––––––––
“Can you hold this for a sec?” asked Pia and pressed a string of lights into my hand. They were small and shaped like icicles. She moved the ladder toward the left along the wall of the house. “More this way do you think?”
I took three steps back to check it out from a distance and nodded. “Just right.”
“Great.” In her thick down jacket she clambered up the rungs and then reached her hand down. “Okay, give them to me.”
I pressed the string of lights into her hand and Pia began to attach them along beneath the gutter.
“It’s gonna be really beautiful,” I said, enjoying the Christmas spirit.
“Absolutely. We want to have the prettiest chapter house on campus. Normally I’d say this...” she gestured to indicate the donkeywork on the ladder, “was a man’s job. But we’re all girls in the sorority.”
“The guys don’t have it much better,” I said. “They’re stuck in fraternities with tons of other guys, and each one is thinking someone else can do it. In the end, no-one will.”
Pia giggled. “Yeah, and imagine what the toilets would look like in an all men’s dorm.”
“I don’t even want to think about it.” Still I had the picture in my head in an instant. Disgusted, I tapped on my temples to try and evoke another image. “Sweet little puppies, sweet little puppies...” and as I said it, I tried to think of as many pups as I possibly could.
Pia laughed. “You could have joined my sorority. Then we would have had lots of pajama parties together and we’d be living right next door to one another. And we sorority sisters help each other out.”
“It’s not for me. I prefer to live alone. I did spend the whole of my childhood living with my parents after all.”
She laughed. “What, and I didn’t?”
“Well, and you’re always holding these events. I can’t even sing.” I did think performances for charity were a really great thing, I just didn’t want to make an ass of myself for it.
“But you don’t absolutely have to sing.”
“Yeah, as if I could do sport or something instead.” The altruistic karaoke at Sing Out for Autism wasn’t all. The annual Run for Your Money charity fun run didn’t appeal to me either. It was almost worse than singing off key.
Pia snorted. “I don’t like sports either. Just because my name is Olympia, everyone thinks I’m a jock.” Her parents had named her that because they were real sports enthusiasts, but Pia herself was anything but crazy about sports. She was all twisted up in her string of lights, and began to untangle them. “You wouldn’t believe the stupid looks people always give me when I explain that I don’t like sports. I mean, how can you? I love my couch.”
“Me too.” A little anxious, I watched her cautiously extricate herself from the string of lights. On the ladder it sure wasn’t easy, but I couldn’t do anything for her apart from holding it steady. “If I plugged them in right now, you’d light up like a Christmas tree.”
“Don’t you dare!” she warned, but she still grinned. “No, seriously. I avoid the fun run too, as far as possible. The athletes in the sorority are better for that anyways.”
She freed herself from the mess of cables and laughed triumphantly, holding the string of lights up with one hand like a trophy. What I really loved about Pia was the way she could celebrate every little thing as if she had just won an Olympic gold medal. In that respect she really did do her name proud.
“I try to take part in everything else,” she went on. “Then no-one grumbles if I skip Run for Your Money.”
“I only live around the corner, so we don’t even need to be in the same sorority.” Pia would never be rid of me anyway, that much was clear. The only thing we didn’t agree on was my vampire. In all other regards, we were as one.
Besides, in a way I had created my own sisterhood with Bailey, Hope and Lily, and in doing so found a place where I could even discuss my vampire. So I wasn’t missing anything.
Recently Lily had sent me a text saying how exciting Sebastien and his world were. He took up a lot of her time and I hadn’t heard much from her. I imagined they probably barely made it out of bed at the moment. That was what I was most looking forward to when I finally had a boyfriend again, and I sure wouldn’t be taking my phone to bed with me either. Mind you, for me a boyfriend seemed to have become a distant dream.
I wondered whether Lily was in the middle of some kind of wedding preparations. Or what else does it mean when a vampire is looking for his bride?
“Speaking of events,” Pia said, “we’re holding a sort of raffle on the weekend. Do you want to join in?”
