"Good evening, and welcome to Encounters of the Hormonal Teenage Kind. On tonight's episode, we will be focussing on the age old question... Who kisses better, boys or girls? To help me answer tonight's question, I've found two very willing teenagers. In fact, here they are now, in their natural habitat of...the lounge room. Let's see if we can take a closer look at their hormonal interactions!"
"Mum. Get that camera out of my face. Now." I glared up at her, annoyed that she had interrupted my kiss with Sam.
"Oh, come on, honey," Mum laughed, holding the grey camcorder even closer. "Is he a good kisser? Or could he be better?"
"Shut up, Mum," I groaned.
"How about you, Sam?" She persisted, shifting the camcorder so it was facing him. "Is Rebekah a good kisser?"
Sam looked at me and smiled, adoration burning in his stunning blue eyes. "She's amazing," he praised. He leaned forward to kiss me again, but I held one hand over his mouth and pushed myself off his lap with the other.
"Don't encourage her," I warned him, making myself comfortable on the other end of the long couch. I definitely wanted to kiss him, but not with Mum and her camera around. Knowing her, the video would probably end up on a real TV show somewhere.
"No, no, this is good!" She exclaimed, hopping up and down excitedly. Her straight black hair whipped her cheeks with every bounce, but she seemed too happy to mind. "Aww, Sam! Are you really gonna let her get away that easily?!"
"Mum! What the heck!" I cried. I pulled a fluffy cushion off the couch and threw it at her, but she dodged it. "What happened to 'no kissing!' and 'use protection!'?"
"Hey!" She grinned. "I never said no kissing! Besides, what's one kiss going to do?"
"End up on YouTube, knowing you," I mumbled. "Look, can you just go away? Please?" I dragged the word out and leaned towards her, batting my eyelashes.
"Fine," she sighed. She stepped back, as if she was going to walk away, but she quickly hesitated and rushed back towards us. "Come on, just ONE kiss? Please?" She begged, mimicking my earlier tone.
I rolled my eyes. "Mum, I-"
"Just one?" Sam interrupted me. "Just one kiss, and you'll leave us alone for the rest of the evening?"
"Yes!" Mum nodded enthusiastically. "I promise."
"Alright then," Sam grinned, then he looked at me playfully.
"No," I told him. "I'm not going to."
"It's for your own good," He chuckled, sliding across the leather couch to get closer. Once he was right next to me, I lifted up my hands and used them to cover my mouth. This didn't stop Sam, though; he just wrapped his arms around my back and brought his face down towards mine.
"I won't let you," I grumbled stubbornly behind my palms. "I'm not going to move my hands."
He stayed still for a while, just looking into my eyes amusedly. I slowly found myself feeling less and less tense, but I still kept my hands in place. Nothing he could say would make me move them.
Suddenly, without any warning, he tightened his grip on my back and lifted me up, swiftly but gently. When he let go again, I reflexively dropped my arms to the couch to support myself. Unfortunately, by the time I had realised my mistake, Sam had pressed his lips to mine and was kissing me kindly. The kiss ended as quickly as it had started, though, and I soon found myself flat on the couch and gasping for breath.
"Now, THAT was good!" Mum cheered loudly. I did my best to glare at her.
"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled. I sat back up again and tried to regain my composure. "Remember your promise? Go...watch TV in your room, or something."
"Okay, okay," she sighed. "Just don't have too much fun without me!" She gave us a silly wink before skipping out of the room.
"Oh, gosh," I groaned. "That was embarrassing."
"I dunno, I kinda enjoyed it," Sam chuckled. I frowned and glanced up at him, but one look at his cheeky grin sent me into a round of giggles.
"Okay, I enjoyed it too," I admitted. Suddenly, another matter popped into my head. "Oh! Can you please explain to me why we bought dog food at the supermarket? We already have plenty here! Why did you need more?"
"Oh! I almost forgot!" He gasped. Without any warning, he hopped off the couch and ran out of the room.
"What the heck?!" I cried, jumping up and following him. "What was that all-"
"Don't come out!" He called hurriedly. It sounded like he was in the kitchen.
"You can't just do that!" I complained, leaning against the hallway wall and folding my arms across my chest. "I was having fun there!"
"Go watch cartoons or something!" He laughed. "I'm sure it'll be just as fun!"
"I'm not moving!" I said stubbornly, sticking out my bottom lip. No response. "I mean it!" I called out, twice as loud, but there was still no response. "I'm...oh, whatever," I sighed. I reluctantly left my place against the wall and trudged back into the lounge room.
In my stubborn state, I didn't want to listen to Sam, but it wasn't long before I gave in and changed the channel to my favourite cartoons. I watched in amusement as a cute panda danced across the screen, chasing after a colourful butterfly. The animation was simple and the storyline was cheesy, but it still warmed my heart and left me feeling strangely relaxed.
Time ticked on, and after an hour had passed, a felt a thick piece of material being wrapped around my head to cover my eyes. "Took you long enough," I grinned, enjoying the feeling of Sam's fingers brushing against my cheeks.
"Sorry," he chuckled, tying a knot in the material at the back of my head to hold it in place. "I had to make sure everything was perfect. Can you see?"
"Nope," I answered, shaking my head.
"Good," he said excitedly. "I'll be right back!"
In the minutes that followed, I listened as he came in and out of the room. Each time, I would hear him walk to the other side of the room, put something on the floor, then walk away again. He did this five or six times, until eventually, I heard him walk back over to me.
"You ready?" He asked, grabbing the sides of the blindfold gently.
"Definitely," I grinned, practically bouncing on the couch with excitement. I waited patiently as he lifted up the material and pulled it off my head. He gave me a quick grin, then he stepped aside so I could see his surprise.
