The 2nd Annual No-Kiss Blogfest: My favorite "almost" moment!

For Frankie's 2nd Annual No-Kiss Blogfest, I skimmed my bookshelf and knew EXACTLY which scene I wanted to post that epitomizes the rising, crushing, excruciating, longing tension that comes from when two characters get oh-so-close to kissing that you can just feel it ... and then ... they don't!

As a teen, I LOVED the 10-book Roswell High series by Melinda Metz (which inspired the TV show Roswell). I still re-read it once a year! My favorite romance in the series was between Maria (a human) and Michael (an alien who looks human and lives like any normal teen).

The post-TV-show cover from Pocket Books.

So Michael sees Maria as a cute, innocent friend, and has NO IDEA that Maria's madly in love with him. Silly, oblivious boy. But then in the third book, The Seeker, he starts realizing that maybe he's seeing her as something more.

In this scene, Maria's helping Michael show his younger foster brother, Dylan, what to expect at his first school dance. Poor guy has no idea what he's getting into --- and neither does Michael. :)

"You'll be fine," Michael told Dylan.

"But what about, you know, slow dancing?" Dylan asked.

"Even easier," Michael answered. "You don't even really have to shuffle your feet. You kind of just hold the girl and sway."

"But"--Dylan lowered his voice, sounding embarrassed--"but where ... where are you supposed to hold her?"

Maria changed CDs and a slow song started up. [...] She stepped up to Michael. "You can use me to demonstrate."

He didn't want to touch her now. Not with all those thoughts about her wet shirt filling his brain. But he couldn't think of a way out of it.

"There are a couple places your hands can go. I usually put mine here," Michael told Dylan. He positioned his hands in the curve of Maria's waist.

"A good choice," Maria said. "The girl might do something like this." She linked her hands behind Michael's neck.

This felt ... pretty nice. It didn't feel all wrong and awkward the way he thought it would.

"Is that how far away I should be?" Dylan asked. Any second Michael expected him to pull out some paper and start taking notes.

"Probably to start," Maria said. "But there are signals that a girl wouldn't mind being held  a little closer. Like she might stare into your eyes."

Maria looked up at Michael. Man, her eyes were blue. And she always smelled so good.

[...]

"Or she might move her arms around your waist." Maria demonstrated on Michael, and it continued to feel good. He kept waiting for the wave of but-this-is-the-girl-who's-like-my-little-sister feeling to sweep over him. But it didn't come.

The original cover from Archway Books.
Yikes 90s book design!

"That's a pretty clear signal that she wants to be held closer," Maria said. "Of course, some guys, like Michael, are kind of slow. They miss the more subtle hints."

"I'm not missing any hints," Michael answered. He pulled her up against him and slid one of his hands up her back. She snuggled closer, resting her cheek against his chest. That little-sister feeling still didn't come.

"So that's it?" Dylan asked.

"That's it," Michael answered. He started to pull away, but Maria tightened her arms around him.

"There is the kissing thing," Maria said. She lifted her head and stared up at Michael again.

"The kissing thing?" Dylan repeated in horror.

"Yeah, sometimes during a slow dance people kiss," Maria said.

Michael's eyes drifted down to her lips. The color of them reminded him of raspberries. He wondered how they would taste.

But kissing was a whole different deal than dancing. Dancing was kind of borderline. You could be friends and dance together. But if you started kissing, you crossed the border from being friends into ... something else.

"I think you've learned enough for one night," Michael told Dylan.

Ok, all together now: OMG KISS HER!!!!!!!!

Whew!

Hope you guys loved that one as much as I do. And if you're interested in something original, here's a LINK to my No-Kiss entry from last year, which was inspired by midnight kisses (or almost kisses) on New Year's Eve!

Now head on over to Frankie Writes for the full list of other No-Kiss participants, and get your no-kiss on!
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