Friday [popcorn]

Maisie stopped fumbling with the desk, noticing his presence behind her. She could smell his scent, intermixed with the sharpness of the drug in her hand. Breathing lightly, she turned, facing him, leaning backwards onto the desktop, passing him the joint gingerly. All forms of malice were emptied from her head like files from a recycling bin. She looked into his eyes with a delicate nervousness, like he was impenetrable. Her shoulders shook under the loose veil of her uniform blouse, her hand absentmindedly rubbing her opposite arm to calm the tremor. "Show it to me," she murmured. Her lips flexed from taut to open.

Liam took the joint from between her fingers, admiring the way the thin smoke whittled away and, for the moment, deeming the herb unimportant. There was no ignoring the dry taste in his mouth or the sharp clench in his chest. It was hardly that often he could get so close to her. A grin broke out across his face at her word. "Hell, Maisie." It wasn't often he'd said her name, it felt almost alien on his tongue. "You... have a mirror or something? Right? You're a girl." At the perfect moment, the words came stumbling out of his mouth in an utter mess. The young man took an uncertain step back. She'd chew him out for that.

He stuffed the blunt back into his mouth, hastily taking a deep breath in.

Gravity seemed to come back to her. Blood pumped to her ears, the room regaining sound, a whistle as her heartbeat pumped through her once again. Yes, right, a mirror. She smiled sideways. What the hell was she doing? What did she think was going to happen? The voice that had spoken sounded foreign to her now, not like herself. She pressed herself further to her desk. "That's what you were saying, huh?" A small breathy snort later, she stepped forward and took the blunt from his lips.

And standing on her toes, latching onto his arm for leverage, she replaced it with her own lips. The world rose once more, suspended in air, and she didn't know what happened or process what she did until it was over. A short kiss later, she flattened her feet once more, afraid to step back and look at his face, instead standing close to his chest, wide-eyed and blinking. So she did that. Her face was fire, a heart monitor, the etched auburn on her cheeks almost in waves to her ears. She kept her eyes low, saying nothing, just looking at his torso. So she did that, so she did that.

What the hell? By the way he'd felt so suddenly overwhelmed, it was almost like he was some dumb little kid again. Warmth flushed through his face, and he could only waver dumbfounded for a heartbeat, thinking damn, that was the last thing he'd expected to happen. All the same, while Blondie seemed stunned herself, the smile reappeared on Liam's face.

It would have been rude of him to not return the favor. He took a small step back, brushing his hand against her forehead. "You feeling alright?" The red-head asked. Not sick or anything? He lowered himself just enough to meet her cool eyes and he dully realized how his breath had caught in his throat. As he let his fingers fall to her cheek, he'd thought he'd never felt something burn so fiercely. Liam hadn't come close to realizing how much she had longed for a moment like this until his lips had met hers again. As he embraced the simple, sweet kiss, he allowed himself to selfishly linger - perhaps a heartbeat too long.

You feeling all right? Her face felt with ovenlike heat and she began to laugh. "M-maybe I'm a bit high--"

And then he kissed her. Maisie fell back a bit towards her desk, her heel pressing against the leg of it. His hand was warm as it cupped her cheek, and she squeezed his arm. Her first kiss, her second kiss. A one two punch, they fell together, but she found it right. This was what she wanted. She no longer felt the need to kid herself. As his lips lingered on hers, so did hers on his, a desire to not talk about what was happening being concurred by a desire to continue what was happening. It was so soft, so simple, but it spread through her body so powerfully. She squeezed her eyes shut and let her lips stray from his.

"I'm feeling fine." She corrected herself in a whisper, and when she opened her blue eyes, his were there in front of hers, and she bit her lip shyly. "I'm feeling fine."