Hey, Darling.

Mia’s pissed. She won’t even look at me, let alone talk to me. She just keeps huffing around the house, ignoring my presence and then leaving with John at night. I stopped asking her where she was going after the first night. She just glared at me afterwards, and looked really, really pissed.

I didn’t get why she was so mad at me. Yeah, I made a mistake, sure, I’m really, really sorry, but there’s not much I can do about it. I didn’t know Kennedy was officially going out with Bonnie. And honestly, he was the one that kissed me first. Why did everyone have to blame me because I wasn’t drunk?

I huffed around the house too. I was bored, and there were these emotions inside of me that I was having a hard time handling. I didn’t know what to do now. Was I supposed to apologize? Was Kennedy supposed to apologize? Was I just supposed to hide under my bed for the remainder of the summer and pretend that this never happened?

It had been three days now. I had wasted these three days even lazier than before I’d gone to the party. My grandma just gave up on my now - she ignored me when I spent days watching Ellen and Rachel Ray and then switching to the Food Network. I probably would have switched to Fuse, but I didn’t want any reminders about band boys.

I had left my place on the couch for only a second. I was upstairs, pulling on a pair of men’s boxers and a white tank top. I was scooping my hair up into a high pony tail when I heard my grandma call up the stairs.

“Molly!” She yelled.

“I’ll be right down!” I called back, slipping on my favorite pair of slippers and making my way out of the room.

“Molly!” It didn’t appear that she heard me. “There’s a boy at the door for you!”

I blinked a couple of times and clutched the railing. There was no mistaking the fluttering in my stomach as I thought about the possibilities. The possibilities, however, seemed far off. It was probably just Garrett around to see how I was doing. Because, y’know, he’s nice like that.

“’Kay!” I said as I bolted down the stairs. I stood in the hall, looking at my grandmother in the kitchen. “Is he outside?” I asked her.

She just nodded, before giving me another one of her suspicious looks. She probably thought I was some druggie and he was my dealer, or I had some type of side prostitute job and he was my pimp. She had no faith in me whatsoever.

I opened the door quickly, plastering a big smile on my face as I looked for Garrett.

‘Cept there was no Garrett. There was just this boy sitting there, and it took a quick second to recognize him, probably because he didn’t look drunk and reek of alcohol.

“Hi,” He said, turning his head to look at me. He was perched at the left end of our top step, and he looked nervous. He was fumbling with his fingers and looking everywhere but my face.

“Hello?” I didn’t mean for it to come out as a question, but I was skeptical. Alone time with Kennedy did not prove to be something good. I had about two experiences to use as proof.

“Do you want to sit down?” Kennedy blurted out, looking at the space next to him.

I looked at him skeptically, before nodding and sitting down. There was at least a foot of space between us, and I had plans to keep that gap. I did not need a repeat of four days ago. Though kissing him hadn’t really been that bad, the aftermath had sucked.

“So,” I started, feeling awkward. The only times I had talked to him when he was sober he was a total jerk. He only seemed nice when he was drunk, and though the idea of grabbing a bottle of wine from my grandmother’s collection seemed tempting, I passed on the idea. I had a feeling that we would both need to remember this conversation. “What do you need?”

Kennedy looked over at me before sighing. He then scooted over. Closer. Closer. And then there was only about an inch separating my body and his. That was not planned. I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable. I had a slight feeling of what he was doing, but I really hoped I was wrong.

Because if he did what I thought he was going to do, I was going to be even more confused. I’d had enough confusion these first three weeks of summer than I had ever needed.

“Kennedy,” I started as I felt his eyes zero in on my lips. “Do you really want to do this?”

He didn’t answer so I started making up more excuses. “What about Bonnie?” I asked. Then I remembered that she had basically broken up with him when he was passed out, and tried a different approach. “Remember how this ended the last time? We really shouldn’t be doing this? Every time we’ve kissed has ended out badly.”

He was leaning towards me, and then he nodded. “That’s true,” he said, and I could feel his breath fanning over my face. His breath smelt minty, like he had brushed his teeth this morning, but it wasn’t overpowering, like he’d done so about twenty minutes ago..

“However,” he argued. “I was drunk when those kisses occurred. Right now, though, I am completely sober.”

“But are you sure that you’re completely sane?” My voice was high, desperate, as I tried to stop him. The butterflies were back, fluttering around and making my entire body putty. I couldn’t even function properly.

I tried to think if I’d brushed my teeth that morning. I was pretty sure that I had, but my brain seemed to be out on lunch, so there wasn’t much remembering to do.

“Because, like, this really isn’t such a good idea--”

As always, his lips cut off mine before I had a chance to finish my sentences. He had a knack for doing that. If he hadn’t been such a good kisser, I probably would have found it really fucking annoying. However, his lips seemed to make me forget any trace of annoyance or frustration in my brain.

He put his hands on both sides of my face as he pulled me towards him, his lips still attached to mine. He was moving our lips together, and then suddenly I was kissing back. It was like every time he started working his magic, the good, sane Molly left the building. Then my heart started to take over.

He had just slipped his tongue inside of my mouth and was doing all kinds of delightful, delicate things when I decided that I had had enough (how I got the determination to pull away, I will never know) of this and that we needed to stop ASAP. Because, y’know, the stuff we were doing was unjust and all.

