'And I've been waiting for this time to come around

But, baby, runnin' after you is like chasin' the clouds.'

*ASHER'S POV*

October 27, 2023.

"I want a good luck kiss 'fore I finish that g-game."

The breathless words fell from my lips like a bomb, my ticking heart halting its course with them, and their impact on Althea's features drowning every sound between the concrete walls of the large court, even the loud voices of the players a few feet away as I tried to read the millions of emotions bursting through her wide eyes.

Shock? Fear? Horror? Triumph? Want?

Not that it mattered when I already expected her to tell me it wasn't 'within reasonable limits'.

Matter of perspective, because in comparison with the billion other ideas crossing my mind, it was the most reasonable, and I couldn't think of anything I wanted more as her tongue slipped out to wet her peachy lips.

"Okay."

"O-kay?" I choked, my breath blown out because if my words were a bomb, these two syllables were a fucking big bang.

"Okay," she repeated, this time with nods like to set it down into reality, surely more for herself though, as my heart was already too far gone into the infinite dust of the universe.

I'd dreamed so much of this moment.

Maybe I still was. But fuck, I didn't try pinching myself as I turned to the players—whose sweaty and still unfamiliar faces appeared quite real if we were in a dream.

"Guys, give us five minutes be-fore next quarter."

"Five minutes?" Althea's wide eyes snapped towards mine like it had finally hit her what she'd agreed to. Though she didn't let out the words, glancing anxiously between the players around and me, as I hummed and pointed my chin towards the closest door.

The five minutes including the round trip to a quieter room, might as well make it the shortest possible and keep my breath for the rest, even if a locker room wasn't the most romantic, nor the heady smell of bleach.

At least, it didn't reek of sweat and old socks, and the shower stalls, the yellow slippery-floor signs, and the mirrors brought back some memories. And not only for me as I crossed her wide gaze.

"It's only one kiss I've agreed to."

"One true good luck kiss." I tried to make each syllable as clear as possible while my jaw was already tensing under her dubious stare.

Didn't she trust me? Or had she forgotten how long a kiss could last? Didn't her fiancé take time out of his precious business schedule to savor those peachy lips?

No, I wouldn't be thinking about that right now.

I'd waited so much for this moment. Nothing and no one could ruin it.

That was the reason why I'd asked for five minutes to the team. That, and because I would need some time to recover.

Damn, my breath was already hitching in my throat as she took hesitant steps closer until her feet touched the round bumper of my wheelchair, and the plump lips she was rolling together were still so far.

Basketball wheelchairs were made to avoid contact, and clearly, it included kissing. With the usual height difference—my line of sight aligned with the 'Go Asher' on her jersey—it looked like she was about to jump into the void as she inhaled slowly through her nose, her gaze dropping onto my lips, and her hand searching for something to rest on.

"You can sit on my lap if you want."

"No, thanks, I'm—" She shook her head as fast as the idea away. Too fast as she leaned in at the same time and lost her balance, and she would have crashed head-first onto my lap if it hadn't been for my right hand catching her.

"Fine..." she finished, steadying herself on the side of my wheelchair, and I took in how close she was as her breathless words tickled my parted lips. "I'm fine."

That was it. I'd prepared so much for this moment.

The mouth exercises I'd doubled in the past week, the drops of sweat I'd poured on the arm PT, and every prickle I'd endured through my nerves from the electrodes and the annoying motivational speeches of the physiotherapist... That was all for this moment as my left arm reached for Althea's waist, and I rasped a 'ready?'.

Though, in my head, my five fingers would have wrapped around her hip, instead of my ring finger resting awkwardly in her back while the others rested in a misshapen fist on her hip bone, and I would have been able to return fully her smile at the memory, rather than the shaky grimace I gave her as she breathed out a 'yes'.

Fuck, all of me was shaking, right and left sides, from the bangs inside my chest to the fingers I slowly dragged to the back of her hair.

Never had I been that nervous for a kiss. Not even on my first kiss, and even less for our first kiss.

