills' in the first place.

Shaking my head and buckling down on working once more, I managed to complete the rest of the rough draft in 20 minutes and grabbed my planner to see what I needed to next.

I jumped when I heard a loud knocking on my door, echoing through the silent room. I whipped my head around, only to see the door creak open; Ally was peeking through the gap. She opened the door fully, and I sighed, relaxing into my chair.

"Hey Alex," she greeted, leaning lazily against the doorframe, "you done with everything?" Glancing back down at my planner, I saw that I only had Humane Letters left--something I could easily do before school tomorrow-- and nodded my head.

"Great, 'cuz, well, I have a weird-ass request," she chuckled lightly, nervously, and I raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively.

"I think we should, uh, yknow... practice...kissing?"

"...I'm sorry?"

"Obviously for the, uh, for the play. It was so awkward I wanted to rip my own eyes out and I wasn't even watching."

I hated to admit it, but it made sense, and it'd been on my mind ever since I had that talk with Landon after school; it was just such an awkward subject that I didn't want to address it all that much. This was Ally, for god's sake; she was the last person I'd want to kiss.

"I mean," I began after a few seconds of silence, ducking my head and letting my mop of hair fall over my face, "I guess, it'd probably be a good idea, as long as you're okay with it. Sure."

With that, she walked stiffly towards me, and I swiveled my chair around to face her. She had never been a short girl, I'd say she was about 5'7, but she seemed to tower over me when she stood in front of me, knees pressed uncomfortably against the edge of my chair. I tilted my head up to lock eyes with her, studying her expression inside her rich brown eyes.

She was nervous, which I could understand--hell, I was nervous; this was the only time we were alone while practicing kissing, and it got my heart pounding. It felt so much more intimate, so much more real than in a classroom with a whole bunch of giggly classmates watching. This would be a real kiss, and though there were no feelings behind it, I couldn't cower away from this reality. Not while she was brushing her hand through my hair and gripping the nape of my neck with a sweaty hand, not while my own hands involuntarily came to rest on her waist, pulling her closer.

No, I thought, closing my eyes as she bended down towards me, this is real.

She paused, face millimeters away from mine, shaky breaths dancing across lips, heating them with every puff in a way far too intimate for two friends practicing for a play. While we were gathering the courage to go through with our agreement, I busied my hands, letting them drift up her back in a hopefully soothing manner; she responded by curling her fingers and tugging slightly at the overgrown hairs at the nape of my neck, her other hand resting on my chest. I shuddered at the feeling, but it felt wrong--it all did.