Midnight Kiss - 2. Chapter 2

I felt like shit. My stomach was feeling a bit queasy and my head was hurting. I was absolutely miserable. I leaned back against the wall behind me wishing it would all just go away. I just wanted to pass out and wake up without all these disgusting feelings. I kept my eyes closed and tightly clutched the bottle of water in my hand.

And then there was the something soft on my cheeks. They were soft lips delivering a short kiss. It was so fleeting but the feeling lingered on my skin. My hand went up instinctively to feel where those lips had touched me. I struggled to open my eyes but all I saw were blurs. As I tried to focus, the hazy view of the bathroom became clearer. I could see the toilet in front of me, the water bottle in my hand and a guy sitting next to me. He was wearing an orange shirt with some black design on it. He had black hair that was spiked in the front. And he was looking directly at me with a look of concern and compassion. As I met his brown eyes, the recognition rushed to me.

It was Julian!

I gasped and my eyes snapped wide open but I saw nothing but darkness. The complete blackness gave way to some shapes and I soon realized that I was in my bedroom and that it was night. I rubbed my eyes and sat up in my bed. Had that been a dream? I reached over to my desk and felt around until my hand hit my cell phone. I grabbed it and flipped it open. It was three in the morning of Wednesday.

The image of Julian's face full of concern and compassion flashed through my mind.

It had felt so real. Not like a dream. It felt more like a memory. I didn't know why but I was sure of it. I had been remembering the events of that past Friday.

My throat was feeling a bit dry so I decided to get up and grab a glass of water. As I made my way down to the kitchen, I thought over the memory that had just come back to me. Julian had been the one who had been next to me in the bathroom. That meant he had taken care of me. And that he had kissed me on the cheek. Did that mean he was my secret admirer? The person that I had been looking for during the past few days? There had been a rumor that Julian was gay. But there was no way to know if there was any truth in that. However, if he was kissing me on the cheek, there could be no other explanation, right?

This new recollection also proved that I hadn't actually passed out right after the kiss. I had just lost the memory of what had happened after the kiss, which of course was a common effect of drinking too much alcohol. But now it had come back to me. Somehow, a few days later, I had managed to remember this again.

This also brought up the question, what had happened after the kiss? Did anything happen? I had woken up before being able to remember anything more. But was there anything more? I wondered if something had happened, would that also come back to me like this recollection of Julian had? After drinking my water, I rushed back to bed. Perhaps there was a chance I could remember more in my sleep. Maybe the rest of that night would also come back to me. I really needed to know if anything had happened after that kiss.

I managed to get into bed but the excitement of this new revelation of Julian kept me awake. I spent a frustrating amount of time just turning around in my bed trying to get to sleep only to have the image of Julian's face returning to my mind over and over. He had kissed me. Julian had kissed me.

I don't know when I fell asleep but the memory did not return. I didn't manage to remember anything more from that night. I awoke the next day with nothing more than a hazy picture of Julian's face. Spiky black hair. Brown eyes.

*****

I was in a rush to get to school that morning. I hadn't decided what I was going to say to Julian, if anything. But I really wanted to talk to Hannah. She was the only one who I confided in with about these matters and I always told her everything. I quickly showered and got dressed in my room and then hurried downstairs to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. I was quickly spreading cream cheese on my bagel when my mom walked in with her morning cup of coffee.

"What's the hurry, honey?" she asked as she calmly sat down with the paper at the kitchen counter.

"Just want to get to school quickly to take care of some stuff," I explained, not really caring to elaborate.

My mother, who thankfully never really pushed for answers, just nodded her head and perused through the paper before calmly saying, "Well, your younger brother isn't even out of bed yet. Don't forget you have to give him a ride to school today."

"Shit!" I exclaimed dropping the knife with cream cheese on the floor.

"Conner," my mother reprimanded.

"Sorry. Just forgot," I replied picking up the knife. "Do you think Lindsey could give Jason a ride today?"

Lindsey, my older sister, and I took turns taking Jason to school in the morning. She had taken him yesterday and with Julian taking up all my thoughts, I had forgotten that today it was my turn.

"Maybe. You can ask her."

I put the cream cheese back in the fridge, grabbed my bagel and headed upstairs to my sister's room. After I knocked, the door was opened by a tall slim girl with long brown hair still in her pajamas. My sister was really beautiful and had a perfect body. She had even done some modeling even though she was still in high school. Even in the morning, right out of bed, she looked amazing.

"What do you want?" my sister asked with a yawn.

