Kiss List by J. S. Abilene

them and they might fight over you but you still won’t be as popular as me.”
    Dylan and I were speechless. We watched her turn on her heel and storm away in stunned silence.
    When Missy was out of sight Dylan shook his head in amazement. “Wow, I actually feel sorry for her,” he said. “She is so twisted and evil that it’s almost like she believes her own garbage.” He let go of me, punched the fuel door on his car, and retrieved a set of keys he had hidden there. “I leave my keys here for soccer. It’s sort of become a habit,” he said by way of explanation.
    Dylan opened the trunk and retrieved a towel, which he handed to me. “Do you have one for yourself?” I asked.
    “Only the one,” Dylan responded. “You take it.” He took off his shirt and then patted down and wrung out his shorts. I realized that I was staring at his bare chest and abs, glistening with water, and forced myself to look away as I toweled off. What was going on with me? I had gone from never having kissed a boy to being boy crazy.
    We didn’t say much as Dylan drove me home. That was good, there was not much I wanted to say. I was too embarrassed from falling into the pool and then crying in front of him. In fact, I never wanted to say anything to anyone again. Maybe I could change schools so I would never have to look into the faces of everyone who laughed at me and have to answer their stupid questions. Or maybe we could just keep driving around forever like this.
    My house drew gradually closer, however. When we were a block away Dylan pulled the car over.
    “What are you doing?” I asked. “My house is just up there.”
    “Yeah, and last time I stopped there for more than a second your dad almost killed me,” he said with a smile. “I wanted to have a moment with you before I let you go.” Then he reached over me into his glove compartment and took out his phone.
    “What’s that for?” I asked.
    “People can be jerks,” Dylan said. “You’re beautiful. You’re the most talented soccer player at our school. Well,” he said with a smile, “the most talented female soccer player, anyway. People are jealous of you and some of them are going to enjoy seeing you embarrassed. So I think we should shut all those people up and show that you were not embarrassed and have moved on. I want you to kiss me right here, right now, and I will take a picture and upload it to Facebook. The story tomorrow is not going to be Sadie Anderson falling into a pool. It’s going to be Sadie Anderson, life of the party, going for a swim and then finding some incredibly good-looking stud to make out with.”
    I couldn’t prevent a giggle escaping my lips as I heard how Dylan refer to himself as a “incredibly good-looking stud.” Though in truth, he was right. His brown hair was still damp and clung to his forehead but his cute brown eyes seem to shine with his usual playful excitement. His seat belt stretched across his lean shirtless body. And those abs... they were not quite as well-defined or muscular as Sam’s or David’s but they were still beautiful. Dylan was so skinny that I felt like I could wrap my hands around his waist.
    This was a beautiful boy and he was kind to me. My heart filled with appreciation and happiness. I leaned forward and kissed him. I felt Dylan reach out and take a picture with one arm as we kissed but my attention was on him and those lips of his that felt so amazing against mine.
    Dylan pulled back and looked at the picture. “It worked!” he said. “We got it.”
    I was not done, however. His lips felt too good. I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned farther across the center console to kiss him.
    Dylan laughed. “I said we got it, Sadie.” When I kissed him again, however, he got the message. He returned my kiss. I felt his tongue tease mine and then he laid back and unbuckled his seat belt. He reclined his seat, rested his hand on my hip, and applied light pressure. It was an invitation for me to