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The warm glow from the kitchen seeps under the basement door, providing an opposing light to the blue and bright television screen which is halfway through ghostbusters. Michelle sits cross legged on the couch with her face in her hands, elbows resting on her knees while Willow lays on her stomach, playing with the bowl full of popcorn in front of her. Michelle reaches down to grab a handful of popcorn and notices the nervousness in Willows face. Theres a bit of a pause when Michelles hands are in the bowl before picking up the popcorn and sitting back into the couch.
“Is everything okay?” Michelle asks in a soft tone that makes Willow look up, purse her lips and move to sit cross legged on the ground.
“Yeah… just- “, She pauses to swallow but nerves seem to take over and she doesn’t finish her sentence. Worried, Michelle moves to sit down in front of Willow, leaning down to see her face fully.
“Just…?” Willow looks up from the ground and looks at Michelle through her eyelashes.
“This guy… asked me out on a date, but I got nervous and told him I’d think about it”, even though Willows voice is soft and sweet it hits Michelle like a train. A guy… asked her out?
“Oh.”
“I mean, I just have no idea how to even do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I- uh. Y’know… I’ve never been in a relationship before, let alone… kissed someone.” The gears finally click in Michelles head, and she breaks eye contact to pull her shorts down a bit, covering her thighs more. Willow goes from playing with her hands in her lap to playing with her pant leg.
“Well, some things you just… learn as they come. I mean, me and El we- our first kiss was… bad” Michelles chuckles a little before continuing, “but after a while it got… well, it improved.” Willow lets some air out through a smile but there was something that caused her to tense the grip on her pant leg. El, her friend and technically brother since her dad and his mum are now engaged, even though their so close and the three of them hang out all the time with the rest of the party, hearing his name come out of Michelles mouth made her feel… weird.
“Yeah but… I feel like I’ll always be slightly there but not follow through because I’m so nervous. I mean, my first kiss is a huge deal, and I don’t want it to be bad or with someone who I don’t even know or like.”
“There’s really not that much pressure, first kisses are so ‘take it or leave it’, they don’t have to mean anything.”
“I know.” Willow looks a bit sad as she continues to play with her pant leg, Michelle notices this and all the parts of her brain light up, coming up with an idea of how to help… Willow, not herself- obviously.
“What if you had practice?”
Willow stops fidgeting and looks up at Michelle. “What?”
“With me… What if you practise for your first kiss on- with me, so that way you won’t be nervous when your first kiss happens.” Willows eyes go a bit wide, and her parted lips move up and down as she’s forming an answer.
“B-but wouldn’t that be my first kiss?”
“No! Since it’s just practice… Y’know and we’re friends and both-“ she cuts herself off and bites her bottom lip, looking nervously at Willow. Theres a long silence as Willow goes from looking at Michelles’ eyes, then lips to her hands in her lap, then the television. Michelle starts bouncing her knee and rubbing her hands from her thighs to her shins, looking like she asked Willow an impossible question.
Just when Michelle is about to back-track everything, Willow speaks up, quiet but audible, “ok.”
“Ok… Cool”, Michelle tries to supress the big grin on her face to little avail. “And I can teach you too, so that when yet another hot guy asks you out on a date and you kiss, he’ll be all like ‘wow your so good at this’.”
Willow moves past the cringing from ‘hot guy’ to laughter as Michelle waves her hands more frantically and drops her voice into a Muppet sounding impression. “Yeah… ok, that makes sense.”
“Alright… well-“ Michelle inches closer to Willow so their knees are now touching, she swallows the lump of nerves in her throat and continues, “guys aren’t subtle at all, they make it very clear when they want to kiss, so you’re gonna have to initiate it.”
“Ok, how do I do that?”
"Just- um..." Michelle reaches for Willows hands slowly, before she grabs them they make eye contact and she sends a signal, 'you, okay?' raising her eyebrows, Willow nods. Michelle grabs her hands lightly then brings them up to her neck, just below her jaw, "you'll know if he definitely wants to if he looks at your lips or puts his hands on your face or waist or something."
Willow lets out a shaky exhale and nods. Michelle leans in closer, Willow follows cautiously.
“You okay?”
”Yeah”
”You sure?”
”Yeah, I’m okay”
Michelle notices that a large strand of hair falls on the right side of Willows face. She tucks it behind her ears, leaving her hand on the side of Willows face.
Michelle’s eyes travel from her hand to Willows eyes then lips and starts to move in. Right before she reaches the lips she looks back up into her eyes, seeing how nervous Willow is, she moves both her hands to close her eyes.
There're a few seconds where every thought is running through Michelle’s head before committing fully and connecting their lips.
its short but sweet. Willows lips are soft and tastes like cherry and smoke, Michelle’s lips are a bit cracked and taste like vanilla. Their lips part as quick as they came together; both opening their eyes, there's a different energy in the room, an electricity. Willow breaks eye contact and swallows hard, a silence fills the room
A few seconds go by, both of them mirror each other's movements with their hands in their laps, looking at the ground. Michelle clears her throat and speaks up, "s-see? Not so hard?" she slightly laughs, her nervous energy practically swallowing her whole.
"Yeah" Willow responds, almost breathless.