by Riley Ross, Sally Slayer, Kaydence Rayne, & Dovey Mayali Cralk
*****
Seth was already at the door when she walked downstairs, so she rushed over to it and let him in.
"Good morning!"
"Good morning yourself," he leaned down and kissed her on the top of her head before walking over to the fridge to get himself a glass of juice.
Alyssa was momentarily frozen with her hand on the open door. She had not been expecting that. It wasn't until after he closed the refrigerator for her that snapped back to reality.
"You've got to warn a girl before you do something like that next time!" She held one hand on her hip, and shook the other at him.
A devious grin appeared on his face. "Why? What would you do if I said that I was going to kiss you in 15 seconds?"
"What?" Her eyes widened in shock.
"Ten seconds."
"Wait a moment," she held her hands up. "What are you doing?"
"Five."
"Seth?" Her voice came out shakily and she was unsure if she was more nervous about him actually going through with it or her reaction if he was just teasing.
"Three."
Seth!" She shrieked, covering up her face. This just made him grin widely as he moved Alyssa's hands away, with no resistance from her.
"One."
"What are..."
She was cut off by him leaning his head down and gently brushing his lips against hers. It only lasted a second but her entire body felt like it was on fire. While he, on the other hand, casually walked back over to the counter and grabbed his glass of juice as if what he had just done wasn't causing the entire world to spin.
Alyssa, on the other hand, stood there like a statue with her hand resting just above her lips. That had been her first kiss and he was acting so nonchalant about it. She wasn't sure what to think and it frustrated her to watch him leaning against the counter, sipping at his glass, and watching her with a straight face.
"Stop that!" She finally yelled out, walking over to him and shoving him in his shoulder. "You can't just give some girl her first kiss and act like it was nothing!"
"I didn't kiss just some girl," he pointed out, "I kissed you. And it was my first time too."
She raised her eyebrow, unsure if she believed him. It was hard to imagine him with another girl, but it wasn't impossible. She definitely recognized how attractive he was and knew she wasn't the only one who noticed him. Yet, he was always busy when he was in school. Also, it wasn't just her that he had distanced himself from. It seemed like the only person that Seth hadn't shoved away was Rachel. The two of them had always been very close. Alyssa felt that the likelihood of him being with another girl and not telling his sister about it was very slim. Then, for Rachel not to tell her best friend about it was even less likely.
"Maybe so," she conceded, "But you still are acting too cool about it. I don't like it."
Seth snorted into the glass as he took another sip, swallowing it before putting it on the counter and looking back over at her. "I think you'd prefer this to how I wanted to react," he assured her and she gulped in response. He let his eyes linger on her for a moment longer before deciding it was a good time to change the subject.
"So, what do you think we should do? Want to play a game? It's been forever since I kicked your butt at Othello."
She groaned at the mention of that game, remembering all the times she had been defeated by him. Every single game she had ever played against him, by the way. Alyssa had a habit of getting easily distracted and frustrated around him, which did not help.
"Let's turn it into a bet. If I win, you have to help me with my summer homework. At least one of the essays."
“I'm not doing your homework for you,” she glared at Seth, crossing her arms, “that's cheating. Besides, they'll know it's not you if it's not perfect.”
He rolled his eyes, “I didn't say you'd be writing it for me, I said you would be helping me. I want to pass this semester.”
She scoffed and tried to think of another excuse to get out of the competition. "This won't even be fair, we both know you'll win," she started to grumble, but was cut off.
"If you win,” he leaned forward and whispered just barely audible enough for her to hear, “Then I will kiss you again."
She blushed and her hand went up to her lips as her mind began to wander.
"What do you say?"
Alyssa diverted her gaze so she wouldn't have to worry about stumbling over her words. “What if I don't want that as a prize?”
Chancing a looking at him, she saw his eyebrow raised as if to dare her to try and say that she didn't want to kiss him.
"Fine," she sighed as she walked over to the closet to grab the game. "But when you win, I get to pick which essay I'm helping you with. I'm not getting stuck with some freaking 100 page research report on the breeding cycle of a newt."
He smiled deviously and followed her to the table where they set the game up. Seth picked black, as usual, because it went first, and Alyssa was stuck with white.
She remembered how these games used to go. They would start and everything would seem as if it were going fine. He'd flip a few of her pieces over and she'd do the same. Then, as if by some evil magic, he would have all of her pieces turned over before she even had a chance to reach the edge of the board. This was both annoying and embarrassing. More than anything she wanted to at least make it to the end of a game before being destroyed. So they played a lot and she started to learn his strategy. It made her a more formidable opponent, making the game much more fun for the both of them. Still, he always won.
