Kiss and Cry

by Ramona Lipson

  I knew what I should do, I had to push Adam out of my head and focus on healing and making this alleged partnership with Ryan work.

  Halloween Dance

  Tara picked me up a half hour before the dance started. Her short blond hair was disguised by a wig that was long and brown. Her blue eyes remained unchanged with the exception of the bold colours she used on her lids. Her eye lashes were darkened, emphasizing their beautiful length and her dress colour was a Royal Blue making her look the noble part. Her natural beauty was highlighted in this costume, I hardly recognized her!

  She froze the second I sat in her car, “Oh.My.God, Dalia! You look amazing! Everyone’s going to be throwing themselves at your feet tonight!”

  “I highly doubt that,” I said self-consciously. “My makeup is too light, the long blond wig isn’t sitting on me properly, and the light blue dress makes me look chunky.”

  “You’ll see,” she grinned, “lose the wig, your own hair looks better.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Totally!” I took the wig off and started fishing through my purse for a brush. When I found it I started mindlessly running it through my hair, “Do you think Adam will be their tonight?”

  “I thought you’re mad at him,” she said shortly.

  “I am,” I admitted lamely.

  Tara started squealing and tapping her hand against the steering wheel with excitement, “I have major gossip! Sierra’s leaving Carter tonight! Jeremy asked her out, and she’s in love with him. Carter isn’t going to know what hit him! He’s going to be on the market before the end of the night, and I’m going to snatch him up! He’s going to be all mine!”

  “Could you be more confident? It might ruin your friendship with Sierra if she see’s you with him.”

  “She’s the one breaking up with him! So our golden rule doesn’t apply in this case.” Tara reminded me. “By the way she says she has something to show me!”

  “What?”

  “I have no fucking clue! Do you think Carter is going to like the way I look?”

  “What guy wouldn’t?” I said honestly.

  She pulled into the parking lot and we played music for twenty minutes so we wouldn’t be the first ones at the dance.

  “Do you think Adam will be bringing anyone here?”

  “Harper is out of the picture, so who’s he going to bring? I think he’ll come stag.”

  “Are you ready to go in?”

  “Never more!” she said energetically.

  The cafeteria was dark with the only light being a strobe light in the centre of the ceiling. White strings of cotton-like moss off willows was hanging everywhere. Skeletons with blood and amputated body parts were scattered all over with the exception of on the dance floor. Against three walls were little round tables that sat two with fake candles on them. There was also a loser wall that had a row of chairs for dateless people who wanted to be asked to dance. That was where I would probably be spending the majority of my time. ‘Thriller,’ by Michael Jackson was playing when we walked in. Everything was already in full swing.

  “Tara yelled into my ear,“Loser wall?”

  “No, let’s get a table!”

  She grabbed my wrist so we wouldn't get separated and started leading me to the opposite side of the cafeteria,”Here?”

  “Sure,” We took the last vacant table. “Do you see Carter?”

  “No, you?”

  “No.”

  “Do you see Adam?”

  “No, you?”

  “No,” That’s when Jax spotted us. Carter was dressed like the guys on Sons of Anarchy. I kicked Tara under the table, “Look at Jax, he’s headed in our direction!” Tara’s eyes lit up. Her wishes were coming true! We watched him strolling in our direction, expecting him to stop in front of her, but he didn’t. He stopped in front of me. His hand was stretched out, he was inviting me to dance. I was floored by his gesture. I looked at Tara who coolly gave me a nod of encouragement.

  Eric Clapton came on and suddenly I was finding myself pressed right up against tall lanky Carter with his arm wrapped tightly around my waist. He whispered in my ear, “You look beautiful tonight.” A chill went down my spine as his breath tickled the sensitive part of my ear.

  “Thank you,” I said politely.

  His hand started gliding down my back. I didn’t like where this was going considering Tara was all into him. “Are you forgetting Sierra?” I reminded him. He shouldn’t have needed reminding. He replaced his hand back in its original spot, “I just can’t get over how beautiful you look,” he explained.

