Hey! Quick DISCLAIMER: this chapter is rather PG-13, as you may have guessed from the title. If that's not your cup of tea, feel free to skip to the next chapter (I promise not to take it personally, my R4R buds :))! I've written it so that you don't miss too many critical things, and posted it on the same day. I hope you enjoy reading either way! xx

"Are you joking?"

Evangeline eyes me before plucking her beer bottle from its place on the counter. She shrugs and turns to head to the living room, leaving me gobsmacked on my stool.

"You coming?" She says casually.

At this hour, the whole house is dark, with every lamp and hallway light switched off. The living room is only darkly lit by the TV, and the fluorescent fuchsia backdrop of an episode of some dating show playing on mute.

Evangeline plants herself on the floor criss-cross applesauce, and reaches a hand out to me, half hidden by the long sleeve of her hoodie. I take her hand and sit opposite her, and our hands bob together firmly.

When I raise a curious brow and she only offers me a mischievous smile, I realise I'm going to have to ask.

"What exactly am I agreeing to here?"

"Okay, hear me out. We kiss. Like, a proper kiss. We give each other feedback. Genuine, honest; no holding back. And then - we don't bring it up ever again... What d'you think?"

Showers of rainbow-coloured confetti burst through the rooftop. A choir spontaneously breaks out in a lively chorus of Ode to Joy. The dating show's studio audience erupts into raucous applause, wild with glee.

In my head, of course.

Did she just say what I think she did?

"Us? Kiss?" I say, slow and caveman-like, making sure I don't misunderstand a single word. She flashes an eyebrow in confirmation.

Holy shit. She's serious.

"I don't know," I joke, swallowing to wet my throat that's suddenly become impossibly dry. "What if you fall madly in love with me?"

"In that case I'll just have to try my best to keep it to myself. For the sake of objectivity. And our friendship, or whatever."

The apples of her cheeks are high, like she's holding back a chuckle, and her adorable little smile is contagious, but there's something slightly depressing her being amused by the idea of falling in love with me.

"And what about if you're the one who falls in love with me?" She teases.

What if.

My lips spread into a prick-like smirk as I try to bite back my grin. I roll my eyes and swiftly change the subject.

"I'm down but, uh, this feels a bit formal," I snort, nodding to our hands, still joined, swinging involuntarily between us.

"It is," she shrugs with one shoulder. "It's like... an experiment. For educational purposes only, y'know?"

So I finally get the chance to kiss Evangeline, and it's an experiment that we'll never speak of again after tonight. Am I really doing this?

"For educational purposes only," I repeat like a schmuck.

Now that all the stipulations and declarations have been made, our hands gradually fall to our sides, and fuck, this is it isn't it? The part where I kiss her?

It dawns on me that agreeing to kiss is an entirely different thing from actually kissing her, and suddenly my school shirt is the itchiest thing I've ever worn and this goddamn tie is way too tight.

Ironically enough, my first ever kiss went a little like this. Seven Minutes in Heaven with Lottie Oliver. Naturally, I was nervous then - 'nervous' and '14 years old' are practically synonymous - but not as much as I am now. This moment, this kiss, this girl and her golden smile - this time is so much different than any of the others.

"Whenever you're ready, Kellerman," Evangeline teases with an exaggerated sigh.

"Piss off."

When I lean in, she freezes instinctively, folding her hands in her lap patiently, and holding her breath as she waits for our lips to touch. The nearer I get, the heavier her gaze is, until we're within inches of each other, and her eyelids flutter shut, both at ease and anticipating at once.

I press my lips gently against hers, just long enough for the warmth of her lips to send a buzz through me, and then I pull away to read her face. Are my hands supposed to be this sweaty?

As delicately as they had shut, her eyes open and she's silent for a moment, gazing up at me... until she lets out a giggle.

A full on, entertained giggle.

"Jesus, we're off to a great start."

"No!" She says, and her giggle has now graduated to a sort of chuckle. "I'm not laughing because it was bad. It was really sweet, it's just- it's so quiet in here and it made me laugh, I don't know. Pick something from my Spotify."

She shifts to retrieve her phone from her shorts and thrusts it into my hands.

