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.