Kisses after midnight (WICKED #0) | ✓

13

MATEO WENT ON HIS knees for her, gesturing at his back. Gabriela just watched him for a second. Her head was as far from clear as it could get, all her thoughts a chaotic mess in her mind. Everything felt as if it was going very slow, everything but him. In the shadows of the empty hallway he seemed most at home.

"Get on, princess," he said.

She held his gaze when she bent down in front of him, the distance between them so small that she couldn't help but think she was walking down a very dangerous path right now.

"Princess?" she drawled as she let her arms rest around his neck," not baby girl?"

"Isn't it fun to switch it up once in a while?" he grinned, his hand grazing across her wrist.

Fireworks exploded with every touch and she leaned more into his touch. He had avoided her, earlier. She had walked towards the school, he had seen her and gone inside. It had made her even more determined to just let loose for once, mostly just to get her mind off him. Thinking about a guy all the time was not like her, but Mateo hadn't acted like himself either today. After a cup too many with Penelope though that thought had left her head and she had murmured something incomprehensible to her friend, before going inside to look for Mateo.

And there he had been, having fun with Chase without a worry in the world. In revenge she had chucked a ball at Chase's head, but as for him...

She looked at him through her eyelashes, his caramel skin and dark hair. And then there were those eyes - he always had had the most mesmerizing eyes. They were the color of morning dew on fresh earth, a rich yet soft brown. She could get lost in them for days. How could she stay petty at him if he was this handsome? It wasn't fair.

"What are you looking at?" he said.

"You have the prettiest eyes," she said.

His lips parted, but his expression recovered quickly.

"You should be drunk more often," he smirked," I see you're finally appreciating my beauty."

Her hands moved from his neck to his cheeks, his skin hot under her cold fingertips. For some reason she had wanted to do this for the longest time and right now she couldn't see a reason why she shouldn't.

The third floor was empty, save for them, the sounds from the party below softer here. They were sitting in the middle of the hallway, the moonlight washing over them through the row of windows on their left. Time didn't feel real right now, the whole setting just throwing her off, like she was in a supermarket after midnight.

She glanced at the watch on his wrist and as if they heard her thoughts they turned to twelve then.

"It's midnight," she said softly.

"So, Cinderella?" he chuckled," are you going to run away from me?"

"Ella," she said, the name rolling off her tongue easily," I like that name."

"What are you on about?" Mateo said.

She just tapped her fingers on his cheeks to the rhythm of her heartbeat, her eyes focused on his lips.

"Nothing," she murmured, leaning in closer," it's just a pretty name."

"It is," Mateo said, though he sounded a bit breathless," so, did I just give you the genius idea for your firstborn child? Ella Ruíz?"

Perhaps it was the glittering sense of reckless decisions in the air or perhaps it was that she had wanted to do this all along, but always held back just in time. Most likely it was the vodka in her veins.