“Wow,” I say. “Just. Wow.”
Jake and I are standing next to each other inside the dimly lit projection booth.
The new equipment Gwen and Brad set up is occupying most of the space, and it is impressive-looking, but I’m staring at something on the ground in front of our feet.
It’s a fully inflated, oversized kiddie pool, filled to the top with red Jell-O.
Jake gives the giant pool a kick and the Jell-O jiggles in response. He says, “Perfectly congealed. This stuff is awesome.”
“This is amazing,” I say. “How many gallons of Jell-O are here?”
“It’s actually something called Fun Jell,” Jake says. “It’s this powdered stuff Erik works with for pranks because it makes huge quantities of Jell-O without being boiled.”
I bend down to poke it and the Fun Jell gently wiggles back and forth. “I can’t believe you guys made so much.”
“We used the whole hundred-gallon bag,” Jake says. “It’s what people use for Jell-O wrestling.”
“You want to Jell-O wrestle me?” I ask. “Wait, is this supposed to be for me and Lana?”
“No.” Jake laughs. “It’s for the prank.”
“So where is all this Jell-O going?” I ask.
“This whole pool of Fun Jell is going directly into the Property Prince of Doom’s trunk.”
I cover my mouth bandage with both hands. “You were right. I do love it!” I say. “Wes was just telling me what a lowlife that guy is.”
“Here, get an end,” Jake says, gesturing to one side of the kiddie pool. “We need to dump this into his trunk so I can get back here in time to start the movie.”
I toddle over. I’m getting better at walking in the heels, but I’m concerned I won’t be able to keep my balance while helping to carry such a massive load. When I test the weight I find that either Fun Jell is lighter than it looks or Lana is stronger than she looks, because I have very little trouble lifting the pool waist high. Still, it’s awkward to carry while walking in these shoes.
“When did you and Erik mix this up?” I ask. “And I mean the plan as well as the Fun Jell.”
With a grunt, Jake walks backward, and I follow him out the double-wide door of the projection room. “When Erik brought the bounce house, he originally planned to try filling it with Fun Jell as a new stunt to film.”
“Erik has some fun ideas,” I say. “But I don’t think Wes would’ve approved.”
“Agreed,” Jake says as we continue moving out the door with the jiggling pool. “That’s the sort of thing that I’d love to watch but have no desire to experience.”
I laugh. “This stuff looks super messy.”
“It doesn’t even smell or taste good,” Jake confirms. “But when Erik told me about his plan, it clicked in my mind how we could teach our nasty real estate villain a lesson.”
“I like how your mind works,” I say in admiration.
It’s dark enough that Jake and I feel confident leaving the projection booth with our jiggling secret delivery. I’m glad we’re dressed up because a) nobody can tell our identity and b) people will just assume we’re working for the Starlight, which, technically, we are.
As we slowly make our way around the concession shack with our massive pool, Jake explains how he pretended to need the real estate guy’s keys in order to move his car earlier, and then jimmied the trunk so we’ll be able to pull a string and release it without the key.
“Erik and I used the hose to fill the pool hours ago, so it’s had plenty of time to congeal,” Jake says. “And Wes should be distracting Mr. Property Prince of Doom right about now.”
We turn the corner and Jake suddenly reverses position so that he’s lunging back toward me.
The only problem is, my brain gets the memo that we’re changing direction long before my body has time to react and shift my heels into reverse.
The resulting squish is the sound of Mummy meeting Fun Jell as we both drop the pool and I fall headfirst into it.
“Aaaaaah.” I slip and flail about inside the kiddie pool as I unsuccessfully try to stand up.
The next thing I know, Jake is lifting me by the arm while shushing me and trying not to laugh.
“I am so sorry,” he says. “Our target must have been getting a jacket or something out of his car. I didn’t want him to catch us.”
I’m upright, but still kneeling in the pool of red Fun Jell. “I can’t even believe that just happened.”
I look up at Jake and he flashes his wolf fangs down at me. “You want to pull me into that pool of Fun Jell with you right now, don’t you?”
I nod. “I’m calculating what sort of an effect it will have on your Wolf Man fur,” I say. “Because you deserve to be jellied, but that costume is perfection.”
“It’s supposedly washable,” Jake says, and with that, he hops right into the kiddie pool beside me. The next thing I know the two of us are half wrestling, half tickling, and mostly just goofing around as we toss handfuls of Fun Jell at each other inside the pool.