I scroll through her extensive playlist, swiping past the Marvin Gayes and John Legends and anything too obvious or embarrassing. I pick out some semi-familiar track by Rex Orange County called 'Never Had the Balls' because I really never did, but now I've got this chance, I sure as hell am not going to blow it. Even if it is 'just for educational purposes'.

The tune is a little peppy for two o'clock in the morning and the odd little scenario we've put ourselves in. In an ideal world, something classic and courageous would play and Evangeline would declare her longstanding love for me before we made out to our heart's content.

But I settle for the jaunty little tune because it eases the air and I'll take all the ease I can get in this moment.

"Good choice," she approves, standing to hook her phone up to the mini speaker in the corner of the room.

Her cheeks are rosy already, I can see it even in the telly-lit room, and she lifts her massive hoodie over head, losing her hair band in the process.

"Much better," she breathes, sitting back down.

"What?" She smiles coyly as I stare. Her hair is falling on bare shoulders in waves and her smile is driving me insane and I don't even know how to put what I feel into words. So I lift a tentative hand towards her face.

"Can I just..."

I don't even finish what I'm saying but she sits forward and nods softly, and God, the way that she trusts so wholly, so willingly, makes me fall even more in love with her.

I tuck a long strand of her cascading fiery hair behind her ear, and when my hand settles on her cheek I don't move it. She eases into me as our lips touch again, firmer this time round. She relaxes against my hand, letting me lead, and I seize the chance to escalate things.

"Mmph!" Evangeline sits back. Her attempt to disguise her expression is considerate, but very far from successful.

I grimace. "Too much tongue?"

"Not too much," she says carefully. "Just a little sudden, like a kinda..."

She gives a fast flash of her tongue that looks something like a bullfrog snatching up a fly and I cringe.

"Christ. Okay, what about if...we just start with lips and just, like, let it happen? More gradual and less..."

I mimic her bullfrog tongue demonstration, and she laughs, nodding.

I keep my tongue well inside my mouth this time, and our mouths move so slow and smooth together that it feels like we're melting. Whenever our lips part for the shortest moment, I turn her face and kiss her harder, softer, wanting to feel every line in her velvety lips as they rouge with each little kiss. She makes this little sighing noise occasionally, and it goes straight to my heart, but I can't tell if it's good or not until she pulls away to tell me.

"I like that - the way you hold my face." She says it quietly, with a small smile, like she's shy to admit it even though the feedback part is the whole point of us kissing (isn't it?). Her admission doesn't feel like feedback, though; it feels like adrenaline and pure ecstasy and I'm so happy that I could just kiss her. Well, kiss her again.

"Cool," I say, trying to keep my cool, although it comes out a little shaky.

"Can I?" She reaches both hands out, and they hover around the back of my neck. She's asking if she can touch me too.

I gulp. "Yeah, th- that's fine. Sure."

I'm pretty sure that the sensation of her soft hands, grazing the nape of my neck and her lips, gentle and sure against mine, at the same time is the closest I'll get to heaven. That is, until I feel her tongue emerge, slowly, and swipe along my top lip.

This time it's me that pulls away.

"What, was that bad?"

"No. No, I liked that," I say, barely keeping from exploding.

Drawing near again, her hands return to my neck, and I swear I could fucking sing. Then, steady with hesitance, she draws my upper lip into her mouth. When she leans back, she looks at me with anticipation, a nervous lip between her teeth.

"What about that? Does that feel weird?"

A tingle runs through me when I really focus on it - on how intimately we were joined; how gently she tasted me with my lip between hers.

Evangeline looks at me, waiting for an answer, no doubt imagining what I'm thinking, and that makes me wonder what she thinks. Whether she ever imagined trying that out before tonight; whether she ever imagined trying it out on me.

"I think I'm a fan. I don't know; I think I'll need a second dose to see what I really think..."

"Scott!" She punches me in the arm, and I chuckle and rub the spot she hit, although it didn't hurt.

"No bullshit - give me a pointer at least. How can I make it better?"

Jesus.

