I didn't respond.

Instead, I pressed myself into him, pulled his head down and let the way my lips devoured his speak for itself.

His arms squeezed, then tentatively, he ran fingers along my spine. Licked my lips, silent askance for entry. Hesitantly, I parted my mouth, the sudden thought striking me that thiswasmyfirstkiss.

My head spun then, and I stumbled away from Emer, eyes wide and heart pounding a mile a minute. His hand grasped my wrist, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths.

Around us, the song melted into another, and a frantic energy still ran through the crowd, which was either oblivious to us or didn't care. Certainly, there were other couples among the audience in more progressive stages of PDA, so I would place my bets on the latter.

Emer stared at me, his mouth still parted, his eyelids at half-mast. I squeezed my eyes shut, taking deep, measured breaths.

When I peeled my eyes open, Emer had drifted closer to me, his gaze more intense, hand drifting up to brush against my collarbone.

"Why'd you stop?" His voice was low, but with our close proximity, I heard him loud and clear.

"I got... overwhelmed." Did I tell him it was my first kiss? Was it his? Oh God, oh God, oh God. We shouldn't have done this in such a public place.

And I wanted to do it again. Take it further, maybe a little too far.

The space between his brows creased. Worried. "I'm sorry, was it too soon? Do you feel uncomfortable or - "

"No, no! Nothing like that," I hastily reassured him, which made him crack a small smile and some of the tension leave him.

"Do you want to continue watching, then?"

Cheeks flushed, I shook my head, and with a grin that shot sparks through me, he started pushing through the crowd back the way we'd come, grip never slackening from my hand, fingers hopelessly intertwined.

"Excuse me - Excuse me - Sorry, carry on kissing - Excuse me - "

We finally made it out of the throng, and Emer weaved his way quickly back to the parking lot we'd arrived in. Although we were surrounded by vehicles, the place was devoid of people save us, the music left behind.

Wrapped up in the quiet, with no other soul in sight, I could believe we were the only ones in a barren world. If you ignored the pesky cars ruining the illusion.

Emer drew me to him, cradling my head gently in his hands. "Now can I kiss you again, Em?"

"Just do it."

His head came down, and I let my eyes flutter closed, a smile already forming on my lips.

***

We returned to the music festival, which was still taking place at full speed, seeming to have gotten more crowded even.

Emer's hand held mine tight. "I don't want to lose you in the crowd," he'd explained, but the grin on his face told me otherwise.

"Sure."

We made our way around, and since darkness had started to settle over the place, a surprisingly large number of neon shirts jumped out at me.

And a surprisingly large number of half-dressed, beer-bellied men were stumbling around. One teetered up to us, and Emer glared at him, shoving me behind him, but I nearly fell over giggling when the man whispered to Emer "Call me" and collapsed at his feet.

We hurried away.

The aroma of pizza wafted up my nostrils, and following my stomach, I found the source of it. A stall crowded with people. Dragging Emer over, we queued up, and I waited impatiently for a good ten minutes before finally reaching the front of the line and buying a scrumptious-looking slice of cheese pizza.

I was but a girl of simple tastes.

I bit into the pizza, and heard a moan. Had it come from me? Judging by the look of amusement on Emer's face, I would say yes. But that's okay, I was too busy stuffing my face to be mortified.

"Hey, aren't you gonna share?"

I shook my head, sticking my tongue out at him. "You should've bought your own."

"Why buy my own when I can share yours?"

I impaled him with a frosty look, which he laughed out loud at. "Don't get between me and my pizza."

He held his hands up in laughing surrender. "All right, all right."

We wandered around more, until we stumbled upon a long line of people waiting for entrance to a concert, a buzz charging the air. I looked askance at Emer.

He eyed the line dubiously. It was long. "Who's performing?"

I shrugged, swallowing the last of my pizza and licking my fingers. "Do you wanna go? Or should we - "

I froze.

Shit. What's the time now?

Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I turned it on, only to have 10:23 glow up at me.

So late already? What the hell!

Okay, fine, it wasn't that late, but considering how long the drive back would take and the fact that I hadn't told my parents where I'd gone, I'd have to haul my ass back home, pronto.

Already, three missed calls glared up at me. And more than twice that number of texts, which I didn't dare open and read.

"Em?"

I gulped, turning to Emer. "I have to go. My parents will kill me." After that whole witnessing-a-death incident, I was pretty sure they were already plotting my own murder.

"All right, let's get you back home. I'm sorry I kept you out so late."

I waved a dismissive hand. "It's not your fault. I lost track of time."

We hurried back to the parking lot, which wasn't as empty as before. In fact, more cars seemed to fill the place. Probably more people getting here to see whoever was about to perform. That person must be big.

