You Saved Me

“OOOO! Katie and Danny have to kiss!”

“I don’t think I want to see this.” Beth said while closing her eyes, bringing her hands up to her face and wincing all at the same time.

Yes. All the high school-ers, who were all seniors with the exception of Brittany, Tiffany and a girl named Kayla, who were all juniors, were playing Spin the Bottle.

Mature, right?

“Sorry Beth.” Katie murmured as she leaned forward and as quickly as possible gave Danny a peck on the lips before pulling away and wiping her mouth. Danny mimicking her action.

“Alright Danny…your turn!” Steph said excitedly, clapping her hands.

He let out a loud sigh and rolled his eyes, glared at Beth for wanting to come to Steph’s party and leaned forward, grabbing the bottle and with a flick of his wrist, sent it spinning around in the middle of the circle that they had.

It spun past everyone at least twice before it came to a halt in front of a guy named Randy that Brittany had met once at the first football game she went to.

“Ha! You have to kiss a boy!” Steph and Jess laughed out while pointing at Danny.

“No thanks. I’m good!” Danny said putting an arm around Beth and pulling her closer to him.

“But that’s breaking the rules. You know if Beth spun it and it landed on a girl you would make her to kiss her.” Steph countered.

“What’s your point?” Danny asked, giving Beth a kiss on the head and then glaring at Steph.

“My point is your sexist. Beth tell him he has to kiss Randy.” Steph said, pointing at Danny while looking at Beth.

“Rules are rules babe.” was all she said with an innocent smile up to her boyfriend as he let out a sigh of disgust at his girlfriends willingness to throw him under a bus.

After a good 15 minutes of coaxing both Randy and Danny to do it, they finally agreed on a kiss on the cheek which still resulted in Danny insisting on using mouthwash right afterwards and Randy scrubbing his cheek so hard it left a pink mark that would last for a good half hour, give or take.

Randy had to end up kissing Heather, which resulted in a blush from her considering she liked him a little bit, despite he was one of her brother’s, Chad, friend.

Then it became a boys best dream ever, from having Heather spin the bottle and landing on Steph, who then when she spun it, it landed on Kelsey, who got Jess who ended up with Brittany.

“Brittany, you gotta break this! Make it land on a guy!” Steph whined, now finding the flaw in inviting 10 girls and only 8 guys to her little get together.

Brittany let out a laugh as she leaned forward and spun the bottle, and for the first time that night, having it land in between two people. Joe and a girl named Emily.

“Which one do I kiss?” she asked, looking across the circle at Steph who told her to spin again and Brittany caught a wave of disappointment come and go off of Joe’s face from her answer.

She let out a sigh and leaned forward and was about to spin when Katie clapped her hands together out of excitement and leaned over Chad to tell Jess something who nodded in agreement and said, “Katie and I agree that instead of watching everybody kiss everybody, we should all give each other some privacy. So 7 minutes in heaven starts NOW!”

“What the heck is 7 minutes in heaven?” Brittany asked and watched as everyone gave her a look that said, “Are you stupid?” but Joe answered for her, telling her that you and the person that the bottle lands on, go into the closet for 7 minutes and…do stuff.

Closet? A closet? Can’t it be a bedroom or the bathroom or something? Of all things it has to be, it has to be a closet?!

She let out a nervous laugh and took a big gulp before leaning forward again and spinning the bottle and having it land on….Will.

She felt a little disappointed that she was so close to possibly kissing Joe three times in one day and then having to kiss Will.

Not that anything was really wrong with him, it’s just….she didn’t want her first kiss to be with someone she didn’t really have a connection with. Or didn’t really know well for that matter.

She cast a quick glance at Joe who was looking down at the ground, picking at the carpet slightly while Will got up from where he sat and offered his hand to Brittany.

At least he’s polite like Joe…

She gave him a forced smile as she got up, but then her heart started to thump like crazy with every step she took towards the closet.

Did it look this much like the one I hid in when I was 8? This is bad, really bad…oh my god, I’m feeling nauseous. And dizzy and oh my god! I can’t breath.

Even though the closet was just a brown, standard size door, all she saw was that it was white and had slits in it from where some light could flow in and possible show it’s contents.