"You've gotten rusty," he joked, taking an entire row of her white pieces.
"I guess that's what happens when the only person who'll play this game with you ignores you for a few years."
"Touché."
The time between turns started to take a bit longer and they were becoming increasingly competitive. By the time the game had finally ended, it was so close that they actually had to count the pieces to see who had won.
"I don't even care if I lost at this point," she stared at the board, astonished, "This is the closest I've ever come to beating you and I think I need to take a picture of this."
"It's a tie." Seth stated after counting the pieces, and she almost dropped her phone on the board, which would have surely scattered them before she could document her accomplishment.
"What? Seriously? Let me check."
"You can if you want, but I've already counted three times. 32 to 32.”
Alyssa did a quick sweep of the board with her eyes, counting all 32 white pieces, and let out a short laugh, "This totally means I don't have to do your stupid homework for you since you didn't actually win." She stuck her tongue out at him and folded her arms across her chest, smugly.
"True," he agreed, "But that was the closest you've ever come to beating me before. I think that should count as a win for you."
Alyssa's smile slowly began to fade. "Did you purposefully tie with me?" She raised her voice, starting to feel less proud of herself. She could see Seth fixing the game so he didn't actually lose but she didn't officially beat him. He was definitely smart enough.
"What?" He snorted, "You think that I care that much about my winning streak that I'd fix the game like that?"
She thought about it for a second before giving her retort, "I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't fixed because you preferred what would happen if I won."
This made him burst out laughing. "Okay, I can see your reasoning there. But seriously, no. You have actually gotten a lot better. You paid more attention to the game than you used to, and you already know my strategy pretty well."
This reply was acceptable to her and she allowed herself to get excited again, "That's so awesome. I can't wait to brag to Rachel about this." Her best friend was another victim of his Othello skills, and would be amazed at these results. Thankfully she had thought to take a picture, because she knew it wouldn't be believed otherwise.
Seth suddenly got quiet an
d looked away, "Yeah, about that..." He sounded uncomfortable, which made Alyssa feel weird. "Could we not tell her about any of this?"
The request made her raise her eyebrow in response. Why wouldn't he want her to tell her best friend?
"It's just... my parents, you know? If she knew, you know how she is. She's a blabbermouth. I'm the oldest kid in my family, and my parents expect me to follow in my father's footsteps. If they find out I'm spending my time on something other than what they have planned out for me, it wouldn't go over too well. Not that I think Rachel would tell them on purpose," he defended his sister, although he wasn't entirely convinced of it himself, "She just doesn't think sometimes.
That was something Alyssa couldn't deny. There were loads of times her best friend spoke without thinking and ended up getting both of them in trouble.
"Do you promise it isn't because you're embarrassed to be hanging out with me?" She asked quietly, feeling self-conscious.
"Hey," he stood up and walked over to her, "I promise you that is the last thing on my mind. You, Alyssa Hunter, are the most amazing person I know. You're smart, beautiful, and hilarious. Not to mention, you play a mean game of Othello."
"Thanks," she smiled, "I guess I just still feel a bit confused about all of this."
"Yeah, I understand." He agreed, "It's weird for me as well. I spent a while blocking everyone out, and now I'm finally letting someone in. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it. It is a big relief to have someone to talk to, and it makes it even better that that person is you."
He leaned over her, brushed the hair that had fallen into her eyes away, and gave her a small kiss on her forehead. "I have really enjoyed our time together these last couple days and I don't want it to end."
"It doesn't have to if you don't want it to," she reached up and touched his hand with her own, a spark of electricity flowing between the two of them, "I don't want it to end either." She didn't want to come off as clingy, because she wasn't sure how he would handle going from a recluse to being stuck with a someone. The last thing he needed was to end up with a crazy girlfriend that turned him off people all together. At the same time, she had been in love with him since basically forever, and she really wanted him to see how much she felt for him.
"I know," he smiled, his hand squeezing hers reassuringly. "I trust you, Alyssa. I have since we were kids. You're the one person who I trusted to be around my sister when we were little, and you're the only person I trust with my heart now."
He wished he could explain to her the significance of what he had just said to her. When Rachel was really little she had a hard time controlling her shifting powers. More than once she had done something to get herself spotted, not unusual for a shifter child, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to come up with believable excuses. Thankfully, most people refused to accept what they'd seen with their own eyes. But there were the people who would do a double take.
