Just One Kiss

by Amelia Whitmore

  “It’s nice to meet you all,” I murmur awkwardly.

  “Oh, Honey, it’s so great to finally meet you!” Adrienne exclaims from where she’s stirring incredible smelling spaghetti sauce. “Brayden, Zander, and Landon have been talking about you nonstop since that carnival!”

  “Mom!” Brayden whines, embarrassed. I giggle.

  “So I’ve heard,” I say, staring Brayden down. As flattering as it was to have people talking about me, after what happened last year, I couldn’t be sure it was a good thing.

  “Well, come on over here and tell me all about yourself,” Adrienne invites me, signaling to the counter beside her.

  Brayden senses how unsure I feel and he pushes me gently. I glare at him. He just wiggles his fingers a little before smugly leaving the room with Landon and his father. I watch in confusion and shock as he walks away. How could he abandon me?

  “So, Anna, my boy tells me you turned him down. Why is that?”

  Adrienne’s question leaves me speechless and hating Brayden as I stumble over my own tongue for an answer. Way to put me on the spot.

  “I-I uh, I’m, I, well, I, uh,” I stutter. I literally can’t spit anything out.

  Adrienne laughs and pats my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Hon, I couldn’t resist. Don’t worry, Brayden comes off a bit strong sometimes, I don’t blame you for saying no,” she says, still laughing.

  I sigh in relief. Thankfully, I’m not the only one who feels overwhelmed by him.

  After a few minutes of small talk, Evie begins speaking Spanish to Nora. I’m kind of mesmerized by her. She’s got amazing curves and long, flowing black hair that goes perfectly with her naturally tanned skin. If I were even half as beautiful as she is, I’d be happy. I completely understand how Landon fell for her as soon as she breaks into a smile for her daughter. She sees me staring and I blush a little.

  “So, Anna, how old are you?” she asks, still playing with the little girl.

  “I’m eighteen.”

  “Ah, that explains it, then.” She grins knowingly.

  “Explains what?” I ask, completely confused.

  “Your insecurity. You’re just blossoming, Chica. Soon, you’ll embrace your curves and no man will stand a chance against you,” she informs me.

  I let a harsh laugh leave my chest. I feel a mixture of embarrassment, flattery, and something else I can’t quite identify with. “Yeah right,” I grumble.

  “You will see, Chica. The same happened for me. Then I met Landon and, well, look at me now.” She laughs, picks the little one up, and walks to the other room, leaving me to think about what she just said.

  Chapter Six

  Tickle Torture

  I watch as Evie leaves the kitchen, still a little shocked by what she said. She isn’t serious, is she? Okay, maybe I am “curvy,” as she put it, but guys are never interested in me like that. Well, apparently Brayden likes me, but it’s only a matter of time before he comes to his senses too. The thought of Brayden figuring out that I’m not worth it makes me sad.

  Adrienne chuckling beside me brings me back to reality.

  “Is she always so outspoken?” I ask.

  “Always. You get used to it after a few years, though,” she says, still laughing.

  “Only a few years?” I joke. And just like that, I’m comfortable with Adrienne already.

  We go back and forth with each other, talking and laughing. Finally, I ask if she needs any help with dinner. At my house, I’ve learned not to offer. If my dad is cooking, it’s always a flat out “No.” He likes his kitchen time. Mom will let me “help” and then completely disappear, leaving me to do the rest on my own.

  Adrienne’s face brightens and she nods. “I know it’s rude to let guests work while they’re visiting, but I’d be an idiot if I turned down that offer.” We both laugh and continue getting to know each other as we finish dinner. “All right, I’m going to go call the others to the dining room while you go find somewhere to sit,” she informs me before walking away, leaving me to find the dining room on my own.

  It seems like a simple task, but finding the dining room in a huge house that I’ve never been in is difficult. I expected it to be attached to the kitchen, but it wasn’t. The only reason I found it at all was that I heard chairs scraping the floor down the hall. I peek my head in and see a beautiful wooden table with harvest colors decorating it. Brayden pulls me toward two empty spots and forces me down between him and Landon.