Never mind about that, I could YouTube the performance the next day. Right now, I had to focus on getting home and hopefully I would be in enough of a piece to actually YouTube the performance.

Once we were both seated in the car, Emer hit the gas, and we were off. I stared down at the phone I fidgeted with in my lap.

A few minutes in, while bumping along a gravel road, Emer snuck a glance at me. "Em, can we talk?"

"About what?" I'd been distracted, debating whether or not to call my parents, and if so, which parent I should call. Which would be more lenient on me. But now my head snapped up.

"About... you know what." He was worrying his lip now.

The kiss. Right. Or should I say, kisses.

I crossed my right leg over the left. Felt uncomfortable, then crossed my left leg over my right instead. Still uncomfortable. I recrossed them.

"Em..." He cleared his throat. Snuck another quick peek at me. "I want you to know that that was my first kiss. And I'm glad it was with you."

I froze. Scarcely dared breathe. I hadn't realized I'd been thinking it before, but now that he'd said it... The thought of him having kissed another girl filled me with unexplainable jealousy, and maybe it was petty of me, but I was relieved. And ecstatic.

"Really?" I finally managed to get out. "You seemed to know what to do."

He grinned over at me. "Shouldn't it be instinctual? But you were... magnificent."

I could hear the question he didn't voice, hanging in the air. Was it your first kiss too?

I blew out a breath, a small smile tipping the corners of my lips up. Keep the mystery alive, as my teacher had once said. Didn't deign him an answer to his unasked question.

"Thank you so much for today," I said instead. "It's more fun than I've had in so long."

"You're welcome."

I settled against the seat, feeling myself relax, eyes closing. The smooth movement of the car as it rolled along, the soft breaths of Emer filling the air and wrapping around me - my mind was getting foggy with sleep.

Until the insistent vibrating of my phone jerked me awake, making my eyes snap open. Rude.

It was Mom calling me.

I tensed, staring at the phone shaking in my hand. Should I pick up? Shit, I don't know, she's usually the more lenient one. But what do I say?

"Em?" Emer flicked his gaze to my phone.

I bit down on my lip, then deciding it would probably be better if I answered the call and assuaged her worries, I thumbed down on the accept button.

"Emerson!" Mom's voice exploded in my ear.

"Oh, hi." Was casual good? Casual was good, right? Yeah, casual. So her antennae didn't pick up on my worry from the other side of the line.

"Where have you been? Do you know what time it is? Come home now." In the background, I heard a muffled voice - Dad? - then Mom saying, distantly, "No, it's not a ransom call."

Now a male voice filled the line. Dad's. "I give you ten minutes to get home and explain yourself."

Ten minutes? Well, guess I was good as dead.

"Um..."

"What?"

"I won't be able to make it in ten minutes. I'm kind of... not in town." There. It was out. Now I held the phone away from my ear, preparing for an outburst.

"What the hell? Where are you?" Dad demanded. The lack of a filter on his mouth made me wince. I was in trouble.

Oh, so they would let their child wander around in the middle of the night, and not be concerned when said child had a man murdered right beside her, but God forbid their child come home late.

Come, I clap for your parenting skills.

"Um..." I glanced out the window, but all I saw was darkness and road whizzing by. "I'm on the road?"

I could feel Dad's glare through the phone, making me want to shrink into myself.

Emer murmured, "Probably about twenty-five from the expressway, then another twenty back to your house.

"Who's that with you?"

Shitshitshit. "Um, a friend."

Emer glanced at me, then quickly looked away.

"What are you doing, Emerson?" Dad's voice veiled danger.

"Sorry, losing the connection!" I gurgled, trying to simulate static. "Sorry - have to - go!" With Dad yelling protests in my ear, I hurriedly hung up, then slumped against my seat back and powered my phone off.

Emer arched a brow. "That was interesting. Why don't you just tell them?"

I grimaced inside. Shook my head vehemently. I didn't know either. Why wouldn't I tell them about Emer? God, they'd be overjoyed that I finally had a boyfriend. No, no, a friend who was a boy. Look, their little girl's all grown up and has a friend besides Lez! They would wipe tears from under their eyes.

But something was holding me back, restricting the words from escaping my throat.

Pressing my lips firmly together, I looked away, out the window. Hands clenched in my lap.

We drove in silence.

[A/N: The media is a medley of Dangerous Woman and Into You performed by Ariana Grande at the BBMAs!! It's just amazing. This can be improved a lot, but whatever. And for now, toodle-oo while I have my mac and cheese! ^_^

Side note: 1.12k!! Thank youuu and if you've actually read this far, WOW THANK YOU]

(I might update tomorrow!!)