Catch and Cradle

by Katia Rose

I pictured her smile, the sound of her voice, the way her glasses sit a little crooked sometimes and always make me want to reach over to straighten them. Once in a while, I’d even get so far I’d imagine trailing my fingers from her glasses to her cheek to her lips. I grip the edge of the porch and squeeze so hard the wood digs into the heels of my palms. She’s the last person on the entire campus I should be thinking about. She’s my teammate. I’m her captain. We have rules for a reason. Good reasons. Important reasons. Reasons I can’t ignore.

I move even closer. She gasps mid-inhale and stops breathing altogether. Her chin lifts, bringing her lips in line with mine, and then our mouths are pressed together. My eyes close. For a moment, we stay completely still. I feel numb, like I’m floating outside my body, but then her lips shift. She breathes in, and all my senses roar back to life. My hand reaches to cup her cheek, and now we’re kissing—really kissing. Her mouth is hungry on mine, and when she grips my hip and pulls me closer, I let out a moan that makes her growl.