Even if I tried to pretend it didn't change anything between us, it was not just difficult but impossible. Aelius had warned me about the risks. I should have paid attention to his warnings. No matter what I said or did to cover it up, it wouldn't change the fact that kissing Aelius turned out to be a monumental mess.

Because sitting behind him for ten minutes while he drove his black beast bike towards my house wasn't easy, given we were both in some post kiss haze. And when he pulled my hands off his shoulders and guided them around his waist, I almost melted against his warm, inviting back. Only I didn't do that. Instead, I balled my fists and remained rigid like a statue till we reached my house.

As soon as his bike came to a stop, I jumped off it and fumbled with the helmet. He had strapped under my chin a little tight as the damn thing was too large for my head.

"Here, let me," he gently brushed my fingers away and unhooked the strap in one smooth click. He was unaware of how he set a tingling sensation all over my body every time his fingertips made contact with the sensitive skin of my neck. That alone was enough to set alarms blaring in my head, and I quickly stepped away from his proximity, pushing the helmet a little hard on his stomach.

"Thanks for the ride, Hayes," I said, fixing my hair and looking everywhere else but not his aquamarine eyes. "I should head inside, or my mom will extend my curfew. That would really piss me off."

He released a low chuckle, shaking his head and his back leaning on the bike. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop admiring how breathtaking he looked under the last streaks of light in the gray sky as he leaned casually, balancing a helmet on his side and that devilish dimpled smile on his face. My eyes instantly followed the perfect cupid bow of his lips, and the memories of our kiss engulfed my senses.

"For someone complaining about the extension of their curfew, you're slow to escape it." His deep voice pulled my attention, reeling me away from the feeling of his lips on mine, hot and heavy and breathy. "What's going on in your head, Little Dove?"

I realized he had taken a step toward me, and I wasn't stepping back. Instead, I tilted my head up to gaze at his unreadable expression. Was he feeling the same way as I was feeling? Or was it just inexperience in me that made me a total nutjob after my first proper kiss?

Aelius moved a strand of my hair behind my ear, of course, without touching my face, but even that nearly touching feeling turned my throat dry. Then he dipped his face near my ear, his little stubbles grazing my cheek as he whispered, "I think I saw your mom on the front porch. You should better run."

"Shit!" My head snapped in the direction of my house so fast that my vision blurred for a moment. Indeed my mom was standing on the front porch with her arms across her chest.

Her gaze was hard on Aelius as he waved at her like they knew each other forever. "Hey Mrs. Eve, Gramps loved the walnut cookies you sent across. Aunt Julian has promised to pick up the recipe from you."

How did I forget that his Aunt Julian, his father's little sister, was my mom's best friend? Julian was like a family member, which meant Aelius and my family shared some strong connections. I looked from mom to Aelius and then back to mom as she instantly awarded him a smile. "I'm glad they loved it."

Aelius hopped on his black beast and arrowed away from my house but not before giving me a quick wink and saying, "Don't worry, Little Dove. Your mom is a sweetheart, and she likes me."

True that he was, my mom did like him. Apparently, not enough to not scold me for staying with my friends so late after school. Last of the last warnings were out, and I screwed from all directions.

***

Obviously, from the very next day that nothing remained normal between us. Maybe, it wasn't a big deal for Aelius, him being the best kisser on campus. On the other hand, I could barely look at the boy. Because every time I did, Endorphin infused my veins, and I couldn't stop the thoughts of seeking out another kiss from him.

I was determined not to work on that fantasy, though. Not when I almost lost my sense of reasoning the first time around. The first half of the day went by with back-to-back theory classes. We hardly had any free moment to think about anything else. I took a seat at the front, knowing Aelius was sitting at the back of the classroom. During the classes, I couldn't stop feeling his eyes on me. True to my feelings, his blue irises were on me every time I looked back.

And for some reason, his eyes followed a downward trail, very slowly, halting on my lips and staying there for three loud heartbeats. Oh, I know the reason. It was because I'd been holding my pen between my lips. I shifted my gaze to the front instantly. My cheeks turned hot with an unknown bodily awareness.