Back then, I'd been so sure we would share more. But now, I knew it was our last kiss.

So I wanted to soak up everything: the softness of her curls under my fingertips, the flicker of her gaze down my lips, the shallow breath she sucked in through her nose, every shade of dark brown disappearing behind her eyelids, and every fucking flutter of electricity igniting, million by million, with each millimeter closing in between us until the sweet velvet of her lips melted against mine finally.

God, kissing her was like tasting water when you were dying of thirst. Real thirst, the kind you experienced in the desert without drinking for days.

I'd been in the desert for three years, seven months, and 18 days because no, the 'magical kiss' from last Saturday didn't count. The light brush of her lips had been a mere droplet, only making me crave more, and if then, she'd left me too stunned to react, this time, my dry mouth didn't waste one second.

Sipping, lapping, savoring, I kissed her with all my thirst, while holding her like a mirage, and hell, I wouldn't let her vanish as she returned the fervor of my lips.

My fingers tilting her head, I tugged her closer, and naturally, she pulled from my shoulder to the back of my hair.

Good thing we didn't have to worry about crushing her glasses anymore. Though at this instant, I didn't care about anything in our way, not even the gravity in our fragile balance.

All my attention, all my nerve endings were focused only on those peachy lips, their soft warmth, the tingles they created against mine, and their plump swell.

Mhm... that perfect, plump swell, my tongue traced thoroughly as I made sure to adore every micro-inch in case my twisted mouth missed one. At first, that was my sole intention, but when her lips parted for a faint moan, how could I refuse the invitation?

Our tongues met like two polar opposites drawn irresistibly together, like the sugar and salt mixing between our lips, like fire and water.

Yes, she was still the water, seeping through every cell of my being, pumping through my veins with that same orgasmic buzzing as when the liquid reached your dehydrated throat, and you realized why you can live without a leg, without half of your body, without food, but not without water.

And that was the moment she pulled away because apparently, we also needed air.

Still, as ragged puffs traveled in the small distance between our lips, it wasn't the lack of oxygen tugging from my chest to the tip of my fingers, my grip tightening instinctively to keep her close—my right hand around her jaw, but also my left hand in the smooth fabric of her jersey.

Where exactly? There were too many statics along my nerves to locate it, and I could only hope I wasn't pinching her too tight. Though she made no move to free herself as I opened my eyes to find hers still closed, a blissful glow illuminating her delicate features.

She was so fucking gorgeous, and her forehead resting on mine, I was so lost admiring every faint flutter of her long lashes, every shade of pink, orangey, and red on the swollen lips she nibbled on, every inch of her face... that I could have forgotten the reason why this kiss had happened for a second.

Or two, or more...

Until some bangs against the door came to disturb the erratic ones inside my chest.

"The five minutes are over!"

And the fall back to reality was as abrupt as Althea's jump away from me when someone added,

"Get dressed, the lovebirds! We have a game to finish!"

***

"So... do you think you'll do it again maybe?"

"What?" I stopped in my tracks, almost tipping over my wheelchair, as the wheels weren't as stable as a sports one.

Still, my gaze landed perfectly on Althea's lips as I licked my dry ones, the bottle of water I'd downed along the ride back here long forgotten, and clearly, it wasn't the only thing.

"Play with the team. Will you accept their invitation?"

Oh yes, basketball. What the surprise I'd just thanked her for had been about, what we'd discussed with Oliver and the kids as we'd passed the cafeteria, what I'd played enough to still feel the adrenaline and lactic acid in my muscles, and what she continued talking about as we headed down the empty hallway.

"They were really impressed by your technique."

"I'm far from their pro level. It's only 'cause I've got luck," I pointed out, hinting at the special sparks that had been buzzing in my muscles through the three quarters of the game, through the talks, and even now, they remained, stronger than the soreness.

Okay, subtility wasn't my thing, but I tried my best, knowing she would have run away if she'd heard just a thousandth of my thoughts.

