7. “Thus with a kiss I die”

7

"Thus with a kiss I die"

Then

"What do you mean you'll kiss me?" Romeo's eyes were slanted with suspicion, and he shook his head as if he understood all too well I was joking at his expense. "No, you fucking won't. Why would you do that?"

"I'm serious, Romeo, I will." He blinked twice in rapid succession, lips parting in disbelief as I doubled down. "I'll one hundred percent do it. I'll kiss you for sure if it gets you to stop talking about it."

My voice was my own again. Largely. It was still a little tinny, but it was mainly mine. My heartbeat had grown fast and loud, hammering so hard I could feel it punching my ribs.

Romeo kicked his legs in the water, not minding if he caused a splash now. Right one and then left. As he did it, his knee grazed mine, and he didn't move it. He kept it there. Burning me as I tried to remember how to think. His eyes were on mine. Clear and crystalline without a ripple in sight .

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah." My voice gave an uncharacteristic crack. "Dead serious. You can practice on me as much as you like, but only if you swear not to bring up this kissing soulmate crap again."

His pupils shrank and dilated. "And you won't…you won't tell anyone?"

I gave him a long, pointed scowl. Romeo and I were on the same side. We didn't need to ask each other not to tell. Neither of us would ever tell anything. Big or small. That had been established years ago. We had each other's backs. He was my ride-or-die, and I was his.

I could almost see the cogs of his mind turning. Calculating. Considering. His tongue peeked out between his lips, leaving the bottom one glistening where the sun hit it, and then he dipped his head slightly—down and then up—without breaking eye contact with me.

I couldn't believe it. I was shocked to my core and instantly hit by a wave of euphoria so big and intense my brain cut out right then and there.

In retrospect, I should have waited. I should have paused, at least. I should have taken a second or two to consider what I'd offered to do or at least considered the implications of kissing your best friend.

I didn't .

I leaned in, heart hammering in my throat, and pressed my lips against his. It was light. Tentative. A barely-there touch. A soft touch that caused a nuclear reaction. The force of it entered through my mouth, traveled through bone and brain matter, and hit me square in the back of my skull.

I parted my lips without thinking, acting on instinct where experience failed me, darting my tongue into Romeo's mouth and finding his. The same current from before flowed down to my toes and rushed back up so hard and fast that my eyes flew open and my hands flexed, letting go of the edge I'd been clinging to.

My entire body erupted in heat.

My entire body.

I panicked and pushed myself off the edge and into the water so Romeo wouldn't see how he'd affected me. I waded a few steps away toward the deep end, a big shithead grin spreading over my face as I tried to think of something cool to say. As I wrestled with that, Romeo dove into the water, the long, sleek line of him asphyxiating me as he closed in. He surfaced, sending water flying in ten different directions. His eyes were closed, his head tilted back as he emerged from the water. His hair was dark and had fallen back off his face. A sheet of water ran off him, a translucent cape, and God, he looked heroic. A vision of eyelashes and cheekbones and soft, full lips. Taut skin wrapped tightly around a suggestion of muscle.

He opened his eyes lazily and smiled at me. It wasn't a quirk. There was nothing lopsided about it. It was a rare, full constellation. A smile I knew well. A smile he kept just for me. A smile for when he was at home and we were alone. For when he led and I followed. I smiled back when I saw it. I couldn't help it. I loved that smile. At that point in my life, smiling back when Romeo smiled at me was the most normal thing in the world. It was involuntary, a reflex more than a conscious decision.

He gave me no warning. He simply took my head in his hands and held on firmly. He leaned to one side, still smiling, and pulled me toward him. This time, there was nothing fleeting about it. Nothing furtive or even unsure. Romeo opened my mouth with his tongue and took what he wanted.

A kiss.

A first kiss. A last kiss. The only kiss that ever existed.

He was slow and sensual about it. Unhurried. He held me in place and practiced on me. He played with my tongue and my lips. Nipping and licking. Soft, shallow kisses and hard, deep ones too. Learning. Exploring. Seeing how it felt when he did this and how it felt when he did that .

For my part, I let him.

God, I let him.

My arms found their way around his waist. His skin was cold, wet, and hot, and I couldn't move or think or even feel where I wasn't touching him. My head was above water, but I was drowning. Weightless. Floating, with no air in my lungs and nothing but Romeo to stop me from drifting off into space.

I didn't realize it then, but that day in the pool was the first time he carved his name into my heart. He did it deeply. Deep enough to leave a fine, silvery thread of scar tissue. I didn't mind or complain. Not at all. Hell, I cracked my own sternum and held my ribcage wide open, giving him the time and access he needed to cut as deeply as he wanted. I didn't wince. I didn't flinch or pull away. I stood still.

I was such a dumbass, I looked on and

A few weeks later, at school, Romeo was telling the guys that he'd made out with someone over the summer.

"Yeah, right," said Dan. "Like hell you did. "

"I did!" Romeo replied with force. "Ask Jude. He was there."

"It's true," I said, taking care to arrange my face right, though I could feel the corners of my mouth doing something weird. "He kissed a girl."

"Oh yeah? What was her name?"

"Juliet," Romeo and I said in near-perfect, unplanned unison.

"Ugh, you two are shitting me," said Dan.

"We aren't. It's true. That's how we got to talking. She found out my name is Romeo, and the rest, as they say, is history. She couldn't recite a sonnet for shit, but she tried. It was actually pretty cute." His lips parted in the tiniest hint of a grin. A little crack that let a memory seep through. "She was brunette with these big, dark eyes." He flicked his gaze at me, paralyzing me briefly. "She was beautiful."

And that was the second time he carved his name on my heart.