So, naturally, as soon as the bell rang, I dashed out of the classroom, heading toward the pool area. I knew only one way to kill the restlessness softening my bones. No one practiced swimming during lunch hours, and I had the pool all to myself, what I wanted. I didn't know how many laps I covered or how much anxiety I shred off as Aelius was indeed sent from hell to torment me. He wouldn't leave my mind.

Forty minutes later, when I finally pulled myself out of the water, limbs sore, lungs burning with exhaustion, and walked over to the bleachers to get my towel, someone held out a blue-colored lunch box in my line of sight. I moved my gaze from the mysterious lunchbox to the person holding it out and came face to face with the devil in disguise. Aelius Carter Hayes stood in front of me, his hair unruly and the tie hanging loosely around his neck. He looked sinful yet tempting with that dimpled smile, and crinkles formed at the corner of his eyes as he smiled.

"You skipped your lunch again," he sighed, thrusting the lunchbox in my reluctant hands and snatching the towel resting on my small duffel. As I tried to make sense of the warmth seeping through the cracks of my heart, he used the towel to dry my hair with a gentleness that could turn you into a whipped girl.

Why would he do something like that? I wasn't his girl. So what if we spent a month around each other every chance we got. It didn't mean I had to start falling for him, even if that's what was happening unbeknownst to me.

"You don't have to give your lunch to me. I will grab something quick from the cafeteria before the class starts." I smiled, curling my fingers around the blue lunchbox. It had a cute picture of SpongeBob.

Aelius stopped drying my hair and gave me a tired look. "Stop behaving like a brat, Isy, and just eat your damn lunch."

"Don't call me out like my mom." I huffed out and sat down on the bench, pushing his hands away from my hair. He was drying less and messing them up more.

Aelius shook his head and poked his tongue on the inside of his cheek as I began stuffing my mouth with the cheese sandwich he had in that cute lunchbox.

He fished out my water bottle and drank from it. "How about we head to the Smoothie Shack after school? Do you feel like drinking some hot chocolate?"

"In the name of God, yes. I would love to drown my anxiety in a hot cup of chocolate." I mumbled the last part.

His lips tugged upward in a calming smile as he twisted the cap of the water bottle, and after a moment's hesitation, I shifted a little to the side so that he could sit beside me.

We fell into a comfortable silence. I devoured the cheese sandwich, and he sat there watching me eat. It was okay till I had something else to concentrate on. Once the lunch was over, and we still didn't move away from that position, the sense of awareness started creeping in. My wet thigh was flush against his, and I didn't know how long we had been sitting like that.

The insidious memory of that kiss crept into my mind. I found Aelius's eyes on my lips as I gulped down water from the bottle, making me feel both reckless and anxious. I drank half the bottle, but my throat still felt dry. A dark, sinful voice rang in my head, asking me how it would feel to be the initiator of a kiss. I wanted to know how it would feel to kiss rather than get kissed. I was supposed to ignore that voice, rush back to the locker room, away from Aelius and away from my newfound desires. But I couldn't.

And whatever I asked next wasn't my usual self. I sounded foreign even to my ears. "Aeli, can I kiss you again?"

"Yeah-what?"

I licked my lips nervously, knowing I had just had my lunch. It was not a good scenario for the kiss. This time I had a pack of mint pops in my bag. So, as Aelius moved his slightly disoriented gaze from my face to how I took out several mints pops on my palm and popped them into my mouth, I waved the pack in front of his face and asked, "Want some?"

He shook his head, his black, unruly curls falling some more over his forehead. I took him by surprise. The precious look on his face no more resembled the flirt who proclaimed to be the best kisser.

Too bad, I was planning on giving him a tough fight.

"Are you trying to be funny, Little Dove?" He frowned as I chewed the mints and tossed the empty pack in the dustbin. His eyes moved from my eyes to my lips and back to my eyes.

"I'm not joking, Aeli. I want to be sure that I got the techniques right." A lie. I wanted to know why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I wished to get rid of the anxiety clouding my senses.

He huffed in disbelief. "Yeah? I think we better not."