It's stupid, and I don't doubt that I'll take it back as soon as the blood starts flowing back up to my brain again, but I can see why a sleaze like Macklin would fall for a girl like Evangeline. She's the complete opposite of him - pure sweetness. Right now, with her looking up at me with eyes as wide and blue as an ocean, and pouty pink lips, asking with artless allure 'how can I make it better', I can hardly think straight. I can't imagine how anyone else could either.

"Um," I stall, racking my brains. "I dunno, maybe do it but, like, more? Harder, I guess?"

I can feel myself going beet red, but it's the only 'pointer' I can come up with. More. More of you.

"Harder?" She repeats matter-of-factly. If she's picking up on how worked up I'm getting, she's not letting on.

Of course she isn't, an irksome voice in my head says. It's just an experiment for her, remember? 'Just for educational purposes'? Don't get caught up, lover boy.

"Harder as in tighter, or as in for longer?"

"Uh....Harder as in harder? I dunno."

"Gee, real helpful, Kellerman."

"Hey, I didn't know you were gonna get all technical, I just know what feels good."

"Oh, my God, you're such a guy."

I shrug smugly because it's true.

Evangeline makes a thinking face for a while, a few small, thin lines forming between her brows, and I sit back, watching her noggin work. It's an odd feeling to have 15-20 seconds of the most passionate, overwhelming, heart-racing happiness with 30 seconds interludes for analysis of said happiness. But I'd take this over nothing, over anything - I'll take her any way I can have her.

I'm about to ask what's got her thinking so hard, but before I can get it out, her hands are on me again, delicate and determined, and her moist, full lips move against mine. A few moments pass as our mouths move in sync, and then this time, it's my bottom lip she takes in between hers. She pulls on it a little, tugging gently, then swipes her tongue along it before pulling away to look me in the eyes. She hasn't let go of me yet.

"How was that?" She asks, and I almost want to ask her if she's joking.

I can hardly catch my breath. From the way she took charge, pulling my face to hers to kiss me, to the teasing feeling of her sucking gently at my lip, lavishing tender attention. The hair on the back of my neck raises.

She's dangerous. There's no way she doesn't know it.

"Yeah- yes. Good," I manage, nodding. "Very, um, yes. Yeah. 10 out of 10."

Very yes? Holy shit, Scott.

I'm prepared for a witty retort about my total incoherence, but her cheeks flush pure pink, and her gaze drops to her lap. She's shy.

Before I can examine any further, we're kissing again, and somehow, that does away with the discomfort. We're in the groove now. Our lips are moving together; we know what the other likes.

I hold her close, thumbing her cheeks gently and she lets out a purr-like sigh; she rests her hands on my neck, and every so often she swipes her tongue along my lip, drawing it into her mouth, hard, and I feel like I'm going to explode.

The unwelcome voice makes it's return.

She probably learned all that from Macklin. You know, the guy she actually has feelings for?

Holding her chin lightly, I tilt her head up so that I can kiss her harder, and I feel her smile against my lips.

"I like that," she mumbles against me.

Take that, Voice.

I know this isn't how I dreamed our first kiss would come about, but fuck it: I'm here kissing her in the low lights of the morning, and Macklin isn't. Experiment or not, that's got to count for something, right?

Her lips part, and now I take my precious time sliding my tongue between them, slow enough that she can shut me down if she wants to.

But she doesn't. Her tongue meets mine, flicking and sucking and swirling around mine with sensual ease, and a hand slips down to my chest, pulling me closer by the cotton of my shirt like we can't be close enough.

God, why can't this be us all the time?

Her other hand brushes against the edge of my ear and before I can help it, I let out a throaty groan.

Our lips separate with a smack.

"Yeah?" She smirks, her voice breathy and dangerously low, sending a chill right through me.

I watch her as she eyes my ear with a mischievous smile, stroking one earlobe tenderly before leaning in to me, and swirling her tongue around it, pressing her lips to my ear to finish.

"Fu-uck, Evangeline," comes my gruff whine. I shut my eyes. This is it. Perfect fucking euphoria.

When my eyes re-open, Evangeline's looking at me with dark-eyed curiosity, a small smile playing on her lips.

"So you're an ear guy, huh?" She says, close enough that the breath of her playful little 'huh' blows against my skin.

