Someone once told me, “The longer you wait, the tougher it will be.”

I scoffed at the words, not understanding the reason for those words because I had always acted on impulse. Call it a flaw of mine.

I couldn’t quite remember who it was that said those words that would be going throughout my mind for days, until I was finally at this moment.

You don’t quite know what I’m talking about, do you? Well, let me backtrack a bit.

“Oh, my God, he is so cute,” my friend, Rebecca Desson, squealed. “I’m so glad you two are finally together.”

I managed a smile. “Yeah, he’s cool.”

“Cool?” Rebecca said while applying lip gloss. “He is beyond cool. I could totally sense the sexual chemistry between you too.”

I sputtered and sprayed bits of apple juice across our table. “What?”

Rebecca stared at me as if I ripped off my clothes and started dancing. “That was disgusting, Kira.”

I gaped at Rebecca. So far, I had noticed none of the “sexual chemistry” she so casually mentioned.

“Ooh, he’s coming here!” Rebecca waved to my boyfriend, Finn Peyton, and quickly said, “There’s a bit of gravy on your chin.”

I wiped it off and had the urge to smear it on her eighty dollar jeans.

“Hey, baby,” Finn pulled me into a hug and I patted his back awkwardly. Rebecca shot me a look that said something along the lines of, “Love him back or we won’t be able to double date for Prom which will ruin all my plans! Plus, he’s cute and you’re cute and you guys will look extra cute together!”

Rebecca’s glares always packed a punch.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Finn was asking me.

Still on? What was I? A lightbulb?

“Yeah, the party…” Ugh, parties. “You’re picking me up at seven, right?”

“Yeah,” Finn smiled and his face started moving closer to mine and I thought with a panic, ‘Oh, my God, he’s going to kiss me!’ when Rebecca’s boyfriend, Carter Munoz, came up to us and Finn pulled away without kissing me.

“Hey, Carson,” Carter nodded to me. He always referred to people by their last names.

“Hey, Carter,” I greeted.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and I grabbed my backpack to leave for home. Seniors were allowed to leave after lunch if they had a zero period. Zero periods were pains in the neck, but at least I could go home and sleep.

I turned back, waiting for Rebecca and saw her attempting to shove her tongue down Carter’s throat. Ew.

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at seven then,” Finn’s arm snaked around my waist and he planted one on my lips. He grinned triumphantly, mistaking my stunned expression for something positive.

“All right, let’s go,” Rebecca smiled widely.

I gritted my teeth and didn’t speak the whole time when I drove her to her house until I came home. I ran to my bedroom, covered my face with my pillow, and screamed at the top of my lungs.

At 7:23 P.M., Rebecca, Carter, Finn, and I were at the huge two-story house on the rich side of town. Apparently, the kid’s parents were out of town.

“Why are we even here?” I muttered to Rebecca—well, as loudly as I could mutter since the music was deafening. I didn’t know anyone here besides the people I came with.

Rebecca glared at me and said heatedly, “Jesus, why don’t you try loosening up for once? You’re such a downer.”

My mouth dropped down as she walked away. Finn and Carter had walked off without me and I stalked out of the house and found myself alone in the backyard. The pool lights were on and I slowly walked to the edge of the pool, cautiously making sure that no one was going skinny dipping. Although it was a cold night, the moon was bright and round and I sighed nostalgically at the sight. I rolled up my jeans and put my feet in the pool.

I sighed again—the pool was heated.

“He’s liked you for so long,” Rebecca informed me.

“Really?” I inquired back eagerly.

I blinked and the voices fell away. Everything was so different. Finn was nothing like I expected. All the things I read about when a girl was in love… wasn’t happening at all with me. Was I defective or something?

“Not so far as I could tell,” a voice said.

I turned my head and saw a tall guy.

“Mind if I sit?” he asked.

I shook my head and then said, “You scared me. I didn’t know you were there… or that I was talking aloud.”

He kept his shoes on and lay on the cement, with his hands behind his head, staring at the stars.

I studied him, seeing his light colored eyes and his longish but not really dark hair.

“The name’s David,” he said.

“Kira.”

“Pretty,” he commented. “So why were you talking to yourself?”

I blushed. “I’ve just been having some problems with my… friends.”

He nodded. “Ah, what kind of problems?”

“My friend, Rebecca, pretty much forced me to be with my boyfriend although I didn’t like him at all once I got to know him.” I gasped and clamped my hands over my mouth. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

He sat up and smiled. “Don’t worry; it’s my fault, not yours. I practically have ‘I’m a good listener’ stamped across my forehead.”

I bit my lip, willing myself not to open my mouth around him.

“You know, I don’t bite,” David reached out and tapped my hand and we both jumped from the shock. We stared at each other and I was speechless.

“That was…” David started.

“Weird,” I finished in a shaky voice.

I shivered and tears sprung to my eyes. What was I doing here? Outside all alone with a really cute guy I didn’t know? I’m such a horrible girlfriend; I shouldn’t be doing this at all.

I jumped to my feet and grabbed my shoes. “Look,” I said, “I’ve got to go find my boyfriend.”

“Wait.” David was on his feet too, walking towards me. “Kira.”

“No,” I whispered, backing away.

He stopped. But so did I. After a few seconds, he slowly started walking towards me and with a slowness that not even Finn had ever managed, David had tilted my chin and his lips brushed against mine. Yet, it was enough for our souls to know. It was enough for us to know.