She stopped, making Will trip over his own feet from her sudden lack of movement and asked her what was wrong when he saw her eyes widen in fear and start to tear up.

“Oh my gosh!” she heard faintly behind her, but it came out really slow and in a really low voice, as if it was in slow motion and then she felt a new set of arms wrap around her from behind, pulling her into their body.

“She’s claustrophobic. She can’t go in there or she’ll have a panic attack.” Joe explained while rubbing her back, trying to get her breathing back to normal, that she wasn’t even aware that turned into loud heavy gasps.

She buried her head into his chest even more so than it already was, letting the images of her parents killer coming her way leave her as she smelled his cologne and listened to his voice.

After what felt like an eternity, he pulled away from her slightly, asking her if she was ok.

She nodded her head and muttered a thank you, and looked around, realizing that Will was no longer standing next to her and Joe, and somehow they managed their way to the kitchen.

“Really. Thanks Joe. That’s twice now. You have no idea how much that means to me.” she said, finding some strength to push herself off of him and get up from her seat from the kitchen table.

“It’s no problem. Really. You know I’m always here for you. But I should warn you, Will looked kinda upset that he didn’t get his kiss. I’m sure he’ll be waiting for you when we go back in the living room.”

She let out a sigh of disgust and took a seat back in the chair, letting her elbows rest on the table and covering her face with her hands.

“I take it we’re not going back in there yet?” he asked with a slight chuckle, pulling his chair to be next to her instead of in front of her, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into him.

“I just….” she said into her hands and then slowly took them off of her face and looked over at him and said, “I just don’t want to kiss him. That’s all.”

“Why not? Don’t like him?” he asked, some hope in his voice was defiantly present.

“Well, no. I mean yes. I mean…” she stuttered, watching Joe’s facial reactions change quickly due to her words.

She let out another sigh and let her head hit the table, letting it stay there while Joe started playing with some of her hair, letting it slip through his fingers.

“It’s just that, he’s nice….” she said into the table and then sat up slowly, contemplating her words carefully for it to come out right.

“I just, I don’t want my first kiss to be with him.”

“You’ve never been kissed before?” Joe asked, clearly now shock in his voice as he stopped playing with her hair and looked at her like she was crazy.

“Well if you consider it a first kiss when your 5 and you literally fell onto the boy who was talking to you, then I guess I’ve had a first kiss. But if not, then no. I haven’t been kissed before.” she said, watching Joe’s facial expression still unchanged after she filled him in.

“Wow. I just….I never…wow. And here I thought I knew everything about you after all my questions.” he said with a slight chuckle and looked away from her momentarily to look around the kitchen.

“Yeah, well. There you have it. I’ve never been kissed.” she said, raising her hands up into the air to show how upset she was about the whole ordeal.

She put her hands down as quickly as they flew up before she continued.

“I guess I just always pictured it to be with someone who I liked and was comfortable around. But I gues-”

And right there, in her ‘Best Friends’ kitchen after having a minor panic attack, she received her first kiss.

She didn’t have any idea what to do. Considering that she was just ranting about how she always pictured it to be and then to actually have it happen with the one person that she actually liked and was comfortable with.

Doesn’t that always happen in fairytales?

He pulled away from her, opening his eyes and mumbled a quick sorry under his breath since she didn’t seem to respond at all to his kiss.

“I shouldn’t ha-” he started but she grabbed his face with her hands and pulled him in towards her, kissing him back.

Her head was spinning. She could hear her heart beating loudly even though she was sure she wasn’t getting any oxygen to it from her sucking in her breath. It felt like little pins were poking her lips, leaving them fell like they were tingling as he kissed her back after his shock wore off from her actions.

They pulled away from each other, both sucking in air and letting it out, loudly.

“Wow.” was all either one of them could say at that point in time. Not being able to think of any other words that were more than one syllable.

They both looked at each other, still sucking in breaths, trying to get one deep enough to satisfy their body.

And right then, Steph came running into the kitchen, laughing hysterically while throwing something into her freezer followed by Katie yelling in protest that she wasn’t going to put it on.

