The Spill

After that, we just looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments. I really don’t know what to say, so I'm just trying to grab my beer. My hands are shaking a bit from the nervousness, and also freezing because of the dropped temperature after midnight, until it almost feels numb. I clumsily knocked the beer bottle over when I tried to reach it, and it wetted my jeans and his trousers.

Shoot, what am I doing??!!

I instantly stood up, grabbed my handbag for tissues and wiped all the beer in my jeans, and gave the remaining tissues to Clayton, who also stood up and wiped his jeans. The accident turns out to be so comical, and he burst out laughing all of a sudden while seeing me bent down while trying to wipe the spilling on the rocks with tissues in panic.

“Anita, leave it, don’t mop the rocks…”, he said while chuckling.

I can’t help to hide my smile then chuckled with him awkwardly. While he’s still laughing, he stretched his arm towards me, pulled me up so I stood up then hugged me. I was really shocked to hear him laugh so cheerfully, and felt too dumbfounded to react when his arms circled around my shoulders. I was just able to manage to hold him back with my left arm, while my right arm was still holding dripping wet tissues filled with spilled beers. Then he held my left wrist and pulled me to move to another place to sit.

“Let’s just sit here.” He said while still laughing a bit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you, but you look so clumsily funny I couldn’t help it”, he added.

“No, that’s okay. My family always said I should consider a career as a comedian, since I’m a klutz, and I could do slapstick scenes very naturally, like what you just saw”, I said while sitting with knees up beside him, kinda desperate and felt stupid because my foolish nature had turned a very romantic scene into comedy in a blink of an eye.

“Well, I think you should. I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that. And when you get to cast some comedy movie, let me know so I can force my agent to get me a role in that movie, even as a cameo, so I can laugh with you again like this.”

I looked at his face and chuckled. “That’s actually pretty sweet if you could do that.”

He smiled and answered while his dark blue eyes looking deep into my eyes. “I totally could, and gladly would.”

I scoffed lightly and chuckled in shyness while stifling a smile and a warm blush that’s felt creeping up my cheek. He stretched his right arm behind my back, put it on my right shoulder, and pulled it close to him, resulting in my head leaned on his chest. He circled his other arm and held me close. I also wrapped my arms around his waist and held him back. While leaning on his chest and holding him I can feel his heart racing so hard, as hard as mine, and at that very moment, I know he’s just felt the same nervousness as I am.

“Actually, I also have a little confession to make. I said okay to Pax and agreed to act as a Count Dracula in the first place because I know you will be performing as Lucy. I already knew you would get the part. There’s no one better than you at the audition, and I’m sure it will be a pleasure to be with you on stage, where I will also have a chance to know you more in the process. If you’re worried that our rehearsal will be full of awkward moments, I cannot say it won’t. But let us both try to make it as comfortable as we can, okay?” he said while he still held me in his arms. After that, he rested his head above mine, and we stayed hugging each other like that for a long while.

It was something I could never dream of, leaning my face in his broad chest, listening to the thumping sounds our heart makes. I took the precious time to take deep breaths, filling every inch of my lung with the scent of his perfume, which slightly mixed with his natural scent and a hint of tobacco. It was really a comforting smell and made me wanna stay in this moment forever.

We continued talking with my head leaned on his shoulder, holding hands, looking at the twinkling city lights below. I told him stories about the little town where I was born, my passion for stage acting, and a few of the many silly things I did in my past. Suddenly my phone rang. It was from Sasha, and I picked it up.

“ Hey, Sass, what’s up?”

“Where are you? It’s already 3 a.m, and somebody at the dorm said you were leaving at 10. Are you okay?”

She sounded kinda upset. She must be worrying about me all night.

“Oh, God! Sorry, I forgot to tell you or left a note. I’m in Climber’s Hills, Clay picked me up earlier.”

“OH! So you’re with Clayton right now?? Okaaay, did I interrupt something good? Well…sorry to bother you two, take your time, you owe me the details later!” she said quickly and hung up.

I looked at my phone and giggled a bit. Clay asked me who it was.

“It was Sasha, my roommate. Right after I told her I’m with you, she said sorry to bother, and hung up very quickly”, I said. “Well, we've been besties since we were 10, and we practically knew everything about each other.”

“So she also knew that you have a crush on me?” said Clayton while smiling at me teasingly, with a devilish glint in his eyes.

“Hey, now you dare to tease me, huh? Unbelievable”, I said while trying to hide my smile.

Right after he heard my answer, he tickled me in the waist and made me burst out laughing.

He was also laughing, and said: “Don’t hide it, I know you’re shy, your face is red”.

I begged him to stop but he ignored me.

“Clay, I thought you’re some kind of guy who’s always played cool, but now you’re teasing me nonstop”, I said in the middle of my laugh because he won’t stop tickling me.

“I am cool”, he said, then suddenly stopped his tickling, grabbed his bottle, sip it, and gazed at the city lights calmly, like there’s nothing happened a second before.

I know he teased me even more, so I grabbed his bottle, put it beside me, and tickled him in his tummy with my finger. He bursts out laughing and hugs me to stop my tickling, but I still won’t surrender easily. Then suddenly he pulled my chin above to face his then kissed me.

I was shocked and stopped tickling him, while our lips are still glued to each other. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. He is a really good kisser, he kissed me gently, but somehow feels strong and dominating. His lips are soft, tasted sweet, salty, a bit bitter from the tobacco, beers, and chips, with an added hints of cigarettes and beer. We kept kissing each other for a few moments, maybe a few minutes, and when we stopped, I opened my eyes and realized that I was holding him in my arms, and he put one arm around my neck and another in my cheek. He opened his eyes, smiled, then kissed the tip of my nose.

“Anita, shall we wait here until the sun rises? It’s really beautiful, I want you to see it”, he said.

“Sure, I would love to see it with you.”