“A raffle?” I handed up the next string of lights to her. “Sounds good. What can you win?”
She giggled. “Kisses.”
I looked at her, confused. “Kisses? What do you mean?”
Pia shrugged. “The Christmas shows are on at uni at the moment, and our sorority has a stand at the Christmas party. And since Christmas is all about love, we thought of kisses.”
The university was closed over the public holidays, so the events would be held this Friday already. I knew Pia was going to be singing that evening. Our art class was really busy with the decorations.
“And how do you win kisses?”
“Simple: We sell them. There are other prizes in the raffle of course, but to make it all more interesting you can buy kisses instead of tickets if you want. They do cost more than the normal tickets though. Because of the extras.” She puckered up her lips and made a smoochy sound.
I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh.
“What? It’s nice!” said Pia, putting her hand on her hip.
Since she was still at the top of the ladder, I was really glad she didn’t use both hands.
“Yeah, totally sweet. And really, anyone can kiss, whether they like sport or they can only sing.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “So you won’t come?”
I slipped off my gloves and searched in my bag for my wallet. Then I waved a dollar in her direction. “Can I buy a kiss off you right now, so you stop looking at me so sternly?”
“Bah!” she said, “One dollar. You won’t get a kiss for that. There’s nothing under ten dollars.”
“Ten dollars for a little peck? That’s a rip off!”
She lifted her chin with dignity. “No, it’s for a good cause. Anyway, ten bucks is still a bargain. It goes up to a hundred.”
Now I wasn’t grinning anymore. “A hundred?”
“Yes, a one with two zeros behind it.”
“You guys are really counting on the charitable pre-Christmas mood.”
Pia batted her eyelashes at me charmingly. “It’s for poor little orphans. Don’t you want them to have a nice Christmas too?”
“Just tell me how much I should transfer across. But I’m definitely not coming along for the smooching.”
The chocolate muffins with pears and cinnamon tasted so delicious I’d probably look like a muffin myself in no time. I took a bite of my fourth one as I thought about which wall I should hang my now graded artwork on. Normally I didn’t display class projects on my walls, but I did want to mount a picture commensurate with my status as art student at SDSU. Especially since my grade had turned out to be very gratifying. I didn’t know whether the positive assessment or the particularly quick handling had been a Christmas present from my professor, but my mood had been sweetened in every respect.
I had just decided to hang it in place of honor next to my easel when my cellphone rang. To go with the holiday season, I’d chosen a Christmas song as ringtone. Unlike Lennox though, I hadn’t chosen one from Annie’s winter album. No, I had selected a classic: Last Christmas by Wham.
Pia’s name shone on the display.
“Yoo hoo, sweetie, ready for a nice smooch?” she asked.
In the background I heard the sound of a crowd of people.
“Where are you?” she asked. “It’s already dark out.”
It was December. It didn’t mean much that it was already dark out, except maybe that babies would be finished with their afternoon naps.
“But your performance isn’t for another two hours.”
“Exactly. It’s six o’clock,” she said. “You can’t have anything important to do.”
“I’m an artist, we always arrive late.”
“I’m an artist too, or what do you call musicians? Drag your sorry butt over here and bring me a hat. I forgot mine and I’m gonna freeze.”
Hanging up my picture would have to wait.
“Is your stand outside or something?”
“Right at the entrance and these stupid doors are so draughty,” she said. “But otherwise it’s perfect, because absolutely everyone sees us straight away.”
“And how’s it going?”
“Can you get numb lips from too much kissing?” she joked.
I smiled and packed the muffins into a tin. They’d still be there later. Maybe it was better that Pia was keeping me from eating them all at once. “Look, I’ll grab you a hat and a couple of my muffins and I’ll be right there, okay?”
“Yes please.”
In a way, I was a little curious about the kissing raffle stand. I got changed into something pretty for the party and threw on my warmest winter things over top. You had about as much chance of finding a temperature above the freezing point at this time of year as you did of finding leftover Easter eggs.
