Free Exhale by Jennifer Snyder

I would have liked, because once the sight and sounds of the party came back into view, Derek released my hand. I continued staring straight ahead and fought to keep my back straight and all traces of rejection from my face. It was stupid, even after our conversation and the kiss we had just shared, the way that I felt from that simple gesture, but I couldn’t help it.
    Derek leaned into me when we were just a few steps away from the edge of the party, his lips brushed against my ear, his hot breath tickling my skin. “Meet me back there in fifteen minutes.”
    I smiled and nodded as my eyes met his and warmth radiated through me. I was going to get round two of stolen kisses later.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Kat, Kat!  Come here,” Kyle slurred. “Tell these fools how I got this scar above my right eyebrow, they don’t believe me.”
    I walked away from Stephanie Vega toward Kyle and grinned at the memory. “You kissed me when we were in second grade and I karate chopped you in the neck.”
    “No, back up. Tell it from the beginning. You can’t just dive straight to the end. You have to tell the whole story.”
    “I’m going to get something else to drink,” Missy said, her annoyance clearly audible in her words as her gaze flickered up toward the sky. “Anyone else need one?” she added a little more perkily. Her question sounded directed to everyone, but I knew that it was meant only for Kyle. She was trying once again to get his attention, and this time, just like all the others tonight, she had no luck. In a way, I felt bad for her. Did she not see how desperate she looked?
    “Go. Tell it,” Kyle prompted, ignoring Missy’s question completely. She rolled her eyes and stalked off toward the coolers.
    “Okay,” I said, thinking back to how it began. “Billy Yonce had dared you to kiss me, or so I’ve been told, but now that I know you pretty good, I don’t think it was a dare at all, I think it was just something you’d wanted to do. Anyway, so Billy had dared you, and you, being the badass that you are, accepted.”
    “Badass, huh? Woo, I love it when you talk dirty to me,” Kyle smiled, his words almost inaudible as he tipped his beer back for another long swig.
    I rolled my eyes, but still felt my cheeks flush from his comment and turned my stare to the group surrounding us. “Back to the story, Romeo. Anyway, it was recess and I was climbing up the steps of the slide, Kyle was right behind me. Seriously, right behind me. I’m talking as-close-as-he-could-get, practically-my-shadow behind me. As soon as I got to the top, I stopped and asked him what his problem was.”
    “No, what she said was, correct me if I’m wrong, ‘What’s your deal , shadow boy?’” Kyle chuckled, his eyes locking with mine. I broke his stare, uncomfortable with the gleam that twinkled in his eyes.  This was when I noticed Derek, standing off to the side of the party, staring at me. As soon as our eyes locked, a small grin twisted his lips and he turned to walk away. I knew where he was going, it had been fifteen minutes and now it was time for some more stolen kisses. “I laughed so hard I nearly slipped off the fucking last step,” Kyle said, forcing my attention back to him and our conversation.
    “So she was a little spitfire even then, huh?” one of the guys who I thought was named Eli said.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, eager to wrap this story up now that I had seen Derek walk off. “So Kyle tells me ‘nothing’ and then proceeds to kiss me. I shifted away from him and said, ‘I’m part ninja, don’t kiss me unless I ask you to’, and then karate chopped him right in the neck,” I laughed, remembering the entire moment vividly.
    “And then I fell from the top of the slide…granting me one sprained wrist and a gash above my right eyebrow,” Kyle added as everyone surrounding us burst out in laughter. “And I’ve been waiting for her to ask ever since,” he uttered in a low tone, his eyes