The Kissing Challenge

by Cookie O'Gorman

  If so, it was the best dream ever.

  CHAPTER 6

  "So, how are things with you and Captain?" Gemma asked.

  I shrugged. "They're fine. Can you turn you head for me? I need to even out the white powder."

  She did as I asked.

  "This makeup is going to put us over the top this year," she said. "I just know it."

  Rachel, a junior on color guard, grinned. "Yeah, we already had them beat in flag. But ten Harley Quinn's spinning and tossing bats instead of rifles? Stratford doesn't stand a chance."

  They high-fived while I added royal blue beside one of Gemma's eyes and blood red next to the other. We were currently in the band room. Competitive marching band season was in full swing, and my best girl friend was co-captains with Rachel on the guard. They'd asked for my help to give them an artistic edge this year. Of course, I'd jumped at the chance.

  Going heavy on the black liner, I gave each of Gemma's eyes a cat-eye wingtip. Then came fake lashes and cherry red lips. The finishing touch was a black heart just on the outer apple of her cheek. Once I was done with that, she looked amazing.

  "I am rocking this look." Gemma held up her phone, pouted at the camera, and took a selfie—or five. "You're awesome, Anne. Thanks again for doing this."

  "No problem," I said. " Harley Quinn is iconic. I'm just glad I could help."

  Rachel took the place that Gemma had vacated, and I started on her makeup next.

  "The pigtails look nice on everyone, too."

  "Thank you!" Rachel said. "I thought it would increase uniformity."

  "It does," I agreed.

  Gemma plopped down into the seat next to me.

  "Anne," she said. "How is Captain really?"

  I frowned. "I don't know what you mean."

  "Well, you've kissed him twice now—which by the way, I still can't believe you didn't call to give me details," she said. "But I heard about it from several reliable sources."

  I didn't doubt that for a second. Gemma seemed to know everyone.

  "And all of them told me that kiss carried the heat of a thousand suns."

  "I doubt any of them said that," I mumbled.

  Gemma gave me a look which I pretended not to see.

  "Well?" she said after I'd been quiet too long. "Don't hold out on me. You know, I live for this stuff."

  I sighed. "Cap and I are the same as we've always been. I don't know what to tell you."

  "But how is that possible?"

  Rachel grinned. "I heard about the kiss, too. Do you two like each other?"

  Oh Lord, how to answer that one.

  "Of course we do. He's my best friend," I said, which was absolutely the truth.

  "Yeah…but are you and Captain a couple?" she asked. My face must've had an odd look because she winced. "Not that you have to tell me. I was just curious."

  "Why?" Gemma asked.

  Rachel blushed and gave a one-shouldered shrug. "One of my friends thinks he's cute," she said which shouldn't have surprised me. But for some reason, it did.

  "Huh," Gemma said. Her gaze came to rest on me, and there was a challenge there. "Sounds like Rachel's friend has a bit of a crush on Captain, Anne. Do you have anything to say about that?"

  My eyes narrowed on the little smirk playing about her lips.

  "No," I said. "Cap's wonderful. It's only natural for girls to crush on him."

  Myself included.

  Rachel sighed. "So it would be okay with you if my friend said something to him? He's just so gorgeous, sexy and mysterious—but she wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes. That's not who she is. At all."

  I blinked. I was almost sure now that Rachel was the friend we were talking about—and she'd just asked for my permission to approach Captain. Ugh. How was this my life?

  "Anne?" she said.

  Snapping myself out of it, I forced a smile. "I'd be fine with it. We're not together." Unfortunately. "And besides, Captain has his own mind. I'm sure he'd like hearing all the nice things you said about him."

  I'd thought it was a solid answer, and so did Rachel because she smiled to herself. But Gemma? She was full-on frowning at me. After Rachel had gone, Gemma pulled me outside the band room and got straight to the point.

  "I can't believe you," she said. "Why would you say that?"

  "What?" I said. "It's true. We're not together."

  Gemma shook her head. "Yeah, I know. But do you really want Rachel hitting on him? Would you be okay with them dating?"

