by Zara Rivas
Not knowing what came over him, Creston found himself closing the small distance that separated their bodies, his lips on hers. Never in his life had he ever felt so tempted to kiss a girl before, however, he knew he had wanted to kiss Essa since that time in Chris' room.
He had been studying her like a hawk throughout her speech a second ago and she had driven him crazy. He'd been watching the way she smiled, a teasing smirk dancing across her perfect features, and her eyes… Her heterochromial eyes had been smouldering – his chest seeming to burn at her slight touch. As his hands wandered from her face to getting lost in her dark locks, he noticed that Essa was unresponsive. Never one to resign, Creston slowed down a little and lost all train of thoughts when Essa finally reacted.
Heart thumping loudly in her chest, Essa found herself a little panicky as she moved her lips. She had definitely been caught off guard by Creston's advance but now that she was actually reciprocating his gesture – following his lead in the art of kissing – she realised she quite enjoyed the motion. Creston was being very gentle with her and she appreciated it.
Tilting his head slightly to an angle, Creston deepened the kiss, his tongue probing Essa's mouth. Although his mind was rather clouded and he was unclear of his surroundings, Creston felt his heart stop when Essa reacted with a groan.
Leaning into her, his body felt as if it was on fire as he continued to play with her soft, pouty lips. They continued to kiss passionately, and he was unaware of her straying hands. As minutes lapsed, Creston found himself pulling away for air. He watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open, his hands now framing her face. The two of them were flustered and at a loss of breath.
Taking in the image of her tousled hair and her reddened cherry lips, it suddenly dawned on him of what he had done. With his senses returning, Creston dropped his hands from Essa's face as if she was hot coal and stepped away from her silent figure. As his mind started clearing, he half cursed under his breath – the full impact of what had just occurred hitting him hard. Realising he'd been a fool for making a move on her; he grabbed her arm and led her back to civilisation.
No words were exchanged between them as he stalked down the hallway, the music getting louder. As flashbacks of the kiss they shared entered his mind, Spencer was convinced that he shouldn't have touched her. Hell! With Essa half drunk he felt he had taken advantage of her.
Passing the dance floor, he brought Essa back to the table where Chris and her other friends were seated – all of them laughing and drinking. Settling beside the rather silent form of Essa and a laughing Chris, Creston found that he was unable to meet Chris' questioning gaze as he picked up a bottle of beer, chugging down half its contents.
As Essa sat silently beside Soph, she rested her head on her friend's shoulder and closed her eyes. She was feeling rather slow right now, but Creston's kiss was still resonating within her. As her breathing evened, the loud music faded into the distance and she fell asleep.
Chapter Twelve
A head splitting headache was what greeted the dark headed figure as she sat up in bed, eyes squinting against the bright sunlight flooding through the closed blinds. Bringing her hands to her temples, she rubbed them trying to soothe the pain temporarily. Doing a few breathing exercises whilst her index fingers moved in a circular motion, Essa allowed herself a moment to recover before getting out of bed, heading for the kitchen for some panadol©.
As she literally dragged her feet down the stairs and into the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water before dawdling to the cabinets. Rustling through the medicine cupboard, she released a sigh of relief when she found the one thing that she thanked God for. Popping two pills into her mouth, she washed it down with a large glass of water whilst attempting to recall the events of last night. In all honesty, the previous night had been a blur; however Essa remembered downing various cocktails and immediately regretted her actions.
No longer trying to remember anything that had occurred at the bar, Essa rinsed her glass, deciding it was a little too early to be doing anything strenuous. Making her way into the lounge room, she was greeted with a messy sight - furniture was pushed over to one side and half the decorations were placed into boxes. Sighing, she moved back up the stairs, ready to suss out what was going on at home.
Ever since her father had returned for the remainder of his belongings, Ava Evans had taken an entire month off work, deciding to start paving the road in 'healing'. Erica had gone back to college and Essa was stuck at home with her mother who she had gotten along with better. She had reached equilibrium in her life, and the conversations between her and her mother no longer felt limited. Surprisingly, Essa had been able to share a lot of opinions and personal thoughts on specific subjects and it felt good to come home at the end of a long day and have a parent around.
Approaching the open doorway which led to her mother's bedroom, Essa leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest. With an inquiring expression etched across her features, her mother glanced up from the pile of clothes she was packing into a large black bag.
"Hello, dear," Ava Evans greeted, busy folding and shoving old clothes away. She had been active all morning, determined to change the interior of her home, her mind set that if she was to recover from her divorce, the house had to change to allow that.
"And what happened to the living room?" Essa queried.
"Just refurnishing, it's a good time for change."
Feeling the effects of the paracetamol taking effect, Essa relaxed a little, the throbbing in her head dimming.
