A Superhero Story Chapter 10 - Kiss on my List

It's Amari and Azaria's birthday party. Kethri has been kidnapped and someone gets a special kiss.

Chapter 10 �" Kiss on my List

Exactly a week later, more preparations were being made. As Amato had explained it, it was a "not-so-surprising surprise birthday party" for Azaria and Amari. Since their birthdays were only a week apart, they always had joint birthday parties. Amato and Antain usually planned them so, even though Amari and Azaria knew they were coming, they had no idea what would be going on. Sometimes it was simple, like cake and presents, but one year they ordered a bouncy house and another they created a party game where they hid a “bomb” in the house and everyone else had to find and disable it. Whatever it was, it was a family-only affair. Usually they gave little, practically indiscernible hints as to what they were doing, but this year they were being particularly secretive and it had everyone else worried. Last time they were this secretive they had used tricks to make it seem like a World War II air raid was going on overhead.

"Just give us a hint," Amari pleaded.

Amato just shook his head. "Nope, not this year," he said. Amari huffed.

Everyone was hanging around, knowing the party could start at any moment. Antain had disappeared, so nobody knew what he was up to, but it was probably party-related in some way, shape, or form. Amato, Cael, Connor, and Amari were sitting on the couch watching Home Improvement reruns. Azaria was cleaning a knife, prepared for anything. Adamar was tapping away on his keyboard, working on some program he was developing. Kethri hadn't been seen yet that morning, but ten o'clock could still be early for her. No one would be concerned until maybe around noon, but definitely by three in the afternoon.

They were sitting peacefully when there was a loud knock at the door. Azaria went to open it. “Alerick!" She cried, throwing her arms around the man standing in the doorway.

He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Hello, Little One," he said with a laugh. A woman stood in the doorway and behind her peeked out two little kids, a young boy and his even younger sister. "Sean, Lily, say hi to Aunt Azaria," Alerick coaxed.

Azaria crouched down and held out her arms. The kids looked at their father, who nodded, releasing them to go hug her. They knocked her to the ground. "Hey guys!"  She looked around them. "Hi Maria," she said.

The woman nodded, smiling. "Let your aunt up, kids," she said gently. Then she asked, "Where is everyone else?"

"In the living room, for the most part," Azaria answered, standing up. The kids ran on ahead while Azaria hugged her sister-in-law.

"So, how have you been," Maria asked.

"Oh, you know, pretty much the same." They strode side-by-side into the living room. "Although, life did get a little more exciting there for a little bit."

"More exciting for you? I'm impressed," Maria laughed. "And who are these new friends I see sitting on your couch?" She asked.

"That one is Cael, a friend of mine, and the other is Connor, Amari's...boyfriend," Azaria answered, pointing.

Maria raised her eyebrows. "Amari got a boyfriend? Good for her. You better treat her right," she teased, but she had a glint in her eye that had "mama bird" written all over it. She might only have two biological kids, but she had one of those mother-to-all personalities, and she had a special fondness for her husband's family, including Amari.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud bang coming from the backyard. Amato grinned and jumped up as his text tone from Antain went off. "That's the signal." Standing on one of the armchairs, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and started reading. "Ladies and Gents, boys and girls of all ages," he began. "It's time for a game of detective. One of your friends has been taken." He pulled up a picture on his phone of Kethri tied to a chair with rope and gagged with a piece of fabric. "You have to find her by the end of an hour or Antain will open one of your gifts for you every ten minutes and if he likes it, he can keep it. Each clue will lead you to another one. There are ten clues total. Your first clue is from Finding Nemo. ‘And they see a whale! Right by their bedroom window.'" He folded the paper back up and handed it to Azaria. "You're in charge, sis," he said, tipping the fedora he was wearing towards her. Then he pushed a button and disappeared through a trap door that opened underneath him.

"Well, so much for a nice, calm day with the family," Alerick joked. "But what do you think the clue meant?"

