I feel silly for missing the most obvious prompt for this month ... but it's not over yet, so I didn't entirely miss out! Whether you celebrated Valentine's Day or Single's Awareness Day this month, I think you can appreciate how hard it is to write a kissing scene.
(It's almost as awkward as the time I got back from studying at Stanford Hopkins Marine Station, and my grandpa asked me what I'd studied, then turned all shades of red when I told him about mixing sperm and eggs and watching embryo development ... Hint: Don't say "sperm" or "egg" to your grandfather!)
And yet ... I think we all know the thrills of reading a well-written first kiss. Think of PRINCESS ACADEMY: PALACE OF STONE by Shannon Hale. She does it masterfully. Think of when Harry Potter and Ginny first kiss. And no, I'm not going Harlequin romance - I'm thinking MG/YA here!
So, without any further ado, the prompt for this week: First Kiss!!!
Enjoy!
********************************************************************************
My response:
President Kennon stood, his secretary and guard following him out the door. Lyndi gave Emmaleen a smile and left after them. Soon only Aarek was left in the conference room. His chair leaned back against the wall, and his legs stretched out in front of him. His hands dangled from the armrests.
Emmaleen shifted in her chair. Everyone else was so pleased with the information she'd brought back. Only Aarek sat with his head down, frowning. Emmaleen opened her mouth, then closed it again. The silence between them was thick, like the atmosphere of a gas giant, and just as smothering.
Suddenly, Aarek leaned forward, flinging his body out of his chair. He turned and strode towards the door without even meeting Emmaleen's gaze.
"Wait! Aarek ..." Much to her surprise, he stopped. Emmaleen slipped out of her chair and rounded the table to stand in front of him. "You don't seem very happy. I mean ... this could mean the end of the war ... that peace is just a few weeks away, if that. But you ..."
Aarek lifted his gaze to hers, his gray eyes flashing, "You could have been killed."
Emmaleen blinked. "What?"
"Don't give me that!" Aarek shook his head. "You know very well the risks you took, the situation you were in. You're lucky to have made it out alive!"
Silence settled again, marred only by the sound of Aarek's labored breathing, as if he'd just finished a race.
Emmaleen pushed her shoulders back, lifted her chin. "And you wouldn't care if I had. What do you care if a traitor dies ..."
Aarek moved like lightning. His hands reaching out, cupping Emmaleen's face. He pressed his lips to hers and held them there, trembling. Then he let go.
Emmaleen hadn't moved - hadn't twitched a single muscle. She stared at Aarek with wide eyes and realized she was holding her breath.
Aarek's eyes never left hers. "I would care, Emmaleen. Believe me, I would care."
He turned, and the doors swept open in front of him. Just like that, he was gone, and Emmaleen learned to breathe again.
**** I haven't written much about my work in progress on this blog, but I couldn't resist this time. I'm only on chapter four of this book, and this scene may or may not make an appearance later on in my manuscript, but I'm getting so excited about where it is going that I just couldn't resist!****
Laughing mercilessly, Audrey and Jake ran from the scene of the crime toward their place of refuge, the shade of a Persian Maple. Ever since Audrey had come to this rare and lush valley as a ten year old, this had been their place. Four long years had deemed it so.
ReplyDelete"Did you--did you see Robert's face?" Audrey gasped, alternately giggling uncontrollably and coughing. Nearly tripping on her dress, Audrey stumbled clumsily before catching herself.
"His face? Who was looking at his face?" Jake reached the trunk of their tree first, and collapsed onto the soft grass, clutching his stomach from laughing.
This time they had gone a little too far, but Robert had deserved it. Audrey's egotistical and extremely competitive cousin, Robert, was constantly looking for reasons to dislike Jake, so was always trying to prove his superiority over him. Foolishly, he had challenged Jake to a battle of wits in front of many of their friends, which ultimately ended in both boys standing on a short stone wall near a side well. Jake in a flourishing bow and Robert with his pants unexpectedly pulled down around his ankles, revealing his undergarments. Before Robert knew what had happened, Jake leaped from the wall, grabbed Audrey's hand and dragged her away from the roaring crowd as they both howled with glee themselves.
Audrey fell next to her friend, barely keeping herself upright.
"We--" Audrey wiped a tear from her eye. "We really shouldn't--poor Robert!" Audrey burst into another fit of laughter.
"Poor Robert my left toenail," said Jake with a snort. "If his arrogant little behind would stop trying to parade about as if it were better than the rest of the world, maybe I wouldn't feel the need to expose it to reality."
The sound of their laughter died slowly and they fell into a comfortable silence, Jake contemplating the turning leaves above him and Audrey breathing in the beauty of the afternoon sun.
"You know," said Jake, propping himself up on one elbow, "I think I know why he hates me so much." Audrey glanced side long at him. "He likes you."
"Of course he likes me," she said, unaffected. "I don't make it a habit of embarrassing him in public."
"True," he giggled slightly. "But I think he LIKE-likes you."
Audrey gave him a pitying look. "Even if that were true, would Robert really hate you just for being my friend?"
"He would if he thought I like-liked you too."
A mischievous smile crept across Audrey's mouth. "And do you?"
Jake pushed himself up so he and Audrey sat side by side. Then he kissed her on the lips.
Very few things left Audrey shocked, even fewer left her speechless, and that had done both. Stunned, Audrey covered her mouth with her hand, her cheeks blazed a brilliant rosy pink.
Jake returned to his reclined position. "Actually, I do," he said casually.
Audrey looked away, then back at Jake, dropped her hand to her side, then looked away again. The autumn afternoon light seemed different all of a sudden. She did a double take of Jake, crossed her legs, then leaned back against the tree.
"Oh," she said pleasantly.