Ethan
This isn't the first time I've kissed her, but I thought the last time was going to actually be the last.
We were young and impressionable or something like that. I didn't even think she'd remember it. I remember it, because... yeah, when you kiss someone like Ashley Banks, it's real fucking hard to forget.
It happened about six months after our parents got married. She and her mom moved into our place. Didn't really expect that. I was kind of used to being alone. Dad was always working, so I got the run of the place. He had some tutor for me that I kind of just ignored most of the time, and she left as soon as Dad got home, anyways.
My dad and her mom went away for the weekend once, though. I convinced him we were old enough to stay home by ourselves. I mean, fuck, we were fifteen, almost sixteen, which should have been fine, right? Yeah, it would have been, except I had an ulterior motive.
Party time! Aw yeah!
I swear Little Miss Perfect Princess Ashley nearly died. I thought she was going to call her mom and tell her everything, too, but for whatever reason she didn't. Who knows why? Maybe she had potential. Party girl potential? Yeah, something like that.
I invited a bunch of kids from school over, ordered a million boxes of pizza. Had to get it from a bunch of different places, because for whatever reason they thought I was kidding when I said I wanted twenty pizzas. Do you even know who I am? My dad's a billionaire. I can afford twenty pizzas.
Whatever. Fuck them.
Anyways, everything's going well. We've got soda, pizza, more candy than Willy Wonka, and an entire fucking mansion to ourselves. Which is probably a really bad thing to give to a reckless group of high school kids, but whatever. That was kind of the entire point.
Shit happened. A lot of it. It ended up devolving into games of Truth or Dare, which mostly seemed like an excuse for people to dare each other to make out in a closet. Which, I might have done at least once. Ashley was there, of course. Standing off to the side. Yeah, right, didn't think Miss Perfect Princess would join in on that one. Obviously.
She took the whole thing well. Well enough. It was a weekend, but everyone went home by nine, and we sort of started cleaning up a little, but she was pissy and prissy and acting like a goddamn princess again.
"What's your issue?" I remember asking her.
"Nothing!" she screamed.
"This is like that PMS shit, isn't it?" I asked.
"You're an idiot, Ethan Colton!"
"I thought chocolate helped that. We've got plenty. Go stuff your face with it."
"Loser."
Remembering the way she said that makes me laugh, even to this day.
"Look, what's wrong?" I asked. "Did you have fun tonight or what?"
There was something. I didn't know what. I still don't know what it was. It's hard to tell with her. Ashley is confusing as fuck. Don't even get me started on that. If I had to put a word to the look in her eyes, though, I'd say it was a twinkle. Some sort of spark. Shit. I don't know.
"No," she said. "I didn't."
"What the fuck, why not?" Yeah, I had a mouth, even then. What of it?
"I wanted to play, too," she said. "I wanted to kiss someone."
I forget if I was feeling vindictive or honest, but I said, "No one would have kissed you anyways."
She almost cried. Fuck, she was going to cry, wasn't she? I didn't mean it in a bad way, but it was true. No one would have. Not with me here. Yeah, she was my stepsister, but it was practically the same thing as being my sister, right? Or something like that. No one wanted me to kick their ass, and I think I very well might have.
Ashley was nice. She wasn't that kind of girl. She didn't fuck around, not with anything. She was the kind of girl that went far in life. Not like me. What was I? Some brat. Spoiled rich kid who screwed around and relied on the fact that his father had plenty of money to keep him set for life. Which was true. No shame in admitting it. I'm not going to lie about it or anything.
Anyways, she was crying, and I don't know what the fuck I was thinking, but...
"Truth or dare?" I asked her.
"Everyone's left already," she said, sniffling. "It's not the same."
"Look, you're the one crying about it, so truth or dare, Ashley?"
She gave me the most ornery, obstinate, stubborn, determined look I've ever seen on anyone. "Dare," she said. "I dare someone to kiss me! There! Are you happy--"
Well, fuck, no, I wasn't happy. What fun was a dare if there was no one to do it? So I did it. Well, fuck me, yeah, not one of my brightest moves in the world, but she was over here crying about it, so what the hell?
It was kind of awkward. At first, at least. She looked completely shocked when my lips touched hers, but I kept going. And tongue. Yeah, I'm good at this shit, don't you forget it. Even at fifteen I was strong, too. Had been playing football since middle school, lifting weights for a couple years now.
I put my hands on her hips, held her close, and kissed her like anyone should be happy to kiss her. She still had glasses then, and I'd never kissed a girl with glasses before, so our noses kind of bumped together and tilted her frames to the side. She pulled her glasses off and dropped them onto the dining room table nearby, then cupped my cheeks in her hands and kissed me again.
Shit, that was good. Real good. Great memories.
I think we might have gone further if we had the chance. Maybe a lot further. I'd known this girl for most of my life, and now she was living under the same roof as me. How fucked would that be?
Good thing our parents came home. Maybe it was good. I mean, it wasn't that good. I got grounded for that one. For a long time. They weren't even supposed to be home yet. We were supposed to have another day on our own. It was probably good we didn't. I could have kissed Ashley Banks for hours. Shit, she was good.
Alas, it was not meant to be. I just remember my dad screaming from the front door, presumably after seeing the trash we'd left laying around everywhere.
"Ethan Albert Colton!"
We froze. The both of us. The last thing that happened was Ashley staring into my eyes. Maybe. Girl was blind as a bat without her glasses, so who the fuck knows what she was looking at?
"Albert?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes at her and pushed her away. "Go hide in your room and pretend you're asleep. I'll take the blame for everything."