Present Perfect(14)

My eyes immediately shot to his. I had butterflies in my stomach. He looked incredibly sweet sitting there in his worn jeans, t-shirt, and Red Sox baseball cap. He was wearing it backwards and a little bit of his hair was sticking out through the opening, just above the adjustable strap. He really was ‘all kinds of yummy’, I wanted to jump up and wrap my arms around him.

Noah ran his hand over the back of his neck. “The thing is… is…um…You know I haven’t kissed a girl yet. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but what if she kisses me, and I don’t do it right? Word would get out and I might as well go be a priest, because no girl would want to go out with me.”

I took a big gulp of air thinking what it would be like to have Noah kiss me. I must have zoned out because the next thing I heard was him saying, “Earth to Tweet.”

“Sorry. Um…Don’t worry about it. You’ll do fine.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, which brought him closer to me.

“You know what would help me?”

“What?”

“If I could practice,” he said, anxiously.

He held my gaze for several seconds until it dawned on me what he was thinking. “With me?”

“Yeah.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It’s a great idea. We’ll practice on each other, so we won’t embarrass ourselves in front of anybody.” His eyes sparkled with excitement over this ridiculously stupid idea.

“I don’t have anyone who wants to kiss me in the near future,” I admitted, you could hear the embarrassment in my voice.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

I glanced up at him and watched as his grin grew wider. He slipped out of his chair and down on one knee, begging, “Think of it as preparing for your future. Please, Tweet. I need you.”

I sat there for what felt like a lifetime. Did I really want to do this? I didn’t want Noah to go out with Brittani in the first place. I sure as hell didn’t want him to kiss her, but I sure as hell wanted him to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss him. He was my best friend and he needed me. I would be doing this for him. Plus, maybe all I needed to do was kiss him one time, get it out of my system, and everything would go back to normal.

I looked into his beautiful eyes and said, “Okay.”

“Seriously?” He asked.

“Yes.”

Noah lunged forward tackling me on to the bed. He started tickling me, mercilessly. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Tweet, you’re the bestest best friend a guy could have. You’re awesome, incredible, fantastic…”

I continued to laugh and gasp for air as the tickling intensified. “Stop tickling me! I told you I’d help. I won’t let you look the fool.”

He kept up the torture.

“Promise?”

Laughing with tears in my eyes, I said, “Yes.”

“Say it!”

The tickling eased up and when my vision cleared, I looked up at Noah hovering over me. With each heavy breath, our chests pushed against one another’s. He was holding himself up with his hands, which were on either side of my head. Our legs were tangled together. We laid there for several seconds just staring at each other before I realized I hadn’t answered him.

“Promise,” I whispered.

“This is becoming a habit.”

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. “What is?”

“You and me on top of each other.” He had a devilish twinkle in his eye as the edges of his mouth began to curl up.

His lips were so close. I wondered what they tasted like. I bet they tasted like cherries. Noah looked like he would taste like cherries. His lips started to move toward my neck. Shiver after shiver ran through my body. Was he going to kiss my neck? I swallowed hard and froze when I felt the tip of his nose graze just below my ear.

“Wow. You smell really good,” he whispered. His warm breath flowing over my cheek and neck caused me to shudder.

“I had a sour apple Blow Pop before I came over.” I heard him chuckle.

My breaths were coming out in short spurts and my eyes hadn’t blinked in the past five minutes. I was completely mesmerized.

Moving away from my neck, he smiled down at me, and said in a low voice, “Thanks for helping me, Tweet.”

“You’re welcome.” I was so overwhelmed with what had just happened, my voice was almost inaudible.

Noah matched my gaze, and then asked, “You know what they say, don’t you?” I shook my head. “Practice makes perfect. We may need to practice a lot. I’m kind of a slow learner.” He waggled his eyebrows and smirked.

I took in a huge gulp of air. “Do you want to start now?” My voice was so high pitched, it sounded like a dog’s squeak toy.

He dipped down closer to me before pushing away, and vaulting off the bed.

“Can’t right now. I got a dentist appointment. Mom will be picking me up soon.”

I rose up on my elbows, still feeling quite dazed. “Oh…okay.”

I slid both my hands into Noah’s outstretched ones. He pulled me off the bed, and into his chest, gently pinning my arms behind my back.

Looking down at me, smiling, he said in a commanding tone, “Tonight. Seven o’clock. Our spot.”