"It's a clue from a movie we own, so maybe we need to check the movie?" Amari guessed. She rushed over to the shelf and pulled it out to inspect. "Oh, I guess not," she said, turning it over in her hands, opening it, looking under the disc.

"We probably need to check by 'their' bedroom window," Cael suggested. "But which 'their' is it?"

"I'm guessing Kethri's, since she was the one taken. It would make sense," Azaria added.

"Let's go then!" Amari said, jumping over the couch and leading the way upstairs to Kethri's bedroom. "Haha!" There was another piece of paper taped to the glass. "Our next clue is from The Fast and the Furious. ‘It's not how you stand by your car, it's how you race it.'"

"Car...car..." Azaria mused. "The garage!" She ran off and everyone trailed behind her. Alerick's kids were laughing and giggling. They didn't know why they were running, but it was fun because everyone was running together.

Cael burst through the doors first to see a piece of paper taped to the top of a car. "Alright, next clue," he said while everyone else piled in. "It's from Over the Hedge. ‘Hey, it's not important. Besides, I'm the car. I'm always the car.'"

"Another car clue?" Amari whined. "But we're already in the garage. Where else do we have cars?"

"Does Antain still have his model car collection?" Alerick asked.

Azaria shook her head. "He sold it a while ago." Everyone sat there, stumped.

"Wait..." Connor said slowly. "Maybe we need to think a little bit deeper into the quote. You guys know the movie, right?" Azaria and Amari nodded. "What are they doing in this scene? What car are they talking about?"

"They're talking about a Monopoly car...the game closet!" Amari exclaimed. She ran back to the living room, leaving everyone else in the dust. She threw open the door to the game closet and there, hanging off the Monopoly box was another piece of paper. "This quote is from Tron: Legacy. ‘Page came from your dad's office at the arcade.'"

"I'd say arcade but that seems too obvious," Azaria commented. "So I'm betting it's my dad's office."

"I don't know..." Amari said slowly. "They might have put it in the arcade knowing we'd over think it."

"Well, I'm going to the office," Azaria said stubbornly.

"And I'm checking the arcade," Amari countered, putting her hands on her hips. They glared at each other for a moment before splitting up. With a shrug, Connor followed Amari. Cael and Adamar went with them while Alerick&co. followed his sister.

Azaria searched the office up and down, each moment getting increasingly frustrated. She hated to admit that she was wrong, but they'd never had to search this deeply before. If it wasn't out in the open, it probably wasn't there.

She headed up to the arcade but Amari and company had already moved on. Fortunately, the clue was still there, this time from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Azaria let out a huge sigh.

"What is it?" Alerick asked.

"Kiss me, down by the broken tree house," Azaria read.

Alerick sighed, knowing how far away that was, but Maria just grinned. "Watch this," she said. She leaned down to her little boy and asked, "Sean, can you do something for Mommy? There’s a sucker in it for you when you get back." She flashed the sucker and he nodded vigorously, dark brown curls bouncing. "I need you to run over to Aunt Amari's tree house and find out where she's going next." He nodded again and ran off.

"You are a horrible mother," Azaria laughed, locking arms with her sister-in-law. Maria just shrugged and smirked as they walked back down the stairs.

Amari had just picked up the clue to read when she saw Sean running up in the distance. "Whatcha doing, buddy?" She called.

"Mommy sent me."

"But you're not supposed to know where this is. No one is."

"Everyone knows where your tree house is," Sean said innocently. "Except Lily but that's because she's still little."

Amari sighed. She really needed to move her tree house to a more secure location. But it was hard to keep a secret from a bunch of assassins for long and it was a lot of work to move something as complicated as her tree house. "Right, clue," she said, snapping back into reality. She looked at the paper in her hands. "From Ghostbusters...'Get down here right away. It went into a ballroom.' Okay, that one definitely means the ballroom."

They walked back into the house. Sean ran back to his mother's arms yelling, "Ballroom, ballroom!"

"Good job, kid," Maria said, pulling a sucker out of her pocket. Sean looked as happy as kid could be.

