How to Convince a Boy to Kiss You

by Tara Eglington

  Kai turned his head to the camera again. ‘If you’re the girl and want to amp up the sexy factor, you simply move your hand from his waist to his butt. This works well if you’re the guy too.’

  Kai cheekily ran his hand down to the assistant’s derrière. She gave a giggle.

  I was so not ready for any of this. Hayden didn’t think he could grab me in inappropriate places during our third kiss, did he? He couldn’t!

  As Kai moved in for more intense kissing, the NAD and his entire support group came bustling into the lounge. I frantically dropped my hand from my mouth and lunged at the stop button, but instead of pausing, the video skipped back. I watched in horror as Kai groped the girl all over again, his detailed instructions blaring through the room. The sound level was ridiculous. Why hadn’t I worn headphones? More obviously, why hadn’t I taken the laptop up to my room?

  I shut the lid in an attempt to pretend the playback had never happened, but the faces of the NAD and the group made it clear they’d seen and heard everything. You could have buried me and carved on my tombstone ‘Death by embarrassment’. I felt like my blush would be forever burnt into my cheeks, like the ‘A’ from The Scarlet Letter.

  What was the NAD doing home so early? I looked up at the clock and saw that it was 4 pm. I’d spent hours hanging on Kai’s every word!

  ‘Aurora …’ The NAD sounded as awkward as I felt. I saw his gaze go to my ink-covered hand.

  ‘YouTube is a great platform for learning,’ Primrose said encouragingly.

  ‘Evidently,’ the NAD said, opening the laptop and looking at the long list of links on making out. ‘Though you want to make sure you’re learning the right things from it. Things appropriate for your age.’

  ‘The decision to embark on a journey of physical intimacy is not one that should be made without significant consideration,’ Echo said solemnly, sitting on the floor and crossing her legs lotus-style. ‘The bonds that come from joining at a cellular level can be long-lasting. This is what makes it immensely painful for individuals if the relationship terminates.’

  OMG. They couldn’t possibly think I was looking for advice on anything more than kissing, could they?

  Igneous let out a shaky sigh. Please god, don’t let him relay any memories of joining at a cellular level.

  ‘Young priestesses must be conscious of their choices involving energy exchange,’ Echo added.

  I stared at her blankly. Priestesses? I got a vision of Jelena, Cass, Sara and Lindsay all in long velvet capes, à la The Mists of Avalon.

  ‘What Echo’s trying to say,’ Dad’s voice was super serious, ‘is that there’s no need to rush things. I’d like to think you and Hayden are sensible enough to realise that.’

  ‘Dad, I can assure you I’m not rushing into anything,’ I blurted out. The heat in my cheeks became a full body blush. I’d be lucky if I didn’t break out in hives from undue stress. ‘I thought this was a kissing video. Kissing. Nothing else. I barely even know about that level of intimacy, let alone anything else — which is why I’m YouTubing it. I’m not contemplating any type of energy exchange.’

  ‘She’s a wise one, this girl,’ Primrose said, joining Echo on the floor.

  Dad looked at me carefully. ‘Okay, honey. Well, you know you can always come to me for advice. I trust Hayden to do the right thing by you, but if you’re ever uneasy that things are moving too fast —’

  ‘Things are moving really, really slow,’ I cut in. ‘Like super slow. I’m talking snail’s pace. Or maybe sloth’s. Whatever moves slower! Anyway, I’m late to meet Cassie. We’re having coffee. Be back later!’

  ‘You might want to wash your face, honey!’ the NAD called after me as I dashed out of the room.

  I looked in the bathroom mirror. Blue ink was smudged across my nose, cheeks, lips and chin. I looked down at my hand and saw that my makeshift drawing was blurred. I had obviously been less precise with my lip placement than I’d thought. Why hadn’t I used a permanent marker? Or more obviously, why had I drawn a face at all? Sometimes I really wondered at the spectacular efforts I made to set myself up for extreme mortification.

  CHAPTER 10

  ‘So, what did everyone get up to yesterday?’ Jelena asked as we all headed over to the arts block for our early Monday art unit.

  I stayed quiet. I really didn’t want to relay in detail how the NAD’s support group had sprung me playing tonsil hockey with my own hand.

  ‘Sunday lunch with Tyler’s family,’ Lindsay said. ‘Same old, same old.’