Only when it's you.

Every ounce of my blood is pumping, and if we're not careful, everything could be different in the morning.

"Evangeline," I breathe. "If you meant what you said earlier... if we're staying friends after this little experiment, I wouldn't do that again if I were you."

Her eyes don't leave my lips; her hands don't leave my chest, and I'm silently praying that she tosses 'friendship' out the window and takes a chance.

When she leans in to kiss me again, I back away, watching her fixate on my mouth. My wet lips trace her warm ones without ever actually pressing them together. I revel in the feeling of her breaths growing increasingly uneven against my cheek every time she leans in and I pull away.

My panting is just as ragged, and for a while we just hold each other as she waits for our lips to touch again. It's a natural response to waiting for something that keeps on being denied, but some fantasy-fabricating part of my head tells me she wants me just as badly as I want her. All of me. She wants us.

The fourth or fifth time I back away, she takes hold of my shirt and demands my gaze to meet hers.

"Bloody hell, Scott," she whines. "Fucking kiss me."

Her desperation makes me weak and I'm grateful that I'm sitting down, or else I would certainly have buckled at those words I'd only ever heard in daydreams.

"Hmm," I hum teasingly, barely maintaining my composure as I watch her milky chest heave in her fitted vest.

"Say Bonnie was wrong."

"What?"

"Say Bonnie was wrong, and I'm not a shite kisser."

It's a feeble attempt to get her to say what she's thinking. If tonight's done to her even half of what it's done to me, to my heart, to my head, to my... If she feels the way that I feel, even a little bit, we have a chance.

When she laughs, warm air blows against my lips.

"I'm not admitting shit."

"I guess we're done here then," I say, but I don't move and neither does she.

"I hate you," she bluffs. "Kiss me."

"Do you hate me or do you want me to kiss you? You're sort of sending me mixed signals here, Evangeline."

Her grip on the back of my neck tightens and she grins and pulls me close decisively. I, of course, pull away, and we tug to and fro until we topple over, and my hands slip around her waist as I fall, bringing her down with me - on top of me, that is.

Nothing can pull either of us from this moment. Her hair falls around her face, curtaining mine too as she hovers over me, but she doesn't move it out of the way. Neither of us move at all. We let the atmosphere change as we catch our breath and watch each other's eyes, waiting for whatever comes next.

I can feel her heart, beating right on top of mine. I make the first move when my hands fall from her wait to her bare thighs, lodged on either side of my torso. Her heart rate speeds up.

My gaze asks a silent question. Is this okay?

Her cheeks high with a small smile, she puts her hand over mine and places it on her cheek, just where she said she liked it. Yes, she answers.

I let my other hand fall from from her cheek to the back of her head, guiding her towards me, for our lips to meet again.

Clack!

"Ow, fuck!"

Evangeline sits up on my torso, holding her mouth as she doubles over with laughter.

"Kellerman, did you just bump me with your bloody teeth?" She wheezes.

"You bumped me with yours!"

As I watch her stand to her feet, my heart cries out no, no, no! The moment isn't over!

But we're both clutching our teeth whilst Rex fucking Orange County plays, and I beg to differ, dear Heart - I think this is as 'over' as a moment can get.

"And I think that," Evangeline chuckles, reaching out a hand to pull me up from the floor, "marks the end of that."

She dusts herself off and it's like I'm watching the end of something that hardly ever began. Her smile is painfully casual before she turns her back to me to fiddle with the Bluetooth speaker and disconnect her phone.

"Um, I think your mum's still asleep in my room," she says, still turned away from me.

"So do you wanna chill down here for a bit? We have some spare mattresses under the staircase, I'm pretty sure."

"Yeah. Yeah, alright, I'll get them," I nod, feeling like a schoolkid who just woke up from a daydream. But this was real. There's a chance for us; a chance for a million more moments like that. I saw it, I felt it - and I know she did too. That's a high I can ride forever.

Before I leave, I press a casual kiss to her bare shoulder, and maybe I'm crazy, but I swear I feel her tremble.

"And what was that for?" She asks when I'm halfway out the door, a hint of a cheeky smile gracing her lips.

I shrug and head to the staircase.