Reunited, the group entered the ballroom. They could see a piece of paper on the other side of the room, attached to the stage. They took off running. Adamar got there first and pulled the clue off. "This one is from The Incredibles. I'm getting the feeling Amato wrote these clues, maybe Kethri..." He added. "Looks like we have to go to the bowling alley. 'Tell you the truth, I'd rather go bowling.'"

With about fifteen minutes left, they were led to the kitchen with Spiderman: "Don't forget, we're painting the kitchen after school." The next clue was a little more difficult.

"Alright, from The Mummy," Amari said. "'Look I...I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am.'" She concluded with a confused look on her face. "The museum?" She guessed, sounding completely unsure.

"That certainly is a very vague clue," Cael consented. "But the museum makes sense, since they were looking for things that usually end up in museums.

"And we have a museum," Azaria finished. "So we'd better hurry. We have less than ten minutes left." They ran off. But there were no clues in the museum.

"Think, guys," Alerick coaxed. "Could it be something about the scene again? Like with Over the Hedge?"

"Look I...I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am," Amari repeated slowly.

"And what are you?" Azaria continued with a laugh.

Amari stuck her nose in the air and put her hand on her chest. "I am a librarian!" She finished. Then she and Azaria looked at each other with open-mouthed smiles.

"The library!" They called together before running off. Sure enough, right there at the end of the first bookshelf, was their next clue. Amari grabbed it.

"Hurry up," Azaria pressed. "We only have five more minutes."

"Hold your horses. I'm going." She glanced down at the page. "From Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi this time. 'We need you at the bunker right away.'"

"The bunker!" Azaria said in despair. "But that's as far away from here as we can get."

"Then we'd better start running!" Cael yelled. He swept Lily of the ground. She screamed with delight as he lifted her onto his shoulders and took off running.

They made it down to the door and threw it open with seconds to spare. Kethri, Antain, and Adamar were sitting at a card table with a half-finished puzzle in front of them, arguing over how Kethri did practically nothing of the puzzle, but still managed to find the one piece neither of them could find.

"Aww, and I was so looking forward to opening one of your presents," Antain said, crossing his arms. He already had a present in his lap, ready to go.

“Do you really want to cross me right now?” Amari asked, her eyebrow raised. “You’re still in friend time-out from the ball.”

Antain pouted. “I really am sorry.” Amari just rolled her eyes.

“So...” Amato said, trying to release some tension by changing the subject. “We’ve got some games already set up. We’ve got musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, assorted board games...” He gestured around the room. “Take your pick, ladies.”

“Donkey! Donkey!” Sean and Lily yelled, bouncing up and down.

“Now, kids,” Alerick scolded. “This is Azaria and Amari’s party. They get to pick what games we play.”

Sean and Lily nodded and ran over to the birthday girls with huge, pleading eyes. Azaria laughed. “Alright, let’s play pin the tail on the donkey,” she said. They cheered.

The party went calmly for about an hour but things started to get tense when they started playing twister. After ten minutes of intense playing, only Connor and Antain were left, and neither of them seemed to be backing down.

“Ready to give up?” Antain asked.

“Ready when you are,” Connor answered with a smirk as they moved again. Connor went simple, but Antain tried to show off and ended up getting more twisted than he could handle. Down he fell.

Connor stood as everyone clapped. Antain followed, leaping up off the ground. He held out his hand to Connor. “Good game, man,” he said. For Amari, he was going to be civil if it killed him.

Connor took the hand tentatively. He still hadn’t forgotten The Ball Incident, as it was being called by all those who had been in attendance. “Thanks.” He brushed off and walked over to Amari and put his arm around her shoulders. “So, what’s next?” He asked.

“Just Dance?” Amari suggested. “I’m feeling the need for an epic dance party.”

“I’ll go with you,” Kethri said, “As long as Amato doesn’t make me fall again.”

“You know that was an accident,” Amato said defensively.

“Oh yeah?” Kethri raised her eyebrows. “Prove it.” The three ran upstairs. Everyone else followed at a slower pace.

