Post kiss

Driving back to campus, Mark was a little quiet. He still felt his heart beating from the kiss.

What was going on? It was still just a kiss, nothing he should be overthinking.

He kept taking glances over at Jess in the passenger seat who smirked back at him every time he did. There was just something about her, the sexual side of her was obvious but that fun loving side was something he was **** to see more of.

“Am I just too hot that you have to keep looking at me instead of the road?” she asked him eventually, a very cheeky smile on her face.

“Sorry,” he muttered, realising he was losing focus on the road, “I was just.. I was just thinking about that kiss.”

“You liked it huh?”

“I mean… yeah, it was different, that’s for sure,” he told her, “It wasn’t like any other kiss we’ve had.”

“So what did it mean to you then?” Jess asked him.

“I don’t know, what did it mean to you?”

She laughed, “No I asked you first, you tell me.”

Mark smirked, trying to think about how he should answer this, “Well… it was just kind of special.”

He couldn’t help but laugh a little which set Jess off too, he felt a little embarrassed to describe it that way with the way things were between them. They were always great friends with a lot of sexual chemistry and banter, but never anything serious.

“Special…” she said to herself while smiling.

There was another moment of quietness, just the sound of the car tyres travelling over the gravel road.

“You know I was really worried about you last night,” he eventually said, changing subject just slightly.

The mood almost shifted as he said that with Jess now suddenly looking a bit worried about where this was heading. She didn’t reply for long enough that Mark had to jump in and ask her about it.

“What did you take?” he pestered, “You were gone and whoever that guy was… he did not have your interests at heart, that’s for sure.”

“Are you trying to tell me who I can and can’t hang out with?” she half snapped back.

Mark shook his head as she said that, “No, that’s not what I’m saying… I’m just concerned for you, I had god damn Z telling me to watch you all night to make sure you woke up, I was so worried…”

“I’ve taken **** before Mark,” she replied, “God, we did some together one night, what are you so concerned about?.”

He was well aware of that, the morning after that, he finally had his first chance to sleep with Jess. But she was missing his point, she had never done anything to put herself in that dangerous of a position.

“Last night was different and both you and me know that,” he replied as he pulled up on the campus car park.

Mark turned the engine off and faced the brunette tease, “Is everything okay Jess?”

She couldn’t look him directly in the eye which is something she would always do. A dead giveaway.

“I’m just going through some things right now.”

“Well if you need to talk, I’m here, I’m always here,” Mark replied.

As she struggled to put her words together, Mark began to think about Christmas Eve when Jess called him. He thought something was off about her at the time but without her saying anything, he passed it off, not thinking enough about it.

“You wanted to tell me something on Christmas Eve, didn’t you?” he asked her.

She sighed before nodding.

It took her some time but eventually she began to explain to him about how her mother was dating a junkie and had chose him over her own daughter, forcing Jess out onto the streets. It was the reason she was now living with Tara.

“Oh my god Jess,” Mark said, shocked to here her story, “I’m so sorry, I wish I had have known, you could have stayed at my house.”

“It didn’t matter, you were on holidays,” she said.

“Yeah but if you need a safe place to stay, my parents would have been happy for you to stay there and I would have been back soon. I just wish there was something I could do.”

She shrugged, “There’s not, I’ve just got to move on. It’s just hard, I mean… my father left us when I was just a child… so me and mom have been independent women looking after each other for my entire life, but… now I feel like I can’t even speak to her.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that Jess, I really am. I just want you to be careful though,” Mark then said, putting a hand on her leg to comfort her, “I imagine it’s really tough for you right now but stay safe, you really did worry me last night.”

She smiled and slowly nodded.

As they jumped out of the car, Jess came round to the other side and fell into his arms. She hugged Mark tightly, letting her head rest on his chest, “Thanks Mark.”

Mark just held her tightly, rubbing her back softly, “You just better stay out of trouble missy,” he joked with her as they let go of their embrace.

She laughed, “Can say the same to you stud.”

It made a lot more sense to Mark now that she had spoken to him about her private life but it didn’t exactly explain the kiss. That would be something that he would think about for quite a while.