You Had Me at "I Hate You"

When we got home I guess we were being very loud, because the landlady had to come up several times to tell us to be quiet.

Jesse yawned hugely, and trudged off to bed, and Linc and I stayed up to watch a boring late-night sitcom.

The plot was predictable, and the characters were stereotypical, so we soon got bored. To dull the boredom, Linc brought out a bottle of Vodka.

I rolled my eyes.

"No!" I protested, "I've already had eggnog!"
He laughed and asked, "Are you drunk enough to kiss me?"
"No," I snorted in laughter.
"Then, Dollface, you aren't drunk enough!"

I rolled my eyes again.

We played a drinking game, where, every time the "audience" in the sitcom laughed at something stupid, we'd both do a shot.

Needless to say, we both were overly drunk when we finally decided to go to bed.

My vision was slightly blurred as I changed into my pajamas, which consisted of long, flannel pants, and a tank top. Linc changed into his pajamas, which really just involved him stripping off his pants, and stumbled into bed.

My teeth started chattering.

"I'm so damn cold!" I stated into the darkness.
"You're always cold!" Lincoln answered.

"Well, then get your ass over here and warm me up!" I ordered, grinning.

You see, when I get drunk, I get bolder... and quite stupid.

Lincoln ambled out of bed, and tripped slightly as he staggered over towards me. He laughed, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Roaring softly, he pretended he was a bear, and wrapped his arms around me in a giant hug.

I giggled, and buried my face into his chest, pressing my icy nose into his skin and laughing when it made him squirm.

"Cut it out Rudolph the cold-nosed reindeer!" he scolded.

For some reason, I thought this was terribly funny. I began laughing, softly at first, and then, eventually, Lincoln joined in. His laugh is so contagious, that it got me laughing harder, which got him laughing harder, and so on and so on.

Soon, we had collapsed onto my bed, clutching our searing stomachs, which burned from mirth. Lincoln's arms were still wrapped around me, and, to an outsider, we might have looked like a strange, drunk, couple... cuddling on the bed.

At the same time, we both stopped laughing. He took a deep breath and said thoughtfully, "You smell like cinnamon."

I laughed airily.

"Thank you..." I never noticed, but his green eyes had little flecks of yellow in them.
"You're welcome..." he replied.

We fell into silence.

Slowly, Lincoln's lips curled into a smile. It wasn't his usual childish smile... this one was different. It was more of a "come-hither" type of thing. He leaned in, his eyes darting down to my lips. I froze.

I knew what he was going to do...

He closed the small space between us, kissing me hesitantly, barely putting any pressure on my lips at all.

Then he pulled back fast, looking deep into my eyes and flinching, as if he were expecting me to hit him.

And I was surprised when I didn't feel the need to slap him. I wasn't even angry... And, as much as I hate to admit it, Linc is... Well, Linc is really cute.

Now that he knew I wasn't going to murder him, he was able to kiss me with a bit more pent-up passion that I could tell he'd been hiding from me. He grasped the back of my head with one hand, and held the side of my jaw in the other. I found myself kissing back, parting my lips and running my tongue over his teeth....

Wow. I must be drunker thank I thought. I was kissing Lincoln Fletcher.

He twisted his fingers around my red hair, and ran his other hand down to my back, holding me closer to him. I pressed my cold toes onto his feet, and felt him smile beneath my lips.

Then... it was over.

He pulled away, breathing heavily, and smiling.

"Merry Christmas, Dollface" he slurred with a grin.

He'd gotten up off my bed, and began stumbling back to his own, when I called out.

"Wait!"

He turned around.

Without thinking, I reached up, and grabbed the neck of his shirt, roughly pulling him back down to me, and pressing my lips to his with surprising force.

"Mmmmmm!" he exclaimed in shock. It was the only noise he could make, as his lips were held closed by mine.

Then he relaxed, and ran his hand down to my hips...

I kissed the tender part right below his ear, and right where his jaw bone began...

This caused him to shiver, which, in turn, caused me to laugh.

This is where it crossed the line. Up until now, I think we'd have been able to write this kiss off as a drunken mistake. Now... It was escalating into something that we both knew neither of us could ignore.

"Violet... Violet... Violet..." he kept mumbling. "Violet... Violet... Violet..."

I tugged his shirt up over his head, and then ran my hands down his muscled stomach.

I was getting carried away... I shouldn't be doing this! For some reason... It felt wrong.

Funny thing is, the things that feel wrong, often feel good, too.

We'd developed this routine, where I'd tease him by hovering my lips over his mouth, and then pulling back slightly every time he went in for the kiss. I gently bit his bottom lip, and he kissed that same soft spot below my ear. It felt better than it should have...


Then... The door opened.

Light spilled in to our room, casting a ghostly light over Lincoln and I. A red-eyed Jesse was scratching the back of his head and yawning in the doorway.

"Hey, can you guys keep it down? I can hear you laughing all the way from the other room, and I want to go to sleep..." Jesse trailed off after catching sight of Lincoln and me, intertwined on my bed.

"Woah! Sorry! Sorry!" he proclaimed, backing up.

As if he'd been pumped up with a couple thousand volts, Lincoln let go of me. He had an astonished look on his face as he tumbled backwards off the bed, and landed on the floor with a muffled thump.

"I didn't mean to interrupt! I was just leaving!" Jesse insisted, and started to close the door.
"Wait!" Lincoln and I cried at the same time. Jesse froze, waiting for an explanation.

"I was just cold, and Lincoln was only coming over to warm me up! It's not my fault, I swear-" I began thinking up as many excuses as I could.

Lincoln chimed in with, "I didn't know what I was doing! It's no big deal... We're both sort of drunk, and-"

Jesse shook his head and closed the door on us.

Lincoln then scrambled to his feet, touching his lips, as if wondering why in the world he'd done such a thing, and stumbled back towards his bed.

I was pretty horrified myself. Quickly, I flew under the covers, and pulled the blanket over my head in embarrassment.

"Hey... Violet?"
"Go away, Linc," I responded, too embarrassed to talk about what had just happened.

"No... It's not that... Just... Um... Can I have my shirt back?"

I didn't know it was possible for me to blush that deep. I was praising the Lord that it was dark, so he couldn't see how closely my face resembled a tomato wearing Ronald McDonald's clown wig.

"Sure," I mumbled, plucking it from the floor where it had fallen after I'd taken it off him.

I tossed it to him, and he caught it, slipped it back on, and flipped over in his bed, facing away from me.

Neither of us said another word to each other that night.

And neither of us slept a wink.