Lennox had been at the party with Trixy for ages already, so I didn’t bother to knock. Since they’d visited that art opening together they were inseparable. Painting was absolutely their thing. They’d probably think going to a lecture about the surrealists was a great date. But the two little nerds were just too sweet together. I recognized that now. They were constantly whispering sweet nothings to one another. Them being together had its very own kind of magic. It was like springtime in winter. Trixy suited him way better than I ever could have. They completed each other. Luckily I’d only very briefly imagined anything sensual between me and Lennox. If I’d still had any really deep feelings for him, I would have gotten diabetes just looking at them.
A bit like it had been for me when I saw Adam with Grace. Since the ice number our paths hadn’t crossed again.
The campus glowed like a carpet of lights and when Pia performed later she would be standing on a beautifully decorated stage we’d worked on in art class right up until midday today. The room may well turn out to be suffused with the smell of fresh paint and lacquer, but the feast for the eyes would be great compensation.
The center was overflowing with students. The year was drawing to an end and this was the university’s last event of the season. I pushed my way past a group of people and headed for the entrance.
Pia hadn’t been lying. Her stand was right next to it. When she saw me, she squealed happily and I waved the hat I’d brought her by way of greeting.
“An angel from heaven!” She pulled me behind the counter.
There were ten other girls with her, all wearing the same blue sashes they donned at all the sorority events. I spotted Karen too, the girl who had acted as referee when we played Twister. She was selling a raffle ticket to a couple of guys and flirting heavily with them, asking if they wanted to buy a kiss to help poor orphans.
“What a shame only guys can buy kisses from you. Otherwise I might just consider buying one,” I joked.
Pia grinned. “Oh well. Girls can buy tickets or pony up over at the fraternity guys’ stalls.”
“Are they selling kisses too?” I asked.
“No, unfortunately not. But they wouldn’t have any long teeth on offer for you anyway.” She poked me in the side and pulled on my hat with a blissful sigh.
“What does Ethan have to say about you taking part?” Since I’d run over so quickly, I was too warm and I peeled off my jacket. Then I leaned back against the wall.
Pia put on her sweet yet diabolical grin and took one of my muffins. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s about time he was open about us. So far we’ve only been on dates and he hasn’t said anything about being exclusive.” Then she smiled as if forgiving him. “He did buy a few kisses already though. Imagine, he spent fifty dollars on me.” She gestured to the price list mounted above our heads. “And he could have had them for free!”
I was absolutely astounded when I ran my eye over the prices. “Wow, a hundred dollars...”
At that very moment I heard a determined male voice behind me: “A hundred dollars, and I want to kiss you.”
When I turned around, Adam was standing right before me and counting off some notes. His words had been so loud and clear, the people around us all either went quiet or were now whispering furiously.
“Who do you want to kiss?” I stammered.
His gaze burned like embers. “You.”
“But...” I swallowed, because my throat was suddenly completely dry. “But I’m not even taking part.”
As if to prove my point, I gestured to the blue bands all the other girls had on. I didn’t have one.
Adam shook his head, pointed at me and pushed his money over the tabletop. “But I want you.”
Karen grabbed it hastily and hid it away in the cash box. “It’s a done deal,” she announced. “Our motto is, you can kiss any of us you see here. You’re standing on our side, Lucy.” She hit the wooden counter emphatically with her open hand.
“You’ve got to be joking.”
She must be; this had to be a joke.
“Merry Christmas,” she trilled.
“Just think, it’s for a good cause,” Pia said.
“You’re all crazy,” was all I managed to say.
Adam had less trouble maintaining his composure. He pointed to the price list and read out what he could get for his money: “Seven minutes without tongue or two minutes with? Costs the same.” He leaned in my direction. “What do you think?”
His expression was pure challenge.
“I’m not doing it.” Maybe they simply hadn’t understood me.
Karen lay her hand on my forearm. “Lucy, just think of all the poor kids in orphanages and pucker up.”
