A Smile for Your Scrapbooks

I stood and brushed the seat of my dress off, motioning for Alex to stand too. “Come on. Tonight, just forget everything,” I told him softly, encasing his hand in mine with a sweet smile.

I wasn’t always like this. It wasn’t every day that I was a kind soul, giving to others. I lived for my own freedom, and with that came a price. Whatever made me happy was what I did, regardless of the effect on others. But sometimes, once in a great while, I found myself reaching out towards someone, wanting nothing more than to help them through whatever it was that was ailing them. I could see that a lot of light had left Alex, but that there was potential for it to shine again. I wanted that, for some reason. I wanted Alex to look at me, and I wanted to see something in the depths of his chocolate eyes.

Call me a sap, but it was the truth.

I led Alex back into the house and grabbed us some more drinks, having both finished ours on the short walk inside. One of my favorite songs came on and I laughed, dragging Alex onto the dance floor.

“I’m not the greatest dancer,” he yelled close to my ear to be heard.

I shook my head. “Me neither,” I informed him with a large smile as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands at the small of my back, moving his body close to mine. I intersected my legs with his, pressing myself up against him as I lost myself in the music. We swayed with the crowd, both of us getting hotter by the second. I could feel the sweat drip over my hands from Alex’s neck, just as I was sure he could feel it through the thin, cotton material of my dress.

I don’t think we left the dance floor for a couple of hours. I remember the songs changing, barely, and I remember our drinks constantly being refilled. By around midnight, I was pretty drunk. I don’t think Alex was too far behind me, either.

We stumbled through the crowd back towards the kitchen, where I perched myself on the counter after shoving many items off, not caring who’s they were, or what they were, for that matter. Alex, his eyes squinty, laughed as he stood in between my legs, his hands on the outside of my thighs, just at the hem of my dress.

“Now, now, Mr…”I paused, having realized I didn’t know his last name. I shrugged, then continued, “…Alex. I may be drunk, but I’m still thinking somewhat clearly.”

Despite my own words, I interlocked my ankles behind him and pulled him close, my fingers curling into the hair at the nape of his neck. He flashed me the most charming smile I had ever seen. You know the ones you see in magazines, with perfect white teeth. Smiles that radiate pure happiness, as if the wearers had absolutely no problems. It was a smile for your scrapbooks; a smile you wanted to keep forever.

“So am I, which is a good thing, I suppose,” Alex informed me, nuzzling into my neck.

I giggled like a schoolgirl and swatted his arm, but did nothing else to push him away from me. I think at that point, I was too far gone to care much anymore. Besides, Alex was a good-looking guy, and I had been single for some time. Why not?

Those beautiful brown eyes peered up at me from his spot in my neck, his smile rebellious. There. There was that spark, just creeping below the surface.

His nose gently grazed across first my jaw line, and then moved to my cheek. Heat flushed my skin as our eyes stayed connected during his tour of the right side of my face. He pulled back the slightest fraction of an inch, his lips a mere space from mine. Slowly, maybe even too slowly, he moved forward, our eyes still watching each other, blue meeting brown in an intense stare-down.

“JORDY!”

We jumped apart, both of us turning to look at Rachel, who was standing in the doorway, a sly smile on her face. I wanted to throttle her with my bare hands. My eyes narrowed as I jumped off the counter, stumbled, and then blushed when Alex caught me.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, straightening my dress out as I worked my way away from his hands. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

“Actually,” Alex said, grabbing my hand and pulling me back. “I should probably head home.” He ran a hand through his hair, as if thinking, then spoke again. “I want to see you tomorrow. Think you could teach me how to surf?”

I grinned like a madman and nodded. “Of course. You have to be up early though,” I warned him.

“All the more reason for me to head home now,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I’ll see you at 6 then. Be ready.”

He nodded and before I could do anything to stop him, he leaned down and quickly brushed his lips against mine before turning and heading out of the house. I stared after him, startled, my fingers pressed to my lips.

“Woah, Jordy. Getting hot and heavy with him, eh?” Rachel asked, playfully pressing her elbow into my side.

I rolled my eyes. “Please. I only just met him yesterday. I don’t know him well enough to be ‘hot and heavy’ with him.”

“But you totally want to. And don’t deny it. I can see it.”

I shook my head and decided to ignore her. Instead, I went upstairs to go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, especially on only about 5 hours of sleep. Still, I couldn’t help but smile as I lay down in bed, pulling my pillow close. I could still feel the warmth of his lips on mine. With a sigh of content, I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.