"Had a good night?" Ava asked, and smiled when her daughter nodded. "Chris carried you up the stairs last night even though he was on wobbly feet himself. He had slept over but left earlier in the morning."
Seating herself on top of her mother's large, comfy bed, Essa breathed in deeply. "Was I that drunk last night?" She queried and half cringed.
Never in her life had Essa drank that much before. She had always been responsible, the person that took care of everyone else when they were intoxicated. However last night was a different tale and she knew what had pushed her over the edge. It was the feel of Creston's eyes on her that had made her continuously gulp down the alcohol that had been offered. Once she had reached her limit, she remembered that being drunk had stopped her from feeling the foreign emotions that coursed through her veins.
"Ah well, seeing as my baby girl doesn't usually get drunk often, you're off the hook. Besides, you probably have a killer headache which is pretty decent punishment." Ava voiced and smiled knowingly at her daughter. "Drink plenty of water and you'll survive," she remarked in an awfully chirpy tone which hurt Essa's head.
Groaning whilst getting to her feet, blue-green eyes averted to the packing form of her mother before heading back out the door. It was blatantly obvious that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so she walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth before going down to the basement for some well deserved painting time.
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Slender fingers smudged the grey-lead markings on the large piece of white paper. She had been drawing for the past hour now, busy sketching and adding tone to different areas of the landscape she had finished pencilling. The image she had drawn was of trees, hills and a huge waterfall. She had added water lilies and other wild plants whilst her mind reeled back to the events of last night.
At first Essa couldn't recall anything, but as she probed further into the recesses of her mind, flashbacks of the bar's restrooms were seared into her head. By now, Essa's hangover was returning but she persisted to grasp the knowledge she had forgotten. She remembered washing her face to sober up but the events after that were a bit of a blur.
There were specific images of a masculine figure, his black shirt half unbuttoned; her hands running through tendrils of soft hair. For some particular reason Essa couldn't seem to put a face on the dark figure but she remembered the feel of his lips against hers and more specificall
y, she recollected that she enjoyed the feel.
Feeling a headache coming on, the dark headed form ignored the feel, trying harder to remember the face of the person that kissed her. As their features started making itself visible in her hazy vision, recognition registered in her head as her pencil came clattering to the floor. Eyes wide and now frozen in place, the occurrence of the bar's happenings unfolded before her. Essa relived the way she had her hand on his chest, the way his hair felt, but most importantly the way his lips had burned hers…
Taking a while to snap out of it, Essa clapped both hands to her boiling red cheeks, clamping her eyes shut in humiliation. Of all things she had done when she was drunk she just had to make out with Creston Montgomery Spencer. And what was even more embarrassing was that she was sure her kissing technique had been amateurish considering she never had indulged in such an act before.
Inwardly cringing at the fact that she had just thought about her kissing technique, Essa got out of her chair, pacing up and down the room. Her heart was beating erratically and there was no doubt her face was tomato red. Breathing in deeply, she tried to rule out the probability of kissing Creston however deep down within her, she knew that it had happened. Unable to comprehend the emotions that were coursing through her, Essa was certain that part of her was overly embarrassed.
"Good morning Ginger Ale," echoed the masculine tone that belonged to Chris.
Lifting her head and snapping out of her reverie, Essa managed a weak smile.
"Geez, you don't look too well," the blonde stated, descending the few steps to close the distance between him and his childhood friend. "I decided to bring some brunch and spend Saturday together."
Nodding her head, and feeling thankful for having Chris, Essa pulled out a chair for Chris to sit.
"Sounds good to me," she breathed.
Falling into the offered seat, Chris ran a hand through his short blonde hair. "How you feeling? You were completely smashed last night which surprised the hell out of me considering you don't drink."
Reaching for her pencil on the floor, blue-green orbs couldn't meet Chris' blue ones. "It was a good occasion to drink." She replied lamely.
"Interesting…" Chris drifted, "I should get you drunk more often considering you haven't verbally abused me today. So I'm guessing you must be really hung over just like Creston." He remarked but didn't notice the slight pink tinge to Essa's cheeks.
"How's he?" Ess asked, feigning nonchalance.
Shrugging the blonde masculine figure smirked. "That guy must have a really bad hangover considering he never breaks our regular Saturday routine of hanging over at my place. Not to mention, he was the oddest drunk last night, went completely silent and just kept on sculling the beer."
Not knowing what to say, Essa sank her teeth into her lower lip. The information Chris had just revealed confirmed that her kissing Creston had been real. Not wanting to give the incident another thought, Essa dragged Chris by the arm, pulling him back up the stairs.
"Let's go for brunch!"