“Put what on?” Joe asked, not breaking his gaze with Brittany, even though the moment was already gone once the two ran in.

“She was dared by Kayla to put her bra in the freezer for 20 minutes and then wear it until it thawed out.” Steph said, blocking the freezer handle that Katie was adamantly trying to get at.

Brittany slowly took her hands off of Joe’s face, letting them slid off and into her lap.

“How’d you get her bra?” Joe asked, finally realizing what was going on and breaking his gaze with Brittany to look at the two girls in front of the fridge.

“It’s the one she packed to wear for tomorrow. I grabbed it out of her bag.” Steph laughed out while shoving Katie away from the fridge.

“Well,…that’s…interesting.” Joe said slowly, thinking of the words to say since he was still kinda shaken from what happened moments before between him and Brittany.

“NOT REALLY!! I HATE TRUTH OR DARE! IT’S THE STUPIDEST GAME EVER!” Katie yelled, finally giving up on the freezer and stomping her way back into the living room.

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO PICK DARE!” Steph yelled back to her, laughing and giving up her post at the fridge.

Joe and Brittany slowly each made their way out of their chairs, trying to not to steal glances at each other since they didn’t really know what happened.

Well, they knew what happened, but not what it meant. They each knew what it meant to themselves, but to each other, they had no idea and they weren’t going to get the chance to talk about it now.

“So we’re playing truth or date huh?” Brittany asked, now able to have her voice back, although it did tremble a little bit.

“Yeah. You feeling any better Trish? You gave us all a scare when you collapsed in Joe’s arms.” Steph said, smile subsiding a little bit for her friends’ safety.

“I collapsed?” she asked shocked while looking back at Joe who nodded his head while Steph informed her that that was the reason why she was in the kitchen and that Joe insisted that he would take care of her, considering he was the only one who knew about her being claustrophobic in the first place.

“Well, I’m fine now. And again, thanks Joe.” she said, sending him an awkward smile before turning back to Steph and said, “Let’s go!” and ran towards her, locking arms with her to prove that she was fine.

Even though a million things were running through her head now from that kiss…those two kisses they just shared together in Steph’s kitchen, but she couldn’t let it trouble her too much. She was at a party, and if she acted like nothing happened, nobody could question her about it.

“Look, it’s Sleeping Beauty. Feeling better?” Chad asked with a slight laugh, only to be hit in the stomach by his girlfriend Whitney.

“It’s Cinderella, thank you very much. And yes, I’m fine.” she said, shooting a smile towards Whitney and a glare afterwards towards Chad.

“We were all pretty worried about you, you know.” Will said, getting up from his spot to take a seat next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him.

“Aww. Thanks for worrying about me. But trust me. I’m fine now. So, who’s turn is it?” she asked, not really wanting to talk about her panic attack.

Only because then she thought about her and Joe in the kitchen, which just arose a whole new series of questions like, did it mean anything to him? Would there be another to come? Was that a big mistake on both of their parts considering they’ve only known each other for 6, going on 7 weeks?

Joe slowly came out of the kitchen and took a seat on the opposite side of the circle of Brittany, stealing quick glances towards her and feeling a pang of jealousy course through him when he noticed Will’s arm wrapped around her shoulders, just like his was moments before in the kitchen.

“Ok….” Alex, a guy that was at two of the football games that Brittany had gone to, said while closing his eyes and extending his arm out with his index finger pointed and waved it back and forth and then stopped, pointing it directly at Jacob.

“Jacob…” he said with a devilish smirk coming across his face. “Truth or Dare?” he asked.

“With that look, I’m gonna have to say Truth.” Jacob answered back while laughing somewhat.

“Fine. But you only can pick truth one more time now!” Alex shot back.

“What are you talking about?” Brittany asked while laughing at Jacob’s face that was now sporting a worried look.

“Well, it’s not fun if everyone picks truth. So you only get to use it twice during the game.” Alex informed before turning back to Jacob and asking, with confidence, “Do you like anyone here at this party?” while sending a quick glance towards Kelsey who was sitting between David and Emily.

“Yes.” Jacob answered back quite quickly, but with a cocky tone which immediately led Alex to ask who.