  “How’d you like my mom?” he asks, his signature grin appearing on those lips.

  “She’s really great, but if you ever leave me alone like that again, I’m going to kill you,” I say sweetly with a huge fake smile on my face. I meant the first part, but the second part was mostly exaggeration. I’d never kill him; blood makes me queasy.

  He frowns when Landon barks out laughter. When he’s finally finished wiping the tears from his eyes, he reaches behind me and pats Brayden on the back. “I like her,” he affirms simply, making me blush and Brayden brighten up.

  When everybody begins eating, Brayden gives my hand a small squeeze under the table.

  “I’m sorry I left you alone.”

  It almost makes me feel bad for being irritated with him. Plus, it’s not like Adrienne’s awful or anything. “It’s okay, I just don’t like strangers and you put me in an awkward situation,” I say softly.

  He nods and jerks his head forward a little before blinking and pulling away, slipping his hand from mine in the process. It looks odd, but I don’t question it. The conversations at the table begins turning to me, making me feel a little on the spot.

  “So, how old are you again?” Adrienne asks.

  “I’m eighteen,” I respond, feeling a bit proud of myself. Eighteen feels like a big accomplishment to me.

  “Ah, so are you a senior, or a freshman?” Paul asks, basically questioning if I’m in college or high school.

  “I’m a freshman.” The pride is evident in my voice again. Being a freshman is a big accomplishment too.

  “Where are you going?” he asks.

  “Just community college for now.” I shrug. “I love so many things. I can’t imagine making my mind up about a future career without taking classes in everything I’m interested in first. I’m starting with an open major and focusing on my generals, and then hopefully by sophomore year, I’ll be able to narrow it down to one,” I explain. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a really long time.

  “That’s so smart, a very mature thing to do,” Adrienne praises. It’s so sweet that this woman, whom I’ve only just met, is taking pride in my future. It makes me a bit emotional, actually, but I swallow back tears and answer the next question, which comes from Zander.

  “Do you like pwanes?” he asks, trying to shovel a huge mouthful of pasta into his mouth at the same time.

  “I love planes,” I tell him enthusiastically.

  “Cool,” he says, sounding like it’s truly the coolest thing he’s ever heard. I laugh at that, finding it really hard not to be happy around him.

  “I like planes too, Zander,” Brayden says with false jealousy.

  Zander pins him with a bored expression. “I aweady know that, Uncle Bway.” He looks just like Brayden does when he’s being cocky. Zander truly is a mini Bray.

  Brayden pouts a little and looks at me with playful eyes. “Can you believe that? I’ve always been his favorite—then you come along and suddenly I’m boring!” He sounds appalled.

  I shake my head. “I really can’t believe it. How on earth did it take him nearly five years to find somebody more interesting than you?” I mock him with wide, innocent eyes.

  Brayden’s jaw drops as everybody begins laughing.

  “Well, that’s rude.” Brayden huffs, turning back to his pasta.

  I run my fingers through his disheveled hair and coo, “It’s okay, you’re not totally boring all the time.”

  He laughs and quickly turns toward me. I watch in horror as his hand ja
bs out, his fingers suddenly tickling my side. After only a few moments, I’m gasping out “okay, okay, okay!” I’ve managed to hug myself to Landon’s side for refuge. He’s too busy laughing to mind.

  “Am I boring you now, Anna?” Brayden asks, adding his other hand to my other side, making me sink down in my chair, kicking wildly to get away.

  “Nooo!” I yowl.

  As suddenly as he started, he pulls away. “Good.”

  Then he goes back to eating as if nothing ever happened while I’m still shaking with laughter.

  “That was not very nice,” I pout, trying to sound upset.

  Unfortunately, my lingering case of the giggles ruins it. I realize that I can’t even be mad at him or embarrassed that he just had his fingers digging into my flab. I can only feel happy. I haven’t laughed like that since I was little.

  ***

  “Thank you so much for having me over,” I say sincerely as Brayden and I walk away from the house.

