Free Barely Breathing (Just Breathe) by Heather Allen Page B

hands grasp the back of my neck and run through my hair. I rest my hands on her hips. Our tongues meet and explore. She bites my lip gently. I just want to devour her. When we are both breathless, he pulls back and gazes at me. Her eyes are so intense.
    She pulls back a little more so her hands are resting on my chest. My hands are still on her tiny hips. She squints and her lips curl. "I've wanted to do that, since the first day I saw you," She giggles, "You were trying so hard to avoid me."
    I smile but remain silent.
    Her eyes grow dark, "James, I told you the other day about the guardian thing. I was a guardian with the Lior but Seamus kicked me out of the city when I did something..."
    I ask curiously watching her lips as she talks, "What did you do?"
    She smiles easily and comes closer, "What I did doesn't matter, what matters is that I was a guardian and Jaspen...well he wanted me to continue that job for the Erebus. You are the first person I've watched over. He has this vision for the Erebus. He believes that we should have guardians just like the Lior, but instead of guiding them to stay on land, telling them all about both choices, then more people would choose to come to the sea."
    She looks away from me.
    I put my finger under her chin and turn her face back to look at me, "That's a good thing, right? People get to make a well informed decision, not something already decided for them."
    She takes a deep breath, moves away and sits on the bed beside me. She looks up meeting my eyes, "But with either side, a guardian isn't supposed to be involved like this," and she points between us, "with the person we are watching over... This will prove to Jaspen that I can't handle it."
    She looks so sad suddenly. Just a minute ago we were kissing. I can't stand to see her broken apart like this.
    I grasp her hand, bring it to my lips, and murmur, "Does Jaspen have to know about us?"
    She stares at me for probably a full minute searching my face and slowly shakes her head, still unsure. A smile slowly spreads across her lips. Oh, I just want to taste those lips again. She stands and starts moving toward me again.
    Before she gets closer, we both freeze. The front door downstairs opens and closes. She looks toward the bedroom door and back at me. As if I know what to do. I've never had a girl in my room before. This could be a bad thing. I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Before I can react, Ever walks into my room.
    She's glancing down so she doesn't notice Sara, "Okay James, I went for a swim and thought about things, I'm ready to tal..." She looks up and stops mid-sentence.
    Sara turns around at the sound of Ever's voice. I can't see Sara's face but Ever's...first she has a look of shock on her face that quickly turns to a grimace and a glare.
    She looks past Sara to me and asks, "What's she doing here?" Sara doesn't look back at me. She continues looking at Ever. I have a feeling Sara and my sister in the same room is not good.
    I grab Sara's hand to show that she's here with me. Ever notices and quickly looks away.
    "She's here... She's helping me." I leave it short and sweet. What are we doing actually, I don't know. The helping has turned into more. I know for me it's more.
    Ever turns on her heel and walks toward her room. She glances back to tell me, "Let me know when you can talk, ALONE." She draws out the last word.
    Sara turns back to me and takes her hand out of mine. She looks completely uncomfortable now.
    "I need to go. I'll ah... see you at school tomorrow." She's rushing toward the door.
    I stand and follow her out, "Sara! Wait!" She seems to speed up going down the stairs. I take two at a time to catch up.
    Before she's out the front door, I grasp her arm, "Wait, you don't have to rush out of here." She looks up at me with a pained expression.
    "I...I have to go." She pulls her arm out of my hold and almost runs down the road to her car.
    The feelings I have right now are starting to scare me. Sara is