  My heart sank at the thought.

  "That's not really my decision," I replied.

  "Anne, I just don't get you sometimes," Gemma said. "You put on your big girl panties and kissed the guy. Twice. But now, you're willing to let him slip away."

  I sighed. "It's not like Captain returns my feelings or anything."

  Gemma held up a finger. "But you said he came over to your house the other day after the concert which also happened to be the morning after Kiss 2."

  I giggled, couldn't help it. "The Morning After Kiss 2? Sounds like a Netflix movie."

  "You said Captain was acting weird," she added, completely disregarding the comment.

  "Only a little." I thought about the possibly imaginary kiss he'd left on my neck and held back a shiver. "Maybe I read the situation wrong."

  "But what if you read it right?"

  I waved her off. "It's not real. All of this started because of the challenge."

  "I have a theory on that," she said.

  "Okay…"

  "Did you ever stop to wonder who posted that comment in the first place?"

  I didn't know where she was going with this, but I was intrigued.

  "Go on," I said.

  Gemma smiled. "LonelyHeart1? I checked, and the account has zero posts and looks like it was created only weeks ago."

  "Yeah, I know," I said. I had checked, too. "So?"

  "Don't you see what this means?"

  "Not really."

  "Ugh, Anne! What if it was him?" Gemma said. "Captain totally could've created the account and challenged you to see if you feel the same way about him that he feels about you."

  My jaw dropped. "That's reaching, Gemma. There's no name on the account. It could be anyone."

  "No, I thought about this. Hear me out." Gemma tilted her head. "Captain writes a lot of the song lyrics for Hero Complex. Right?"

  "Yeah," I said.

  "Most of them are a bit broody and dramatic," she added.

  I frowned and crossed my arms. "He's an awesome writer, and he's hardly the most broody guy in the group. I mean, have you met Brandon and Liam? Do you have something against sad songs?"

  Gemma took a deep breath, looking like I had exasperated her. "My point is that the username is sad and dramatic as well. Maybe Captain's heart is 'lonely' because he loves you"—my heart stuttered—"and you're both just too shy and scared to say anything."

  The words I'd been about to say disappeared.

  Poof.

  Just like that, they were gone, and my mind blanked.

  "It's just a guess," Gemma said and reached out to give my shoulder a squeeze. "But I think it's a good one."

  What she said was the only thing I could think about. School was something I usually enjoyed, but for the rest of the day, my mind was stuck on one very distracting question. Was my best friend LonelyHeart1? Could Captain—who I knew wasn't a big fan of social media unlike the other guys in the band—have left that comment for me? Was it possible he felt even half of what I felt for him?

  There must've been something wrong with me. Or maybe Gemma's crazy words had embedded themselves in my brain. Whatever the reason, I found myself hoping.

  I wanted Captain to be the one.

  I wanted everything Gemma had said to be true.

  I wanted…oh, I wanted him.

  Captain found me at my locker after the final bell rang. He was smiling like always, but for some reason, he looked nervous.

  "Hey Anne," he said.
r />   "Hey Captain," I said back, searching his face. Before I could stop myself, I asked, "Do you have any other SM accounts I don't know about?"

  A line formed between Captain's brows. "No."

  "Really? None at all?"

  Are you LonelyHeart1? That was what I really wanted to say. But if Gemma was right, and Captain did share my feelings, I hoped this might give him the chance to confess.

  "Nope, I don't think so," he said again. "Why?"

  "I just know some people have multiple accounts," I said. It was a prompt, one last attempt to see if it was him. "I thought maybe you might."

  "Yeah right." Captain laughed. "One is more than enough for me. You know I hardly ever post, though Liam's always on me about it, says the band needs more exposure if we want to make it."

  "Ah." I nodded, feeling a little deflated. "That makes sense."

  "Hey," he said and laid a hand on my arm. "Are you okay? You look sad all of sudden."

  That was the problem with being best friends. A lot of times they could read you so well—even when you wished they couldn't.