  I closed my eyes, wanting to feel the music when I heard Adam’s voice, “Do you want to fuck off now? With friends like you,” he complained. Carter stopped dancing with me immediately and backed away. The animosity between the two was palpable.

  Standing before me was Juice from ‘Son’s of Anarchy,’ shaved head and all. He was wearing his leather jacket and faded blue jeans that sat low on his waist. He looked intimidating even to me. He had fake tatt’s on his freshly shaved scalp.

  I was about to walk away but he grabbed my wrist authoritatively and said, “Dance with me.”

  “Let go of my wrist,” I demanded, trying to free myself from his grasp.

  He held me tighter,“Not until you listen to what I have to say.” I tried yanking myself free one last time to no avail. His grip around my wrist only tightened.

  “Once dance,” he insisted.

  I surrendered to him knowing I wasn’t going to get away. At least, Carter was freed up to dance with Tara now. He took me into his arms and any resolve I mustered to stay away from him disappeared into thin air.

  His voice was deeper and more gravelly than before, “I’m sorry for the other day,” he apologized. His warm breath sent another shiver down my spine. I never knew my ears were so sensitive.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “It’s your breath on my ear, it gives me the shivers,” I admitted.

  “Oh, it does, does it?” he whispered again. This time he took the tip of my earlobe into his mouth and began caressing it with his velvety tongue. He looked rebellious and sexy, and it was so hot, I let out a gasp. He continued licking my earlobe and nipping at it as his warm breath surrounded the sensitive area.

  “I don’t want to see you in anyone’s arms but mine,” he whispered possessively.

  “Are you asking me to go steady with you?” I teased.

  “No, I’m telling you,” he corrected. He took hold of my wrist and started leading me to Tara. When we got to where she was dancing with Jax (Carter) on the dance floor, he said to her, “I’m taking your friend to my car, it’s the black mustang in the parking lot.”

  “Sure,” she said winking at me.

  We left the cafeteria, the music could be faintly heard behind us. It was dark out, the parking lot was full. We didn’t even make it inside his car. He backed me up against it and started pressing himself against me. His lips began pressing against mine demandingly. He reached for the back door, “Get in and lay down,” he bossed.

  I did as I was told. I laid down on his cold black leather interior and felt the weight of his body as he slowly lowered himself on top of me. I lost my breath as he stole my air, kissing me wildly, reducing me to gasping for breath between his long sensuous kisses.

  I ran my fingers over his shadow of a mohawk, “What did you do to your hair?” I complained.

  “You don’t like it?” he asked between kisses.

  “It makes you look bad ass,” I commented.

  He pulled away from me for a second and stared into my eyes. He took my hand and intentionally glided it over the area of his head that was bald and said to me, “I want you to be like this when I take your virginity,” he ordered. Shockwaves of excitement coursed through my body. Suddenly I wanted my virginity to be his for the taking. I would do whatever he wanted me to.

  “Okay,” I breathed. “I’ll do anything for you,” I admitted. He slid his hand down my ba
ck unzipping my gown lowering it off my shoulders before expertly unclasping my bra, freeing my breasts. The cold air immediately hardened my nipples. He took my breast in his mouth and started suckling it. I listened to the noises he made and closed my eyes concentrating on his velvety mouth teasing my nipple. I started grinding against him, panting. My mouth was parched by the time he covered it again with his own, kissing me. My breasts were left out in the open and he started pinching and tugging at my nipples as he continued kissing me.

  He stopped suddenly. I didn’t know what to think. Did he see Harper? “Did I do something wrong?” I asked.

  He sat up and I noticed all the windows were fogged up, “We need to stop while I still can. We should get back,” he suggested. He waited for me to dress, helping me with the zipper before we made our way back to the cafeteria.

  When we walked into the school, Carter’s back was turned to us and Sierra was sitting on a stair. We caught the tail end of his sentence, “It can’t be over.”

  Adam looked at me when he heard Carter’s words. “Carter, get the fuck back in the gym,” Adam goaded.