The next hours were spent playing Just Dance, Apples to Apples, and musical chairs. There was even a round of hide-and-seek thrown in; all eight levels and the house were included. Then, as Sean and Lily were wearing down, a dangerous proposition was made.

“You guys have a paintball arena, right?” Cael asked.

“Yes...” Azaria answered slowly.

“How about a game?” He recommended, smiling deviously.

On the other side of the room, Maria was scowling. “I think it’s time I put the children to bed,” she said. “Does Alerick’s old room still have those extra beds in it?” Azaria nodded. “Good. I’ll be going, then.” She stood with Lily in her arms and Sean moved to stand sleepily beside her.

“I’ll come with you,” Alerick said, beginning to rise from his chair, but his wife put her hand up.

“No. You have fun with your family. Just because I don’t approve of what you do doesn’t make it any less a part of you. I may not like violence, but I love you, all of you. But just because I tolerate it doesn’t mean that I have to participate or watch or have my kids participate or watch.” During this speech, she had made her way over to Alerick. At the end, she stood over him and kissed him on the forehead. “Goodnight sweetie,” she said before taking the kids out of the room. Alerick took a deep breath and said with a smile, “So, what map are we going to use?”

“Cityscape?” Antain said with a grin.

“Cityscape,” Adamar agreed. They took off to go set it up.

“Cityscape?” Kethri asked, confused.

“It’s our favorite map for matches,” Azaria explained. “Because it’s set up like a city block, there are tons of places to hide, which makes it a lot more fun.”

The group made a mass migration to the paintball level. By the time they got there, Adamar had already set up the image so they walked into a city block instead of the white room they had passed through on the way down.

Azaria started passing out guns and body armor. Arms, legs, chest, and head were covered with lightweight armor.

Kethri held the pistol for a moment but then handed it back. “I think I’m going to sit out this game, just watch,” she said. “I don’t know anything about shooting or aiming or whatever, so I’ll just hold back whatever team I’m on. Besides, without me, you’ll have an even number.” She walked out and around to the observation deck where Adamar was just finishing up programing the game and was about to head back down.

Down below, Azaria counted everyone off by one’s and two’s. Team One was Alerick, Amari, Connor, and Cael. Team Two was Azaria, Amato, Adamar, and Antain.

Kethri watched the action from above and got to see all the fun. Connor and Antain instantly found each other and spent the entire time trying to kill each other. Elsewhere, it was obvious that Azaria was the best but Alerick was the most patient. He would wait for someone to come around the corner right into his waiting gun. He quickly dispatched Amato and Adamar. Azaria took out Cael and Amari took out Antain while he was too focused on Connor to notice anything else.

It was right about at this point that Kethri looked down at the panel of buttons in front of her and saw that one was just too good to resist. She pressed the button, which said FOG in big, bold letters. She watched Azaria, who was stalking an unaware Amari just as the feux-fog came pouring out of everywhere, obscuring everyone’s vision. Being able to see the layout from above, she saw Azaria moving directly in the line of a waiting Alerick then the fog covered her sky-view vision. All sounds were muffled by the glass in front of her, but Kethri distinctly heard her name shouted, which was confirmed when a red paint splatter appeared on the glass in front of her. She jumped with a shriek and tumbled backwards to the floor, giggling like a maniac.

She was still laughing a few minutes later when Azaria came bursting through the door, a red paint spot on her chest. She looked angry but when she saw that Kethri was on the floor, unable to breathe she was laughing so hard, she couldn’t help but smile. “I hate you,” she said.

“I know,” Kethri choked between giggles. “But it was totally worth it to see you all freak out. Besides, you have to admit that you have to be ready for anything that comes your way, right? I feel my actions were justified. So, who won?” She asked. “I kinda missed the end. I was too busy dying.” Team One raised their hands. Both Alerick and Amari were spot-free.

“Let’s do another game, free-for-all,” Amari suggested. She grabbed Kethri’s hand and dragged her downstairs.

“Where are we going?” Kethri asked.