  "I'm awesome," I said, willing it to be true. No matter how much I'd hoped for a different outcome, if I were being honest, I knew Captain probably wasn't LonelyHeart1. "Are we hanging out tonight with the guys after practice?"

  "Actually Anne," Captain said, and that forced smile came back. "I wanted to talk to you."

  I nodded. "Okay, about what?"

  "Cap," Liam said, his hand coming down on Captain shoulder, cutting off whatever he'd been about to say. "You're just the guy I was looking for. I wanted to run a few melodies by you for our new song."

  My best friend looked to Liam. "Anne and I were kind of in the middle of something here."

  "It'll only take a second," he said.

  "But this is important."

  "So is this." Liam looked to me. "You don't mind right, Anne?"

  I shook my head. "No, go ahead," I said. "I'll wait."

  Captain threw me a tight grin.

  "Be right back," he said and walked with Liam until they were a few lockers away. I could tell they were talking music because both of them had pulled out notepads, and I recognized Cap's as the one I got him for Christmas last year. It was small enough to fit in his pocket and had his initials engraved on the front cover. He had loved it, and after he tore off the wrapping paper, he gave me a big hug. For his birthday this year, I planned to get him ten more just like it. I knew he'd need them if he kept writing songs.

  While I was watching them, I didn't realize someone had stepped up next to me, not until he cleared his throat.

  "Hi Anne."

  Turning my head, I saw Jackson Yoast standing there with a small smile. He was blond and blue-eyed with classic good looks. Almost every girl in our junior class had at one time crushed on him. The 'almost' was because of me. It may have been tragic and completely unrequited, but I'd only ever had eyes for Captain.

  "Oh hey, Jackson," I said. "How are you?"

  He shrugged. "Doing okay. You?"

  "I'm good." I tilted my head. "Was there something you need?"

  "Yeah actually," he said. "I was wondering if you'd want to go out sometime."

  I frowned. "I must be hearing things. What did you say?"

  Jackson's laugh was loud, and I blushed, looking over to find Captain staring at us. Liam was no longer at his side. Instead, Rachel stood not three feet away from my best friend with smile on her face, beaming at him. Color guard had already taken their pictures earlier, so she'd ditched the Harley Quinn look. Rachel's face was back to how it normally was: gorgeous natural tan, big brown eyes and long lashes, dimpled cheeks, and pink gloss to accentuate her lips. She looked beautiful and hopeful as she stood beside Captain.

  I had to look away.

  "Wow, I'm not used to that reaction," Jackson said.

  "You shocked me."

  "Obviously."

  He was grinning, and I returned the smile.

  "I thought we could grab some pizza tonight. If you don't already have plans."

  "You want to go out with me?" I said and pointed to myself. "Sorry for being weird. I'm just a little confused. We've never really talked before."

  "I know." He shrugged. "But I saw that video of you and Captain, and it made me notice you."

  "It did?"

  I felt like I was questioning everything he said, but I couldn't help it. Jackson asking me for a date was so unexpected. We'd gone to school together for three years and hadn't exchanged more than a handful of words. My head was spinning.

  "Yeah, you're kind of cute," he said with a smile I knew most girls fawned over. But all I could think was that when Captain smiled at me, it took my breath away and felt like sunshine in my veins. "That kiss was amazing by the way."

  "Thank you," I mumbled.

  "So tonight, pizza?" he repeated. "Are you in?"

  I ran a hand through my hair. I had absolutely no experience in turning guys down and didn't want to hurt his feelings. That was the only reason that could explain why I said what I did next.

  "Can I think about it?" I asked. "I promise to let you know."

  "Sure." Jackson ripped a piece of paper from his notebook, scribbled something down and then handed it to me. "Shoot me a text. It'd be fun to get to know each other better."

  His eyes landed on my lips which made me blush.

  "Hmm, okay," I said awkwardly. "It was nice talking to you."

  "You, too."

  Jackson gave me a nod and then walked away. I could only stare after him.

  "What did he want?" Captain asked.

  My brow furrowed. "He asked me out for pizza."

