Light Me On Fire

“How much longer are you planning on watching this infomercial? My show comes on in ten minutes,” my mom laughed.

I broke my gaze away from the TV, looking at her. “What?”

She laughed again before taking a seat next to me on the couch. “Hand me the remote.” I gave it to her and she shut the television off. “Tell me what’s going on, Soph. Which boy is it?”

I sighed, knowing she had me. I laid my head on her lap, and she began running her fingers through my hair, something she had done since I was a child. “Mom … I cheated on Nick.”

Her fingers stopped moving for a quick second before going back to work. “When you say cheated …”

I let out a small laugh. “I kissed someone else, mom.”

She sighed in relief. “And this someone else wouldn’t happen to be John, would it?”

I closed my eyes, biting down on my bottom lip. “It is.”

She laughed. “You act like I’m supposed to be surprised, Sophie. You two have always had a romantic chemistry … a strong one.”

I groaned. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

“Soph, we all make mistakes, honey; especially when we’re young. You kissed John, and that’s that. You can’t go back in time and change that fact. Something in you had to have made you want to kiss John, because you wouldn’t do it for just any reason. I know that you’re with Nick, and that you may like him, but, baby, you’re in love with John. You may not have admitted it to yourself yet, but you are,” she stated, looking me straight in the eyes.

I sighed, feeling defeated. “You’re right.”

“Of course, I’m a mother. It’s what we do best.”

I laughed. “But, I hurt Nick, mom. I don’t know how to tell him or what I should even say to him …”

“You tell him the truth, Soph. Plain and simple as that,” she said.

“I guess so …”

She nodded her head and gave me a kiss on my forehead. “Just trust me. Now, hush up because Judge Judy is starting.”

I laughed and got off the couch, grabbing my car keys from the coffee table. “I’ll be back later.”

“Mhm, sure. Love you,” she said, waving me off.

“Love you, too,” I smiled before walking out of the door.

I got into my car, and started the ignition. I didn’t know whose house to go to first. I groaned and decided on going to Nick’s; I needed to get this over with as soon as possible. I turned up the volume of my radio and hoped that Ryan Adams’ songs would offer me some sort of help.

However, when I pulled into Nick’s driveway, I was stunned to see John’s black BMW. My heart began beating hard against my chest, and I quickly pulled the keys from the ignition, getting out of the car. Just as I began making my way to the door, John and Nick walked outside. I stopped dead in my tracks.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I watched as they exchanged a few words and shook hands before John walked towards me. He looked tired and dejected, but even worse, hurt.

“Don’t mention anything about the kiss to Nick, Sophie. I just apologized for our fight yesterday and he doesn’t need this shit to stir up something else, especially since the kiss meant nothing. Smile and act like nothing’s fucking wrong, because he doesn’t know there is,” he said harshly before walking past me to his car.

I turned around, staring at him, feeling stunned and bruised. He didn’t even cast another glance at me as he drove away, though. I shook my head and walked up to the door, where Nick was waiting patiently for me. When I reached him, he smiled.

“Hey, pretty girl,” he said before giving me a peck on the lips.

“H – hey,” I replied, still in shock from John’s outburst.

“I was hoping you’d stop by today …”

“And why’s that?” I smiled, pushing John to the back of my mind.

“Come in and I’ll show you,” he stated, grabbing my hand and pulling me gently into the house. We walked upstairs and went straight into his room, where he had me sit on the bed. “Ready for this?” I arched my brows and he laughed before walking towards his TV stand. When he returned to me, he held a DVD case to my face. “This.”

I gasped and grabbed the case from his hands, smiling. “Say Anything! I love this movie, Nick!”

“I know, which is why I bought it. Now you can watch it whenever you’d like,” he told me.

I pulled him into a hug and placed a peck on his lips. “Can we watch it?”

“Of course,” he smiled. “Lay down and I’ll put it in.”

“That’s what she said,” I joked.

He laughed and gave me a wink before going to his TV. I laid down, like he said, and waited for him to join me. When he did, I cuddled into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. “I really like you, Soph,” he whispered.

I felt guilt wash over me. “I really like you, too, Nick.”

I let my eyes fall back on the TV, but I couldn’t help but to feel ashamed of myself for the kiss John and I had shared.

___________________________________________________________

I opened my eyes and slowly looked around, remembering that I was in Nick’s house. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawned.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” I mumbled to myself before realizing the dim lighting in the room.

There were candles on the ground and as I picked one up, I realized they were all of my favorite scent: French Vanilla. I stared confused at the jar, knowing that John was the only one who knew that fact about me. Suddenly, I heard music playing and I began looking around.

“Nick?” I called.

When I got no answer, I set the candle down and began going for the door, when a voice stopped me.

“Down here!”

I stared at the window before walking towards it. I looked down and immediately began laughing. Nick stood beside a tree, holding an old boom box above his head. Peter Gabriel’s ’In Your Eyes’ played on the speakers. “What are you doing, Lloyd Dobler?” I joked, referring to John Cusack’s character in the movie we had just watched.

He smiled and placed the boom box on the ground near his feet, and pulled a single rose from behind him. “May I be your date to prom?”

I laughed again. “Aren’t you supposed to ask me to be your date, Santino?”

He chuckled. “I already had my prom, Soph. This is yours, and I’d like to take you to it.”

Truth be told, I had forgotten all about the fact that prom was coming up, which would be followed by graduation. Nevertheless, I pushed that aside. “I’d love for you to be my date, Nick!” I yelled.

He grinned before taking off running. I turned around, watching his door. It took less than a minute for it to open and for Nick to come running through it. “You’ve made me one happy man, Ettley.”

I giggled. “How did you think of all this?”

“Eh, I have my connections,” he shrugged, smirking.

“Well, you did a good job,” I smiled, pulling his face close to mine.

“How good of a job?” he asked, flirting.

“I’ll show you,” I said before pressing my lips against his.

It took no time for our tongues to mesh together. I pushed him back on his bed, careful as to not knock any of the candles over. I ran my hands through Nick’s hair, as his hands rested on my waist.

Although I was happy with Nick at this moment, I couldn’t keep lying to myself; kissing John yesterday had been the best kiss I had ever had in my life.

It was exhilarating and perfect in every sense of the word. I felt that kiss. I felt it to my core.

I didn’t, and I knew I never would, feel that with Nick. But, he didn’t deserve a broken heart. And, what Nick didn’t know, couldn’t hurt him anyway …