When Gul leans forward to level my dare, she’s got a sly look in her eyes. “We’ve never seen you and Ricardo kiss. We want you to kiss right here, right now.”
“Yeah, kiss!” Adrienne exclaims, clapping her hands gleefully.
Cal wrinkles his nose. “I’m gonna go make popcorn. Let me know when it’s over.” He pulls himself out of his plush chair and shuffles across the room to the student kitchen. I look longingly after him, wishing I could excuse myself to make popcorn, but I can’t. If I balk, they’ll know something’s up. When Kenneth and I were together, I was a lot more engaged with him than I am with Ricardo, and I’m sure they’ve picked up on it. I do not want them to find out I’m faking this relationship to make Kenneth jealous. Surely giving Ricardo one tiny peck won’t be as bad as losing face, right?
Even worse, Genevieve is chewing on her lip anxiously. Turning to Ryou, she whispers something about needing a cup of tea, and follows Cal toward the kitchen. I stare after her, willing her to be okay with all of the shenanigans I’m putting her through by continuing my charade with Ricardo.
“We’re waiting,” Gul needles me.
I manage not to glare at her. Instead, I lean toward Ricardo and give him the quickest peck on the lips known to man. “There, we kissed. Ta da. Now you’ve seen it.”
It’s so fast that Ricardo doesn’t even have a chance to kiss me back.
“Boo, that was terrible,” Gul says, shaking her head in displeasure.
“Yeah, come on, Charlotte. This is truth or dare. It’s only fun if you actually do it, not just halfway.” Adrienne waves me back toward Ricardo.
I am going to kill her for this later.
My eyes narrow. Even though the thought of laying a real kiss on Ricardo has my body flushed with irritation, I never back down from a challenge. And Adrienne? She’s just thrown down a gauntlet. “You want a real kiss? Okay. Here, take a picture so you can look at it later.” I toss my phone into my stepsister’s lap, face Ricardo, and pull him toward me by the collar of his t-shirt.
“Whoa, you—”
I put my lips to his and kiss him for all I’m worth. My competitive streak rears its ugly head. No one is going to say I can’t kiss, especially when I’m put on the spot like this. I’m going to be the best at this, just like everything else.
It takes Ricardo a second to recover from the shock of my abrupt action, which makes me want to laugh, but I stifle it. Laughing while kissing would feel too intimate, somehow, like we were sharing in a secret. Which we’re absolutely not.
Then he’s matching me move for move, his lithe hand rising to my neck. After all this time, I half expected him to be a terrible kisser. You know, all that bravado as a front for lack of skill, but it’s not. Ricardo can kiss. Still.
Adrienne and Gul start hooting, so I cut the kiss off with one last peck. My signature move.
When I pull away, Ricardo’s got a dazed look in his eyes that he tries to hide by clearing his throat and looking away, but I catch it. I’ve gotten under his skin. Satisfaction courses through me. I have definitely won this round of whatever game we’re playing. Yeah, it’s definitely satisfaction. Not chemistry. That would be absurd.
“Wow,” is all Adrienne says. “I never saw you kissing Kenneth like that.”
“To be fair, we never really saw Kenneth,” Genevieve says, offering Ryou a steaming mug matching the one in her hand, and retaking her seat. She takes a sip, not looking at me.
Gathering himself, Ricardo smiles, pulling me against his side. “Kenneth’s got nothing on me, right, mon coeur?”
“Kenneth, who?” I reply, playing along. Rationalizations as to why I jumped into that kiss like I did skim over the surface of my thoughts. Never mind that I’ve just sprinted past one of the lines we drew in the sand. I couldn’t very well refuse to kiss my apparent boyfriend, could I? I have to make it look realistic, which I did. And then some.
Deep down, I sift past the bull I’m trying to sell everyone else, and myself. Kenneth never kissed me with that amount of fire. Apparently, the antagonism Ricardo and I share makes for some steamy lip-locking. It absolutely cannot happen again.
The scent of piping hot, buttery popcorn wafts through the lounge.