Rachel tended to change when she felt uncomfortable, which was never a feeling she had around Alyssa. They became quick friends shortly after Alyssa had moved into the house next door and Seth found himself worrying less about his sister hanging around their new neighbor. Although he would have preferred she never see either of them in a shifted state, he eventually came to trust her enough to keep it to herself if she ever did.
Alyssa's pulse quickened as soon as he said those words. It was an amazing feeling to hear he trusted her. The only reaction she could think to do was stare at him, like an idiot, and will him into kissing her. He did say she won, didn't he? Unless he was counting that forehead thing as her prize. Which she couldn't complain about, because it was nice. Still, she was hoping for a bit more. It was frustrating how shy she was being about all of this. It wasn't usual for her to be timid about anything. At the same time, she had never had a boyfriend before.
That thought made her pause. Neither of them had said anything about being in a relationship and she'd already thought about them as girlfriend and boyfriend. For all she knew this could just be as simple as two friends, hanging out, that both had feelings for each other but never declared it a relationship because that would make things awkward. But friends with benefits wasn't what she wanted.
Sighing, she mumbled, "Relationships are hard..." Not realizing she had actually said it out loud.
"Excuse me?" He snickered, raising his eyebrow at her. "Did you say something?"
"Oh god," she smacked her head on the table in front of her. “Did you hear me?"
"Yes, I believe I did."
"Do you mind if I go over to that wall and smack my head against it? I don't think this table is sturdy enough."
He laughed, pulling her out of the chair and into an embrace with him, "I know that this is all weird and complicated and confusing to you, because it also is for me. I want to be with you, Alyssa. I promise you I do. And, as selfish as that makes me, I want you to be with me as well."
"I'm not sure what you just said, but I'm going to take a stab in the dark here. Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" She whispered into his chest, "Because I'm not entirely sure what we are, exactly. Although if that's not what you're talking about, then forget it. Actually, you can forget that now. It was stupid of me. I said nothing. Hello, Seth. How's the weather going? It's very sunny outside."
His shoulders shook with quiet laughter, "You're an odd one, Alyssa Hunter. But you know what? That's what drew me to you. Then, even when I tried to push you away, you never actually left. You're just too... you. And yes, I would like us to make things official... and exclusive.” Although he wasn't worried about her being with anyone else, he still felt the need to clarify, “I want to be with you. Just you. And I want you to know how much you mean to me."
What he was saying was wonderful, truly, and something she had been waiting to hear. "Okay then," she nodded, feigning a serious face. "I shall dub thee my boyfriend."
"I shall wear this title with pride, and I will deserve every second of it”, he promised, "Starting with this..."
He held her chin in his hand, gently pulling her face up to look at him. "This is your warning."
Her heart started pounding and she subconsciously started biting her bottom lip. His finger brushed over her lips, slowly, and they parted slightly at his touch. With that movement, he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. She was glad that he had been holding her with one arm, because the action caused her legs to give out slightly. She had to put her arms around his neck just to hold herself up. It was an added bonus that it felt nice to pull herself closer to him.
After a few moments of kissing, he pulled back. Her eyes were still closed and she wasn't moving.
"Are you okay?" He asked with a satisfied grin on his face.
She opened her eyes slightly and nodded at him, unable to think coherent thoughts. It had been an amazing kiss. Way better than anything she had ever imagined.
"Good," he leaned in and gave her one more slight peck on her lips, pulling back before she could do anything about it, and rubbing his hand through her hair slightly. "I hate to kiss and run," he sighed, his eyes moving to the clock behind him, "But I have somewhere I need to be in less than an hour, and it's across town. I need to leave about 5 minutes ago."
"Yeah," her mind clicked back into reality, "I understand. You're super busy. Go, don't stay around on my part. I've got enough to keep me distracted... I mean, busy." Her mind was still going at a million miles a second, recapping the kiss between the two of them.
"I'll text you later, okay?" He promised her, then leaned in and gave her one more kiss on the cheek before walking towards the back door. "I can really get used to kissing you," he smirked, "It's already become one of my favorite things. If I had known how great it would be, I would have done it years ago."
She snorted, shaking her head. "Yeah right. You were too busy to have noticed you liked kissing."
"That's beside the point," he countered. "I'll talk to you later
. Have a great day."
“I already have.”
Seth froze, having to convince himself that he couldn't stay here with her. If he wanted to keep suspicions off of him, he needed to act like there was nothing new going on with him. She was going to make this difficult for him, and she was completely worth it.
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Deviate 2 - Bonus Material: Three Chapter Sneak Peek
© 2014 Sally Slayer
Dedicated to my awesome hubby, for all your love and support.