  “Not now man,” he said without turning.

  “We better leave them. I’m sure they need to talk.” I encouraged. I took the lead by opening the door while Adam was staring at the couple. I locked onto Tara right away. She was dancing with Jeremy whose hands were all over her. She grinned at me and then pulled away from him. It was definitely bathroom time.

  She practically skipped over to where I was standing and pulled me away from Adam, “I need to go to the bathroom,” she excused us. We left Adam and went to the loo far away from the cafeteria but on the same floor for privacy reasons.

  Once the door closed behind us I told her, “Adam kissed me in his mustang!”

  “Cool. How was it? You’re right about his hair, what the fuck did he do to it? It takes a lot of balls to shave it that ugly.”

  “It’s so ugly it sort of makes him look hotter. I bet you it was Carter’s idea. Should I break-up with him until it grows out?”

  “Do you still like him, looking like that?”

  “Oh ya,” I said, “he’s so fine!”

  “What did you do in the car?“

  “We snogged. He took off the top part of my dress, and sucked my boobs! I will tell you, my earlobes are so sensitive! All this time, I’ve only been using them to listen to people. I didn’t know how friggin hot it can be to have someone nibble on them! He said he wanted my snatch to be like the top of his head when he takes my virginity!”

  “We can do something about that. Mines already done,” commented Tara.

  “Sure, I’m in!”

  “Sierra’s breaking up with Carter right now!” I updated.

  “Get out, how do you know?”

  “We walked passed them on our way back to the cafeteria. Carter was saying,’it can’t be over.’ Did she show you what she wanted to show you?”

  “Not yet, I haven’t seen her.”

  “Maybe she will look for you after she’s finishes breaking up with Carter. Have you seen Harper?”

  “Yes,” Tara said bitterly. “Skank is dressed like Avril Lavigne, she’s hanging off Jeremy like some lovesick puppy. I wanted to hook up with him before I started dating Carter, but it’s not working out that way.”

  “You like Jeremy?”

  “I thought you knew.”

  “More than Carter?”

  “I’m not sure, I’ll have to try both flavours. I’ll tell you which one I like after I’ve tasted them!”

  “You better get back out there and be there for Carter.”

  “Okay, How’s my makeup?”

  “Never better, go on!”

  When we got back ‘Timber’ by Pitbull was playing and we ran onto the dance floor shaking our booties. We danced a few more times before the last slow song of the night was announced. Adam stole me away from Tara leading me to an open spot in the corner of the dance floor, Harper was hanging off Jeremy and Tara was in Carter’s arms.

  ‘100 Years’ came on from Five for Fighting. He took me into his arms and I felt safe and protected. You could hardly call what we were doing dancing. We were just standing on the dance floor making out. In my heart of hearts, I knew our happiness was short lived. Once I was back in training, I wouldn’t have time to spend with him anymore.

  Adam offered to take me home. He dropped me off a block from my house, and when I was safely tucked away in my warm bed, Tara debriefed me via text messages.

  Double Date

  “Put that phone down and come eat your breakfast before it gets cold!” ordered mom. When skating stopped, family meals took off like wildfires. My own injury snared me into these breakfast and dinner meetings my parents which were used for strategizing my to-be gold medal win at the Olympics. Mom went on and on about how cute Ryan is and how we are going to become the perfect unbeatable couple. She was astonished that I never met him before at any of the competitions even though we were competing on the same team. She kept saying, how pleased I would be when I finally met him.

  “Just a second, I’m texting Tara.” The smell of bacon and toast were beginning to make my mouth water. Mom placed dads dish in front of him, he had a full breakfast with eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice. I texted Tara:

  Dalia: GG (GG is our short form for gotta go.)

  Mom placed my dish if you could call it that in front of me. It had the tiniest scoop of eggs I’d ever seen and a child’s portion of orange juice, “Where’s the rest of it?” I asked sarcastically.

  “Your mom and I noticed you’re putting on weight since you’ve been off the ice. We’re reducing your portions until you go back. We don’t want you to become a heifer!”