I imagined a cold gray house full of sad little faces. Wouldn’t they be so thrilled about getting teddy bears! You could buy so many teddies for a hundred dollars. I really didn’t want the poor things to go without. I wasn’t that mean.
“I can buy my way out though, right?” I asked. “I’ll pay you a hundred dollars, all the kids are happy and we don’t have to kiss.”
Why had my parents inherited hard all those years, if not so I could get out of this situation? I definitely didn’t want to fool around with a philanderer.
“Then I’d just add another hundred dollars on top,” said Adam without batting an eyelid, as though he didn’t have any real money problems either. “And I’ll keep doing that until I can kiss you Lucy.”
My stomach tickled like crazy and I scratched my phantom scar. More and more people were gathering around the stand and observing us with interest. A remarkable number of fingers pointed back and forth between Adam and me. How nice that I was still able to contribute to the campus gossip machine before the holidays. Hopefully by the time I got back in the New Year no-one would remember any of it.
“No, no,” Karen insisted, taking up her role as referee once more. “You bought a kiss, and a kiss you shall have. Adam, right?”
He just nodded and gave her a charming smile.
“But if you want...” she continued and stroked the back of his hand with her fingertips. I thought she was going to offer to kiss him in my place. But instead she said: “...you can add another hundred dollars on top and kiss our pretty Lucy for twice as long.”
My mouth hung open. She hadn’t really said that.
“Interesting.” Adam’s voice sounded as enticing as a chocolate soufflé.
I glared at him. Not a chance. I crossed my arms over my chest defensively. I wasn’t some camel at a bazaar. The first person who tried to check if I had good teeth would get bitten. I had growing sympathy for the slaves of days gone by. Why did Pia have to get cold ears? If it weren’t for that hat I wouldn’t have even been here. Instead, I could have been in the comfort of my apartment, hanging up my painting and stuffing my face with muffins.
“Then we wouldn’t even need to decide,” Adam said to me. “We could do both – the seven minutes without tongue and the two minutes with.”
I gaped at him. “No, that’s really going too far.” I stepped pointedly around the counter to stand beside the stall. “See, I’m not on the other side anymore and you haven’t paid yet.”
“It was practically a done deal,” said Karen, who was imminently suited to pursue a career in debt collection.
“Well, just the one I’ve already paid for then,” he murmured and moved toward me.
I gave Pia a look that said “Save me!” But the silly goose just gave me two thumbs up again and flashed me her stage smile.
It’s for the orphans. It’s for the orphans. It’s for the...
“Do you want to do it here or should we go somewhere else?” Adam asked as he approached me. Even though I shrunk away from him, the distance between us kept closing.
I stared at him wide eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights. “What? Why?”
He shrugged. “We have quite an audience.”
I looked around and discovered that everyone was watching us eagerly. Didn’t they have TV?
As quick as a flash I fled out the door, but Adam stayed hot on my heels and caught up with me in no time. He grabbed my hand and his touch hit me like a power surge, making everything inside me tingle. Tenderly, he intertwined his fingers with mine.
“Lucy.” My name sounded so different when he said it. “Are you going to cheat me out of a kiss?”
I gulped and stood still, but I couldn’t manage to turn around to face him. “What about the girl from the skating rink?”
“She’s my sister.”
Now I did look at him. She couldn’t be. “You don’t look a thing alike.” Besides, she had seemed so possessive.
Adam stepped in and stroked my cheek; all the while he didn’t stop staring at my lips. They seemed to be unbelievably fascinating to him. “We have different parents.”
I wasn’t really good at logical thinking anymore, not since he started touching me, but even so I knew this didn’t make sense. “How can she be your sister then?”
“She’s adopted.”
These words filled the vacuum in me. And I had thought she was jealous, yet she only wanted to go shopping with her brother in peace.
What does one say at a time like this?
“I’m sorry.”
