Iridescent

36| Same

The first kiss was soft, slow and careful. He drew away briefly, watching me with smiling green eyes, his shaky breath against my skin. 

In a daze, I reached and grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged him back, kissing him again. He was startled, a small chuckle escaping in-between. This one was bolder. Both of us already got over some of our nerves from the first kiss. We felt brave. Our movements grew smoother, like partners getting familiar with a dance. Our mouths were moving against each other, and our hands... my hands began to explore parts of his body.

His chest, his arm, his neck, and my fingers found themselves entwined in his hair. His hand ventured from my waist, moved along my spine and ended at the nape of my neck, a cold touch that sent me shivering. 

We stumbled backwards, mainly I was pushing him back into my dorm, forcing his hip to crash into a table. But we didn't separate from each other. Not yet. 

I tipped his balance and Jaxton had to shoot out a hand to hold us both upright before we ended up on the tabletop. I pulled away slowly, eyes fluttering open, feeling breathless. 

I watched him, letting his hand caress my cheek, pushing pieces of loose hair behind my ears. "I've wanted to do this for a long time..."

When he said this, his blush grew scarlet and I chuckled. He did the same and seemed to realise what was happening, he leaned down and silenced me with another kiss. This one more passionate than the previous, a small moan every so often slipping from his lips. 

"Jaxton," I said when we pulled away but I still had my arm around his waist, my fist closing around the edge of his top, "will you tell me everything?"

He wasn't surprised. He knew that question was going to come eventually. 

"I will."

I buried my face into his chest and he held me tightly, as though he never wants to let me go.

***

"No one else is looking for Robin, I'm sure of it."

Jaxton and I sat cuddled on the couch. From the way we sagged into the seat, it was clear we were both exhausted of the day's events. I leaned my head on the back cushions, my fingers laced between his, watching him speak. 

"You mean the school?

"The school's definitely not searching. As for the authorities, the missing report was filed and I check with them every month, but there's no progress."

"Tell me from the start."

"The start..." He let out a breath. "That was a while ago but... I think things began to change at Christmas. Vel got her admissions notice from one of the top Arts Academies and we were all ecstatic — now you probably know why I was so shocked to see Vel here. We all planned to visit our orphan home too. We planned to buy gifts, give them to the children there as well as the staff close to us: Mr and Mrs Coleman and Ms Seam. There were others but those three were the memorable ones. 

"The Coleman couple were the one's who own the orphanage  — it's called SeaShells because it's near the beach — and they did it after they lost their twins."

"My God..."

"I know. But from what I know about them, they weren't bitter people. Of course, they would be sad about the deaths of their children but I'm amazed at the strength and optimism they have. They had so much hope in me."