Feels Just Like We're Losing Control

"Your house is so cute!" Hayley exclaimed.

"Thanks."

"Who do you live with?"

"It's just my mom and me. My parents got divorced when I was eight, and I haven't heard from my father since."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hayley whispered, taking my hand again.

"It's okay. He cheated on my mom, so I really don't care anymore."

She nodded and smiled at me sympathetically.

"My parents got divorced a while back too. I live with my mom and two sisters, Erica and McKayla. Life's good, I guess," she said.

We both looked down at our feet. We'd only known each other for a few hours, and already we were sharing our secrets.

"So, uh, do you want to come inside?" I asked her.

"Sure," she answered sweetly.

She turned off the car and we got out. I silently walked with her to the door, and then I took her inside.

"Mom?"

"I'm in the kitchen!" she called out.

"C'mon," I whispered to Hayley.

She followed me down the hall and to the kitchen, where my mom stood at the counter, searching frantically through cookbooks.

"I'm trying to plan dinner for the rest of the week, honey. I'm going to be late getting home every day. I switched shifts with Carly," she explained without looking up.

"Mom, this is Hayley."

My mom looked up in surprise.

"Hello, Hayley!" my mom greeted her.

"Hey," Hayley said with a quick wave and a gorgeous smile.

"You can call me Michelle, sweetie. It's nice to meet you."

My mom was obviously excited to see that I had a new friend, especially a cute one.

"Honey, there's some popcorn in the cabinet. Are you hungry, Hayley? Rob make the two of you a snack or something."

My mom was really embarrassing me.

"Do you want popcorn?" I asked Hayley.

"Sure."

I pulled the box out of the cabinet and put it in the microwave. I hit the popcorn button and waited for it to start popping.

"We've got Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, and Sunkist. What do you want to drink?" I asked her.

"Um..."

She bumped me out of the way playfully with her hip, out of her view of the inside of the refrigerator.

"Mountain Dew's good," she answered.

I grabbed two Mountain Dew drinks out of the refrigerator and handed one to her. She popped the top and drank slowly. Man, it was getting harder and harder to resist the urge to touch her. That wasn't the only part of me that was getting harder and harder, though. I waited until she was turned around making small talk with my mother before I turned around to adjust my pants so she couldn't see the rising bulge. I hid it just before she turned around.

"Popcorn's ready," she said.

"But the microwave didn't beep," I told her.

"Uh yeah, it kind of did. Like a minute ago."

I honestly had not heard it go off, but the screen on the microwave told me that the food was ready. I sheepishly took it out and poured it into a big glass bowl.

"Want to go see the creek?" I offered Hayley.

"Creek?"

I motioned for her to come outside the back door with me and we headed across my backyard to the creek. It ran through most of town, but not a lot of people knew about it.

"This is nice," Hayley observed as we sat down on a giant rock.

"I come here to think," I informed her. "Because it's peaceful."

"Yeah," she agreed. "It is."

We munched on the popcorn and stared into the water. I couldn't help but stare at her reflection. I had a major crush on her already.

"So about Saturday," she piped up. "What all do you want to do?"

"Whatever you want. We could go get your piercing and then just hang around."

"Well, would you mind helping me do something with my hair? I wanted to get a new cut and put in some color."

"That's cool. Yeah."

She smiled at me and put her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and smiled back. She bit her lip, and then she was getting closer to me. And closer. Two inches away. And then her lips were pressed to mine. They were soft and warm, and a bit salty from the popcorn. Much better than the quick peck I'd received as a first kiss at a seventh grade Spin the Bottle game. After five seconds of kissing, she pulled away.

"Wow," I whispered.

"Sorry."

She seemed embarrassed, but I kissed her again to calm her down.

"It's cool," I assured her. "You're a good kisser."

"It was interesting, I'll have to admit. I've never kissed anyone with snakebites."

I laughed again and she touched her lips to remember the feeling.

"Just friends?" she asked.

I'll admit, I was mildly disappointed, but at least she still wanted to be friends.

"Sure."

We hugged and finished our popcorn, staring into the water and thinking. I could only hope that her thoughts were about me.