Lie Like You Mean It

“Just stop jerking your head around so much!” I hissed at Zero who was squirming around on the seat we’d set up in the bathroom. I was coloring his hair the same day we’d bought the hair color.

“Sit on my lap and I won’t. It’s not my fault this shit burns.” He started reaching up into his hair, but I smacked his hand away. He’d get hair color on them and they’d be purple-black for awhile and I knew he wouldn’t like that later. “It itches!” He growled.

“Where?” I asked, automatically volunteering myself for scratching it.
He pointed to a spot on his scalp where I’d already colored. Through my gloves, I raked my fingernails over it. Relaxed a little bit and seemed to be more comfortable so I stopped.

“Well? Aren’t you going to sit on my lap so you can do the front of my hair?” He asked, craning his neck to look at me.

I rolled my eyes at his request. But I was a little thankful it wasn’t an order like it might have been a month or so ago. “You promise you won’t do anything? Like bite me?” I asked meekly. I had asked, but I was already making my way to the door to lock it. We both knew his answer was ‘I won’t do anything.’ To be honest, I trusted him. I mean, he usually kept to his promises when they concerned me anyways, so why not trust him?

Nervously, I sat myself down on his lap, facing towards him. There was a shock of feeling in my stomach at the unusual way we were in contact, but it subsided a little bit a few seconds later. I shuddered slightly when his hands found their way to my hips and he kept them there and then he looked at me, his gaze burning into my eyes. “I like you, Nicolas.” He said before tilting his head downward so that I could massage the mixture into his hair.

“I-I… like you too…” I whispered back. I pulled his bangs back and coated them with the solution. Zero took that as his cue to lift his head back up. He looked incredibly strange with his hair pulled back like that. In fact, I ended up laughing at it. He smiled back up at me. Those smiles made me feel special because he only showed them to me. He seemed to be content that I was laughing, even if it was at him (kind of).

There was an urge to lean over and press a kiss onto his forehead, which I ultimately gave in to. “Just think what Mina and Michael would be squealing like if they saw us like this.” He laughed, but I shivered at the thought.

“I don’t wanna.” I said, shuddering again as the unpleasant thought of their fangirlishness entered my mind unwillingly.

“Nicolas, look at me.” He said, training my eyes on his hazel ones by holding my head with his hands. “I like you... a lot.” He was trying to ingrain the seriousness into my brain and mind. “I-I know.” I told him, and it was the truth. I’ve known and understood for quite a while now.

“And you’re staying with me even though you know the truth?” He asked. To be honest, I had thought we were already past this.

The smell of the formula in his hair was burning my nose now.

“If I didn’t want to stay with you… I could think of many better reasons to leave. Do you get it now?” I said, grabbing onto his cheeks, trying to force my thought into his head. “I like you, okay?”

I didn’t realize what was going on until he was pulling my face down to his and he stopped just before our lips could touch and he looked up into my eyes. I mimicked the act and let my eyes lock with his even though I could feel the blush dusting my cheeks.

We sat like this for a few minutes – until I had to close my eyes and give in to pressing my mouth to his. I don’t know why, but I felt like I had been compelled to do so. The hands that were on my hips snaked around me and encircled my waist, pulling me closer until our chests brushed against one another. Then he pulled back ever so slightly to allow room to turn his head the other way and continued to move his lips against mine. I followed his movements better than before and I could feel his breath mingle with mine in my mouth. I concentrated on breathing through my nose instead of my mouth so that I wouldn’t have to break the kiss for air.

Without thinking, I wound my arms back behind his head and realized that he still had the hair color in his hair. I opened my eye slightly to see that my arms were smeared with the purple-black liquid. I disregarded it and continued to let my mouth collide with his.

I could feel the reluctance in his touch as he pushed me back. It wasn’t like him to want to end the kiss. He laughed as he pulled my arms out from around him.

“You need to wash that off.” He grinned.

I bit my lip, but proceeded to climb off of him and make my way to the sink. I scrubbed them with rubbing alcohol which got rid of it easily. “M-Maybe we sh-should try again when y-you’ve washed it out…” I suggested timidly.

