020 – a new beginning

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            The only coherent thought that I could possibly muster was, shit. I’m screwed. He needed an explanation, one that I simply just didn’t have. Somewhere in the deep, darkest areas of my mind, I knew he was going to ask that question at some point.

          Somehow, when Jake and I first started this whole scheme, I had an idea that maybe—just maybe—Troy could possibly find out about it, revealing everything. And I felt incredibly stupid because I didn’t make up a lie to back up this one. So here I stood, with my heart racing and thrumming in my ears. Here I stood with my brain in a swirled mess that rivaled the other mess, the one of butterflies that spun deep in my stomach. Here I stood with Troy’s hands on me, causing these feelings to stir up inside of me.

          I didn’t know what the hell it was, or why the hell I was feeling this way. But I knew that I had to tell him something—anything—to get him off of my back. And trust me, it was damn hard to come up with something that wouldn’t completely and utterly embarrass me in front of him. So that’s when I came up with my brilliant, mind-boggling explanation.

           “I-I uh…” Okay, so maybe it took a little while of stuttering for me to fully gather my wits that had messily fallen all over the floor. “Why?” I asked, repeating his question. “Because I wanted to.”

          He narrowed his eyes at me, yet a ghost of a smile played at his lips, as if he was keeping a secret to himself. “Now, Sophia—”

          I immediately cut him off. “That’s not my name,” I growled.

          He glared at me, his eyes ablaze with an icy fire. “Because I wanted to won’t sail with me, and you know that.”

           “But that’s why I did it. Because I wanted to.”

           “There has to be some other reason.”

           “But there isn’t.”

           “But there has to be.”

           “You see, Troy, that’s where you’re wrong.”

           “Oh really?” He smirked, his usual, sexy smirk that screamed Troy. Whoa, wait. Did I just call his smirk sexy? Oh hell no. “Because last time I checked, I’m always right.”

          His voice was deep and husky. It sent chills running through me.

           “Is that so?” I asked him. I was disappointed because my voice ended up coming out breathy, like a whisper in the wind.

           “Yes, in fact it is.” He bit his lip and for a second I swear I stopped breathing. I think he could tell, but since the corridor that we stood in was dark as midnight, I couldn’t read his eyes. “And when I say I think you have a reason for lying to me, I know pretty well that I’m right.”

          One of his hands moved to my waist, and suddenly I couldn’t think of anything else except that his hand was on my waist. I could feel the heat from his warm hand through the thin fabric of my dress. I took a sharp inhale of breath. The rapid pace of my heart hadn’t died down one bit, and I’d be crazy to think that it ever could at a moment like this.

          I decided to play along with him, because at the moment I couldn’t think of anything else better to do. “And what may you think that reason is?” I realized then that I was breathing hard, with my body nearly only about five inches away from his. This was the closest I’ve ever been to Troy, and I think it was a bad thing that I was enjoying it. The way his hand was placed at the small of my back, and the way his other hand was entangled in my hair at the nape of my neck, cradling my head in his palm… it was mesmerizing.

          There was this feeling in my stomach that was anxious for his reply. I wasn’t sure what he was going to say, and that scared me. I had a feeling he was going to hit it right on the spot, and that sure as hell terrified me.

          He hesitated as he gazed down at me, his blue eyes burning, and the intensity took my breath away. I felt so much smaller with him looking at me like that. In a weird way, though, I kind of liked it. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, and I was beginning to question my sanity. If he knew that I was feeling this way about him, then… I don’t know what I would do with myself.

          But with him holding me like this had to mean something, right? I wasn’t the one who initiated anything here, and I’m pretty sure friends don’t just hold each other like this for the bloody joy of it.

           “I have a feeling you know what I’m about to say,” he murmurs, his eyes travelling down the length of my face. From my eyes, down the bridge of my nose, past my cupid’s bow, and they land on my lips, settling there. I feel like my insides are being tickled.

           “Enlighten me.”

          Our noses were nearly touching as our breaths mingled. I could feel his breath tingling my lips as he talked, his words low. His breath was tinged with the scent of some expensive, exquisite champagne. I licked my lips. I could kiss him right now if I wanted to. And boy, did I want to.

           “Sophia,” he started. This time, I didn’t cringe when he said the name that my parents used to call me. I welcomed it. It was different, kind of refreshing. And the way he said it in that deep, sexy tone of voice, I couldn’t help but to enjoy the way it rolled off of his tongue. He brushed a rogue tendril of hair behind my ear with his finger, and knocked me speechless with his next words, “Right now, you’re making it impossibly hard for me not to kiss you. And damn, do I really want to.” He paused, and his steaming gaze returned to my eyes. “I know for a fact that you want to kiss me too.”