  “Dad you’re so charming!” He was Simon Cowell’s twin in the looks and wit department without the British accent, money or ear for music.

  “We’re just protecting you,” mom sided with dad.

  “Now that we know when you’re cleared to skate, we’ve taken the liberty of inviting Ryan and his mother over next Sunday for Thanksgiving dinner so the two of you can meet. You start practice the following Tuesday 7:00 a.m.”

  “Which arena? Who will coach us?”

  “His arena, his coach.”

  “Hardly sounds fair,” I complained.

  “Both have reputations that precede them,” Dad explained.

  Mom started clearing my dishes away, “How was the dance last night? I didn’t hear Tara’s car drop you off.”

  “It was okay,” I answered casually. The image of Adam’s facial expression when he said he wanted my virginity flashed in my mind, giving me shivers of excitement.

  “Well, you should make the most of it, because after Thanksgiving, your mom is going to have you on lockdown. You will be eating, drinking and sleeping school and skating,” dad warned for the gazillionth time. He was getting a kick out of my pain and suffering.

  Mom rolled her eyes like we shared a secret from dad or something, “Don’t listen to him Honey, after Thanksgiving, your life is going to be worse than lockdown, it’s going to be more like prison slash boot camp!”

  “Great, Bring it on!” I said sarcastically, like it already wasn’t. I couldn’t leave the house fast enough. Grabbing my jacket and bag, I bid farewell to my wardens and headed out. It was starting to get cold outside and there was frost on the grass but not on the windshields yet. Tara and Sierra were waiting patiently in the driveway to take me to school.

  I opened the back door and slid onto the leather seat without greeting them. “Your mother and father were hounding you again weren’t they?” Tara asked intuitively. She glanced at me in the rearview mirror before running her fingers through her hair trying to comb through it.

  “Their incessant,” I complained. “I would like to get up once in the morning and NOT hear about Ryan. I hate him, and I haven’t even met him yet. As far as my parents are concerned he walks on water.”

  “When are you meeting Ryan? Adam doesn’t mind y
ou skating with a guy?” Sierra’s mischievous smile was hard to miss.

  “My parents invited Ryan over for Thanksgiving. As far as Adam is concerned, I think he’s okay with me skating pairs. I told him. I assume he realizes it’s with a guy. I think he’s just too confident to care. What bothers me is that I just found out I’m switching to Ryan’s club and changing coaches to HIS coach. He doesn’t have to endure any changes, I’m the one getting uprooted. It’s totally not fair!”

  “How did he swing that? I’d be complaining if I were you.” Tara advised.

  “I did, like it did anything. Again, the guy walks on water.”

  A phone chirped and nobody knew who’s it was. We all went digging through our bags to see who’s it was, it turned out to be mine.

  Adam: Tonight, Let’s double with Carter & Tara.

  Dalia: Sounds great. Can we invite Jeremy & Sierra?

  Adam: Sure! Fucking guy doesn’t stop talking about her.

  Dalia: Great, Where do U want 2 meet?

  Adam: I’ll pick U up?

  Dalia: My wardens won’t be impressed? Starbucks.

  Adam: Wardens?

  Dalia: Mom & dad

  Adam: Ok Starbucks it is, 7?

  Dalia: Sure.

  The mood lightened in the car significantly after we were all ensured a date.

  We arrived at Starbucks before the guys. The lineup was literally out the door, so we grabbed a table and waited for it to dissipate.

  Sierra was dressed to kill in a black mini dress just barely covering her red g-string underwear. I had the misfortune of catching an eyeful when she was reaching in the backseat for her purse. I was tempted to give her a wedgy but feared my fingers would slide into places unknown and wisely decided against it.

  Tara on the other hand looked more demure. Her dress landed centre thigh after she tugged it down an inch or two. It would stay like that until she did something like take a step or breath, and then it would ride right back up again. Her underwear had about three square inches more fabric than Sierra’s thong, if she was lucky.