His Kiss by Melanie Marks

raking out a piece of popcorn. “But I liked it.”
    He leaned in close. So close I could feel his warm breath on my neck. “I like you , Heaven.”
    Ohhhh, my heart! It was going to pounce right out of my chest.
    Griffin drew his face near mine. My breath caught. Though I wanted it so bad—his kiss—so bad, with all my heart—I knew there were all kinds of reasons I shouldn’t let him. But only one flashed through my brain. It kept flashing—that picture of Destiny. The one Kendra had sent. Drunk Destiny totally making-out with some guy. It flashed in my brain over and over, and that was enough. More than enough. I didn’t want some sleazy guy kissing me that would make-out with a drunk girl he’d never even talked to before.
    I pushed Griffin away from me, hard—my heart in complete chaos. I clicked open my cell phone and shoved the picture of Destiny macking some guy in Griffin’s face.
    “Is this you?”
    Griffin took the phone from me and studied the picture for the briefest of moments. Then he smirked. “Does it look like me?”
    I snatched my phone back and actually looked at the picture—studied it. No. It didn’t. At all.
    You couldn’t actually see the guy’s face, but it definitely wasn’t Griffin. The guy was skinny and … not Griffin.
    “Oh.” My cheeks burned— I’m a dork! “Well … that’s good.” I stuttered a bit, then said super quick, “Well, I’ve got to go.”
    I hopped into my car feeling like an idiot and I just wanted to get away so I could go home and crawl under a rock, but Griffin eyed all the cars that had parked behind me in the driveway.
    “It’s kind of a tight get-away,” he said through my open window. “Want me to back you out?”
    He was probably remembering my bumper that he’d had to fix not too long ago—probably remembered that I’d backed into a dumpster. Grrr!
    “I can do it,” I muttered.
    Griffin didn’t say anything, just stepped back. Then he silently watched me stress with the steering wheel, backing up a tiny nudge, then having to pull forward and start again. I had to keep doing that, tiny bit forward, tiny bit back. I wasn’t really making any progress. In fact, I was making zero progress.
    Okay, I’m not the world’s best driver. I admit that. I don’t drive much as I don’t have my own car and hardly ever get to use Mom’s. Still, normally—I swear—I wouldn’t have had so much trouble. But I was all flustered having an audience, especially because the audience was Griffin. Griffin! I could barely walk straight when he was around. But drive? Apparently it was impossible.
    Griffin watched me with his chin cupped in his hand, covering his mouth, most likely hiding a huge grin. Finally, he leaned in my open window. “Crank your wheel all the way.”
    I started cranking.
    He bit back a laugh and gave me his head-tilt. “The other way.”
    Guh! My face burning, I made no comment, just shoved the steering wheel hard the other direction and cranked with all my might.
    Griffin flinched his jaw and stepped back, watching me stress a bit longer, then returned to the window. “Want me to do it?”
    I cocked my head totally wanting to say yes, only there was a part of me that didn’t want to back down. I wanted to show Griffin I could drive . But it seemed kind of too late for that. Plus, I could hear Destiny making groaning sounds in between her snoring. I was afraid any second she was going to barf—in Mom’s car. I needed to get home. Now.
    Griffin grinned when I took forever to answer.
    “Look,” his lips twitched at the corners, “it would be hard for anyone. You’re packed in here really tight.”
    I sighed and scooted over. Griffin grinned but didn’t say anything. He simply slid into the driver’s seat and snaked the car out of the long, narrow driveway. He did it super easy and quick as though it was cake.
    When we were safely out on the street, he put the car in neutral and reached for me. My heart kicked up a notch. I