          I don’t know how I was still standing at this point, but I was. Impossibly, it seemed like my heart speed went up as it pounded ferociously at my chest, begging to leap out. I knew my cheeks were burning up, I could feel it. Somehow, with the rest of my willpower I had, I managed to say, “You’re not right about everything, Troy…” I paused, for the dramatic effect and for the look of disbelief in his eyes.

          He let go of me the slightest bit. “Sophie, you’re kidding right?”

           “Let me finish,” I smirked, knowing I had his full attention. “You’re not right about everything.” I placed my hands on his chest and balled the lapels of his suit jacket in each of my fists. “But tonight you seem to be.”

          It took him a second to fully register what I had just said to him, but before I could muster up any other snarky remarks, I felt like I was floating, soaring through the night sky on this fine evening.

          His lips were on mine. Troy was kissing me. And I kissed him back.

          It’s slow to begin with, as if we were testing things. But as soon as we both knew that wasn’t enough, I could feel it intensifying immediately. I tried not to focus on the way he was affecting me, but it was a hard task that was at hand. I snaked my hands up his broad, strong chest and to the back of his neck. I tangled my fingers into his soft hair as I kissed him deeply.

          He seemed to want the space that’s between us to disappear completely as much as I did and pulled me flush against him. I gasped as his arms wrapped themselves firmly around my waist. I stood on my tiptoes, determined to deepen this way-past-amazing kiss.

          My thoughts were a complete blur as the only thought I could stay put on is how soft his lips were. How they were on mine. How our mouths were moving in an incredible sync. It seemed surreal, kissing him like this. Our bodies molded perfectly together, the way a shoe can perfectly fit. We stayed in rhythm, our breaths heavy and our minds dazed.

          I could feel the electric currents as they passed between us, igniting us like an open flame to a forest of dried grass. And when he bit my bottom lip ever so gently, asking for entrance, I granted it to him without a second thought.

          I’d never been kissed like this before, with our tongues on the mission to explore and our minds only focused on each other, it was spectacular.

          It was then that I was one hundred percent sure that I had feeling for this boy. They were as obvious as a flamingo in a flock of white doves. It wasn’t Ashton, nor was it my “boyfriend” Jake. It was Troy, this boy who was kissing me with so much passion and heat that could’ve easily swept any girl off of her feet.

          Reluctantly, we both pulled away as we heard footsteps approaching us from the opposite end of the corridor. We were basically panting like dogs that had just gone for a long, tiring run. Despite the footsteps that came towards us, neither of us let go of each other. His hands remained glued to me, keeping me held close to him. Not that I would exactly like to move anyways. He was grinning like a little child on Christmas. His smile was contagious. “We’d better get going before we get caught.”

          I nodded, not knowing exactly what to say. Before I could say anything anyways, his lips were pressing a quick, sweet and firm kiss on my lips again. And no matter how much I wanted it to evolve into something more heated like the last kiss, he pulled away. His hand instantaneously locked in mine and he tugged me down the hallway, away from the footsteps and away from the party.

          When we stopped, we were in a room. I recognized it as the study, where there were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves shielding the walls in a spectacular array of literature.

           “Troy, what the hell was that?”

           “I think it’s called a kiss,” he replied, smirking down at me. I wanted to kiss that smirk off of him. Now that I got a taste of his lips, I desperately wanted more. It was like a drug.

           “No, why did you kiss me?” I questioned. “Not that I didn’t enjoy it or anything… but still.”

          His smirk was now a grin. “Because I was trying to figure something out.”

           “And that was?”

           “Why you lied to me. And it’s because you wanted to make me jealous, because you have feelings for me.”

           “No way in hell. I don’t.”

           “And there’s no way in hell that I would believe that,” he stated simply.

          I didn’t expect him to. Hesitantly, I decided to just confess. “Well, maybe you are right about everything,” is all I could say as I shook my head at him, a sly smile playing on my features. Damn him.

          He had a vibrant gleam in his eyes. He looked like he was about to jump for joy at about any second. “Well, Sophie… I didn’t expect us to come to this, for any of this to happen, or for me to say any of these things, but,” he bit his lip again—I really wish he wouldn’t do that. It was distracting. It seemed as if he was trying to choose his words carefully, balancing on a thin tightrope with no net to catch him. Finally, he said, “I think the feelings you have for me are mutual.”

 Author’s Note: Hello, everyone. I hadn’t planned on updating this at all. In fact, I was pretty sure that I was going to delete it—and I probably still will, since I have no idea where this story will go. This girl (AlexaRosevelt0603) convinced me to write another chapter and update it. So here I am. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this because I probably won’t update it again anytime soon. That is, if I decide to. Sorry if that upsets you, I just don’t have much inspiration for this story anymore. Sorry :(

-Dani x ♥