  Everybody else is waving at us from the door. Tonight was the best night of my life. I know it seems silly, but I really love Brayden’s family. They’re such great people and they made me feel so welcome.

  After dinner, we all ended up playing Monopoly. Apparently, I’ve been playing it wrong my entire life, so Brayden had to teach me their way. I didn’t realize you could play Monopoly incorrectly. I also got to see the play room that Adrienne and Paul made for Zander. Since both Evie and Landon have jobs, Adrienne acts as a day care service for Nora, and for Zander after his half day at school is over.

  In the truck, I sigh with contentment, causing Brayden to chuckle quietly. It sounds like he’s breathing out of his nose, but there’s a low rumble from his chest that accompanies it. It’s the sexiest sound ever, but I can’t tell him that. Not only would his ego swell until it pushed me out of the truck, it wouldn’t be fair to act as if I’m attracted to him as more than a friend . . . even though we both know that I am.

  Chapter Seven

  A Double Date

  “So, how was meeting the family?” Ro asks me when we meet up for work.

  I hadn’t had the chance to call Ro and dish about it yet.

  “It was great,” I tell her with a smile sneaking across my lips.

  “I knew it!” she exclaims, as though I’ve just admitted to something monumental.

  “Knew what?” I ask with a sigh.

  “I knew that you were madly in love with Brayden,” she informs me in a singsong tone.

  I stop walking and stutter a little. “I-I’m not . . .” I pause for a moment, trying to get it out. When I do, it’s only a whisper. “I’m not in love with Brayden.”

  “What? Of course you are!” Ro exclaims, as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.

  “No, I’m not! I’m not in love with anybody,” I tell her seriously. I'm 100 percent positive that I’m serious. Well, maybe more like 95 percent, but I wasn’t about to admit that.

  “Oh,” she grumbles sullenly.

  “Yeah, oh,” I mumble back, pulling open the door to Starbucks. Tonight, we’re on a shift with Chance and Liz.

  The beginning of the evening is really busy and I feel like it’ll never slow down. But after the one millionth customer, it slows all the way down until all the place needs is a tumbleweed. You really can’t win with me.

  After practically falling asleep on the job for an hour and a half, it’s going on closing time. Chance and I are bickering back and forth about how amazing dill pickles are. Well, I’m saying how amazing they are; Chance likes sweet ones. I've decided that he's completely disgusting.

  “How can you like sweet pickles?” I exclaim, throwing my hands in the air. “They taste like caca.”

  “Caca?” He raises an eyebrow.

  “It means icky,” I growl in the matter-of-fact tone that I sometimes get when I don’t want to explain things.

  “Well, in that case, no they don’t,” he huffs, sticking his tongue out at me.

  “Ro!” I whine, pointing at Chance, “Tell him not to do that! And tell him sweet pickles are gross.” We all crack up. It’s really the first time that I’ve truly been myself in front of my coworkers, and it’s nice to let loose.

  “Chance, don’t pick on my BFF,” Ro chides, rolling her eyes. I grin in satisfaction.

  “Now tell him I’m right.” I nod encouragingly, acting like a five-year-old.

  “No!” Chance whines, “Dill pickles are ewie!” “Nuh-uh!” I yell back.

  “You’re such a pain in the ass!” he huffs, pretending to be irritated.

  “Well you’re a . . . a . . . You’re a butthead!” I retort brilliantly.

  Everybody stops and just stares at me, amazed at my cleverness. I blush. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings,” I explain innocently, making them all chuckle.

  “Aww,” Chance coos before walking over to me and pulling me to his chest in the tightest hug ever. “You’re such a sweetie pie.” He sounds like a proud father.

  I laugh and push him away. I’m about to tell him about the cooties I’ve been infected with, but a polite cough interrupts me. To my surprise, Carlos and Brayden are standing by the door. Carlos has one eyebrow raised while Brayden doesn’t look happy at all.

  “Hey guys!” Ro gushes. I never realized before I started working here, but she’s got a crush on Carlos. Since I’d never met him, I’d never have known. Now that I do, though, it’s my official mission to set them up, and tonight is the initiation of plan A, which I’ve been helping set in motion.