  A scoff. "And what did you say? I hope you weren't too mean when you said no, Anne. But what was Jackson thinking? You barely know the guy."

  "I didn't say no exactly," I said and watched Captain's face fall.

  "You didn't?" he said. "Why not? Do you want to go?"

  Shaking my head, I said, "No. But I didn't know how to say that."

  Captain was scowling now. "Just like that. You say 'no' and walk away. Nothing hard about it."

  My chin jerked back at his tone. "I was trying not to hurt his feelings."

  "Oh please," he said. "He's a player, Anne. Jackson Yoast doesn't have feelings. He's got hormones, tons of them. And now they're locked on you."

  I laughed. "Do you even hear yourself? That's ridiculous."

  "Oh yeah?" Captain crossed his arms. "What all did he say?"

  I thought back. "Jackson asked if I wanted to go out for pizza tonight, and then he mentioned our kissing video—"

  "See?" he said. "I was right. The video, that's the only reason he asked you."

  I couldn't even dispute it because that was the conclusion I'd come to as well. It still hurt when he said it like that, though.

  I lifted my chin. "He also said he wants to get to know me better."

  I left out the part about Jackson staring at my lips. That little detail seemed counter-productive to my argument.

  Captain shook his head. "Anne, don't be so naïve."

  "Captain, don't sound so jealous."

  "Jealous?" he repeated. "Please. I'm just concerned. I turn my back for five seconds, and already you've got a guy like Yoast sniffing around you."

  I lifted a brow. "Speaking of, what did Rachel want?"

  He looked uncomfortable for a second then said, "She asked if I wanted to meet up at Starbucks."

  "Ah," I said, "so she wants a date."

  "I wouldn't call it that," Captain said. "She was just being friendly."

  I rolled my eyes. "Are you blind? Rachel is totally into you. She was batting her lashes and everything."

  Cap tilted his head. "I didn't realize you were watching us so closely."

  I cursed the blush that stole up my cheeks.

  "That's beside the point," I said. "Rachel, a girl you've never spoken to, asks you out, and it's a nice gesture. Jackson—"

  "A guy who wants into your pants,
" Captain put in.

  "—a guy who I don't know well, asks me, and you automatically assume he's got ulterior motives. Why is that?"

  "Because he does," Captain said. "Anne, come on. Why are you fighting me on this?"

  "We aren't fighting. We're having a discussion."

  "Well, this non-fight is stupid. You don't even want to go."

  I shook my head. "How do you know? I could've changed my mind."

  "Well, did you?" he said.

  His eyes were tight, seeming to beg me to say no, but I couldn't back down.

  "Honestly, I didn't want to go," I said. "But because of your crap attitude, now I'm thinking about it."

  Captain's scowl was now permanently etched into his face.

  "Fine," he said. "Whatever. Go out with Jackson. Have a great time. I don't care."

  "Maybe I will," I said. "I hope you have fun with Rachel."

  He remained silent.

  "What was it you wanted to talk about before Liam interrupted?" I asked.

  "Nothing," Captain said. "Nothing at all. I need to work with the guys on some new songs tonight anyway. Practice will probably run late. Be safe, Anne."

  "You, too, Captain," I whispered as he walked away.

  Our non-fight left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I didn't know how to take it back. I didn't text Cap, and he didn't text me, not even to say goodnight. One person I did send a message to was Jackson. I let him know that I was sorry, but I didn't feel well and wouldn't be able to meet him. It was true. My stomach hurt. I felt sick remembering how Captain and I spoke to each other. Thinking of him with Rachel made the pain worse.

  I went to bed early, wishing we could go back to before the kiss, back to a simpler time. But there was no way to un-kiss someone. I only hoped I hadn't ruined our friendship forever.

  CHAPTER 7

  The next day I felt terrible. I hadn't gotten much sleep, kept waking up from dreams of Captain sharing over-priced coffee with Rachel, who smiled her Harley-Quinn smile at me while she twirled her bat in this vaguely threatening way. It was a bit disturbing.