A car shines its headlights on us and someone calls out, “Wolf Man versus Mummy!” while a small group of people holding buckets of popcorn stop to watch.
“So much for staying low key,” I say to Jake.
“This is actually a pretty great preshow.”
We both stop and turn toward each other, out of breath and covered in bandages, fur, and Fun Jell. It’s a really great moment, and I rest inside it for a beat before responding to the urge to fake left and spin around so I can jump on Jake’s back.
I pump my fist in the air and try to get a chant started: “Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!”
Jake just stands there, completely impervious to my presence on his shoulders. “Um, Ricki? We should really get this Fun Jell where it needs to go.”
“Oh, right.” I hop down, using Jake’s shoulder to steady myself.
We look around at the people watching us, some recording us with their cellphones. Two guys dressed as Bill and Ted give each other a high-five and call out, “Excellent!”
Jake says, “And now this is going to be a little tougher to pull off privately.”
The two of us wave awkwardly and a woman dressed as Holly Golightly offers elegant applause. Jake takes my hand and leads me in a theatrical bow. We stand waiting and waving until the crowd realizes we’re definitely finished and begins to disperse. I don’t mind since we’re still holding hands.
Eventually, Jake gives my hand a squeeze and steps out of the pool to check back around the corner.
Moving quickly, he rejoins me and we each grab a pool end. “Let’s go,” he says. “This is it.”
The two of us shuffle our way around the parked cars with our enormous kiddie pool now dripping with Fun Jell. We take speedy little steps down the aisle and stop when Jake hisses, “Here!”
Carefully, we put the jiggling load down on the asphalt behind a black sedan. Jake starts fidgeting with the car’s trunk and I pretend I’m not with him as I casually lean on the SUV beside it.
“Hey, you, with the bloody bandages,” comes a voice from inside the vehicle I’m resting against. “Do you mind? You’re scaring my kids.”
“Oh, sorry.” I stand up straight. “I’m not actually supposed to be quite this gory,” I start to explain. “You see, there was this Jell-O incident . . .”
I gesture to the kiddie pool in front of me, but see that Jake has gotten the trunk open and is leaning down to pick up one end of it.
“How are we going to dump this whole thing in there?” I ask.
“We put a liner inside the pool,” Jake says. “It will make it easier, plus, we don’t actually want to ruin this guy’s trunk and get sued.”
“Good idea,” I say, and the clear plastic liner definitely makes it easier to lift the Fun Jell up out of the pool, but once it’s released from the inflated pool, its jiggly nature is set free and it’s much more difficult to control.
“Whoa!” Jake says as a big wave of red Fun Jell runs down my front.
“Seriously?” I hiss.
He looks at me and stifles a laugh. “I guess you didn’t look gruesome enough.”
I look down to find the Fun Jell is clinging to my front and making it look like my guts are spilling out of my chest. I give Jake a proud shimmy.
Once we’ve managed to get most of the Fun Jell into our target’s trunk, we slam it shut and give each other squishy high fives.
“Excellent,” we say jokingly at the same time.
Jake pauses a moment, and the way he is looking at me in the light from one car’s headlights makes me check to make sure my bandages are still covering my face. They are.
“Mission accomplished,” Jake says, his voice deep.
“I loved that.” I want to add I love you, but instead I simply put a hand on his hairy bicep.
We lean toward each other and Jake looks into my white, cloudy eyes a moment before shaking his head as if he’s just woken up. “I need to go fire up that projector and get the previews started!”
“Yeah, I should probably go get cleaned up.” I feel like I’m made of Fun Jell as I look into his Wolf Man face. I want nothing more than to kiss him right now. “Well, good luck . . .”
A voice comes from behind me. “Hey! What are you monsters doing by my car?”
It’s the real estate villain, and Jake and I take off in opposite directions, leaving the big, empty kiddie pool behind.
* * *
I head for the bathroom to clean up, and hear a familiar giggle ringing from the bouncy castle as I pass by. Lana and Erik may be missing Digifest, but they’re clearly not missing Digifest. I wonder if Erik even remembers about the prank. I glance back and see a number of phones recording the Property Prince of Doom opening his trunk and shining a light on the mound of red Fun Jell inside.
“My trunk is filled with Jell-O!” he rages, and laughter rings out. “Wait, no, yuck! This isn’t even real Jell-O!”
