The green grass under my back, the blue cloudless sky stretched endlessly out before me. I breathe the crisp autumn air and close my eyes. The suns fills me with warmth and I smile. A cool breeze floats over me and I shiver just a bit. I roll over on to my stomach, my dark hair falling with my movements. He’s a few feet over from me, but I can still see him. I smile again. He looks so peaceful, just laying there in the sun. Suddenly, he rolls over on his side, facing me. He opens his eyes and smiles at me. I smile back.

“Hi,” he whispers.

“Hi,” I whisper back, giggling. Silly best friend. I close my eyes again, letting my face rest on the cool grass. I feel his warm fingers tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. “Christopher,” I laugh softly, grabbing his hand and he pulls away from my face.

“Yes, Natalie?”

“You’re so silly,” I say, letting go of his hand.

“I know,” he says lightly.

“Well, at least you embrace it,” I let my voice trail off.

He sighs, “yeah.”

I roll onto my back again and breathe deep. Christopher scoots closer to me and puts his arm around my shoulders so I can lean on him. I let my face fall into his shirt, amidst the fold of fabric. I breathe in deeply. He smells so good. Plus his shirt is super soft. “Hey ‘Topher,” I say, using the nickname only I’m allowed to use.

“Yes, Nat-ey,” he says, emphasizing the e sound on the end.

“You make a good pillow,” I tell him as I nuzzle into his chest. He puts his arm around me tighter and pulls me closer to him.

“So I’ve been told,” Christopher laughs.

I smile. “Now, don’t move,” I say and plunk my head down on his chest.

“Oh, yay. Let’s play use-Christopher-as-a-pillow-and-tell-him-not-to-move! This should be fun,” I can hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice. But, I can also hear his smile.

“Sounds fun. Am I winning?” I giggle.

“No, you’re not winning,” Christopher says. “I always win.”

I harrumphed and pouted. “Now that’s not fair,” I fought a smile.

“That’s the point.” He laughs, the sound coming from deep in his chest. I can hear his steady breathing and his heart beating.

“And if we were gonna play that game,” I say, laughing, “then I would just lay on you.” I smile sweetly as he looks down at me. “But, I don’t think Hannah would like that much.”

Hannah. Ugh. His uber-b**** girlfriend. She absolutely hates me. Which I find quite funny.

“What Hannah doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Christopher says, winking at me.

“Christopher Marshall Evans!” I laugh, lightly hitting his chest.

Christopher just looks at me, all innocent. “Well, you offered.”

I sit up. “And are you accepting?”

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” Christopher sits up as well. “Are you really offering?”

I smile a bit too eagerly. “Maybe I am, and maybe I’m not. Do you want me to really be offering?”

He chuckles at me and moves closer. “Oh, Natalie..”

Somewhere in our brief discussion, dark clouds had rolled in. The sun disappeared as a black cloud overtook it.

“What, Chris?” I ask, moving toward him just a bit.

The clouds continue to move in. Chris closes the gap between us. Thunder booms overhead. It takes me by surprise and I let out a small gasp. He laughs at me lightly as I smile at him. I feel a blush creep onto my cheeks. “Natalie…” Christopher says, running a hand through his light brown hair. “What if I weren’t with Hannah?”

“Then… I don’t know, Chris. That would be up to you,” I say, looking at him. His green eyes catch me like they always do. “What if you weren’t with Hannah? What would happen, Chris?”

He takes a deep breath. “This, Nat. This would happen.” And with out warning, with out any hesitation, Christopher leans in and kisses me. His lips meet mine, very softly, in a tender kiss. He’s taking care and being gentle. He knows what this means to me. He knows what this is. This is my first kiss. I’m kissing my best friend.

He pulls away, but not completely. He rests his forehead on mine. “Wow,” I whisper.

“Wow,” he agrees. His hand comes up and pulls me back to him, and this time, it’s not so gentle. He’s kissing me like there’s no tomorrow, no time to waste. Hungrily. I sit up on my knees for a better vantage point. I take his face in my hands.

“Nat,” he says quickly between kisses.

“What, Chris?” I say as he pulls me onto his lap.

“Nat,” he pulls away. “Love, it’s raining.”

I release him and pull away, breathing heavily. “Ah,” I look up and the skies are solidly black. “So it is.” I look back at him. “Your point?”

He laughs, “my point is, Little Miss Logic, that it’s raining and we’re getting wet.”

I slide off his lap and onto the ground. “So we are.” I look down. My shirt just oh-so-happens to be white. “Oh, poo.”

“Just realized you were wearing white?” Chris laughs. He looks me up and down slowly, admiringly.

“Christopher!” I cross my arms over my chest, laughing.

“Just enjoying the view,” he winks at me. “So, what do you say to going inside?”

“I say, where exactly inside?” I give him a coy smile.

“Well, no one’s home.. My room?” He says standing up into the downpour. He offers me his hand.

I take his hand and stand as well. “Where exactly in your room?”

“I think the bed’s free..” He laughs at the look on my face. “We won’t do that, silly Natalie.”

I smile, “but there can be more of this?” I ask as I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him softly. I pull away and tease his bottom lip, just a bit.

He follows me as I pull back, his eyes closed, lips wanting more. “Most certainly more of that,” Christopher says, and pulls me toward his house.

* * *

“First things first,” Chris says to a disgruntled me. “We’re wet. We need dry clothes.”

I catch the old marching band tee he throws me. He rummages in another drawer, trying to find short that will fit me. “Here,” he says, tossing me a pair of red ones. “They’re only a medium, but there’s a drawstring.”

