To Go From There

“How long have you known Rhys?” Kellen asked, pulling into the parking lot of the local Denny’s. We’d decided on getting something to eat before going home. Plus, Denny’s is fucking delicious.

“About a month. We met at the end of school.”

“Really? The way he was holding you and looking at you would’ve told me differently.”

“What d’ya mean?”

“Well, he’s infatuated with you, Kiernan. I don’t know if you realized but he is. I’ve only known Rhys for a good 3 months but I’ve never seen him look at someone like that. I’d say, if you hadn’t told me, that he was your boyfriend or fiancé.”

“Fiancé! HA! Rhys is just my friend,” I laughed, loudly.

“Maybe, but you both want it to be so much more. I’m pretty sure if I were kiss you in front of Rhys, he would pop my head off like a dandelion.”

“Rhys doesn’t control who does and doesn’t kiss me,” I informed him, getting out of the car. He followed me into the restaurant where we were seated in a back booth, far from the other customers. I don’t know what that is about. I’ve only gotten seated here once, when Mom was being really rowdy because she’d taken a few painkillers that made her real loopy. Funniest thing ever.

“Does that mean you’d let me kiss you?” he asked.

“No.”

“You confuse me,” he stated.

“What about me confuses you? Just because I don’t want you to kiss me doesn’t mean that Rhys has any control over that. I could kiss you right now if I wanted to, IF I wanted to.”

“Wow, isn’t that just a kick in the face….”

“What?”

“Well, you’re basically telling me that you don’t even want to come close enough to me to kiss me.”

“I didn’t say that. I just said at this moment, I don’t want to kiss you. But that’s not because I don’t like you, Kellen. It’s because I don’t know you enough to kiss you. I haven’t kissed Rhys and I trust him with my life.”

“Why’s that?”

“What?”

“Why haven’t you kissed Rhys if you trust him so much?”

“I don’t know…. We’ve come so close a lot but we’ve mostly been teasing each other. He kisses my neck, I wear a revealing outfit… It’s a game, I think. We really want to kiss each other but we’re always interrupted.”

“If you want my advice, I’d say just march up to him and kiss him.”

“Dear god, I want to. But… I don’t know. He’s… I don’t know, I’ve never been that kind of girl.”

“Well, sometimes, you just gotta do it.” he said with a smile and a shrug. I rolled my eyes.

“I can’t, Kellen.”

“If I were Rhys, I definitely wouldn’t mind,” he stated. The waitress came up and took our orders. When she was gone, I rested my head against the wall.

“I want to, but I don’t know. What if he’s just messing with me?”

“Do you really think Rhys would do that?”

“No…. I don’t. What if he leaves?”

“Stop thinking about the what-if’s. He wants you just the same way you want him. You two are perfect for each other.”

“Alright, say I do kiss him. What if I’m a bad kisser? I‘ve only kissed one other person and that was a simple kiss when I was little.”

“I can help with that.”

“Kellen,” I said, staring at his grinning face.

“It’ll be strictly educational, I promise. Rhys will never have to know,” he smirked.

“I don’t know….”

“Come on, Kiernan, live a little.”

I searched Kellen’s face and just found his smile. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I was getting myself into it.