"I need to get to school early today. So do you think you could give Jason a ride to school again today? He's still sleeping and I was going to leave like right now."

She just shrugged her shoulders. "Sure."

I sighed with relief. "Thanks."

*****

I reached the school half an hour early. Hannah had a meeting for the school paper on Tuesday mornings so I waited outside the room where the meeting was held. I was really itching to talk to her but I knew I would have to wait for her to be finished. The halls were mostly empty so I leaned back against the wall and pulled out my iPod. I put in the ear buds and started playing some music off of my latest playlist. I was listening to my music and watching some of the people walking by in the hallways when a guy stopped in front of me. He had short brown hair and olive skin and was just a little shorter than me. He was actually quite cute.

"Hi Conner," he said in a really soft voice.

"Uh, hello?" I replied a bit surprised that this person who I was pretty sure I had never met before knew my name and was talking to me. I stared at him hoping to recognize him but nothing came to me.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Have we met before?" I asked. I didn't want to be rude but I really had no idea who this guy was.

I instantly regretted saying it because the cute smile on his face disappeared. "The party on Friday? Do you not remember?" he said in an even softer voice.

Fuck. That explained everything. I felt really embarrassed. "I'm so sorry. I don't remember much from that night. Too much to drink."

"Oh. You did seem out of it." he replied off-handedly.

I didn't know what to say in return and the situation was getting really awkward so I was quite relieved when the classroom door opened and kids started coming out from the meeting, including Hannah who noticed me right away.

"Conner!" she exclaimed as she gave me a quick hug. "What brings you here so early?"

"Just needed to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Uh..." I stammered not wanting to talk in front of the guy.

She then noticed the guy that had been talking to me.

"Oh hi David!" she said turning towards him.

"Hi Hannah," he replied with a small smile. "I was just leaving actually so see you guys later."

He gave a little wave with his hand and then turned away.

"Um, okay." replied Hannah a bit confused as David walked off.

After David had left, she turned toward me. "What was that about? I didn't even know you knew him."

I sighed. "Apparently I met him at the party on Friday but I totally didn't remember him."

Hannah raised her eyebrows and laughed. "Oh Conner. This Friday night just keeps getting more interesting."

"Well, there's more actually," I replied. I then led her to the courtyard and we sat down on one of the benches as I proceeded to tell her about my remembering Julian.

*****

"Wow. So it was Julian?" exclaimed Hannah when I was finished telling her exactly what I had remembered.

"Yeah. I guess it was."

Hannah looked at me thoughtfully. "Well there have been rumors that he was gay. He was actually one of the guys I was thinking it was."

"One of the guys?"

"Yeah, but that's not important anymore. I'm just excited that you remembered this now. So what are you going to do about this?"

"Uh, I don't know," I replied. I hadn't even gotten over the revelation just yet. I hardly had thought about what to do about it.

"You don't know?" Hannah asked incredulously.

"Well, the thing is that I gave him a ride home yesterday and he asked me was how I was feeling."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, and I was surprised then that he knew because I didn't realize that it had become common knowledge that I was so wasted on Friday night."

"It really hasn't," replied Hannah. "I don't think anyone really knows about it except us and I guess Julian, because he was with you."

"Yeah, that's what I thought but he told me then that he had heard it from someone else and he said nothing about actually being there with me."

"Well he was probably just covering up for himself."

"But why?"

"Well, if you looked surprised when he asked, then he probably figured that you didn't remember it and he didn't want to bring it up at all?" offered Hannah.

"That could be true. I guess it would be awkward to bring something like that up. Especially when the other person doesn't even remember."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

"So does that mean he's not going to ever say anything about it?"

"Maybe," replied Hannah, shrugging. "I mean if he didn't say anything then, then he probably won't later either unless you bring it up specifically."

"So are you saying that I should bring it up?"

"Well, he kissed you right? He made his move. A bold one in fact. So now the ball is in your court. Now it's your turn to make a move."

I sighed. "Do you really think so? You think I should talk to him?"

Hannah nodded her head.

"But what if I am wrong though? What if it was just a kiss and he really didn't mean anything by it?"

Hannah smiled. "Well there's really only one way to find out."

"I suppose."

We discussed the matter for just a bit more before the bell rang and Hannah left for her class and I headed towards mine. I went over in my head possible ways that I could talk to Julian. I was really nervous about what I should say exactly. I had half a mind to not do anything and just let it go but I was also dying with curiosity about what had happened that night and if Julian indeed did like me. What could be done?