7Between You, Me, and the Night
Chapter 1: Nate and Dana
Summary: Dana and Nate's first kiss.
Side note: I really liked this couple and I wish they would have kissed, but I figured the wouldn't so I wrote this!
Recalling the moment years later was easy because it was engrained in his brain forever. It didn't matter how old he got, whether they were together or not (because they did break up a few times later down the road, once for a few years, but they always came back to each other) because that moment was one of the happiest of his life.
It was right after he got off stage. He was still pumped from his performance and couldn't wait to find out who had won. His competitive side was getting the best of him, and he wanted to win but he wouldn't mind so terribly if he lost, because that would mean Dana had won.
Everyone was talking. Barron and Peggy were laughing and smiling together, Shane and Mitchie had disappeared for a minute, Caitlyn and Sander were flirting, and Kevin was telling the Junior Rockers how amazing they were and how good they did. He walked off to find somewhere quieter. He liked being with people but at the same time he didn't. There were a few too many people backstage and he didn't want to come down from his high yet and getting stressed wouldn't help keep him happy.
He didn't wander too far, just far enough. He stared out at all the millions of stars. Nate wished that he lived in the country. Nate loved the stars. Maybe he could talk his parents into letting him buy a house out in the country. He knew they would like it for sure, but he wanted one more than anything.
"Hey there," a comforting voice said, settling down next to him and slipping a hand through his. He smiled into the beautiful face of Dana. "You guys were amazing. Like, really amazing. I'm honestly worried my camp isn't going to win," she told him.
"Yeah right," he said. She smiled but didn't say anything against it.
"So…you've been telling me so much, I feel I haven't told you enough," she said.
"Really?"
"Really. So…um…I hate bananas. I think they're really gross and disgusting. I'm an adrenaline junkie. I love roller coasters so much that my friends are actually worried for my sanity when I go to amusement parks…um…oh, I love mustard. So much. I put it on everything, including fries," she started. He smiled at what she said. "I love jazz music. I could listen to jazz all day, I think it is freakin' amazing. I can't ride a bike and please don't ask why because it's embarrassing," she rushed. He smiled again. She was just as weird as he was. "I'm a control freak. I'm very assertive and…very competitive. Psycholy and kind of scarily so." Competitive? Interesting…
"I'm deathly afraid of jelly fish," he said. She chuckled.
"Why?"
"Have you seen Finding Nemo? Those jelly fish were evil! They almost killed Dory and Marlin!" Nate reminded her.
"That was a cartoon!"
"Maybe not. Maybe there actually was a clown fish named Marlin who was searching for his son Nemo. You never know. Those jelly fish could have killed that poor clown fish and he never would have found his son and we never would have gotten an amazing movie out of it," Nate insisted. She laughed. He decided he liked her laugh. It wasn't tinkly, like a lot of girls he knew. It was actually more of a snort and then a low chuckle. He had this feeling that she was embarrassed by it (at least by the snort) but he couldn't get enough of it.
"You're cute," Dana said. His stomach did about a million back flips. She looked into his eyes, a lot like she had done a million times before. Every time she did that, he thought she was going to kiss him but her father would always show up. Nate sent a silent prayer up to God that He would let this moment last at least a little longer. Dana leaned in closer, so close that Nate could count every one of her long, beautiful eyelashes. Nate leaned in a bit as well, so close, so close to her perfect lips with her beautiful, red mouth just begging to be kissed, so close and –
"DANA! Where are you? The results will be up in two minutes!" her father called.
Nate's heart landed somewhere in his feet. Dana pulled back with an angry sigh.
"I've got to go," she said sadly, getting up. He got up as well. She started to walk away then stopped.
"Everything okay?" he asked. She turned around to look at him, then back where her father's voice had come, then back at him.
"Ah, screw it. He's gonna have to find out eventually," she said.
"What do you – "
Suddenly, her lips crashed against his. He was caught by surprise at first and didn't react, couldn't react because every thought he had ever had had just left his brain. Dana didn't give up though, a fact that he had learned early on, a fact that she proved now because she kept kissing him, kept her lips against his. He finally regained enough sense to realize that the girl he had been obsessing over the past summer was finally kissing him and returned it. Dana snaked her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss before Nate even realized what was going on yet again. He wrapped his arms around her waist, marveling at how small she was for such an assertive person.
Her tongue crashed against his at first, both of them fighting for dominance until he finally gave in and let her win (as he would do often later in his life). They danced together, seemed to mold together perfectly, her body curving in all the right places to fit against his as they kissed. His hands pulled at the hem of her shirt, asking for permission. She answered by taking his hand and slipping under her shirt. She certainly didn't do anything half way, Nate mused as Dana's hand slipped up his shirt. The other stayed around his neck, playing his hair.
Nate had never felt so much at once, never been so aware. His hands, which were usually so calloused and rough and unfeeling because of his constant guitar work felt like the nerve endings on them had been set on fire. He could feel every little thing, every little bump and valley on Dana's skin. His heart was beating faster by the second, so fast he was afraid he might burst. He could feel her moving with him, wanting to go farther but not daring to under the circumstances. Mostly, he could feel her hands roaming over his back. They were so soft, so warm against his cold skin. They wandered and roamed, dipped and skimmed. When they moved to his chest, up, around, in circles, teasing him, it was almost too much to take. Nate knew, on some level, that they should stop but he couldn't, he just couldn't.
Until he had to.
"Dana! 30 seconds!" her father yelled. Dana finally pulled back, breathing heavy.
"I should go," she said, her voice breathless.
"Um…" was all he could muster at the moment. She smiled and bit her lip.
"I'll see you later Nate," she said. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. She kissed his cheek quickly, then sped off into the night.
He watched her go and thought about what had just happened. The he realized what he had (or hadn't) said afterward.
"Um?" he asked himself. "I'm an idiot."
But an idiot Dana seemed to care about.
At that moment, that was all he could ever hope to ask for.
So I'm always so afraid that I'll be really bad at make-out scenes (especially one as heated as this one) because I have limited experience with making out. Which means I have none. So I'm worried it sounds bad...ease my mind with a review?