“You got pranked!” someone yells.
“Eww,” someone else says. “Why would you taste that?”
Another voice rings out, “Hashtag Erik Pranks!”
I hear Erik give a woot! from the bouncy castle, and his laughter marries Lana’s giggles as the two of them bounce around like little kids.
I’m happy Lana and I managed to get some time to be ourselves with Jake and Erik. But I wonder what will happen if we don’t switch back tonight. Our sacrifice in giving up the Skylark tonight may have been a really, really dumb idea after all.
* * *
The movie is starting soon, so the ladies’ room is packed when I arrive to wash up.
A basic Disney princess girl takes one look at me and bursts into tears. Her mother hustles her to the exit and gives me a loud humph as she moves past.
The speaker in the bathroom comes to life and Jake’s voice fills the room.
“Hello, ladies and gents, and welcome to the grand reopening of the magical and legendary Starlight Drive-in!” He sounds like an over-the-top gameshow host, and I smile as I listen. “Our main feature will be starting in just a few moments, so now is a good time to find your way back to your vehicle and settle in to enjoy the show.”
I make my way against the flow of people leaving the bathroom and finally find myself clinging to the edge of the sink closest to the back wall.
Jake continues talking overhead, suggesting a quick trip to the snack bar and reminding people to turn their key to the auxiliary position to avoid draining their car battery. “I forgot to do that once, and ouch.” He imitates a car engine unsuccessfully trying to turn over. “Although I will say, my adventure ended with an adorable meet-cute.”
He’s talking about us. I grin so big at that I can feel my cheeks press against my bandages. I look up at my reflection in the mirror and shudder. No wonder I’ve been making children cry.
The original distressing of my bandages is barely even visible underneath the grime and Fun Jell of the past few hours. My white eyes look absolutely haunting, and it’s easy to tell right where I face-planted into the kiddie pool because it looks like a gaping head wound.
The contacts are bothering my eyes, so I unwrap enough of my head to put water on my face. As I slowly unwind the filthy rags, I half hope I’ve switched back to myself.
Of course, I’m not shocked when I see Lana’s face emerge in the mirror instead of my own, but I do let out a sigh. The older woman next to me gives a consoling look to my reflection.
“Long day?” she asks as she washes her hands.
I give her a weak smile. “From beginning to end, it’s been just . . . freaky.”
She smiles back at me, and something about her reminds me of Nona. “Well, you know what they say.” She winks. “A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.”
She cups her hands and allows the water to fill to overflowing.
“Let me guess, fortune cookie?”
She closes the faucet and turns to dry her hands. “Ancient proverb.”
I say, “My Nona used to save those little paper fortunes and give them out to my cousin and me at just the perfect time . . .” but when I turn to look, the woman is gone.
With another sigh, I turn on the cold water and cup my hands under the faucet.
I think back to the adorable meet-cute Jake just shared with the whole Starlight drive-in. Me rescuing him. The way our eyes met as he placed the charging clips on the battery of his Bronco.
I remember feeling glad for the excuse to talk to him and the way he seemed to take his time, letting the engines run as they stayed joined together. Feeding off of each other.
I would hate to lose my relationship with him. Taking things to the next level is such a risk. And knowing that the Magical Kiss Under the Stars™ safety net isn’t foolproof makes this even scarier. I could seriously get hurt, and so could he.
My mind rolls through the possibilities of how our relationship could end. Us growing apart. Wanting different things. The potential for rejection is infinite.
But then I picture it going well. Jake and I sharing new experiences and adventures together. Trips to mini golf and Fat Jacks, maybe saving other drive-ins down the line. And I would not rule out a bit of classic horror cosplay.
And then there are all the movies we will watch together—oh my goodness, the movies. Starting with this one here tonight.
I stare at the water overflowing from my cupped hands and think of the old woman’s words. We all must change and adapt to our circumstances. Even impossible ones like Lana and I did today.
With a sigh, I release the water, watching it all go down the drain together as one. Readapting and moving on.
All of a sudden, the lights in the bathroom begin to flicker and I feel as if I’m being pulled backward and into the air.
screech
whoock
zzzap
Incredibly, I rise up and burst through the roof of the ladies’ room. For a split second I’m above all the rows of cars, facing the giant white movie screen that flashes with strobe lights. My stomach dips as I hover there for just a moment before being roughly thrust into the glittery bouncy castle.