“To get you suited up.” Then, as an afterthought, Amari added, “but no flying.”

Kethri just grinned. She ran around like an idiot, and only managed to hit Alerick because he happened to be on the other side of a corner she went around, got shot by Cael immediately afterwards, but it was fun and totally worth it.

“I’m going to bed. Getting too old for this,” Alerick joked when the game ended. “I’ll just join my family and let you hooligans keep going. Goodnight, all.” He left and went back upstairs.

“I should probably leave, too,” Connor said reluctantly.  “I’d love to stay, but I have to get back home tonight before I get too tired. Goodnight, love.” He kissed Amari briefly on the lips before walking back upstairs. Antain scowled but, to his credit, kept his mouth shut.

“What should we do next?” Amari asked. “Because I certainly don’t want to go to bed.

Cael smiled deviously in response. “Maybe we should play spin-the-bottle,” he said.

Kethri and Amari’s eyes widened in shock, but Antain looked all in for the idea. Azaria shrugged. “Only if it doesn’t go too far,” she agreed.

Amari choked. She had expected Azaria to shoot the idea down. “I have a boyfriend,” she reminded them.

“So?” Cael asked. “He isn’t here. Come on, it’ll be fun,” he pleaded.

Amari rolled her eyes. “Fine. Long as it doesn’t go too far.”

Kethri was torn between voicing an objection and just letting things happen. She’d never done something like this before, living all her life either in a temple where affection was strongly discouraged. After a moment, however, it ceased to matter. She had hesitated too long and a decision had been made without her.

“I’ll go get the bottle,” Antain ran up the stairs. “Meet you in the bunker!” He called over his shoulder.

“Why go all the way down there?” Cael called to him. “Why not just play here?”

“Okay fine.” Antain shouted from the top of the stairs.

“We might as well get comfy then.” Azaria suggested. Everyone moved up to the living room and settled down either on one of the chairs or on the floor. Kethri stretched and rolled over on her back looking up at Azaria.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She asked. Azaria shrugged.

“I don’t see why it’s a bad idea. And besides I’ve got an idea to make it better. What could possibly go wrong?” She said. Kethri thought about it for a minute. Plenty of things could go wrong. Before she could voice her thoughts though. Antain came sprinting back down the stairs, an empty bottle of IBC root beer in his hands. He jumped the last few steps and came sliding to a stop in the middle of the observation deck.

“Show off...” Amari snorted

“Haha nice dude.” Cael grinned. Antain bowed and laughed.

“Alright! Let’s get this thing started!” He said excitedly. “Everyone know the rules?”

“Hang on,” Azaria cut him off. “Before we start I’ve got an idea to make this a little more interesting.”

“More interesting?” Cael cocked an eyebrow. He had a mischievous look in his eyes.

“It’s nothing bad.” Azaria said quickly to ward off any bad thoughts that he might be thinking of. “ I was just thinking that we could play ‘Never Have I Ever’ while playing spin the bottle, just so we’re not just kissing people willy-nilly.”

“That’s kinda the point, Sis.” Antain complained. Azaria gave him a look.

“I agree with Az.” Amari said.

“Me too.” Kethri agreed.

“All in favor?” Azaria asked. Everyone expect Antain and Cael raised their hands.

“Alright. It’s settled then. Five fingers up. The first one to get out spins the bottle. I’ll go first.” Azaria said. She thought for a moment, an evil grin spreading on her face. “Never have I ever fallen through a roof.”

“What? Hey! It was only one time!” Amari protested as she put a finger down.

“Love you!” Azaria said as she made a heart with her fingers. Amari stuck her tongue out at her.

“I see how this is going to be...Well in that case, never have I ever killed someone.” With that, Cael, Antain, Adamar, Amato and Azaria all put a finger down. Kethri laughed and gave Amari a high five.

“Go us for not killing people.” She giggled. It was Antain’s turn next.

“Never have I ever been a girl.” He said smugly. Amari glared at him.

“Low blow dude.” She said.

“It wasn’t any lower than your “killing people” one.” Antain said defensively. Amari was about to retort when Azaria cut her off.

