No Kiss Blogfest!

Here it is! But, I had two almost-kisses, and I literally couldn't decide which I liked better, so ... you get both.  I hope you enjoy them!  And don't forget to stop by Frankie Diane Mallis's blog and click through  some of the other participants!

These are both from my YA novel THAT SUCCS.  In the first one, Emmy is nervous about going on her first date, and annoyed with Paul, who she really has a crush on.

By the time Paul came back, I wasn’t as nervous about later.  In fact, I was excited.  But I still reveled in the warmth when he slid next to me.  Enjoying my improved mood, I turned to smile at him, and he smiled back.  I found myself trapped in his gaze—frozen.

            I didn’t even realize I was leaning toward him until I saw his pupils dilate.  He had started to lean, too.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but I knew I didn’t want to stop, even though my mind was screaming something at me.  Our faces were so close, I could feel his breath whisper across my lips.  I inhaled, and a strangely familiar scent made me lean closer.  My lips parted.

            The whistle to start the second half brought me back to myself.  I shot straight and pushed back, almost knocking into the girl I’d talked to earlier.  Oh my God, I just almost kissed Paul.  My heart pounded, and the butterflies in my stomach roiled.  The craziest part was, I really, really wanted to scoot back and continue where we’d left off.  I was afraid to even look at him for fear he was still sitting, ready to kiss me.  I wouldn’t be able to resist if he was.

In this second excerpt, Emmy has come to the library to cool off after an argument with her mom and her best friend.  She runs into Paul and they start to work on their history project.

Paul turned, scooting his chair so it was angled toward me.  “Can I ask you something?”  His brown eyes burned into mine, and my stomach flipped again.

“Um…okay.”

He dropped his eyes to his hands.  “It’s … kind of personal, so you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”  He paused for so long, I wondered if he was going to continue, which made my heart pound, worrying about what personal question he could possibly want to ask me.  Finally, he asked, “Why did you kiss Jake?”

I closed my eyes.  I wasn’t expecting that question.  What could I say?  I was jealous and upset?  I so wasn’t telling him that.  “I don’t really know, Paul.”  Why was everyone so damn obsessed with me kissing? My hand clenched into a fist as the anger I’d come to the library to escape bubbled up again.  Calm down.  He’s not Mom or Lily, and he doesn’t know about any of that.  Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my hand and opened my eyes, avoiding his.  He’d kissed someone, too.  I sighed.  “Why did you kiss Meredith?”

He took my hand, startling me into looking at him.  “I don’t know.  I didn’t want to, but when I saw you dancing with Jake, I just … I don’t know.”  He dropped his gaze again and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand.  It sent tingles up my arm and straight to my stomach. 

Something strengthened inside me, and I felt bold.  “I really wanted to kiss you.”  I can’t believe I just said that out loud.

His eyes snapped up to mine, and the heat in them made me tremble.  He’s going to kiss me.  He leaned forward, eyes locked to mine, and I felt myself copying him.  It was just like in the gym, only this time, there wasn’t a whistle to stop us, and I didn’t want to stop.

As his breath touched my lips, the butterflies in my stomach suddenly flew up to my throat.  What if there’s a real reason for me to avoid kissing?  What if Jake was my fault somehow?

“I can’t.”  I closed my eyes and pulled away from Paul, my heart protesting painfully.