He sat on the edge of her desk and reached out and took her hand. “It won’t do any good to pretend it isn’t real, Erin. I see the way you look at me. At your house, at Homecoming, when we danced—and especially after I told you I’d been staring at you. And you can pretend it didn’t happen or tell yourself it meant something else, but that won’t make it go away.”
He was gently running his thumb over the back of her small hand and no matter how hard she tried not to, she wasn’t able to stop herself from tightening her hand around his.
“So, you’re going to sign this for me and then I’m going to kiss you. After that, I’ll leave.”
Erin’s hands began to tremble and she couldn’t bring herself to look at this boy who was making her feel things she hated herself for feeling. “There’s Shay and Adam to think about, too,” she said quietly.
“Shay and I talked. So did my brother and I. They’ve discovered a similar connection and they’ll be fine. I promise.”
Erin knew where the pen she was ‘searching’ for was all along. She picked it up with her free hand and scribbled her name at the bottom. “It’s signed. You can leave now,” she said still without looking up.
“No, I can’t,” he said.
They were both running their fingers through the others’ when she said, “Please don’t. Not here. Please? If you really do care for me, then can we please not do this here…in my office at school?”
“I do care for you, Erin. You’re all I’ve thought of since I first saw you. But I never break a promise. I said I was going to kiss you and I’m not leaving until I do.”
“Cameron, please. I’m begging you. Don’t…”
He leaned across the desk and put his head next to hers. “I know you want to kiss me, too.”
She realized her willpower was gone. She was completely helpless and unable to fight it any longer. She slowly turned her head toward his and then her eyes were unable to avoid his. “Oh, my God,” she whispered as he leaned in and kissed her softly full on the lips. As he went to pull away she couldn’t allow it and pushed back letting him know she needed more. He kissed her for another two or three seconds before she somehow managed to will herself to break away. Afterward, she couldn’t look at him. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing anything he wanted to her. She looked away and hoped against hope he would leave.
“Thank you, Ms. Kimball. I appreciate the way you’ve taken such an interest in me. I hope to show you how grateful I am very soon.” His hand slipped out of hers as he picked up the add/drop slip and left her office.
Erin slept fitfully that night as she found herself unable to stop mentally replaying the events in her office. Even worse, she was unable to keep herself from repeatedly imagining him not leaving after the kiss as her hand made it’s way to a place that was warm and so very wet. A place where she imagined his…
The next day, Shay was sitting in Mr. Garvin’s AP chemistry class when she heard what sounded like a voice in a tunnel calling her name. “Shay? Shay! Can you answer the question?”