“Just put a finger down Mari. Kethri and I already did.” She said exasperatedly. Amari huffed and put a finger down.

“My turn!” Amato said happily. “Hmm, let’s see here...never have I ever programmed my own computer.” Everyone looked at Adamar.

“It’s not as hard as you think it would be.” He said as he tucked one of his fingers down.

“Yeah, if you’re tech savvy.” Antain scoffed. The game continued like that for a while with everyone targeting each other and having a good laugh at each others’ expense. Eventually Cael was the first to get out. He grabbed the bottle and spun it. It came to a stop on Antain. Antain gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head.

“Do we have to?” He asked.

“Yup!” Amari giggled. “Them’s the rules.”

“Cael, I love ya man, just not like-” Before he could finish his sentence, Cael grabbed the back of his head. Just before them made contact, Cael slipped his thumb between their lips so it looked like they were kissing, but they really weren’t. Amari was rolling on the ground she was laughing so hard, and Azaria wolf whistled. Adamar just shook his head Amato’s jaw hit the floor.

“Whoa!” He said.

“Did that really just happen?” Kethri asked.

“Guys, guys.” Cael said trying to get everyone's attention. They all quieted down and looked at him. “It was just a stage kiss.” He explained.

“It looked real.” Amari snorted.

“It wasn’t.” Antain said. “A little warning next time would be awesome though bro.”

“Haha alright man.” Cael laughed. It took them a little bit to calm down after what had just happened. Once everyone regained their composure, Kethri started up the questions again.

“Never have I ever kissed someone.” She said. After seeing the scene between Cael and Antain, she thought that it fit. There was a stunned silence after she spoke.

“Never?” Amari asked, putting down a finger. Kethri shook her head.

“Not even your parents?” Azaria asked, also putting down a finger.

“I didn’t know my parents. I was raised by monks at the temple.”

“Wait a second...” Antain started.

“What temple?” Amato broke in, finishing Antain’s thought.

“The flying temple,” Amari remarked.

“No, no...” Kethri tried to correct, but was immediately interrupted.

“Flying temple?” Amato asked, “I don’t know about any flying temple.”

“It’s called...” Kethri tried correcting again.

“It’s on her planet.” Amari shouted.

Antain and Amato exchanged a look and slow recollection seemed to glow in their eyes. Amato turned to Kethri. “I see. So you’re like Amari from another planet.” He smiled. “That’s cool.”

“Ok, so fine. You’re another alien like our own lovely Amari.” Amari crossed her arms and looked at Antain, who shrugged in defense.

“But what I don’t understand,” Antain said sounding really confused. “You’re a cute girl. I bet there are plenty of guys that would want to kiss you.” He gave a sideways glance at Amato, who rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the side.

“That sort of...affection wasn’t really approved of. And I lived in an all girl orphanage when I came to Earth, so there really wasn’t any opportunity for that.” Kethri explained. Everyone was quiet for a moment taking in what she had just said.

“Well,” Cael said. “That’ll probably chance tonight.” He patted her on the back. Kethri just shrugged.

“Anyway.” Azaria said. “I’m out.”

“Spin the bottle then.” Cael motioned towards it.

The game moved on. Whenever Amari spun the bottle, it was like it was magnetized to Antain. She kept moving it to one side or the other until finally she was forced to at least give him a kiss on the cheek.

Finally, a couple of hours later, they decided to call it a night. “Let’s just let Kethri do her spin and then we’ll split up and go to bed,” Azaria suggested. She would have called it off earlier, but Kethri had almost been down to zero for the first time. She had really lived a sheltered life. Amari had already announced that she was going to fix that.

Kethri took the bottle and spun. The bottle turned and clicked to place pointing between Cael and Amato almost exactly. “You can have it, bro,” Cael said, tapping the bottle so that it pointed the other way. Amato and Kethri both looked at each other for a long moment, blush steadily creeping into both their faces. After a moment Kethri looked down at the ground, too shy to keep eye contact with him. Amato scooted to the edge of his chair, biting his lower lip and looking like he was madly debating something in his head. For a long moment there was silence. Everyone was looking from Amato to Kethri and back again waiting for something to happen.