  ‘Let’s skip the latest Tyler saga,’ Jelena said, arching a brow. ‘It’s getting tiresome.’

  Sara gave Jelena a look. ‘You know, as Lindsay’s friend, you could at least feign support.’

  ‘Lindsay knows I’m here for her,’ Jelena replied. ‘As in, here when it comes to action-orientated discussions — i.e. what can she do to improve her situation? She might want to upgrade to a new model. It’s like a mobile phone — maybe the Tyler model worked fine a few years ago, Lindsay, but now it doesn’t have the functions you’re after.’

  Lindsay’s mouth dropped open.

  ‘Maybe you want a Tyler 2.0,’ Jelena continued. ‘Savvier, sleekier, quicker to process your requests. You know Tom Hart’s single now? With those abs and that smile, he’s like a Tyler version 6.0.’

  ‘OMG, Jelena.’ Sara made a ‘stop now’ gesture. Lindsay was looking more and more bewildered with every suggestion Jelena made.

  ‘I’m trying to help her!’ Jelena said. ‘This is about Lindsay taking responsibility for her own life and doing something, not droning on.’

  ‘I can see you have a point about taking control of your romantic destiny,’ I said, ‘but I don’t think a mobile phone is the best metaphor for a personal relationship.’

  ‘Love is so beyond the realm of a touch screen,’ Cass said dreamily.

  ‘Um, what about those hardcore iPhone freaks?’ Jelena replied. ‘They line up for days in snow and rain to buy the new version. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. My metaphor is spot on.’

  ‘Well, then you can understand the complex emotions that go with discarding the original model,’ I said.

  ‘I know Tyler inside out,’ Lindsay said. ‘I don’t know if I want to declare him defunct.’

  ‘You see?’ Jelena said. ‘It’s doing you no good to sit around playing should I/shouldn’t I. I’ll wait till you come to a decision and then I’ll wholeheartedly support you.’

  ‘Well, my Sunday was spent lying in the hammock reading Capturing a Cowboy,’ Sara said. ‘It’s by the same author as To Tame a Texan. She’s the queen of crafting spine-tingling chemistry. I had to force myself not to skip ahead to the part where Jeremiah and Georgia-May have to hide under an overhanging rock shelf after he rescues her from bandits.’

  ‘I’m sorry, but there’s no way someone called Jeremiah can be hot,’ Jelena said. ‘It’s like something straight out of The Beverly Hillbillies. You do not want to go lip to lip with a guy who eats roadkill.’

  ‘Well, Jeremiah is hot.’ Sara feigned a swoon. ‘He’s got sinewy muscles and eyes the colour of Colombian coffee beans. Plus, he doesn’t eat roadkill — he eats squirrels.’

  ‘What?!’ we all chorused.

  Sara shrugged. ‘They’re trapped in the desert. They have to eat something, so Jeremiah shoots a squirrel to roast on their fire. It’s a one-off.’

  ‘I’m willing to bet you my new GHD that if a Jeremiah clone rocked up at that school gate, a roasted squirrel over his shoulder —’

  ‘Jelena, do you have to get so graphic?’ I felt like throwing up.

  ‘Sorry, Aurora. Sometimes I forget you’re a vegetarian,’ Jelena said, grinning.

  ‘I’m not vegetarian and I’m nauseous,’ Cass put in.

  ‘With a roasted, not-to-be-named animal that hides nuts over his shoulder,’ Jelena continued dramatically, ‘you would not eat it.’

  Sara rolled her eyes. ‘Like I’m going to tuck into a squi
rrel when the canteen’s two minutes away. They only eat the thing because they’re a two-day horseback ride away from the nearest gold town.’

  ‘Even if you were in the equivalent of a desert, I know you wouldn’t do it,’ Jelena said.

  ‘I wouldn’t want to insult Jeremiah,’ Sara said.

  Jelena pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Sara. ‘I’m holding you to that.’

  ‘If Jeremiah rescued you from bandits, you’d probably be so ungrateful and brattish that there’d be no way he’d lay you down and kiss your neck under the moonlight,’ Sara countered.

  ‘With his squirrel-scented breath,’ Jelena shot back.

  ‘Ew!!’ Lindsay, Cassie and I exclaimed. Everyone stopped still on the path up to the art room.