Kennedy sighed when I pulled away, but he didn’t let my go far. His hands were still on either side of my face, and he leant forward so his forehead was touching mine. If I hadn’t been inwardly freaking out over what was going to happen next, I probably would have fainted over his cuteness. He really did seem half bad when he was like this.

“You taste like really sweet tea,” he said quietly, and then he lips were back on my lips, and he looked like he was ready to ravage me any second.

“I had tea this morning,” I whispered back, letting myself get caught up in the moment for just a second. But for just a second. Then I went back to rational, logically thinking Molly. The one who didn’t let things like this get too far.

“We shouldn’t be doing this," I told him, and I tried to pull away, but he didn’t let me. I stopped struggling for a moment and then his hands left my face and wrapped around my waist, making it even harder for me to get away.

“Why not?” He seemed genuinely confused. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s just that-” I had practiced excuses for three days straight, and now with the opportunity to use them, I drew a blank.

Kennedy waited for me to answer, and then that sweet look washed from his face and he looked irritated. He unwrapped his arms and stood up quickly. He didn’t even brush himself off. He just started walking towards the pathway and to the street.

I could have just let him go. I could have just let him walk down the street, and then this entire problem would have been resolved and I could go back to living my boring summer in peace. I thought about doing that, for about two seconds, but the more dominant part of me told me to stop him, because even though this was really complicated and confusing, I didn’t want it to end.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I asked him, my voice raised as I stood up, looking at his retreating back. He was wearing one of those infamous white v-neck t-shirts, a pair of skinny jeans that didn’t even look like they would fit me, and some black Vans. He had a couple of threaded bracelets on his wrist.

“Doing what?” He thundered. He turned around harshly, and he looked mad.

“Playing games!” I shrieked at him. “One second you’re being a total jerk, and then you’re being really nice, and then you’re fucking things up, and then you go back to being this really nice, albeit confusing, guy! Who are you?”

“I’m just trying to give you a chance,” he said, his eyes narrowed. For a second I thought about how ridiculous we must have looked, screaming at each other, five feet away, at eleven o’clock in the morning. I briefly wondered if we were going to get complaints from the neighbors, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

“A chance to what? Humiliate myself?”

He shook his head. “No, a chance to start something! I’m sorry that I fucked up, okay? I acknowledge that, and I feel really bad for being a jerk. And when I apologize the other day, I meant it. I was just being a dick, and I didn’t mean any of it. I know things got complicated with Bonnie, but that’s out of the way now. So I come over here to try and show you how I feel, to try and get us to start something, and you won’t even give me the fucking time of day!”

“I am giving you the time of day!” I yelled at him, and then watched as he took a couple steps forward. “I’m talking to you right now!”

“You’re screaming at me right now! And when you do talk to me, all you do is go on and on about how we shouldn’t do this, but you don’t even have a valid reason..” Kennedy looked angry, but he seemed to be toning it down with every step he took. His voice was still harsh and his eyes were still narrowed, but we didn’t sound like we were going to be getting any noise complaints any more.

“And you have a valid reason as to why we should keep on doing what we’re doing?” I asked him, sarcasm laced in my words. I honestly didn’t think he had a valid reason, besides probably because it’ll get us to stop yelling at each other.

“Yes!” He thundered. “As a matter of fact, I do1”

“What?” I questioned him. “what could possibly be a good enough reason?”

He looked like he was about to burst. His fists were clenched at his sides and he looked like he was ready to hit something. I wondered for a second if he would hit me, but then the though ran from my brain because even though Kennedy was a jerk most of the time, he wasn’t that type of guy.

He took one more step towards me, until we were facing each other and he was standing on the step below. He was still taller than me by a couple of inches.

I expected him to say something. Rather, he just leaned forward, and I had fair warning of what he was going to do, but I didn’t pull back. He pushed his lips to mine, gently, and then pulled away before I even had a chance to react.

“I like you,” he said quietly, unclenching his fists. I watched in amazement as he grabbed my hand is his and linked the fingers together. “And I know damn well that you like me back. So can’t we just give it a chance? Just a chance?”

He was looking at me square in the eye, and it kind of looked like he was pleading with me. I already knew the answer.

No. My brain wanted to say no. It wanted to scream at him about all of the ways he had been a jerk, and how he didn’t deserve me. My heart then promptly told my brain to STFU, and that it would handle the situation at hand.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah,” I said. “I think I can handle that.”

Kennedy’s blank face turned to a triumphant smile within seconds. He leaned forward again, and then he brought his other hand up to grip my face. I used my free hand to curl it into the hairs at the nape of his neck. He kissed me slowly, languidly, and then I kissed him back with as much pressure and passion. It felt nice, kissing him knowing that I wouldn’t get in any trouble for it.

His lips felt really good, and I was disappointed when he pulled away. He saw the look on my face and then promptly kissed the top of my head.

“Don’t worry. We’ve got time to do that later.”

I just smiled up at him, and I could feel all bitterness melt and way. It was really easy to go from being pissed at to in lust with Kennedy. I was like a Mercedes: o to 60 in just a couple of seconds.

“So,” he pulled the word out, kissing my nose before continuing. “I’ll pick you up at five for a night out?”

He looked a little nervous, but I nodded quickly. “’Kay,” was the only word that I could get passed my lips.

He just smiled at me, and then I stood on my tiptoes to press my lips against his once again.