What I saw made me gasp loudly. On the floor in front of me was seven white plates, and on top of each plate was a cupcake, each drowning in bright yellow icing. What grabbed my attention the most, though, was the fact that each cupcake had a neat purple letter written on top of it. The letters didn't make any sense to me at first, but then I realised they spelt out a word.
"Rebekah?" I asked Sam, looking up at him curiously. "You never call me that."
"Ah, but this time it was necessary," he grinned, walking over to the first plate and picking it up. "The R," he began, "is for your radiance. Whenever you walk into a room, it lights up instantly. You shine as bright as the sun, and like the sun, you light up my world."
He put the plate down and moved on to the next one. "E," he started, picking up the plate, "is for your everlasting patience. Even when I'm being a complete and TOTAL jerk, you always hang in there for my sake and never give up on me.
"B is for your beauty. Not only are you stunning by appearance, but you have an amazing, beautiful soul. You are flawless, inside and out.
"E is for your enormous generosity. You never hesitate to provide for me, even when it's something I didn't know I needed. You're always willing to give of that which is yours.
"K, of course, is for your kindness. You are by far the kindest person it has ever been my privilege to know.
"A is for your adorable sense of humour. You're always willing to laugh at my jokes, even if they're completely terrible. You never cease to make me laugh, whether you're deliberately joking or you're simply...being a klutz.
"And H. Well, H is for the happiness you've brought into my life. Before you came along, I was miserable and empty, but you've completely turned me around. And, for that, I thank you."
He put down the last plate and walked over to me, taking my face in his hands. "Rebekah, I love you more than anything else in this world. You've brought me love, and you've brought me life. Without you, I'm nothing; but with you, I'm complete."
I looked into his eyes, completely speechless. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, and I watched as he wiped it away gently with his finger. As we sat, looking into each other's eyes, everything seemed to fall into place. Time didn't matter. No one else mattered. I had no worries, and I was as light as a feather.
Until Cupcakes ran into the room. Like a bulldozer, he ran towards the plates and started to knock them all over. After sniffing the first cake, he took a large bite out of it and started to chow it down.
"Shoot!" I cried, jumping up off the couch and sprinting to the dog. "Cupcakes! Don't eat them!" He looked up at me curiously, then returned to devouring the cakes in front of him. "Cupcakes!" I repeated, but it was too late. By the time I had reached him, each of the cakes had been gobbled up. "Oh no," I whispered, feeling incredibly guilty. "Sam, I'm so sorry."
"That's okay," he said from behind me.
"No it's not!" I exclaimed, swerving around to face him. "He just ate all your cupcakes! I'm so-" Before I could continue, Sam put a finger on my lips and smiled.
"Shh," he told me. "They were dog food cupcakes."
I stared at him for a few seconds, taking in what he had just said. "B-but...he ruined your surprise..."
"Nope. Look again." He grabbed my shoulders and turned me around, so I was once again facing a very excited Cupcakes.
"What am I looking at?" I asked. Sam didn't need to answer, though; I found out soon enough. I hadn't noticed before, because I had been so worked up, but I now saw a thick blue ribbon hanging around Cupcakes' neck. At the end of the ribbon, there was a sparkly blue gift box, with a little R drawn on top.
I looked at Sam, who was now walking over to the puppy. He reached down and pulled the gift box off the ribbon, before standing back up and holding it out to me. "Here's the real surprise," he announced happily.
Without hesitating, I took the box out of his hands and opened it carefully. "A necklace," I breathed, admiring the piece of jewelry. The chain was silver and thin, with strange links that made it look twisted. The charm on the end was also silver; a pretty, glistening love heart. "It's beautiful."
"May I?" Sam asked, holding his hand out for the box. I gave it back to him, and he carefully pulled the necklace out of it's holder. After placing the box on the ground, he walked behind me and lowered the chain over my head. Once he had connected the clasp, he moved back in front of me and looked at the necklace thoughtfully. "It's perfect," he decided with a grin.
"I love you!" I blurted out loudly, then I quickly covered my mouth with my hands. "Sorry," I mumbled. "That was random." I gazed down and took the charm between my fingers. "It's amazing. Thank you."
Suddenly, Sam wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. "I love you, too," he whispered into my hair. We stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the closeness, until I felt something bumping against my leg.
"What the..." I frowned, pulling away from Sam and looking down. I was greeted by Cupcakes, who jumped up onto his hind legs and rested his front paws on my stomach. Standing up like this, he was nearly as tall as me. Where did my little puppy go, I wondered silently.
"Oh," Sam gasped, leaning down and patting Cupcakes on the head. "I'm sorry, buddy. We love you too. And thank you for delivering Bek's present." I watched as he gave the puppy a quick wink, and received in return a long lick on the nose. "Hey!" He frowned, wiping off the slobber dramatically. Cupcakes hopped back down onto all fours and looked at Sam curiously. "Let's see...how you like it!" Sam bellowed, lunging towards the startled puppy.
For the next ten minutes, the two of them ran around the large room, each trying to catch the other. I couldn't help but laugh; every time Sam got close to Cupcakes, he would cop a big lick on the face or hand, and he'd pretend to cry. Then, when Cupcakes would investigate the strange, blubbering teenager, he'd receive a messy pat on the head, and he'd run away, and the cycle would start again.
Sadly, the game ended abruptly when Mum came in and announced she was going to bed. This meant, unfortunately, that we'd have to go upstairs and be as quiet as possible. Since Cupcakes had been sleeping in the laundry for the past month, he couldn't come with us, so Sam and I were left the tidy up the lounge room and tiptoe upstairs alone.