  Carlos was supposed to turn up, alone, and surprise Aurora with a date. Looks like he chickened out, though, since Brayden’s with him.

  “Hey, you guys ready to go?” he asks casually.

  “Go where?” we echo simultaneously.

  “We’re heading over to my apartment for some pizza and movies,” Carlos informs us. He lives in an apartment with a roommate who’s apparently never home.

  “You and Ro will have so much fun!” I gush proudly, specifically trying to impress upon him that he was not getting out of this.

  For, like, the fourth time tonight, an eyebrow is raised at me. “You’re coming too,” he states flatly.

  “No,” I respond, using the same tone.

  “Anna,” Ro uses her warning voice.

  “Aurora,” I warn back. I just want to go home.

  “Come on, Cutie. Be a good girl so I won’t have to carry you there,” Brayden says, trying to lighten the mood. He makes me scoff.

  “Like you could.” Apparently, he takes that as a challenge, because one second he’s standing across the room from me and the next he’s charging in my direction.

  I scream like a little girl and run behind Chance, wrapping my arms around his waist. He’s laughing too hard to be any help as a guard, the butthead.

  I didn’t realize how strong Brayden truly was until he picked me up. I mean, he doesn’t look like he could lift a small whale like me, and yet here I am in his arms. And he’s fine! I’m fine. He didn’t drop me and he’s not broken or anything. Maybe he has steel under his skin like a robot. Just to check, I poke his arm and then immediately feel like a weirdo for doing so without an explanation.

  “You should, uhh, put me down now,” I say softly. The last thing I wanted was for Brayden to know how much I weighed. How embarrassing. Oh well, it’s done now, and I hope I know him well enough to know that he’ll never mention what a cow I am. His arms seem to tighten for just an instant before he sets my feet on the floor. I quickly fix my shirt and straighten my cardigan. It’s really kind of shocking that I’m not more humiliated about this. I’m still a little uncomfortable with being picked up like a rag doll, but not nearly as much as I’d expect.

  “So, you ready?” Brayden asks, clapping his hands together. This effectively ends the awkward silence and we all bustle to finish cleaning up. After that little scene, I had kind of forgotten that I never wanted to hang out in the first place. Maybe that was the point of it. It’s okay though, I
guess I could use some buddy time.

  Ro and I drove to work together. I had to pick her up this morning so her mother could use their car. Brayden and I use this to force Ro into Carlos’s car while we take mine to his house. The drive’s not far and other than a few rude comments about my driving, Brayden and I sit quietly. When I pull up to a spot where I need to parallel park, I get out and make Brayden do it. I’m pretty sure he’s too busy laughing at my poor driving skills to mind.

  “Stop laughing at me!” I protest, trying to fight my own smile.

  “It’s okay, Cutie,” he says as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. “It’s adorable.”

  I wrinkle my nose. “It’s not adorable Brayden,” I tell him. “If I wanted to, I could’ve done it.” If I’m being honest, I’m only half-sure about that.

  “Okay,” he says in a complacent tone, letting me know I haven’t really won. I sigh and decide to let it be; it’s not really worth getting worked up over. “I’m a good driver,” I grumble anyway.

  “Yes you are,” he says, using the same tone as before.

  “Brayden!” I laugh and start pinching his side.

  A wicked grin takes over his gorgeous face. “Oh, you want to start this again?”

  My eyes widen as I remember last night and his tickle torture. “No! No.” I back away, hands raised in defense, shaking my head in horror.

  “Oh yeah? Who’s the man?” He smirks cockily.

  I roll my eyes. “Only because you cheated.”

  “Excuse me?” He sounds so insulted that I have to laugh.

  “Everybody knows that tickling is not a fair fight.”

  “It is too!” he exclaims.

  “Okay, Brayden,” I say, reaching up to pat him on the head.

  His eyes narrow as the elevator doors open. For some reason, Brayden’s arm is wrapped back around my shoulders, and I’m actually really liking it.