Kissing Is the Easy Part

Chapter 43 The revelation

Flora

"Your turn," Sean said. "Flora, what's the worst thing you've ever done?"

Gee, where should I start? There were too many. "I cheated on some tests in middle school."

He rolled his eyes.

"Alright. The things I did were more along the lines of petty crimes," I started. "Let's see...I smoked pot with Raymond one summer and we got so stoned we rushed out in the middle of the night and did a bunch of silly stuff, like dancing around the lamp posts and peeing down from trees. That's him, by the way.

I was out one night after Max dumped me, and I saw this guy painting on a wall with a spray can. I joined in the fun and I wrote Max's name along with all the profanities I know and cursed him to no end.

I got busted once for the fake id I used to buy vodka. I tried to pay my way out of it which only got me into bigger trouble. I almost got arrested." I paused, seeing the look of surprise on his face. "I had a lot of teenage angst," I explained.

"Yeah, I thought people usually get over it by slamming their bedroom doors, but I guess there are other ways too," he said, but he didn't look too bothered by my stories.

"And you remember my friends Sarah and Jess?"

"Yes, your friends from your private girls' school days." He nodded. "The other two of the Charlie's angels." Sarah had a mass of blond curls and Jessica was Chinese.

"Yes. We got back from a beach party once and we were all so wasted, and when we passed a fountain in the middle of the city, Sarah dared us to skinny dip. We took off our bikini tops and we swam right in that fountain."

His eyes widened, then he smiled and said, "Damn I wish I had been there."

I laughed. He didn't seem to mind how crazy I had been.

"Wow, you're only seventeen but you have enough materials to star in your own reality TV show," he said. "Let's see...illicit drug use, public nuisance, vandalism, forgery, public drunkenness and nudity...I think you're a hazard to society."

"I was...but I'm your responsibility now. Are you okay with it?"

He nodded. "You were pretty wild, but at least you were never deliberately mean," he said. "I guess your little misdemeanors never hurt anyone."

This is my opening. I have to tell him now. In chick flicks the bet always comes out, and I wanted him to hear it from me. In retrospect, I knew I started that bet just to convince myself it was okay to get close to him, and deep down I never really planned on breaking his heart.

All I wanted was to have Sean like me again, because I never stopped loving him.

I knew he was going to be mad, though. This wasn't something I could wriggle out of by tugging on his sleeve and pouting, but at least I got him stranded near a lake and he couldn't leave without my car.

"First you have to promise not to freak out, and you have to know I really do like you. I mean it."

He smiled easily. "Nothing you say can possibly freak me out."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Here goes. I was once really in love with a boy, and when he broke up with me I was so hurt and angry, I cooked up an elaborate plan to make him fall for me again so I could dump him and show him how it felt. But halfway through it I decided to abort the plan because..."

My voice trailed off when I saw that Sean got it right away, and the light in his eyes scared me. It was of shock and betrayal, piercing through me unforgivingly like icy shards. His jaw clenched and something cold in him forced me to swallow the rest of my sentence.