Lucas Handler

It takes a second for me to register what I'm doing. I'm currently devouring cherry laced lips that are so smooth they're likely listed as part of Smooth's definition in the dictionary.

These lips. These plump, luscious lips belong to none other than the woman I've enjoyed hating for the past fifteen years. A sexy, downright captivating woman who has starred in so many of my thoughts over the past few weeks - some annoyed, some angry, and some filled with wonder.

But that isn't the weirdest part of it all. If we flip over to Weird in our Merriam-Webster, we'll without a doubt find: Talia kissing me back. The delicious pressure against me, the way she leans her body in, and the nearly inaudible whimper she lets out, all point to one thing - she wants this kiss just as much as I do.

Our mouths move slowly. Low, but distinct sounds from the slickness of our lips against each other travel to my ears. Every neuron in my body is firing rapidly. If Talia's dance is a well-struck golf shot, this kiss is better than hitting a forged blade pure. My arms wrap around her waist while her fingers find their way to the back of my head. I want more. No, I need more.

Yet just as I'm about to deepen the kiss, the music finishes and the audience erupts into a roaring applause, forcing us to wake up from whatever heavenly-daze we're in.

Talia pushes her upper body off me, shock clearly etched into her wide eyes. We remained seated, frozen in place, and staring at each other, her hands still pressed against my chest.

The curtains draw together, leaving us both in darkness, a stark contrast to the beaming light shining on us just moments before. Claps from the audience still travel through the curtains yet my ears zero in on the shallow breaths coming out of us. What the fuck just happened? It was as if the golf ball ended up ricocheting off a cart and into the nearby pond. How in the hell did I take a swing like that?

Our eyes stay glued to each other, me trying to again wrap my head around what happened. Did I just kiss Talia? Or was it all a very vivid dream I had that bordered wet?

When Ana's voice hit my eardrums like a ball to the head, my eyes widen. "Pst. Talia, you guys need to clear the stage for the final bow."

Oh my God. I just kissed Talia.

Talia's head turns abruptly and when her hooded eyes open, she leaps off of me. I jump up from the seat. A tightness wraps around my lungs. I need air.

Looking down, I move to one side at the same time as Talia moves in front of me toward the opposite direction. We nearly bump into each other and both decide to move at the same time again. "Uh-um, sorry."

"No- all good. Um I'll just go that way," I say before scratching the back of my head without making any eye contact and without moving. If I look up, I don't know what else I'd be capable of doing. God, what did I just do? The other performers are making their way onto the stage, but my feet are glued to the ground.

"It was just a kiss," Talia whispers to me, or herself. I'm not sure.

I nod quickly and run a hand through my hair. "Right. Exactly," I say, whispering back, trying to convince myself. "For the audience."

"Right! Exactly. For the audience!" Talia is nodding rapidly. Seconds later all the performers are surrounding us and the curtains open back up.

I glance around. I didn't leave stage fast enough and I'm currently in the middle of a hoard of smiling women serenaded by a standing ovation. A young woman next to me clasps my hand and raises it in the air before she bows along with the line of women next to her. Oh, my God. I need to get out of here.

After bowing for sitting on a chair and getting an erection, I move as normally as I can off the stage, avoiding eye contact with the woman who is single handedly sending my nerves into a frenzy.

I swiftly make my way to the exit and out of the underground space, breathing rapidly. After looking around and trying to get my pulse back to human standards, I send a text to Kyle asking if he and the guys are still at the bar. Without waiting for a response, I make my way over. Even if they aren't there, I still need a drink. Pronto.

My mind races the whole way to the bar, trying to place the puzzle pieces of the evening together. Talia. Me. Her on me. Her lips on my lips. What in the hell is this night?

A sense of relief washes over me as I step into the small space of the dive bar. Kyle, Chance, and Noah are seated at a booth, sipping their beers, and eyeing the large plasma TV that's playing a Red Sox game. When they spot me, bright smiles paint their faces. "Hey, Lucas! Glad you could make it!" Kyle shouts across the room. A couple of heads turn in amusement from the mocha colored high-top tables scattered around the space.