“Well...you gonna do it?” Antain asked, elbowing his brother in the arm trying to get some sort reaction.

“No...” Amato said quietly.

“No?” Everyone repeated shocked.

“Not like this.” Amato said.

“What?” Kethri asked, really confused by this point. Amato got to his feet and held out his hand to her. Kethri looked at it for a moment.

“It’s your first kiss. It’s gotta be something special, not here in a spin-the-bottle circle.” He explained with a soft smile. Kethri blushed like mad, but took his hand and got to her feet. He led the way out of the observation deck and up the stairs to the rest of the house.

“Where are we going?” Kethri asked him.

“You’ll see.” Amato grinned. “Actually, you should close your eyes. I want it to be a surprise.” Kethri raised an eyebrow.

“What are you planning?” She asked.

“I promise that nothing funny will happen.” He said quickly “Do you trust me?”

“Well, yeah.” Kethri said.

“Then close your eyes.” Amato said. Kethri gave him one last look before closing her eye.

“Okay, fine. But if you run me into a wall, you’re going in friend timeout.”  Amato just laughed.

He led her by the hand through the house, and up stairs, stairs, and more stairs. Kethri heard a door open and felt the cool night air on her face. We must be on a balcony, she thought.

“Can I open my eyes yet?” Kethri asked.

“Alright, I guess you can.” Amato chuckled. She opened her eyes and found that they were on the balcony behind the ball room. Rose bushes were blooming along the low stone wall surrounding the deck. Silvery moonlight splashed down all around them giving everything a glow. Kethri smiled. It was really romantic.

“Why’d you bring me all the way up here?” She asked him. He blushed and looked down at the ground.

“Well...I wanted your first kiss to be perfect, and this was the most romantic place I could think of.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s perfect!” Kethri smiled.

“Think so?” Amato asked looking up at her. She smiled and nodded. They looked at each other for a long moment.

“So...” Amato said quietly, taking a step closer to her.

“So...” Kethri breathed. She gulped when he gently took her hand. Glancing up, she noticed that he was blushing nearly as bad as she was.

Amato took a deep breath and lowered his head closer to hers, but pulled back looking away. Kethri frowned slightly.

“Everything okay?” She asked shyly.

“Y-yeah.” He stammered “Just trying to work up some courage.”

“What, did you lose your Triforce of Courage?” She teased. That seemed to spark something in him. He leaned in quickly, connecting his lips with hers, catching her off guard. She let out a small squeak of surprise, and froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Her heart raced and her brain jammed. After a second, her eyes fluttered closed and she kissed him back. The kiss was sweet, very sweet, almost like melted caramel. The song, “It Felt Good On My Lips” popped into her head and she mentally face-palmed.

After what seemed like forever, but not long enough at the same time, Amato broke the kiss and rested his head on her forehead looking into her eyes.

“Umm...Kethri?” He asked

“Yeah?” She responded, still in a daze from what had just happened.

“You’re floating.” Amato said. Kethri quickly glanced down and saw that she was indeed floating a few inches off the ground.

“Oh, so I am.” She giggled “Sorry. I can’t help it. I’m happy.”

“I’m happy too.” Amato smiled.

“Got it!” They heard someone shout from behind them. The both whipped around and saw Amari and Antain standing in the door to the ball room holding a video camera. Amato clenched his fists.

“Antain...did you record that?” He asked, very obvious that he was trying his best not to lose his temper.

“It was Amari’s idea.” Antain said defensively.

“Was not!” Amari stuck her tongue out at him.

“I’m gonna kill you both!” Amato yelled, bolting after them.

“Oh snap!” Amari and Antain ran inside the house while Amato chased after them. Kethri watched after for a moment with a dreamy smile on her face, before she followed them into the house. Best. Kiss. EVER! She thought as she made her way to her room.