Kiss List by J. S. Abilene Page A

join him.
    I didn’t hesitate. I slid over the console and kneeled on either side of his seat, straddling him. He tilted his head up to look into my face. I bent my head down and placed my mouth on his. We began to kiss again and I felt his hands sliding down my body, feeling me, pulling me in closer to him so our bodies were like one. The smell of hair and body was intoxicating to me. This boy didn’t wear cheap colon or body spray. His car carried his usually hint of musky colon, enough to overpower the smell of salt from Chloe’s salt-water pool, and other than that he just smelled clean. Sexy and clean. It was hot.
    I had an urge to take my shirt off. I wanted to feel my skin against his, to get closer to him. When I felt his fingers begin to lift up the edges of my shirt, however, I stopped kissing him. I wasn’t ready for that. “I’m sorry, Dylan, I...”
    “Don’t worry,” Dylan said a light voice. “Seriously, I want to take this slowly. We’ve gone far enough for one night. Sit back. I’ll take you home.”
    Dylan did not waste any time in my driveway. Once I was out of the car he backed into the street. He really did not want another run in with my dad. I noticed, however, that he idled in the street until he saw that I closed the door behind me safely.
    I bounded up to my room and logged onto Facebook. Sure enough, Dylan had already uploaded the picture of us. We looked soaking wet but also very happy and like we were in love. Below the picture he had added the caption, “Yep sorry boys I got the girl!!!”
    I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. Thoughts of Dylan swirled in my head. He had almost made me forget the torture I went through at the party. Almost. A thought had just popped into my head.
    I got up and reached under my desk for my trash can. When I got it I reached in and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. I opened it up and smoothed it flat against the top of my desk. It was the kiss list.
    I grabbed a red marker and scanned the list. I added a smiley face next to Dylan’s name. I knew it was girly but I couldn’t help it. Just seeing his name made me feel so happy I needed to express it somehow. Then I found another name. I took my pen and carefully circled the words “Graham Knight” over and over again.
    This one was going to be for Missy.

Chapter 12 – A Warning
    Dylan and I were officially dating. The announcement brought squeals of joy from my girls and ones of jealousy from all the other girls at school who found Dylan’s playfulness and boyish looks irresistible.
    “He is so cute and such a nice guy,” Alyssa gushed.
    “Forget nice,” Payton said. “I would grab hold of that fine ass and...”
    “Anyway,” I said quickly, blocking out whatever vivid and very inappropriate thing she was doubtless about to say, “it’s still really early but yeah we’re having fun.”
    Getting my dad on board wasn’t so easy, however. The first time Dylan came over to pick me up for a date I thought my dad was going to kill him. I managed to cool him down with the promise that Dylan would come over for dinner so dad could get to know him better.
    When Dylan arrived at the door for dinner I was convinced things were not going to go well. He was wearing khaki pants and a nice tucked-in dress shirt. He had actually combed his hair, which for him just looked weird. He looked like he was going to church or something instead of a casual dinner. He even brought flowers for me. I had never seen him so nervous. During the entire first half of dinner, dad just glared at Dylan. For some reason Dylan reacted by adopting 19th century mannerisms. He stood up every time Caroline or I did and he kept on calling my dad “sir.”
    It wasn’t until my dad asked whether I thought my soccer team had a reasonable shot to qualify for state that Dylan finally opened up and showed his true self.
    “Oh, they’ll definitely make it,” Dylan jumped in before I could. He picked up a steamed carrot with