The inflated canvas floor rebounds a few times from the force of my landing and everything goes completely dim.
“Am I dead?” I say out loud.
A smooth voice answers, “Yes, and this is heaven, babe.”
“Babe?” I raise my head, and in the reflection from the concession shack lights I see Erik leaning over me with a grin. I put a hand up to rub my eyes and realize I’m wearing sunglasses.
I pull them off my face and turn them over in my hand incredulously. They’re Lana’s sunglasses.
“I’m the Invisible Man,” I say, and laugh as I feel the silk robe I’m wearing. Despite my shock, my brain is able to register the fact that, “Wow, this is some quality silk.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Erik stares at me strangely and adds, “You look different, Lana.”
He’s trying to look into my eyes, and I immediately thrust the sunglasses back over them.
“Actually,” I say, “I really need to go to the bathroom. Like, right away.”
Erik laughs in a flirty way and leans in as if he’s about to kiss me.
But I am not having that.
Shoving him back away from me I say frantically, “I said right away. I have stomach issues!”
“Oh!” Erik makes a face. “Sorry.”
I swim my way toward the exit and awkwardly scramble out though the canvas opening.
“Do you need help?” Erik calls.
“Oh god no,” I say.
“Sorry, Lana,” he says. “I hope you feel better.”
I take off running full tilt toward the bathroom. My feet feel amazing in Wes’s old slippers, but one keeps falling off and I need to stop and slide it back onto my foot twice.
I pull off my sunglasses and begin to unwind my head bandage as I burst into the bathroom’s entryway. I make my way along the pink-tiled hallway and hear someone screaming like they’re being murdered in a cult-classic slasher movie.
When I round the corner to the bank of sinks, Lana is standing near the back wall. She’s covered in dirty bandages stained with Fun Jell, and her face is half unwrapped, and it is her face. Lana looks like Lana. And that must mean . . . I run to the mirror and lift my sunglasses and look into beautiful brown eyes.
I let out a huge cry-laugh of relief.
Lifting the remaining bandages off my head, I reveal my full face. My full face. “Hello, me,” I say.
Lana is still frozen with her mouth open. Her face is white as she looks at me. “I thought we were dead,” she says. “Why am I covered in blood?”
I give a small laugh. “Heh. It’s Fun Jell.”
Lana reaches up and takes out one of the white contacts. She leans in close to the warped bathroom mirror, blinking quickly. Finally, she rests her forehead and palm on the mirror.
“Wow, cuz,” I say. “Am I ever glad to see you in your own skin.”
She turns from the mirror and runs to fling her arms around me. I feel like a hulking giant as she attempts to pick me up. “Nice try,” I tell her and easily spin her around.
“Ricki, Ricki, Ricki,” she repeats over and over, and I echo, “Lana, Lana, Lana.”
Taking a step back, she holds my face in her hands. “This was horrible, but I couldn’t have gotten through one minute of it without you.”
I say, “And there’s nobody else I’d ever want to embody.”
After a few more minutes of celebrating, Lana stops. “What do we do now?” she asks.
“I think we exchange costumes and go back out there as ourselves.” I take off the silk robe and begin to unwrap the rest of my Invisible Man bandages. “Wow, your costume stayed so much cleaner than mine.”
“No lie,” Lana says as she peels off layer after layer of Mummy filth and Fun Jell. “Did you really think this get-up needed to be grosser?”
I laugh and tell her about the Jell-O prank gone wrong. As the two of us start helping each other exchange bandages, she describes the farewell video Erik helped her post on BubeTube. He filmed her painting a few kids’ faces as the Invisible Man and joked that this was her new makeup artist gig. And then she gave her fans a heartfelt goodbye.
“I got honest about my anxiety and my need to take care of myself,” she says, handing me the white contacts.
“Walking away for the sake of your mental health sets a great example to your fans.” I toss the white contacts into the trash. “You should be proud.”
“I’ll admit I did find it empowering to admit I’ve only been showing the pretty parts of my life,” she says. “I warned viewers, ‘the shiny things we see in our feed do not tell the full story.’”
“I love it! Helping to crush the lies of perfection and comparison.”
“Well, I guess I was inspired by that thing Her Highness told us JLC did with her realistic photo shoot.” Lana stops reapplying her bandages to point a finger at me. “She’s more than just the Ultimate Scream Queen you know.”