  ‘Aurora, can we chat quickly?’ Hayden was suddenly at my side. Hopefully he’d missed the exchange about Jeremiah.

  ‘Sure,’ I replied. ‘I’ll see you guys in art in a few minutes.’

  Jelena gave Hayden a cool wave. He gave her one back. Thankfully it seemed that Friday hadn’t left them at odds with each other.

  ‘Well, personally I think I’d prefer the bandits to Jeremiah,’ Jelena said as the girls continued on their way.

  Hayden looked amused.

  ‘You heard all of that, didn’t you?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m guessing it wasn’t a prescribed Year Eleven text.’

  Hayden took my hand and led me over to the jasmine archway in the school garden. We’d stood here once before, on the opening night of Much Ado About Nothing when I’d been in a major stress trying to prevent my first kiss from taking place onstage between Benedick and Beatrice. How much had changed in such a short amount of time! Here we were, three weeks later, holding hands willingly, after Hayden had become my first kiss by choice. Life certainly dealt some surprises.

  ‘Listen, about this weekend …’ Hayden began. His voice turned serious and he let go of my hand.

  Wait a minute. Why had he let go of my hand?

  ‘I care about you, but I’m worried things aren’t going to work —’

  OMG. This was straight out of a dating guide. This was the you’re-great-but-I’m-just-not-feeling-it line that guys used to call it a day on a budding relationship. I was being dumped!

  Maybe during the long hours of his captivity Hayden had decided he wanted a fresh slate dating-wise. An opportunity to woo a girl he could safely introduce to his parents without fear of damaged windows or flower beds. Though part of me could see the logic, another part of me was angry. We hadn’t even had enough dates to ascertain whether things could work! How could you call off a relationship if you hadn’t given it a fair chance?

  Plus, why did he have to dump me under the jasmine? I’d never be able to smell the stuff without getting flashbacks. I had a vision of Jelena having the trellis torn down after I told her.

  ‘Hayden, I get it. You don’t need to say anything more. I need to get to art class.’

  I was amazed at how cold I sounded. That numbness that had been my constant companion for a long time after Mum had left crept over me again. Coping with unexpected ends to relationships was my specialty.

  I turned away from Hayden. I didn’t trust myself to look in his eyes and hold it together. What I’d felt for him, even in this brief time, had been more than I’d let myself feel in many years.

  ‘Aurora!’ Hayden grabbed my hand as I tried to take off. He moved across the path so I was facing him again.

  I looked at the ground and pushed his hand away. ‘I don’t want to hear it.’

  ‘I haven’t even finished my sentence yet!’ His voice sounded agitated.

  ‘You don’t need to,’ I replied, focusing on the lacy bows of my cream ballet slippers to keep composed. ‘I get it. I really do.’

  ‘No, you really don’t. I need to ask you to please let me finish my sentence.’

  Hayden gently lifted my chin so I was forced to look at him. I willed all vulnerability out of my gaze as I met his eyes. They looked sad. Darn those autumn-leaf eyes and their ability to pull at my heartstrings. His hand was still on my face, cupping my cheek now. Part of me wished he’d remove it; it was making me long to be in his arms, but that option was effectively lost to me now.

  Hayden started again. ‘I care about you, but I’m worried things aren’t going to work —’

  ‘Like I said, I don’t need to hear this,’ I cut in again.

  ‘I’m worried things aren’t going to work if you don’t believe that I care,’ Hayden finished in a rush. He let out a sigh. ‘I think I’m being crazy obvious about my feelings whenever I’m with you, but evidently it’s not enough if you’re so worried you feel you have to sneak over late at night.’

  ‘I know, I shouldn’t have gone that far —’

  ‘I loved you going that far.’

  Hayden took my hand again and I felt the numbness lifting off me.

  ‘You did?’

  He smiled. ‘I’m all for spontaneous gestures of affection.’ He stroked my cheek and I felt like closing my eyes with contentment. ‘Can’t you tell from my track record as your secret admirer?’

  ‘Kind of.’

  I was totally confused now. Maybe I’d taken his words the wrong way. Sometimes I had a tendency to let my imagination run away with me. The thing was always boarding flights and jetting off before I even knew the whole story.