It was already a miracle that the awkwardness I'd expected following our kiss hadn't hit her between the moment we'd got out of the locker room under the team's innuendos until now.

She wasn't even avoiding my gaze as she turned to face me.

"Okay, maybe you won't do next year's Paralympics, but you have time to get better until the next ones, and if you play them," she paused, nibbling on her peachy smile as if weighing too the words she would be letting out, though it was too late, when my thoughts and my heart rate were already running wild. "I promise I'll give you—a shirt?"

A shirt?

Sure, my mind had been hardwired with one thing and only one thing for a few hours, but that was the last thing I would have imagined, and when the next second, a piece of black fabric landed at my feet, it made more sense.

Whatever she'd meant to say before, however, I would never know as the person who'd made this throw from the other side of the hallway had more chances to win a medal, and our attention quickly got caught by the voices coming from the open door there.

"Wait, baby..."

"Please, don't touch me. J-just get out."

It was hard to make out whose voices it was through the cracks and sobs, but most of the kids being at the cafeteria, and the room number above the door being a seven, I quickly understood it was Sarah, and the shirtless Caleb in only his boxers that stumbled out of the door confirmed my suppositions.

In the dimness, he probably didn't recognize Althea and I though, too busy watching his girlfriend shut her door on his face and grabbing his pants on the floor before disappearing into the closest bathroom.

In two slammings of doors, we were once again, Althea and I, alone in the hallway, except that all the lightness from before was gone, and finally, it was the awkward silence the young couple had left behind that got to us.

Or maybe just reality.

"Um, I should probably check on Sarah." Althea cleared her throat, still rolling her lips together, even if the smile she offered me was nothing like the one I'd glimpsed seconds ago.

"Sure. I'll bring Caleb his shirt." I nodded as she rushed to the door like a paramedic trying to save a life.

She did much more, trying to help everyone here as if it were her mission: making costumes for the kids... bringing back Sarah and Caleb together... kissing the poor hemiplegic guy.

But her mission would end in a few days, and she would go back to New York after that.

The thought was bitter on my dry lips as I watched her disappear inside Sarah's room, and it seeped until my words when I rolled into the bathroom.

"Didn't you forg't something?"

"Thanks..." Caleb snapped his wide, aghast eyes towards me as I threw him his tee shirt, although he didn't give a second glance to the fabric creasing more and more in his hands. "I swear it's not what you think. I would never hurt or do anything—"

"I didn't think anything."

At least, not about them. My thoughts were still swirling around only one thing, and I uselessly shook my head to try to slow them down and focus in the guy before me.

"Can I ask you a ques-tion?"

"Uh, sure?" he replied, eyeing me dubiously under his frown, which I understood.

We'd talked about two times since I'd met him, one had been him looking for his girlfriend, while the other, me asking about where Althea was. Other than that, what I knew from him was from the nurses' gossip and Sarah's short-term goals list—we had some PT together with Daniel and his 'famous' methods.

"You're young, and you surely can have tons of girls. Don't t-take it badly," I added as he tensed instantly. "I'm well placed to know life with someone disabl'd isn't smooth sailing. It's a fuckin' hurricane, so why do you keep fighting, when she's p-pushing you away?"

"Everyone keeps asking me that question, but do you even think about the fucking shipwreck I was before knowing her?" he seethed, his fists clenching on his tee-shirt, so much that I believed for a second that he was about to punch me.

I probably deserved it, and it still would have been less violent than his next words as he lifted his clear gaze towards me.

"Don't take it badly, but I don't want to end up in a few years, regretting to have let the love of my life go, like you."

"Touché." I chuckled dryly.

So whose lips are dry too after this kiss? 👀😅😍🔥

I hope I've made it worth the wait! Tell me all your thoughts in the comments!

Also, tell me what you think Sarah and Caleb's fight is about this time? 👀

I'm so excited for the chapters coming 🤭🤫, and if you are too, don't forget to vote ⭐! Your notifications are my best motivation, my little peaches! 🥰😘🍑❤️