“Yes!” I punch the air. “You getting real about your struggles and imperfections will help set others free from the insecurity trap, cuz! I do believe you’re a dang hero.”
Lana stretches a wide bandage across her forehead and begins rewrapping her face. “I’m ignoring the video’s comments, but I’ve already been getting alerts about a conspiracy theory circulating that it wasn’t really me making the announcement,” she says. “Erik thinks the rumor is the perfect subversive end to Lookie Lana! But little does he know, if people examine that video closely, they might put together I really am you in disguise.”
“Nice mystery twist for your fans,” I say.
“I thought you’d like that,” she says. “Oh, and I heard Jake’s meet-cute story! He better have been talking about when you two met.”
I nod. “I’ll tell you all about it sometime.”
“I want every detail,” Lana says. “It looks like you’re going to get your magical kiss under the stars tonight after all.”
I draw in a deep, nervous breath. “If it was truly magic, I’d know exactly how my whole future will work out. What’s the fun in that?”
“Wait,” Lana says. “So you are actually jumping in and risking rejection without some imaginary magical safety net?”
“Yup,” I say. “Not allowing the fear of getting hurt stop me.”
“Well then, I’m proud of you too, cuz,” Lana says.
The two of us smile at each other and I put an arm around her.
“It’s not easy for me,” I say. “But it helps having you as a safety net.”
“That’s right,” Lana says. “No matter what!”
I say, “Like I could show up with a dead body and I know that you will help me bury it.”
“Why does everything end up being about dead bodies with you?” Lana laughs and shoves me away as she tucks a bandage under the collar of her robe.
I say, “How about we just promise each other a road trip on demand whenever either of us needs it?”
“You got it.” Lana grins. “And I know the perfect vehicle.”
“Yeah, if we ever get it back from our moms!” We’ve both finished reapplying our costumes and I turn to face her. “Okay, how do I look?”
Lana reaches up as if to fix something and then stops and makes a face. “Gross as can be,” she says. “And me?”
I straighten the lapels of her silk robe. “You look lovely, and I’m going to need joint custody of this robe.”
“We can definitely arrange a mutually agreeable schedule for sharing our Her Highness signature robe.” We laugh.
“Yes,” I say. “I do believe we’ve finally learned to share.”
Jake’s voice breaks in overhead and announces the previews are about to start. I point to the speaker and say, “I’m heading for the projection room. Wish me luck.”
“Luck,” Lana says. “And I’m off to watch the movie with my boyfriend in the bouncy castle.”
I wince. “About that,” I say.
“Ricki? What’s wrong?”
“I may or may not have implied to Erik that I had diarrhea when he thought I was you.”
“You what?” Lana screeches, and I rush for the door.
“I’m so sorry it was unavoidable and hey how about you get extra time with that robe.” My words mash together, and I take a steadying breath. “Don’t worry. Erik really, really likes you. I can tell.”
“Yeah, he probably wouldn’t have hung in there today if things weren’t pretty solid,” Lana says as we walk out the bathroom exit.
“Jake too,” I say. “It was quite a day.”
The two of us hug. “I’ll see you after the movie,” she says as we continue holding on to each other.
I whisper in her ear, “I promise to never let go again.”
We squeeze our hug tighter a moment and then release one another.
Lana teases, “Who are you? Rose from Titanic? You literally just said you’d never let go!” We laugh, and she turns toward the bouncy castle.
“Oh, so you want me to come with you now?” I offer. “Maybe I can explain about the stomach issues?”
“No, please,” she says. “No more helping.”
I take two strides toward the projection booth and am engulfed by a walloping silky tackle hug from behind.
“I love you, cuz,” Lana whispers.
I barely have time to respond, “I love you too,” before she is off, skipping toward the bounce house in her Invisible Man outfit. I admire how strong her steps are despite the heels she’s now wearing and make a mental note to work on learning to walk in them.
Because I have to admit, tall girls walking around in heels is kind of epic.
On my way to the projection booth I pass our evil real estate villain, still standing at the open trunk of his car. He hasn’t noticed the liner so he’s still scooping the Fun Jell back into the kiddie pool with both arms. People are filming him and laughing as he calls out, “Come on! Are you kidding me?”
I think, That will teach you to try to bury the Starlight’s magic under some big box store.
Because now I truly believe the Starlight is magic. But the magic doesn’t come from some enchanted ability to protect hearts against heartache. It doesn’t make a no-risk love guarantee. The magic of the Starlight comes from the time spent here and the memories built.
