Slide My Tongue Across Your Bottom Lip & Bite Down

John ducked under the bleachers, looking up and trying to navigate which bleacher Annie Warner was perched on. His friends cracked up, gesturing that she was further down. Once he recognized the short, white skirt hanging off the edge of a metal bench, he reached his arm up and slid his hand under the hem that was lying over the metal and onto the bare skin that lay under it. The girl jumped up and screamed, causing John to race out from under the bleachers - unfortunately, he was a bit tall for them, and banged his forehead on the ledge of a stand. He slapped his hand over his head and cringed as he heard Annie's nasally voice sound from the side of the stand.

"Who - John O'Callaghan!" She fumed as she marched over to where he stood with his hand on his face, looking outraged. "Don't ever lay so much as a finger on me again!" She squealed, giving John a good laugh followed by a cheek-stinging slap. He braced the catty violence and walked back over to his friends, rubbing the swelling bump already forming on his forehead.

"Well, I think she took it lightly," Pat mused as the group's laughter died down.

"Well played, O'Callaghan," Jared chimed in. John smirked triumphantly, opening his mouth to speak - but was cut off by the deafening cheering coming from the crowd.

"That might mean we just won," he suggested.

"Why don't we get out of here before the stampede?" John scoffed.

"And miss the sea of endless opportunities to torture freshmen and irritate girls? Never!" The rest of the guys grinned as the stands cleared out, weaving through people to reach the football field. The cheerleading squad was huddled around the football team, all talking and laughing as the victorious players tried their off-field game with the girls. By the time the guys made their way over, the kids were regrouping into smaller portions.

"Aye, Bradley!" John instinctively shot his hand out and hit Garrett's chest.

"Dude! What?" John rolled his eyes.

"Don't call that guy over! I lose brain cells when he talks to me . . . It's just contagious."

"Well, brace yourself, here he comes." Half the guys groaned and Kennedy shook his head.

"Sup?" He asked, giving Garrett a simultaneous bro hug and nodding at the rest of the guys. "You all see the final play? Man, I thought it was out of our hands when Hitchenson was blindsided but he passed it just in time to--"

"Yeah, yeah, interesting story," John shook off the everlasting football conversation he felt coming on and glanced over Bradley's shoulder. "Hey, here comes - who is that?" He asked, confused. He knew most every "it" girl, and yet this one seemed new. Bradley turned around, brow furrowed in confusion before he reached enlightenment.

"Oh! This is my girlfriend," He announced smugly as a small blonde appeared by his side. The girl smiled sweetly at the gang, who raised their hands in acknowledgement, or nodded, or smiled back.

"Ah, your girlfriend. Doesn't have a name, does she?" Pat asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. This is--"

"Parker," the girl intervened. John frowned. That was quite an un-girly name for such a--"Gemma Parker." He couldn't help but beam.

"O'Callaghan," he responded, offering his hand. "John O'Callaghan." She shook it and nodded.

"I know," she said simply. He didn't break the gaze he'd locked her in, forgetting there were five other people around the two of them.

"Oh," he said, dragged back to reality. "These are my friends Garrett, Pat, Kennedy, and Jared," he introduced each one by pointing at them. She smiled at them all again, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth.

"Well, Bradley, you've got quite a catch there," John complimented, earning himself a cute half-smile from Gemma.

"Where?"

"On your arm, idiot," Kennedy muttered and the boys laughed.

"Oh, you mean Gem. Yeah, I guess you're right," he nodded "thoughtfully". Garrett made an awkward noise in the back of his throat like a muffled laugh.

"Well, uh, we better get going, I'm sure the diner is filling up at the moment and who likes waiting?" Pat said, ending the breif meeting.

"Yeah," John agreed, dazed. He couldn't take his eyes off Gemma's deep, shining blue ones. The couple bid their goodbyes and turned around with Bradley's arm wrapped comfortably around Gemma's shoulders. John kept a good eye on her backside as she walked away, still hypnotized.

"Dude!" Jared hit him firmly in the arm.

"Wha--oh. Sorry," he said, flustered. That girl wasn't different, but she was interesting. There was just something in her smile that had John mesmerized as he followed his friends to his car.