Read The Kiss for Free Online

enough of a drizzle to ruin any chance of a picnic. Returning Bill’s defeated look, Eliza asked what he’d prepared for dinner. When he said it was hotdogs, she suggested they ate them while walking back to the dorm.
    They did just that, walking side by side, chewing in companionable silence that was only interrupted by Bill showing off how he could down half a hot-dog in one bite…and choking on it.
    All in all, the evening was fun. Not the sort of fun a girl would like to have with the one , but Eliza kept reminding herself that the sooner he took her to the dorm, the sooner she’d find out if he really was that one. And if he was, well, they’d get plenty of chances to have the perfect moonlit dinner in the park.
    She tried hard to not pay any mind to the small voice in the back of her head that insisted she’d have felt some attraction to him if he was her kisser-in-the-dark. Besides, it was not like she’d ever felt any attraction towards any of the guys who’d been close to her that night at The Zoo .
    Again she ignored the little voice calling her a liar.
    Finally outside her dorm, she turned to face Bill, who was wiping mustard off his upper lip. “Thank you,” she said. “It was fun.”
    “ Yeah, that’s me. Billy-boy is all about the fun .” He sounded sad, and she knew then that she’d kiss him anyway, just to make him smile.
    “Goodnight.” She stepped on the top of three stairs and leaned into him, waiting for him to close the distance. He reflexively pulled back, however, making her stumble and fall forward. To steady her, he closed his arms around her waist in an awkward grasp. Their faces were half an inch apart.
    He wasn’t going to kiss her; she could tell he was too shy. So she kissed him , seeking in the touch of his lips even a glimpse of the soul-shaking sensations the stranger’s lips had evoked in her a few nights earlier.
    All she felt was a hint of pork and mustard.
    ***
    Krista ambushed Eliza the moment she came in through the door.
    “How was it? Is it him ?” She threw a quick glance at her watch and went on, not giving Eliza time to reply. “Uh-oh, you’re back early. Why are you back early?” She started pacing, inadvertently blocking Eliza from getting to her own bed and taking her sandals off.
    “Krissy—” She tried sidestepping her best friend, but to no avail. For a tiny girl, Krista sure took up too much space.
    “Unless you’re back early, and he’s on his way up, but you came first to tell me to get out of here so you two could have some private time to—”
    Eliza held up a hand. “Finish that sentence and die.”
    “That bad?”
    “Pork and mustard.” Eliza held her hands up in the air, like that explained everything.
    Apparently it did. Deflated, Krista dropped onto her bed. “Hotdogs? On the first date?”
    “ With wine, but yeah…” Finally rid of the sandals, Eliza began massaging her feet and grimaced. “Oh, yuck ! Mud.”
    “In the hotdogs?”
    “On my feet.” She looked at her hand in disgust. Mud had gotten under her nails.
    “But the hotdogs were good?” It was just like Krista to completely ignore the gagging sounds her roommate made, and focus on the important stuff.
    “The hotdogs were good.”
    “And the date?”
    “The date wasn’t.”
    “Eh.” Krista punched her defenseless pillow.
    “ Eh is right, my friend, but I will not give up!”
    “On Bill?”
    Eliza rolled her eyes. “On the mystery guy. If nothing else, I had fun tonight. There was just total lack of sparks, you know?”
    Krista nodded. “Oh well, here’s to next time.” She raised an imaginary glass, and Eliza mirrored her gesture before tiptoeing to the bathroom wincing at the squishy sounds her feet made on the carpet.
    ***
    Eliza wasn’t the only one to get drilled that night.
    Bill had just turned the corner when he heard the familiar flicker of a Zippo. “Won’t you ever quit the cancer sticks, Nate?” He didn’t even bother to turn toward the