Chapter 2: Oliver's Kiss

The warning bell rings and everyone starts rushing to their destined classrooms for last period. I have history for last period, which I was excited for but then I remember Eclaire would be there, and groan in the thought of having to face her after the humiliating event that occurred in the cafeteria.

I walked into the class, thinking that it wouldn’t be that bad, but then I saw Eclaire sitting in her desk talking to Janet (one of the hipsters) and my stomach sunk down.

I walk to my desk with my head down and Eclaire stops talking to Janet and says, “Hey. Oliver.”

I stop walking and force myself to look at her deep green eyes. “Yes?” I ask her in the most calming voice I can manage right now.

Janet smirks at me and turns away. “Why’d you lie like that?” Eclaire asks me. I don’t answer and she brushes her hair behind her ear. “Come on, you can tell me.”

I clear my throat and say, “I…I just wanted to impress you.”

She arched her eyebrow. “You like…me?” Eclaire asks.

The bell rang and everyone sat back into their seats. I’m about to walk back to mine but then Eclaire grabs my arm and whispers to me, “meet me under the bridge right after class.”

My stomach goes up and my brain feels like it’s on fire. She just grins and sits back in her desk and I walk back to mine.

When Mr. Fres is talking, my stomach is still up and my brain is still on fire. When he hands out the papers for us to work on, my stomach is still up and my brain is still on fire. When he collects my paper and asks me why I didn’t write anything, my stomach is still way up in the clouds and my brain is still in blistering flames. When the bell rings and I walk to my locker, my stomach is still up and my brain is still on fire. When I leave the school to head for the bridge, my stomach is still up and my brain is still on fire.

But when I see Eclaire, standing underneath the bridge, with a look of determination and mischievousness on her face, my stomach is the highest it could possibly be, and my brain is burning in the brightest most powerful flames ever.

“Hi,” I tell her.

“Hi,” she says back.

“Why did you uhm…why did you ask me to c-come here?” I ask, stammering and stuttering on my words for a second. My tongue feels heavy and dry.

She drops her backpack so I drop mine and she reaches into hers and pulls out an old Polaroid camera. I feel confused and she takes a couple of steps closer to me. Then…she presses her lips to mine, and she kisses me.

I kiss her back as she takes a bunch of pictures of us kissing. I still feel confused and I just stare at her closed eyes the whole time she is kissing me. I feel happy. I feel sad. I feel dead. I feel scared. I feel every single emotion in that moment right there. That moment with this cute French girl Eclaire kissing me. We kiss and kiss and kiss until our lips are raw and she pulls back. She picks up the pictures that fell on the dirty ground and looks at them.

She laughs. “These are great,” she tells me. “Thanks, Oliver.”

She begins to put the camera and pictures in her backpack and walk away but I say, “wait. Stop.”

Eclaire stops and looks up at me. “What…was that?” I ask.

She sighs. “I kissed you and you kissed me and I took pictures,” Eclaire tells me.

“But why?” I ask.

“My ex-boyfriend has been bugging me for a while,” she says. She shrugs. “I hope that this will make him leave me alone.”

“…You used me?” I ask. My brain now isn’t on fire. My brain has just had a bucket of water poured on it. My stomach now isn’t high. My stomach is now dropping down and feels heavy.

She sighs again. “I’m sorry, Oliver,” she tells me.

“No!” I say. “No, you aren’t sorry!”

Eclaire looks up at me with a questioning look on her face.

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. “Go on a date with me,” I say.

“What?” she asks me.

“A date,” I say back. “Go on a date with me.”

“…Why?”

“I deserve something in return,” I say. “I deserve some sort of award.”

She is about to protest, but I grab my bag and walk off.

prev chapter