I dedicate this chapter to blackcage, my newest follower. Thanks a lot, hon.

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~Dear no one -Tori Kelly~

'Let's Kiss'

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Somehow, later that night after I returned from Shawn's house, I ended up sitting on the floor in our living room that looked just like a ballroom, if not wider. My parents were also seated beside me and we had bowls of chicken nuggets perched on our thighs as we watched a horror movie. Surprising, but every person in my household had a great love for horror movies. Chicklit and romance movies were out of the question for us, but I had a small stash in my room just in case I needed a little spice.

Well, I hadn't said anything to my mom, but when I arrived home, she attacked me with a hug, saying she realized that we haven't been spending a lot of time together. So, she ordered the chicken nuggets and waited till dad came back from work, then she tackled him to the floor beside us, suggesting we see a movie together.

"Could you be any stupid? Why did you go outside in the first place." Mom said, referring to a character in the movie who left the comfort of her room after being warned. And then, she got torn apart by a ferocious monster with red eyes and sharp pointy teeth.

Dad sighed and turned to mom. "Could you not do that?"

"What?"

I tried concentrating on the next scene that played before my eyes.

"Talking to the characters, it's annoying."

Mom frowned. "How could you say that? Well, Hazel doesn't mind, do you?" She laid a hand on my shoulder.

I bit down on my lips as I gazed at both my parents. Dad surely expected me to support his argument and mom too. Truth be told, I didn't like anyone talking while a movie was on, it made concentrating difficult.

"Actually mom, I find myself agreeing with dad."

My dad gave me a thumbs up and a wink while mom glared silently at him. I smiled as dad reached out to hold mom's hand. The glare on her face softened when he leaned in and kissed her on her lips. She gripped his shirt and reciprocated his kisses.

Ew...

I didn't want to watch a second rated porn show instead of the movie before me, so I cleared my throat.

"I know you both love each other, but could you at least move to a room, I'm trying to watch a movie here."

I smirked when they broke away and dad rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Mom who was next to me reached out to pull my hair gently with a laugh.

"Don't mind your dad, he's a little horny, you know?"

I chuckled as dad narrowed his eyes at her. "Really? just wait till later."

Mom smiled and waggled her brows at him.

My parents were always like that, flirting right before me and Blake without any shame. They weren't behaving like they had being married for over 22 years. Dad still looked like how he used to be when they hadn't married and mom too, they hadn't aged much and it baffled me.

At times, when they weren't busy with work, I'd hear them yelling inappropriate words in their room, well what can I do? Blake and I would only shake our head and block out their noises with our earphones. It was almost like living with a bunch of horny teenagers.

It felt so wonderful sitting with my parents like this on the floor, so I decided to live in the moment.

By the time the movie e nded, our chicken nuggets were secured in our stomachs and the night was far spent.

"Sweetie, do you want to go to bed now? Or you want to talk a bit?" Mom asked me as a maid cleared up the mess we created.

Dad had retired to their room saying he had a long day at work. I knew that a couple of minutes from now, he and mom would be doing more than sleeping.

"Talk." I said.

Mom scooted close to me and cradled my hand in hers. "What should we talk about?"

"Anything can do mom."

Even if we had watched a movie together, I still wasn't completely satisfied.

"I know you're mad at your dad and me for pushing you away for a few weeks now."

Finally, just the topic I needed.

"Mom, I'd be needing more than an apology. It's been unfair to me. During those weeks, I felt like I wasn't wanted anymore by any of you, even Blake did." I made sure I displayed how unhappy I was about the whole thing.

Mom, feeling a little guilty, bent her head. Her black, long hair followed her movement.

"I'm terribly sorry, I'm sure your dad is, I'll make sure he apologizes to you first thing tomorrow, is that right?"

I pressed my lips together and nodded in acceptance. Mom smiled and wrapped her arm around my shoulder, making me lean into her and breathing in the pleasant fragrance of her perfume.

"So, tell me about your day."

Here was another moment I longed for.

In a few minutes, a detailed description of my day was made and mom listened closely. I even told her about what happened between me and Shawn, how I had felt under his touch.

"Well, I've seen that coming for a long time."

I groaned. "Mom, be serious..."

"This is me being serious, sweetheart. You both have been best friends since you met at the pack. This was meant to happen someday." Mom rubbed my shoulder gently.

"I don't think I can look in his face tomorrow when we go over to his family's house for dinner."

Every Sunday, we all went over to the Stuart's for dinner, at times, they came over. It was just a tradition we weren't willing to break.

Why am I even stressing myself about Shawn, it's not like we kissed. But his touch, God! His touch was more than anything I've ever experienced.

Jeez Hazel, get a hold.

"You'll be fine, I assure you. All you need is just this night and tomorrow, hopefully." Mom sounded unsure of her words and I knew what that meant.

As I tossed and turned in my bed that night, I thought about how I'd face Shawn tomorrow.

💭💭💭

"Hazel!!!" My mom yelled from outside my room.

"I'm coming ma!" I yelled back and completed my job on my face. There was nothing special, just a shiny lip gloss, a dab of powder on my face and a lining of mascara.

