(song: "If You Let Me" - Sinead Harnett ft GRADES)

"Shawn, you are a kitten that thinks he is a lion, and Kaden you are a freshly ripened potato. And. . . action!"

The improv group gathered together in Casey's living room. The tables and counter-tops were littered with pizza boxes and discarded beer and soda cans from their small party. In the middle of Kaden trying to figure out how to become a potato and Shawn crawling around on the floor, the door pounded loudly.

Casey hated unexpected interruptions. He held up his hand. "Pause scene."

"Is it another pizza?" Shawn asked out of hope and hunger.

Casey opened the door to reveal an out-of-breath Natalie. Her overcoat was open enough for everyone to see her wearing a revealing dress and red heels. At first, Casey looked like he was trying to figure out if Natalie was a girl he'd hooked up with while drunk.

"I'm here for Kaden." She said before Casey got the wrong idea.

Kaden ended up stepping over Shawn and crawling over the people that sat on the couch instead of just walking around them. Despite the audible protests from the heads he pushed, he didn't let anything stop him from standing in front of Natalie.

Natalie panted hard and horribly with strange facial expressions. It really ruined the whole sex appeal she was trying to go for.

"He's gay. My boyfriend—well, now ex-boyfriend is gay."

"Yeah, I know. I've always known." Kaden said. "Why do you think he hates me so much? He is scared that I'm going to tell his parents. But I would never out him like that."

"Kaden, we're in the middle of improv class, could you and this young lady take—whatever this is to the bathroom please?" Casey reprimanded.

Kaden reached to take hold of Natalie's wrist and pulled her to follow him down the hallways into the bathroom. It was such a tiny bathroom with barely enough room for two people to comfortably stand in it. He closed the door and that drove Natalie to start prattling immediately.

"I am so sorry, Kaden. I should have listened to you. I must have looked like such an idiot to you. For four years I clung to someone who never showed any interest in me. Even if he had been straight the whole time, I deluded myself into living in an illusion."

After a full minute of listening to Natalie ramble, Kaden stepped forward and caused her to press her back against the wall. He was just tall enough where she had to look up to see his eyes. His hands reached out to lay his palms flat against the wall and lean forward. This placed her perfectly between his arms.

"You're not pulling away," Kaden said quietly with a warm smile.

Natalie's eyes fluttered a few times and she felt her stomach turn somersaults. She always had to behave a certain way in order to please Gardner, but now she was free to be who she was without judgment.

She laid her hands against his chest to feel the heat building there.

"Because I don't want you away from me. . ." She admitted with embarrassment. "You said Gardner would break my heart, but he didn't. He couldn't because I wasn't able to give my heart to him. Meeting you has turned my head upside down, I don't even know how I feel. I just know that I don't like the thought of you not being in my life right now."

Kaden dragged his palms down from the surface of the wall to her waist. He kept his motions slow and constantly checked her features to see if she was comfortable with what he was doing. She felt his fingers wrap against her mid-section and released a small sound with her quickened breaths.

She could remember when Kaden had advised her to initiate intimacy with Gardner. The red dress gave her confidence she normally wouldn't have.

Natalie tilted up her lips and pressed a small, timid kiss against Kaden's mouth.

He didn't resist the kiss, in fact, she ended up opening Pandora's box because of it. All at once, Kaden had lifted her up and set her down on top of the bathroom counter. A spray of hair combs, toothbrushes, and soap scattered onto the tiled floor.

Their innocent kiss had turned into a passionate delving lock of lips and tongues. Her one hand knocked over shaving cream and a razor from the counter while her other hand grasped the back of his neck.

Kaden wrapped her legs around him and caused one of her red heels to drop to the floor. The harder they kissed the more of a mess they caused in the small space. The towel ring was tugged and broken when Natalie arched her back and felt Kaden kiss her shoulder. The mirror had hand-prints smudged all over it.

She couldn't get enough of him. Every time their eyes met it fueled her to kiss him all over again.

Her lipstick was smeared all over his face and her makeup job was ruined. Mascara had turned her eyelids smokey and she had a large streak of red from her mouth up to her cheek like a clown's smile.

They caught sight of just how disheveled and ravaged they looked in the bathroom mirror and they couldn't stop laughing about it. It wasn't even that funny.

Kaden unlocked the bathroom door. He didn't even bother to clean off his face, he wore her kiss stains like they were badges of honor. Natalie clung to his side with her arms against him. The two of them entered into the living room where Shawn was pretending to be a sea-slug who wished to be a rapping thug.

All eyes turned to them and it didn't take a genius to realize that they'd made out in the bathroom. Quickly, those gathered lost interest and returned their attentions to Shawn's portrayal of the slug life.

"Come on, let's go." Kaden offered.

"Go where?" She asked curiously

"To my uncle's place."

Natalie hesitated a bit. "What if Gardner finds out we're there together?"

He knit his fingers with hers. "I'll deal with him, just stay with me."

There was no reason for her to even care how Gardner felt anymore. It was time she finally embraced what she wanted and she knew that was Kaden. She wanted him so much it felt all-consuming like fire.

The ride from campus felt torturous. They had to put aside their desires to climb on top of one another. Natalie leaned her head against his shoulder and watched the night sky through the windshield. Kaden tried to distract himself by changing the music on the radio and kissing the side of Natalie's head.

Time felt incredibly slow, even though they hadn't driven for more than fifty minutes at best. Kaden used his key to open the front door and the two of them were sent into a frenzy of kissing their way to his bedroom. Backs bumped against walls, shoes were tripped over and once they were in his room anything that blocked their path to his bed ended up on the floor.

Kaden's comforter was soft and inviting against Natalie's arms and legs. She crawled back against it and he laid in her arms with his face pressed against her clavicle. She gently stroked his hair and exhaled with relief.

It all just felt right to her.

"If it already wasn't blatantly obvious, I'd like to date you." Kaden nuzzled her with weariness.

"I'd like to date you too." She twirled a few strands of his hair between her fingertips. "You know the funny part? People will think we got our tattoos together on purpose."

"We can lie and say we did." He murmured against her skin.

That earned an amused smile from her.

"No, I don't want people to think we're one of those couples who assume they're going to be with that person forever so they get a tattoo with them."

"Too bad, the next tattoo I'm getting is going to be about you. Tattoos are not about getting something that lasts forever, for me the paper boat was about my ex."

It embarrassed her to think back on how they met. She had been so uptight during that whole experience. Thinking back on it, there really wasn't a big deal about someone admiring her tattoo enough to get one themselves.

"What do you mean?" She asked for clarification.

"Just seemed fitting. A weak-ass, sinkable paper ship, just like my relationship was with her."

"Then, maybe my next one will be about you too." She teased.

"See, now you're getting the point of a tattoo. It's not about trying to hold onto people, it's about memories. Those stay with you forever, no matter what happens."

"Maybe I'll get a tattoo of a kiss mark."

"Why would you want that?"

"Because. . .you're my first kiss."

Kaden made eye contact to determine if she was joking with him or not. "Wait. . .really?"

"I waited for Gardner since high school, Kaden. I didn't date other boys. I was really naive. So tattoo or not, I'm always going to carry you with me."

Gently, he pressed her down against the bedding. His lips softly grazed over her jaw-line to finally brush against hers with growing hunger. His actions took her breath away and against her mouth, he heatedly said, "Well then, let me help you make up for all those lost years. . ."