“I believe you’ll have to truth that out of me next time. One question. One truth. David?!” he said watching Alex’s face fall from realizing how he should have asked if he liked anyone here at the party, who instead of just asking him the one question.

“What?” David asked, causing everyone to laugh at his dumb question.

“What else? Truth or Dare?” Jacob asked back over everyone’s laughing.

“Sorry…Dare.”

“I dare you too….give yourself a wedgie.”

“What? That’s disgusting!” Jess said while David got up from the floor with a confident smile on his face.

Boys never back down on a dare….

“It’s what we do.” Jacob countered her statement while watching in delight at his friend giving himself a wedgie.

Afterwards, David sat down and turned to Will and asked him truth or dare.

“Come on guys. This is no fun for us. Will, you HAVE to pick a girl after you do whatever you have to do.” Jess ordered, while Steph nodded her head in agreement.

Will sighed out a fine along with dare, which ended up being that he had run around outside of the house in his boxers, twice, while yelling he’s a pretty little girl who likes ponies.

Again, since boys don’t turn down dares, Will ripped off his shirt and unbuckled his pants right there in the middle of the living room, showing off his toned and tanned body before making his way to the door and started screaming at the top of his lungs while running around the house.

“If the cops get called, I don’t live here!” Steph said while shaking her head after seeing Will run past her big front bay window for the second time.

“It’s nice and brisk out there!” Will said upon his arrival after running.

He pulled on his pants again but left his shirt off, saying he was too warm at the moment and turned to look at Randy and asked him truth or dare but was stopped halfway through by Jess and Steph telling him that he promised he’d pick a girl.

He looked around at each of the girls, weighing his options on who would be the best candidate to say dare, but landed on Brittany since she was trying to not be noticed by looking around the room at different things, trying to look busy.

“Brittany! Truth or dare?”

“Ugh. Do I have to pick?” she whined out while squeezing her eyes shut.

She heard about 5 yes’s throughout the living room and deliberated on which one was the lesser of two evils.

She didn’t want to get dared to do something like run around in her underwear, but she couldn’t exactly tell the truth about anything to begin with, otherwise that would violate the W.P.P.

Thinking it over for a few minutes and hearing some people’s agitated words that she was slowing down the game she finally picked truth. Knowing that Will wouldn’t ask anything too terrible for her to answer in front of everybody.

“Will you go to homecoming with me?”

Maybe I was wrong. We would ask me a terrible question…

She looked at him horrified, not knowing what to say.

She already had so many questions swimming in her head to begin with, how could this one be brought up to top it all off.

“What?” she asked out, letting all the air out of her lungs.

“Will you go to homecoming with me?” he questioned her again and looked into her eyes, practically begging her with them, reminding her of the night Joe begged her to stay and have dinner at his house.

Joe! What’s he gonna think? What are we? Are we even a we? Or an us?

She stole a quick glance in his direction to see him looking down at the carpet, picking at it again as he did when the bottle landed on Will for 7 minutes in heaven.

“Ummm…” she stuttered out, looking around to see if she would be able to read anyone’s eyes to help her with this decision that was put in front of her.

With no luck, they all were looking at her with questioning looks, eyes wide, hanging onto the next word that would come out of her mouth. Except for the one pair of eyes that would help make her decision to Will’s question. All she needed to do was look at them and see them, just to see what was in them. Hope? Despair? Sadness? Happiness? She didn’t know right now what the boy was thinking…

Her heart was pounding so loud in her ears, it was starting to give her a headache. Her hands were sweating so bad that she had to rub them off on the bottom of her shirt, leaving it a little damp.

“Uh…sure?” she asked, unsure of her answer and was instantly pulled into an embrace that was nothing like Joe’s.

Joe’s was soft, careful and tender while Will’s was hard and crushing. But it might have just been from his excitement and that was why it was the way it was.

She nervously smiled at him as he finally pulled away and looked around the circle to see smiles on everyone’s faces.

Except one.

She saw almost a look of terror on his face. Maybe a hint of hurt too. But she was pulled into another excited hug from Will, preventing her to decipher his true facial expression.