We are connected to it by the moment we’re sharing right now.
I look around at the people sitting in chairs or inside their cars, some eating popcorn, as the preshow ads roll. Amused smiles spread across their lit-up faces while they watch cartoon hot dogs jump through hoops in the vintage snack commercial that’s playing onscreen. Wes insisted we keep the old-timey reel, so we should see a huge jump in quality once we switch to digital for the main feature.
I open the door of the projector booth and find Jake standing behind the machine, watching the grainy-looking snack ads play.
He’s taken off his Wolf Man makeup, and I watch his profile as the light from the projector plays across his features. His hair is messy and his flannel shirt is rumpled, and I can’t help but notice how far down it’s unbuttoned.
“The wolf has turned back into a man,” I say.
He turns to look at me and gives me a half smile that makes my stomach dip.
After a beat he takes a step in my direction, and I’m glad I have all these bloody bandages holding me together, because otherwise I’d probably explode from the way he’s looking at me right now.
“Well, we did it,” he says in a deep voice as he moves in front of me. “The Starlight is saved.”
I say, “For as long as we can possibly hold on.”
He wraps his arms around my waist. “I guess you’re right. There’s no guarantee that the drive-in will still be going strong five years from now. Or ten. There will always be new real estate bad guys to thwart.”
“All we have for sure is this moment right here,” I say. “But then, isn’t that what makes this special?”
Jake leans closer. “It makes this magic.”
There’s a click behind us.
“Speaking of magical moments, the vintage reel is almost finished.” Jake moves back to the projector and I follow him. “Are you ready?” he asks.
He reaches for my hand and places it on a plastic switch under his.
Jake says, “Here we go.”
I say, “Here’s hoping Gwen and Brad got this thing online and running right.”
Jake gives me a nervous look and we keep steady eye contact as we count down together, “Three. Two . . . One!”
Applying gentle pressure, we flip the switch and I feel a surge of happiness. The picture clicks ON and the film company logo whirrs to life on the giant screen outside.
We both exhale together.
I love the sense of starting something new, and it’s only right that Jake and I hit the control together.
Looking out the small window at the movie, I say, “This is going to be good, I can tell.”
“Yes, it is,” Jake agrees, but when I turn I realize he’s looking directly at me. “You took the white contacts out.”
I bat my eyes at him and he laughs.
Reaching up, he touches the bandage on my cheek and asks, “May I?”
“You’ve had enough of the gore?” I tease, but help him unfurl the edge of my bandage.
He continues unwrapping my head and I stop helping. Standing perfectly still, I hold my breath.
Out of nowhere, I’m hit with the sudden fear that when he finishes I’ll be wearing Lana’s face again and everything will be even weirder than before.
I feel the air on my cheeks and look up at him nervously, trying to read his expression in the flickering light reflected from the projector.
A smile spreads over Jake’s face and he whispers, “There you are.”
He dips his head forward as if he’s about to kiss me and I close my eyes and lift my lips expectantly. And I feel . . . nothing.
I lick my lips and dip my head back even more obviously, pantomiming kissing the empty air. Still nada. Finally, I straighten my head and open my eyes.
Jake is just watching me.
“What are you waiting for? An invitation?”
“Actually, yes,” he says, and adds dramatically, “Ricki, may I kiss you?”
Before he gets the chance, I lunge to kiss him first.
And he ducks.
“Gotcha back,” he laughs, and I grab his face with both hands and pull his lips toward mine.
My mouth is firm and lands on his in a direct hit. Jake straightens in surprise, but then he slowly melts into our kiss.
And it’s perfect.
I mean, sure, nothing could ever really measure up to the fantasy kiss I’ve been holding out for and imagining underneath the stars in the front seat of the Skylark convertible.
Plus, in my eagerness, I did zoom in a little harder than necessary, so my first kiss with Jake is less “tender” and more “mashy.” And okay, since I’m listing things, I haven’t had a mint in a while and so my breath smells a bit like the popcorn I ate for dinner, and there’s a chance I may even have a kernel or two stuck between my teeth. So, actually, I guess my first kiss isn’t perfect.
And yet, somehow, it is.
I can’t wait to compare notes with Lana later, because my second kiss comes right on the heels of that first one, and I have to say so far that kiss is the best one yet.