Lip Balm Kiss

"Will you sit still?"

I gave Marcy my most powerful pout. Nobody could resist my pout. Not even my Russian dwarf hamster. And that said a lot.

My sister, however, remained immune to it this afternoon. Apparently, today's occasion was a matter of life and death. Not.

"I don't want to accidentally burn you with this curler, Lacie. So sit still if you want to walk away in one piece." Marcy sternly told me as she continued her torture.

I let out a dejected sigh and forced my body not to move.

"I don't even know why you look so sullen. This is going to be your first dance!" Marcy was older than me by three years. Apparently she had been to a lot of dances in her life time.

I didn't care. If I had any say, I would've been curled under a warm quilt with a sweet book and a mug of hot chocolate. Not going through ten kinds of torture to ready myself for a dance I wasn't even looking forward to. "So what?"

"You're not the least bit excited? Not even with Miles as your date?" My sister waggled her eyebrows. It was highly disturbing.

I grunted as I folded my arms over my chest. "It's not a date. It's a matter of convenience."

She raised one her of her eyebrows, but didn't comment.

Miles was our neighbour. We had been neighbours for over four years. My family moved here when I was thirteen and on the verge of starting high school.

Tonight was the day of the winter school dance. I initially hadn't planned on attending. Truthfully, dances freaked me out because of the loud music, the large crowd and just the dancing in general. I had no sense of rhythm. I mean, I usually had enough trouble trying to keep myself from tripping over my own two feet. Which happened way too often by the way. I sucked.

But then some of my friends begged for me to go and even managed to convince my parents to let me attend the stupid dance. Then Miles suddenly showed up on my doorstep last week, suggesting we go together since we're neighbours and it would've saved gas. Since my friends lived on the other side of town and I hadn't managed to pass my driver's test yet, I reluctantly accepted his carpool offer.

And so I found myself being 'beautified' by my older sister for a night that I was dreading.

"There, all done!" Marcy stepped away with the hot iron, a satisfied smile on her face. "Don't worry, Lacie, I kept things natural for you."

"Thanks." I mumbled as I got up from the chair. I spared myself a quick glance in the mirror. I looked like myself, mostly. My auburn hair was loosely waved and didn't actually make me look that awkward. The makeup that Marcy had applied was light. Brown eyeliner to accentuate my chocolate brown eyes and some blush to give me a bit of colour. I turned to Marcy and gave her a smile of thanks. "I appreciate it. Although I didn't enjoy your means of torture."

Marcy playfully rolled her eyes. "Wait!" She called as I turned to leave. It was almost eight o'clock and I planned on waiting outside for Miles. "Can't forget this."

My eyes widened as I noticed the tube of sparkly lip gloss in her hand. "No!" I exclaimed. I was too late. My sister expertly swiped my lips with the doe foot applicator and I groaned in disgust.

"All done." She smiled sweetly at me. "Are you sure you don't want any pictures with you and Miles?"

I rolled my eyes. "We're just carpooling together. See you." I gave her a salute and then marched down the stairs.

"Have fun!" Marcy called out.

Our parents were on a short cruise trip together to celebrate their twentieth anniversary, so the house felt rather empty. Usually at this time of the day they would be sitting on the couch, watching TV together. I quickly grabbed my coat, put it on without buttoning up, and stepped outside with my keys in my pocket. The fresh, cold, wintery air hit me as soon as I stepped out. It was rather relaxing and it helped clear my mind.

Frankly, I was having major second thoughts about this thing. I was contemplating whether or not to bow out of the whole thing when Miles came out of his house.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed me standing. "Wow. You look… beautiful." He sounded stunned.

"Thanks?" I said awkwardly. I felt extremely out of place in this dress. It was a light creamy dress with spaghetti straps that stopped right above my knees. Small silver stars adorned the fabric. It was a pretty dress, but I wasn't sure if it really suited me. Luckily, my winter coat made me feel less exposed. In contrast, he looked absolutely gorgeous in his black tailored suit. Why did he have to be so tall and good-looking? Life was unfair.

"And your lips are all… sparkly." His dark green eyes lingered on my lips for a couple of seconds.

I quickly wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "Yeah, I know. It's stupid. Marcy ambushed me."

His eyes flickered to mine, "No. I mean, it looks nice."

"Really?" I asked sceptically. Because, honestly, I didn't think that there was anything appealing to sparkly lip gloss.

He nodded, his lips quirking upwards, "But I think I prefer your lip balm more."

I stared at him, wide-eyed. "L-lip balm?"

His smile widened and he tilted his head slightly to the side, his black hair ruffling slightly in the cold air, "Yeah. You know, the one that tastes like raspberries."

I blinked stupidly at him. How the heck did he know what my lip balm tasted like?

Miles took a few steps forward, until the tips of our shoes were practically touching. I had to crane my neck a bit to look him in the eyes, the question still on my face.

He retrieved something from his pocket and held it up for me to see.

With a startling realization I recognized it as my favourite lip balm. I knew it was mine, because there was a small smiley drawn with a thin black marker on the bottom of the packaging. "H-how did you get that?" I stammered. I hadn't even realized I lost it.

"I borrowed it from you." He said with a twinkle in his eyes.

I frowned, "You borrowed my lip balm from me?" The only logical explanation I could find was that he probably nicked it from my desk during English class last week. That was the only class we shared and he happened to sit right behind me.

He shrugged, "My lips felt dry."

"Right." I still had no idea what was going on. "So, uh, can I have it back?" It was a fairly new lip balm too. I had just run out of my previous stick last week.

"Why?" He asked with a smile.