"Not we." I moved my body to face him. "It's about me. I want to kiss you. Just tell me if I can."

I sounded so desperate that a part of me wanted to hide under the same bench we were sitting on. My words hung between us like a naked electric wire. One-touch and it could incarcerate us both. Butterflies were going crazy inside my stomach, and my pulse kicked in as my fingers twitched. Feeling a little brave, I moved to hold Aelius's cheek.

"Daisy," he breathed out a defeated warning, his eyes already turning a darker shade of blue. That made me even more assertive to seek that kiss from him.

"Let me kiss you, Aeli," I whispered, looking at him fiercely. "I need to -"

He put his hand on my thigh as I scooted closer, my other hand joining in to cup his face. He was tense, and his eyes were constantly sending me mixed signals. The way they stayed on my lips, and he licked his lips, showed approval, but the way his hold tightened on my thigh, and he kept saying, 'Are you sure about this, Isy?' said otherwise.

"If this is what you want, Isy," he paused to move his hand from my thigh to my waist, and before I could control the way my heart pounded in my chest, he pulled me closer, and in one swift move, I was straddling him. "Then kiss me as I kissed you. Kiss me the way I taught you. Kiss me like-" I cut him off by leaning in and kissing him like he kissed me and maybe, realized I had my techniques all along.

Just as our lips connected, something akin to a whine escaped my mouth. Aelius pulled me against himself some more, one of his hands tangling in my damp hair while the other held my waist.

"What are you doing to me, Isy?" He asked me in a breathless, deep voice as I brushed my lips against his once, twice, and the third time; I let them stay sealed. My fists curled up in his shirt as he allowed me to deepen the kiss, inviting and ready to take whatever I was giving in to the kiss. Then everything turned into a mist of fireworks as my half-lidded eyes met with his aquamarine ocean eyes.

That was all I needed to see before I went off my hook and kissed him with everything I had. Every failed attempt to initiate a kiss or every missed chance to show my affection, or even the way my mind had been caught up in a fury of irritation and anxiety since my lips first touched his sin-glazed lips. I kissed away all of it. And who was I kidding? He kissed me back with the same intensity as if he wasn't hesitating a moment ago. He kissed me like I was his midnight starry desire, and he couldn't just stop falling under my spell. My fingers traced the outline of our lips where they sealed together like two missing pieces of a puzzle, and then I let my finger feel the veins lining his neck, the soft skin around his collarbones, traveling down until I felt his abs flexing under my touch.

I let my fingers stay there, feeling him unravel under my touch. I did that to Aelius. My kiss turned him into a guy of need and desire. The thought had me giggling through the kiss, and he broke away with a groan, but soon we both laughed against each other's lips. And damn, we both knew how perfect that kiss was.

When we finally pulled away, he didn't let me slip away like an unspeakable secret but held me close against him until my soul returned to my body. He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, letting his lips linger there for a long second. "Let's skip the rest of our classes. I don't want anyone to see you like you just kissed me."

And I didn't think twice and answered with a nod. "I don't want that either, pretty boy."

***

I wasn't surprised to feel the sugar-laden taste of his lips on mine throughout the day. As promised, Aelius took me out for a hot chocolate evening at Smoothie Shack. And I couldn't stop grinning like a lovesick girl the entire time we sat across each other, sipping hot chocolate and discussing everything about our lives except the kiss we shared.

When he dropped me back at my house, I realized how comfortable I was plastered against his back the whole ride, and somehow, it felt as domestic as wrapping myself in my warm comforter.

That night when my dad asked me how my day was at school, the dinner table lit up with my smile. I was happy. I was so happy that I didn't mind doing the dishes alongside mom or playing chess with dad and losing for the nth time.

I kissed Aelius Carter Hayes, the guy with the mesmerizing blue orbs and charming dimpled smile.

My unsolvable kiss equation had finally found its solution.

And I liked the idea that it might be Aelius.

***

Total Words: 2630

Author's Note: So we have two more chapters and maybe an epilogue to go. These characters have all my heart and I don't want to break their love bubble.

What do you feel about the story so far? Talk to me about it if you've managed to read this far.