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Silence was what greeted Essa the moment she took her rightful seat in English class. Hell! For the entire day she had been well aware of the way Creston had been ignoring and avoiding her. It was Monday, and for the entire day of school an air of peace followed her everywhere which she wasn't accustomed to it. Sure it was nice to have back her peaceful life with Soph and Trish, however it didn't feel right.
She had spent today's lunch break in the cafeteria, an odd silence between her and her female companions whilst she occasional peered over to the 'soccer' table to find Creston deeply engaged with one of his swooning female fans. Thinking that she was just being paranoid, Essa had attempted to approach the situation in a casual manner, however the moment she found herself seated alone in English was when she knew that things between Creston and her had become serious.
As Friday came, and there was still no communication between her and Spencer, Essa knew that she had to 'man up' and confront him. She didn't like the awkwardness that had weaselled between them as well as the fact that Chris always had to make separate plans to accompany both her and Creston.
What also astonished Essa was that she had spent all her English classes this week with no annoying-devil-born Spencer pestering her. Even now as she sat in the final English class of the week alone, she couldn't comprehend the emotion. She had rocked up to class early and had taken a seat in the centre row of the room; the chair to her right was vacant. A part of her was hoping that Creston would just sit beside her today so she didn't have to confront him later on, however things hadn't worked out the way she had planned.
When Spencer did enter in his fashionably late manner, she had felt a sense of disappointment when he refused to look her way, settling for the front row seat – a chair he seldom visited. As much as she loathed saying it, it did hurt a little to know that it was her that he was running from. In all honesty the bicoloured orbed girl didn't want to admit that she had been affected by Creston's absence, though she knew that he did have an effect and it irritated her. Since when did he have an impact in her life? She had spent majority of her time despising him yet it appeared that she didn't hate him as much as she'd liked to.
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The moment the bell signalled the end of class was the moment Creston Spencer made a run for the door. It had been the worst week of his life, but somehow he managed to survive. He had spent majority of the week with his soccer team and other fawning females that agreed to every little thing he said. Those girls that were a part of his fan-club was just so boring compared to Essa who practically defied him at every opportunity. And yet, the one girl that seemed to intrigue him the most was the main reason for making his life hell in the first place.
Ever since he had kissed her in her drunken state he felt like such an asshole. He couldn't look at Chris properly, nor could he muster the strength to confront Essa. Hell! He wasn't even sure if the dark headed figure remembered the events.
Now trudging down the hallway, somebody had tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn and face the source. There standing before him in all her five feet nine inch glory was Essa Evans, the one girl that managed to get under his skin. Standing at his full height, Creston braced himself for the events that were to come…
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Essa asked, perfectly aware of the many glances from passerbies. Feeling self-conscious now, she decided a more private area would be suitable. Opening her mouth to inform Creston of a rendezvous, it appeared he had read her mind.
"I'll meet you at the ice-cream store," he stated and walked off leaving her behind.
Creston had been cool and straight to the point. There was no arrogant smirk or derogatory endearments and Essa realised that she had missed it…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two figures sat across from one another at a table located outside where the green grass of the park was visible. They had been sitting there silent for the past ten minutes; neither had spoken a syllable because they had no idea where to start.
Fidgeting with the melted ice cream in her cup, Essa lifted her gaze so that she was studying the way the muscle in Creston's jaw flexed and relaxed. He's eyes were averted elsewhere though Essa knew he that he had her undivided attention. Spotting him open his mouth to speak, she unconsciously held her breath, only to have Spencer close his mouth again. It frustrated her to no end since the Creston Spencer she knew was always full of smart, irritating comments.
Dropping her spoon, heterochromial eyes finally locked with stormy grey ones. "I'll start first," she muttered and was about to pour out the random sentences etched in her mind when Creston had interjected.
"Listen Ess," he began, "I have to apologize for whatever happened at the bar last week. I never intended to take advantage-"
Sighing, Essa didn't want to hear any more. "Whatever happened between
us was just a mistake Montgomery," she voiced, halting him in midsentence. "Although we can never take it back, or undo what has been done, however we can act like t never happened."
Comprehending her words, Creston didn't know how to respond at first. In all honesty he wanted to apologize for his advances on her, but he also planned on revealing the emotions he held for her even if it meant ruining his ego. He had had the entire week to contemplate the events between him and Essa and all in all it had come back down to how he felt and whether if he really did regret kissing her that night. And right this moment, it was evident that Creston didn't feel remorse for kissing her, but he felt guilty for making an advance on her whilst she was intoxicated.
Maybe it was the way he was brought up or maybe it was just his morals which made him the person he was today, but Creston knew that what he had done was wrong. To take advantage of a girl was what desperate males who wanted an easy lay would do, and for Creston, girls were never an issue so he never had to – and never would – stoop so low as to take advantage of a female. So when he did find himself pashing Essa that night, it made him sick in the stomach because he liked kissing her when she was drunk.