"Hey guys," I say while taking a seat next to Chance in the four-seater booth. Hearing my voice is like listening to a replay of myself in an old video - nasal and weird. Lightness expands through my chest as I clear my throat and try to normalize my life as quickly as possible.

"Woah, you look like hell," Chance says with a smirk before the server pops by.

"Anything I can get for you, handsome?" the older woman asks.

"Bourbon. Neat. Make it a double, please."

My friends all give me curious looks. I simply ignore them and glance at the TV screen hoping some baseball would get my mind off the mind-blowing lap dance and kiss I just had with Talia. Yet, it doesn't seem to work as images of her body, her lips, and the hunger in her eyes keep playing repeatedly in my mind. With each loop of the reel, my stomach flutters and a tingling hot-cold sensation covers my skin. Fuck me, what did I do?

"Sooo, do anything fun tonight?" my cousin Noah asks from across the table.

I turn back to face the guys, whose wide, concerned eyes and raised brows make me laugh, releasing a little bit of tension in my shoulders. I'm not sure whether to tell them anything because they teased me about Talia before, but I'll hurl if I don't say it out loud.

The server places a glass of amber liquid in front of me and I quickly pick it up as if it would melt against the table. "I kissed Talia," I say before downing half of the strong liquor.

For a moment, my friends remain completely silent. Then, smiles and laughter are coupled with Chance's arm swinging around my shoulder and jostling me. "We fucking knew it."

"I fucking knew it," Kyle shouts. "Now pay up!"

"Alright, Lucas!" Noah adds.

I laugh and scrub my hand across my cheeks. What a turn of events this night had in store for me. I really didn't know what to expect when I went to the event. But what ended up happening was beyond anything I could've dreamt up. Talia and me? Kissing?

"How was it?" Chance asks. When my smile simply grows wider as a response, that revs the guys up even more. Chance shakes me vehemently again in excitement.

"Alright, alright. Everyone, calm down." I push Chance off of me and fix my collar. "It was just a kiss. It didn't mean anything." Even though I said the words, no one will believe me. The wide smile that is now taking over my face might be the tell sign.

"I'm so confused. I thought the last thing you said was you guys hated each other?" Noah leans on the table with eyebrows raised.

"I know, dude. Honestly, my mind is scrambled right now. It was so fucking hot I don't even know what to think."

"How hot are we talking? Like scale of one to Molly in the pool?" Chance asks.

"Molly in the pool? Really? That's the hottest thing you can think of?" Kyle responds.

I shake my head. "Guys, this was..." I pause to think of what could best describe the explosiveness that was kissing Talia and the only word that keeps coming to mind is, "Unreal."

"Looks like someone has caught the feels." Noah smiles before turning to Chance. "Feels means feelings."

"We know, Noah."

Feelings? Is that what this is? My smile falters slightly. Do I have feelings for Talia? On the one hand I can no longer deny this attraction I have toward her, yet on the other hand it's Talia - a woman who probably carries a poster with my picture on it and throws darts at it each evening.

"Watch, what if she seduced you just to mess with you?" Kyle laughs and tips his beer bottle back.

"Dude, that would be hilarious," Chance responds.

My stomach drops and it's as if one of the balloons lifting me toward the sky pops. "What?" I ask in a serious tone.

Kyle tilts his head back. "I'm kidding, Lucas. I don't think she'd do that."

"Wait, hold on. You don't think she kissed me back to mess with me right?" The crevice between my brows grows tighter. There's no way she could have faked that kiss. Yet the more I think about it, the more my skull is wanting to split open. That golf ball to the head might have done some damage.

"Lucas. Come on, I was kidding! I honestly think you guys are perfect for each other with what you've told us about her and from what I've seen during meetings. Seriously I don't know how you've managed to wait this long to kiss her. The last meeting I saw you practically undressing her with your eyes when she told off Stevie for something stupid he'd said."

I throw back the rest of my whisky and slam the glass down. Kyle may have been kidding, but doubts still explode like unwelcome dust through my mind. All I know is I want to test out this theory and kiss her again. And again. And again.