“Okay,” I say.

His hands move to another drawer. “Do you..? Um. Are your..? Do you need a pair of these?” He pulls out a pair of boxer shorts. My underwear are a bit too wet for my liking.

“If you don’t mind..” I blush.

He throws them to me. “You can change in the bathroom. Then we’ll throw your stuff in the dryer.”

“Okay,” I say demurely.

I get changed quickly, laughing at the fact that I was literally in his pants.

“What’s so funny?” He asks as I walk into his laundry room.

“You said we wouldn’t do ‘that’, and yet, I managed to get in your pants.” My laughter gets harder.

He looks at me with a straight face and then bursts out laughing. “Oh, Natalie. Wow. Ha.”

“This stays between you and me,” I say.

“Oh, certainly,” Chris laughs. “We don’t need this getting out.” He turns on the dryer.

I fidget. “Can we get back to what we were doing earlier…?”

He laughs at me again, “like it, huh?”

“Yes!” I say, blushing.

He steps toward me, “well, I do too, so it’s alright.” He kissed me very softly, pressing me against the wall.

“What about the bed?” I ask when he pulls away.

“It’s still there,” he says, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Okay,” I say, and throw my arms around him in a hug. He kisses my neck, and then all the way up my jaw.

I sigh contentedly. “This is very nice.”

“Very nice indeed,” he says as he goes to kiss me again.

* * *

Two hours later, I’m laying in his arms on his bed. Still fully clothed, but breathless from making out. I nestle into his chest. Suddenly, my phone goes off across the room. I make to go get it, but Chris pulls me back down. “No,” he says, “you’re mine.”

“’Topher! Lemme up! It’s probably mom!” I protest.

“Ugh, fine,” Christopher says, releasing me.

I grab my phone out of my bag just in time. I flip it open. “Hello?”

A husky baritone voice greets me. “Natalie!”

I roll my eyes at Chris. “It’s Drake,” I mouth.

“Hello, Drake.” I say to my brother. Drake is four years older than me. But he’s probably the coolest brother ever. I swear, we’re like, best friends.

“Where are you?” Drake asks. I can hear All Time Low music blaring in the background, so I know he’s driving.

“Um. I’m out a Christopher’s house. Why?” I fiddle nervously with the string on the shorts.

“Just curious. Mom hadn’t heard from you, so she told me to check,” Drake says. “Having fun?”

I giggle. “Yeah, it’s all good out here.”

Drake laughs. “Good. Keep it that way. Keep your clothes on and hands to yourself,” Drake tells me.

“Thanks, D. Thanks.” I say.

“Anytime sis, anytime,” he says and hangs up.

I laugh as Christopher shakes his head. “My brother is crazy.”

No sooner had I spoke then a text message came to my phone.

NEW MESSAGE:
FROM: myBROTHERdrakeydear
MSG: oh, and sis, if you two do do something, condoms are your friend. ; ) love ya. Ps, I won’t tell mom.

I’m too busy laughing so I throw my phone to Chris. “Oh, my gosh.” Chris says. “Wow. I love your brother.”

“You’re telling me!” I say as he tosses my phone back to me. I shove it in my bag. I walk back over to the bed and lay down beside Chris. After a few minutes, I sigh. “This is wrong, isn’t it?”

Chris sighs too, “sadly, yes. Although I do have to say that your kisses are infinitely better than Hannah’s.”

“Chris! Can you even say that?!” I ask.

“I don’t care if I can or not, it’s true.” Christopher says to me. His phone vibrates on his bed table. “Oh, speak of the devil. It’s Hannah.”

I roll my eyes as he answers his phone. “Hey, Han.”

Bleck.

I hear a high-pitched voice squeaking away on the other line. Chris nods and makes the appropriate sounds at the right time. He rolls his eyes at something she says. “Yes, Hannah. I know. It’s on Saturday.”

I hear the high-pitched yipping on the other line, how annoying. Christopher leans up and leans against his headboard. I move to where my head is lying in his lap. He begins to run his hand through my hair, only half paying attention to his phone. Suddenly, a very loud, very high-pitched, “Chris! Are you even listening to me?!” comes from his phone.

I turn to look at him as he holds the phone out from his face. “Yes, Han. I’m listening to you.”

She begins to talk again. Chris cuts her off mid-sentence, “um, hey Hannah? Natalie’s over and I feel kinda rude being on the phone and all. I’ll-”

She cuts him off this time. With a million questions, I’m sure. “Hannah!” Christopher says, very frustrated now. “I don’t understand what your problem with Natalie is! She’s my best friend. We’ve talked about this before, you’ve got to trust me.”

I scoff.

He waves me off. “Hannah. I will call you later. But right now, I’m hanging up. Good-bye.” He closes his phone with a definite snap. “I am so sick of her drama!”

“Chris…” I say.

“Ugh. Nat, you don’t understand. I swear, something’s wrong with her and I have no clue what. It really p***es me off. I won’t talk to her for just one instance, just once, and she gets all offended, and yet she can ignore me for two days straight?! What the hell is that?” Chris runs a hand through his sandy brown hair. His moss green eyes close in frustration. “That’s it. I’m done with her.”

I just lay there, unsure of what to say, if I should say anything at all.

“I’m serious Nat, this is it. I give her one week to get her act straight and then I’m done with her. Then, maybe…” His voice trails off.

“Maybe what, ‘Topher?” I ask softly.

“Maybe, just maybe, we can be together…” He trails off again and leans down and kisses me once more.