"I told you to get used to it," I laugh as I watch Reed's skin slowly turn pink and grow increasingly darker the more I talk. "I should call you Red." She shakes her head, more of her messy brown hair escaping from her bun. Reed looks down at the table, darting her eyes up to look at me every few seconds as her confidence in the situation grows.

"It's just...surprising." She says, finally making eye contact and holding it. I practically melt at the sight of her dark green eyes. The two of us are leaning over the table to be closer to one another, and it allows me to stare and scan over the details that I don't often get the chance to admire. I notice that the longer we do this, the more Reed's pupils dilate and I can't help the quirk of my lips.

"I can't wait to kiss you," I say, wanting not only a reaction out of her but also to let her inside my head a little bit. It's all I've been able to fucking think about since that night at the Halloween party. Since she puts her lips on my neck in the hottest way I could have ever imagined. Knowing for a fact that she's hardly done that shit with anyone else gives me a territorial sense of satisfaction that is probably slightly toxic but I'm nothing if not self-aware.

But now I've gone and reminded myself that she has an ex, and though I know she's a virgin, I almost want to torture myself with the knowledge of how far they did go so that I can erase it and replace it with my touch.

Reed's gorgeous eyes widen but she doesn't get all shy on me again. I have a feeling that the little episode before was a product of the newness of our situation and verbalizing it. We've been at this communication thing for about twenty minutes and I already want to take her out, or even just back to my room to play video games and hang out like we usually do. But with more touching. Definitely more flirting. I plan on being a fucking tease and making her come to me.

"You say that and then you proceed to get lost in that head of yours." Now it's Reed's turn to smile like a little Cheshire Cat. "Whatcha doin' in there?"

"Kissing you, I thought I already cleared that up," I look at her lips, unable to help myself and she puts her tongue in her cheek, pressing it there as she looks to the side, but instead of any hesitation on her face, it looks like this new game we're playing excites her.

Fuck. Yes.

"Go ahead, nobody's stopping you." She dares me, challenging me with her eyes and crossing her arms over the table. All I can see on her is the oversized t-shirt she's got on and yet the way it hangs on her makes her look like an athletic wear model. Plus, even though I can't see them, she's got on a wicked pair of jean shorts that are dangerously short and the best accessory to her amazing legs that I've ever seen.

"Nah. I think I'll let you sit and wait. If you aren't already, you'll be thinking about it as much as I have and then..." I trail off, tilting my head to the side and looking that way before swinging my chin back to face the front.

"You'll kiss me?" She breathes and I watch as my words take effect. She wears all her emotions and inner thoughts on her face, she always has, and I've never been so thankful. The only problem is that she's getting me worked up with her enthusiasm and this isn't the ideal place for that to happen. Snapping myself out of it quickly, I stand and offer her my hand, done with this table separating us and wanting the two of us to be side by side instead.

"Back," Xander says, doing a double take as he sees Reed and I's position on the couch. Usually, he'd come in and the two of us would either be side by side with controllers in our hands or with one of our heads in the other's lap while we chat or watch a movie. This time, however, not only was he not aware of the changes that went down with us, but he happened to walk in while the two of us were in a compromising position.

Out of context, it looks like I'm laying on top of Reed, my entire body enveloping her much smaller one, our faces aligned and the two of us breathing heavily as though we've been up to something for an hour. In reality, all of that is true except for the fact that we've been in this position for approximately fifteen seconds, and not even a single kiss has been shared between us.

What we were up to?

Wrestling. Specifically, wrestling for Reed's phone because she accidentally let it slip that she has the world's most embarrassing photos up on her mom's Facebook wall, and as I don't currently have her mother as a friend on the platform, I do know her password and all I need is the phone in my possession and the bathroom with a locked door on it. I would of course proceed to send the pictures to myself once I'd found them, for blackmail purposes.

"Damnit, Xander. I was about to get it." I say without thinking and he cringes.

"Jesus, on the couch? Who even is th—" His eyes widen to a comical size when Reed takes advantage of my distracted state and pushes me off of her and I land on the floor with a groan.

"There have been some adjustments made," Reed says matter-of-factly to Xander and I snort, making myself comfortable on the floor. Can't wait to see where she goes with this. Reed isn't exactly a smooth-talker.

"Fucking, obviously?" He says, dropping his bag on the floor and looking between the two of us like we're aliens he's just discovered. Leaving him out of the loop seemed like a good idea last night, what with him and Charlotte becoming...whatever they are, but I'm regretting it now. Mostly because I quite liked the game we were playing and I wanted those damn photos.

"So we're..." Reed looks at me, widening her eyes and I shrug.

"We're..." I try but I can't think of anything that quite sums up our relationship. "Pretty much the same." I start, looking over at Reed and she nods.

"But...we're probably going to kiss at some point in the near future." She says and I burst out laughing at her honesty. Xander laughs as well, finding this entire situation amusing.

"Alright, well...as long as the new activities are limited to anywhere but the couch."

"Careful what you wish for Xander. We have plenty of counter space..." I joke and manage to get a rise out of Reed, who smacks me. Her cheeks grow pink and she sighs exasperatedly like she's dealing with children.

"Enough about activities. Please." She begs and I sit up from my spot on the ground.

"I'll leave you two to it, I'll be studying in my room with noise-cancelling headphones on." Xander jokes as he grabs a banana and moves to do probably exactly what he said.

"Good one," Reed says, turning to face me and accidentally putting our faces only inches apart. Our breathing is still uneven and my eyes only stray from hers to look at her lips before returning. I gulp, thinking she'll kiss me already but she never moves and neither do I.

The door to Xander's room opening breaks us apart once again and we both simultaneously lean back and look towards it. "Yeah, I'm going to the library. I can practically feel the tension seeping from underneath the door." Xander says on his way out, shouldering his bag and then he's gone. Along with the moment.

"You weren't gonna..." She starts and I shake my head, smirking up at her as she leans up on her elbows.

"No, Buttercup. I wasn't going to kiss you yet."

"Okay. Good."

"Good?" I ask.

"Yeah, would have sucked if that was the moment, you know? So much build-up, I'll be surprised if you even go through with it." She teases, trying to trick me into kissing her and it won't work. Not yet at least.

"Oh, I'll go through with it alright. I'll kiss your lips until they turn numb, Langley. But not until you beg me to do it."

"I dare you to wait until that happens." She says, pushing back and leaning even closer to my face, not letting my teasing deter her, although I know for a fact that I'm getting to her with the way she licks her lips and her eyes grow darker.

"I dare you to get me to bend," I say and regret it with the way her eyes light up in a dangerous way. I've challenged her now. And nobody is more competitive than Reed.

Her voice becomes sickly sweet. "I'll do more than that, Fare. I'm gonna get you to break."