“Speaking of that – how long has it been?” He asked, looking up at me inquisitively.

“U-uh… maybe fifteen minutes?” I guessed.

He groaned and let his head flop forward. “Can we just rinse it out now? The itching is driving me fucking insane.”

I sighed defeatedly at his request and gestured for him to come over to the sink where I was standing. He dragged the chair over to it and leaned the back against the marble sink and sat back, allowing his head to sit underneath the water. He shut his eyes as I turned the water on. But then he jolted when it came out cold.

“S-sorry.” I apologized. He just laughed at me so I decided to splash cold water in his face.

“Not. Fair.” He hissed and for a second I thought he was actually mad at me. Well, until he leaned up and kissed my nose, forcing me to back away slightly in surprise.

But that made me realize that I didn’t want him mad at me. I didn’t like it when he was mad at me. I didn’t want him looking at me like he did everyone else with that cold expression. I scrubbed through his hair with shampoo as soon as the water ran clear and then conditioned it. Although it didn’t lose it coarseness. I unlocked the door after that.

But as soon as the locked click, Zero pulled me back into his chest and then turned me in his arms. “You said to try again when my hair’s clean.”

“I-I-” He rested his forehead against mine, making me stop my sentence short at his close vicinity. “Why do you have to be so tall?” I whispered.

“Luck?” He tried. Then he grabbed hold of my thighs and lifted me up so that we could be on eye level. He looped his arms so that I could hook on with my legs. I let my arms drape over his shoulders lazily as he gave me a single chaste kiss on my lips then onto my cheek. Then his tongue ran over it.

“Ew… you freak!” I hissed at him. He grinned back at me as I rubbed off the saliva from my cheek.

“Unless you want it in your mouth.” He said suggestively, his smirk widening.

“Wh-what?”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?” I asked, his wordplay confusing me.

“Want to try French kissing?”

I bit my lip while he waited for my answer. I wasn’t sure about it, really. But if I did, what was the worst that could happen? I twisted a strand of his damp hair between my thumb and forefinger. “I… Um… We can try…” I breathed. He laughed at my shy reply then he leaned in.

The kiss started out slow then he began to move his mouth against mine. I ran my hands through his hair, feeling the coarse texture between my fingers.
I ended up tensing when I felt his tongue dab at my lip. Nonetheless, I opened my mouth the next chance I got.

I froze when the muscle invaded my mouth and rubbed against my own, trying to get a reaction. It took me a few seconds to get past the whole shock part of this kind of kissing, but when I did I let my tongue massage up against his. All of this felt so intimate to me and I hoped he didn’t write it off as anything less than intimate. His tongue touched the roof of my mouth so I mimicked the act and scraped my own tongue against the rigid surface of his.

Something just took over and possessed my tongue to start exploring his mouth more openly, but the rational part of my mind kept me cautious. I think I almost would’ve liked to continue if someone hadn’t knocked on the door. It scared me shitless because I realized I had unlocked the door. I struggled out of his arms as I disconnected our faces. He quickly let me go.

We were both out of breath, but I opened the door to see my uncle Blake standing there. His eyes skimmed over both of us. “Your mom told me you were coloring his hair, so I thought I’d drop in.” He grinned.

He was short like my mother and I but he had sandy blond hair and brown eyes. He was extremely young looking due to his height, well, he was young anyways. I think he turned twenty-two this year. Must have sucked having parents that were pushing sixty when you’re only in your twenties. But I don’t think he cared because he and my mother were no longer speaking to their parents.

“I’ve already met Mina and her… boyfriend – Michael right? So, who’s this?” My uncle asked, still smiling warmly at Zero.

“Z-Zero, Mina’s twin brother.” I announced.

“Ah, well, nice to meet you.” He said, extending a hand to Zero, who was still a bit out of breath and was trying to hide it. Zero took his hand and shook it.

Blake, who was still smiling, looked over at me as his hand was released from Zero’s grasp. “Nicolas? Can I speak to you in the other room? You as well, Zero.”