“I’ll need to see you again,” David said softly.

Need, he had said. As if he would die if he never saw me again. Nonetheless, I had a feeling he would die if that happened.

“Yes,” I said, softly touching his neck.

Half of me was saying, “Stop! Run back to Finn now!” And my other half was screaming, “More, more, more!”

My pocket vibrated and we both looked down. I pulled it out and saw that I had a text message from Finn.

‘Hey, baby, Rebecca’s not feeling too well so we’re all heading back. Meet us at the car. Love, Finn.’

I put my phone back into my pocket and looked up at David. “I don’t usually act like this.”

“Well, good thing I always do.” After seeing my look of horror, he put on a grin and laughed “Only kidding.”

After that we just sort of stood there, each of us trying to figure the other out. The silence was comforting, the only ambience being some generic hip-hop song muffled behind the house walls.

Well, until the “silent” buzzing of my phone’s vibrator decided to butt in.

‘Hey, we’re kind of waiting at the car. Are you coming? Did you get lost? Should I come get you? Love, Finn.’

“God, he treats me like a lost puppy or something.” My hands grabbed at my mouth again as yet another embarrassing comment slipped past their lips.

But instead of a weird look, thoughts of ungratefulness, or any of the thousand other negative responses I expected, he did quite the opposite; He just laughed in agreement.

But just as I started to feel a little better, my thoughts returned to the message. What if he came on his own to find me? What if he saw me with a guy not even he knew?

“I… have to go.” I jumped to my feet and grabbed my shoes, ready to leave behind David and his freaky electric shocks.

“Wait!” he called out. “How will I ever see you again?”

I shook my head and ran out of there.

“Hey, where’d you go this whole time?” Finn had asked when I saw him.

I shrugged and got into the car, waiting for him to take me home.

Two days later, I was working at Hollister and my foot was tapping to the music and my eyelids were drooping pleasantly from the music that was blaring from the speakers when I felt someone tap my shoulders.

Can I just say how cliché my life would sound like if I turned around and saw David?

But that was what happened and I guess the big guy upstairs threw out cliché’s sparingly or something.

“What do we have here?” David smiled at me.

I swallowed my yell of excitement and said, “Did you want something?”

“I want you,” he smiled.

I narrowed my eyebrows and replied, “I have a boyfriend.”

“You mean the one you have no feelings for at all?” David shot back at me.

“You can’t use that against me!” I shouted.

“Oh, but, Kira, I just did.” Then he put his hands around my waist and kissed me. If this was another moment, then fireworks would have exploded in the dimly lit room and the song that was playing would have been some kind of cheesy punk song.

But it wasn’t, and I was still being kissed.

Fast forward to the next two weeks. Don’t worry, you’re not missing much. Unless you wanted to know more about how I was sneaking around with David behind Finn’s back. I know it was the wrong thing to do but… I felt things for David that I had never felt for anyone else. I really and truly had fallen in love with David. So why was I still with Finn?

I had just beaten Finn at Guitar Hero for the third time when he said, “You’re playing it wrong.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped. Lately, I’ve been really aggravated with Finn and all his little flaws.

“Your fingers, they aren’t holding the guitar correctly,” he commented.

I raised an eyebrow. “Thanks for bringing this up after I beat you for the last three times.”

Finn turned a bit red and muttered, “I’m just saying.”

I turned on him. “You have too many sayings. So why don’t you just admit that you think you’re a know-it-all smartass?”

“I don’t think I’m a smartass,” Finn argued.

“Then why don’t you stop acting like one?!” I screamed at him.

He said nothing and wordlessly got his keys and left my house.

I grabbed my cell phone and called David.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey, Kira, what’s going on?” David asked.

“I got into a fight with Finn,” I mumbled.

“Oh.” There was silence on his end and I knew we were both thinking the same thing: Why was I still with him in the first place? “Do you want me to come over?”

“Please,” I whispered.

The instant David arrived, he gave me a kiss that even the little hairs on my arm felt.

“So what’s the problem?” David asked.

The silence came between us and I didn’t say anything. He and I tried to avoid talking about Finn as often as possible. The longer I wait, the tougher it will be.

“You got that right,” David muttered.

I glanced at him. “You heard me again?”

He rolled his eyes. “I know you, Kira.” He shifted for a moment, holding my hand and gently rubbing his thumb against my hand. “I don’t want to push this on you Kira but… why are you still with him?”

I winced. Why was I still with him? “It’s not as easy as you say, David, it’s hard breaking up with someone.”

He nodded. “I know and I also know that I won’t do something stupid like make you choose between me and him. But I hate hearing you sound incredibly miserable whenever you talk to me and when I see you, you look all happy.”

I stared at David. Did he just say that he hated seeing me really happy when I was around him?

“Don’t get me wrong!” David protested. “I love seeing you seeing me. It’s just… what was it? The longer you wait, the tougher it will get.”

“Why are you so sure I’m going to choose you, David?” I asked.

He tilted his head and kissed me before answering, “I know you, remember?”

Here I am walking towards Finn. I’m going to tell him that I don’t want to be with him anymore and accept the consequences that go with it. I’m a bit ashamed that I was sneaking around in the first place and even more embarrassed that I put it off for so long but hey…

I’m a teenager—we procrastinate; in fact, we’re famous for it.

Someone once told me, “The longer you wait, the tougher it will be.”

“Hey, Finn, can we talk?”