"Because I have dry lips?" I didn't want to sound petty or cheap asking for it back… but I really did just buy that lip balm last week and it would've been a waste of money if I kept repurchasing stuff I already owned.

His eyes focused on my lips. "Are they?" He asked sounding husky.

I nodded, my throat suddenly feeling dry as my heart started to speed up due to our close proximity. What was wrong with me?

"I think I could remedy that."

Before I could ask what he meant, his soft lips descended on mine. A jolt of electricity went through me as he gently kissed me. My mind was incoherent, but somehow my body was able to respond to his kiss. To my surprise, I faintly tasted raspberries.

When he pulled back I almost had to struggle to breathe properly again.

"What was that?" I managed to squeak out, a hundred per cent sure that my face was flushed crimson.

"I think, my dear Lacie, we just shared a lip balm kiss." He answered as his eyes shone.

"Well, it's a rather complicated method of applying lip balm." I told him, my heart still beating too fast to be considered normal. Why were his eyes so darn mesmerizing?

"Is it?" He asked before placing a feathery light kiss on my lips.

I blinked. "Well, I can't deny it isn't a fun method." I admitted to him.

Miles grinned and it was the most beautiful sight ever. I had to resist the urge to sweep a lock of black hair out of his eyes.

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked him. Throughout the years that I had known Miles, we were never really that close. He was friendly, I guess, but we were barely more than acquaintances. Okay, so I admittedly might have harboured a tiny (a really, really tiny) crush on him ever since he helped me up when a soccer ball knocked me to the ground on the day I moved in next to him. I swear, it could hardly be called a crush. I mean, maybe it was a slight infatuation or something. But definitely nothing like love or anything. Nope. Not even when he smiled at me and his dark green eyes sparkled with mirth. Definitely not love.

Miles gently tucked a lock of auburn hair behind my ear as his eyes held mine. "I thought it might've been obvious why. I like you Lacie."

I swear, my heart literally skipped a beat when the words left his perfect lips. "Excuse me?"

He chuckled at my shocked expression. "I have liked you for a really long time Lacie. Like really long. Perhaps maybe even for over four years."

When I continued to gape at him, a blush crept on his cheeks. If that wasn't the most adorable sight ever, I didn't know what was.

Miles put a hand against his neck, a gesture I recognized he did whenever he felt nervous. His eyes were firmly fixed on mine, "I like how you glance up at the sky every day and take a deep breath with a smile as if the sun is greeting you. I like how during summers you sit on the swing on your porch with a book and occasionally glance at the children playing games on the street. I like how during winters you are the first one to rush out of the house whenever the first snowfall is, no matter if it's deep in the night and nobody should be up at the ungodly hour. But most of all, I love it when at the end of the school day, before you enter your house, you flash your pretty smile at me and make my day."

My heart continued to hammer against my chest and I nervously licked my lips, "I… uhm… might have liked you ever since you offered me your hand when that soccer ball knocked me to the ground." I confessed.

A beautiful smile lit up Miles' face. "Then I should probably admit that I was the rascal who accidentally knocked you over with that ball."

I blinked. "That was you? You told me it was that kid Billy from across the street!" I think I glared at him for over six months after that incident. Poor kid.

Miles gave me a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to admit it was my clumsy kick that hurt the prettiest girl in the neighbourhood."

My face flushed at that. "So what about that whole talk about saving gas?" I prompted, thinking about his rather odd proposition.

"That was me chickening out and not having the guts to ask you to the dance myself." He admitted. "I want nothing more than to be with you Lacie."

It was adorable how he managed to ask me to the dance in such a roundabout manner. I smiled up at him. "I want to be with you too, Miles."

A sweet smile played on his lips as he pulled me into a hug. "That means the world to me, Lacie."

"Miles?"

"Hmm?" He released me but grabbed a hold of my hand instead. I liked how secure it felt to have him just standing near me.

"Can we not go to the dance?" I asked as I peered up at him.

He looked taken aback. "You don't want to go?"

I shook my head lightly. "I only agreed because Jess and Tara begged me to go. Honestly, I don't think I'd feel very comfortable…," I admitted to him.

His gaze softened and he lightly stroked my cheek. "Why don't we hold our own dance?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Miles lifted my arms over his shoulders and put his hands on my waist. Slowly, he started moving as he rested his forehead against mine. "Dance." He whispered softly.

My face flushed as his green eyes pierced into my brown ones. "I can't dance."

"Sure you can." He said encouragingly. "Just sway with me."

I carefully moved my feet, trying to follow his example. "I apologize in advance for any foot-stepping."

Miles chuckled softly. "I don't mind. You're doing wonderful." Then he slowly started humming a melody.

My heart fluttered as we slowly danced in the night. "I seriously hope my sister's not looking out of the window right now. She'd have a field day."

"I think it's a bit too late for that, sweet Lacie," Miles said, amusement lacing his voice. "I'm pretty sure I just saw her glimpsing out of the window with her DSLR camera."

I groaned and buried my head against his chest, noticing his pleasant scent for the first time. "High quality pictures. I'm going to die."

"Consider them memories." Miles softly said.

Time passed as we danced under the glistening stars with nothing but the sound of Miles' soft humming.

I was the first to break the silence. "Miles? About my lipbalm…,"

He looked at me, "Why, are your lips dry again? I can fix that." His eyes twinkled as he leaned down and captured my lips with his.

As I kissed him back I realized that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to let him hold on to my raspberry lip balm. After all, this method was rather a lot of fun.

fin.


A/N: I wanted to write something cute, haha. :) Hope you enjoyed this oneshot!