I hadn’t meant to offend him. Sometimes I was the proverbial bull in a china shop. It must have been difficult for them to deal with the whole situation and grow into a normal family. Were the girl’s parents dead?
The smile on his face reached right up to his eyes. “You don’t have to be sorry.”
I lay my hand on his chest sympathetically. He was wearing a soft jacket that felt nice and warm from him. “Is that why you’re giving a hundred dollars for orphans?”
Adam looked perplexed and stared at me for a moment speechless.
“That too,” he said. “But there’s another reason that’s not quite so selfless.” He lowered his mouth to my ear: “I absolutely have to kiss you. Ever since that night in front of your apartment I can’t think straight anymore.”
His words made goosebumps pop up on the nape of my neck. They spread like wildfire across my whole back and left me trembling. Struggling for self-control, I dug my nails into his jacket. My legs turned to jelly and I clung to him so as not to fall down. It was crazy how close I felt to him. After all, I barely knew him.
And I was supposed to belong to my vampire, completely and without reservation. But here and now I didn’t want to get away from Adam anymore. My lips longed for his kiss. His blazing eyes promised it would be good.
“Which do you prefer?” he asked in a husky voice. “Long or thorough?”
My stomach seemed to flutter. “I don’t know.” My voice faltered and only came out as a breathless whisper.
“Shall I decide?”
I nodded weakly. He set a timer on his watch, but I didn’t see how long.
He pressed one hand into my back and with the other he gripped my neck. His eyes were glued to me like magnets. I blinked nervously and licked my lips. His gaze fell immediately to take them in. Then he pulled me to him and lowered his mouth onto mine. He sent me on a journey through time, because suddenly everything was like it was that night under the streetlamp. But this time, I didn’t duck away.
I let him kiss me and time stood still. All the breathing, all the sounds, the whole moment. His lips were so unbelievably gentle that I sighed. My hands reached for his hair and I ran my fingers through it. It was so soft and short, I couldn’t stop touching it.
Slowly I responded to the kiss and Adam gave a groan of relief. He kissed me sensitively and without hurry. I realized he had chosen the long option. I didn’t know what could be worse, because this was driving me out of my mind. I could barely manage to restrain myself like he did.
Adam tasted of coffee. Bitter and manly. He smelled even better than Lennox. My legs had completely given up the ghost and I threw my arms around him like a drowning person. It was like the time when I was in the icy water and I couldn’t let go of my vampire. Kissing Adam was almost like drowning. I sank into this sensual, sweet moment with him, as if the world around us were becoming vague and barren, dissolving.
As if from a world away, I heard a few students hooting and jeering that they wanted to buy a few kisses too. Then everything went quiet and we were alone. I enjoyed how real he felt, and his warmth which made me forget I wasn’t wearing my jacket.
In this dark winter night, he made something inside me shine. I crawled into his touches and soaked up his closeness. He was positively glowing. This kiss warmed me to the core. I had never been kissed like this before, and he was only using his lips.
The desire to play with his tongue grew within me to superhuman proportions, so I licked along between his lips and dared him to take more than he had paid for.
I felt how his chest quaked as he held me tight against him. Adam laughed soundlessly. But he only did that for a very, very short moment, because his amusement turned into a hungry groan when I sucked his lower lip tenderly into my mouth and circled it with my tongue.
Reflexively he pressed his hips into me and I could feel that he was hard. Just like that. From the chastest and at the same time most sensual kiss I had ever experienced. Even my first kiss had been a head-on attack with the tongue. I had never known a man to take so much time with me, to explore me so extensively and to take my breath away like that.
But Adam wasn’t my ex. He was the exact opposite. And right now, I was thrilled the blonde was only his sister.
“Lucy,” he murmured.
If he wanted to tell me I was playing with fire, it was too late. There was a good hour left before Pia’s performance and I planned to get out my flame-thrower, so Adam burned just as much as I did under his lips.
“Kiss me properly,” I whispered.
And then he kissed the living daylights out of me.