I rechecked my appearance in my mirror. My favorite jean trousers covered my legs and a white T-shirt with the number '69'at the front covered my upper body while a pair of white Nike shoes encased my feet.

Bouncing on both my feet, I pulled up my trousers to rest properly on my waist. Then, I snatched my iPad and my earphones from my dresser and hurried to meet mom, dad and Blake outside the house waiting beside Dad's Chevrolet.

A white gown hugged mom's body pleasantly and her hair fell in curls below her shoulder. Dad and Blake on the other hand were adorned quite identically - Blake had grey button-down shirt over his black pants while Dad had a white shirt with its sleeves neatly folded at his elbow above a pair of skillfully ironed black pants.

"Wow, y'all are looking good." I gushed and moved to hug my dad whose eyes remained on my T-shirt the entire time. My brother gave me a friendly pat on my head and mom eyed my shirt with distaste.

"Mom, what did I do this time?" I asked in confusion.

"Why does your shirt have the number sixty-nine on it?" She asked in a non-comic way. Blake who was just noticing the numbers went behind dad's car and started laughing at me. Dad on the other hand grinned at me. When mom caught me grinning back at dad, she nudged him in annoyance.

"Jewel, just let her be." Dad opened the front door for mom who climbed in after letting out a sigh.

Blake and I sat at the back seat, while Dad drove us to our destination.

"69 huh?" Blake whispered into my ear and when I ignored him, he added:

"With Shawn?"

I blushed as dirty thoughts entered my head but I kicked my brother's shin in protest.

He cursed under his breath until the pain subsided and then he was back to teasing me about my T-shirt again.

Why didn't I just go back in and change into something else? I mused.

When we got to Shawn's house, his parents were already at the picket fence with Allie waiting to welcome us in. But Shawn was sadly absent.

What's up with him? I wondered as we all climbed of dad's car.

Mrs Stuart took a long look at my shirt as the other adults conversed. "Good evening, Mrs Stuart."

"Yes, Hazel, nice shirt."

I chuckled and turned to mom who shrugged before hugging her best friend.

While they were engaged, I sneaked into the house and searched for Shawn, he was nowhere around so I decided to check him in his room. It was a bold step I took. I tapped on his door and it swung open after a couple of knocks.

My breath hitched when my eyes fell on Shawn's bare chest. The neat lines that ran down to his perfectly shaped abs. He had tattoos, oh my gosh! Just kill me already.

"Are you coming in or what?" His voice was just what took my eyes from his chest and to meet his own blue irises.

"Yeah..."

He stepped aside for me to enter his room and then closed the door behind him.

Surprising, his room was in a much better state than yesterday. The only place that had clothes was his bed, the others had been cleared away.

With shaky steps, I moved to his bed and sat on it as I searched for words to utter. When my eyes lifted, Shawn was observing me closely from where he was at the book case.

"How are you? Hazel?"

My best friend's question came as a surprise but I opened my mouth to answer him.

"I feel terrible." I fell back on his bed. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him take out a white T-shirt from his drawer.

He pulled the shirt over his body. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"When we are done with lunch." I replied.

"Alright then." Shawn walked back to the door and held it open. "Let's go."

I gave him a final look before lifting myself off his bed and walking out of his room.

In as much as I'd have preferred to enjoy a wonderful time with the two families seating around the dining table, I didn't. In fact, it was the most torturous moment of my life. My parents however were unaware of this, they conversed with their friends without a care in the world. I wondered if they couldn't sense the tension hanging in the air. Worst thing was me sitting opposite Shawn, once my gaze wandered, they somehow landed on him and he seemed to be watching me closely.

I mumbled some words to no one in particular and slid out of my chair. No one took notice apart from Shawn and Allie who continued chowing down her food.

Shawn's room was the first place I could think of so I rushed there and crawled into his bed and lay there hoping to dispose of the strange feeling around me.

Laying there, I just wished yesterday never happened. If it hadn't, I would have been downstairs struggling over something with Shawn or arguing over silly things like what toothpaste brand sucks.

My thoughts got banished by the sound of a door opening. I didn't bother raising my head because I knew who was there.

"Haze?" Shawn called softly.

"Yeah."

He sat beside me and even if he couldn't see my face which was turned in the opposite direction, I smiled.

"You've been acting weird today, what's the matter?"

How could he be so ignorant?

" I..."

He touched my bare arm lightly. "Look at me..."

I rolled to my side and peered into my best friend's face. His face was filled with a lot of emotions, a great deal of questions only the both of us could answer, but we weren't ready yet.

Shawn sighed. "About yesterday, I'm terribly sorry for creeping you out like that."

"Shawn, I'm not expecting you to apologize..." I paused, lacking the courage to proceed.

"But..." Shawn added, making my face distort in confusion.

"But?"

Shawn glanced away from me. "Don't bother, just go ahead with what you were saying."

My neck began to ache owing to my awkward posture, so I propped my head up with my elbow till I was in clear view of my best friend.

"That feels so much better. So like I was saying before, I had this weird feeling after then and I couldn't stop thinking about it even up till the time we got here."

"Things really got awkward yesterday." Shawn muttered and lowered his head. "But I have an idea..." He lifted his eyes to meet mine.

"What?" I asked, wondering what his idea comprised of.

"Let's kiss..."

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