  ‘But I want those gestures to happen because you’re crazy about me,’ Hayden went on, ‘not because you’re stressing that you have to make things better in case I change my mind about you. Which I’m not going to, by the way.’

  ‘No?’ I whispered. I felt my carefully concealed vulnerability show itself again.

  Hayden dropped his hand from my cheek and reached for his back pocket. ‘I want you to have a visible reminder of how much you mean to me, and how permanent I intend this — us — to be.’

  He pulled out a Tiffany box, identical to the ones in the ads plastered all over my school notebooks. I couldn’t believe I was having my own Tiffany moment. That level of romance seemed reserved for magazines or movies. I stared at the box, feeling dizzy. Suddenly I got a flash of Jelena’s dismayed face at missing out on recording an actual Tiffany scene.

  ‘I know most people would say I’m a total idiot for buying something like this so early on,’ Hayden said. ‘But you and me — it’s not like we’re two teenagers who just spotted one another in class the other day. I’ve known you — I’ve cared about you — for so many years now. You’re my best friend in a sense, even if we missed a few years when you deemed me the dreaded boy next door.’

  ‘You did stand guard every time I came home from a date,’ I reminded him, giggling. ‘You can see why I was a little peeved.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to let anyone else have you,’ Hayden said, shrugging. ‘Now, we’re running out of time before class starts — open it!’

  He placed the startlingly blue box in my palm. I looked up at him and could see his nervousness as he waited for me to open it. I pulled at the perfect white bow and lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a delicate silver necklace with a tiny ‘x’ hanging from it.

  ‘It’s a kiss,’ Hayden explained. ‘I wanted you to have one always, even if I can’t physically be there. I chose the necklace so you can keep it close to your heart. You remember Peter Pan and Wendy?’

  Hayden’s dad had read us the story many years ago and I’d almost cried when Wendy had been shot in the heart with the arrow. I remembered Hayden slinging an arm round me and saying, ‘She’ll be okay. You remember the acorn round her neck — Peter’s kiss will protect her. Plus, nobody dies in a fairy story. Not even Captain Hook, I bet.’

  ‘There’s a note underneath,’ Hayden said, nudging the soft blue jewellery bag that came with the gift.

  I pulled the note out. It was a tiny cardboard slip with printed script.

  A man had given all other bliss

  And all his worldly worth for this

  To waste his w
hole heart in one kiss

  Upon her perfect lips.

  ‘It’s Tennyson,’ Hayden said.

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘It’s from “Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere”. I’ve always loved it.’

  I’d printed the poem out and put it up on my wall, along with my Pre-Raphaelite posters. The story of Lancelot and Guinevere was one of my favourites. Totally tragic, but Lancelot’s devotion for the unattainable queen was awe-inducing. Like the poem said, he’d have forsaken the whole world to kiss her. Hayden hadn’t seen my room since I was twelve, before I’d put the posters up. He understood me so well it was almost scary.

  ‘That poem sums it up,’ Hayden said. ‘Your kisses are everything to me, slight mishaps and all.’

  He took the necklace from my hand and fastened it round my neck. The slight brush of his fingertips on the delicate skin of my neck was the most beautifully tender thing I’d ever experienced. I was living a mini fairytale today. Half of me expected to wake up and realise it was all a dream.

  I threw my arms around Hayden before it all melted away. ‘Thank you!’

  He squeezed me back, then pulled away to look at me. ‘Your eyes look happier.’

  I giggled. ‘It’s not just my eyes! Are you crazy? It’s all of me. Even my toes are happy!’

  ‘You give a girl Tiffany and she calls you crazy. And for some reason I love it,’ Hayden said oh so softly.

  He lowered his head to mine and we were on the precipice of a kiss before I knew it.

  The bell sounded.

  Hayden let out a frustrated sigh and pulled away from me. ‘The real world is calling. We’d better go.’

  As I dashed into the art room, all my friends looked up expectantly from their sculptures.

  ‘So?’ Sara bounced over to me, knocking one of the fins on her mermaid’s tail. ‘Oh crap!’

  Lindsay helped her straighten the fin out again.

  ‘So, what?’ I tried to be casual, but my cheeks were aching from grinning, a dead giveaway to my friends. ‘He gave me a symbolic kiss,’ I said, pulling out the Tiffany box.

  The screams that erupted were enough to shatter glass.