Matty wasted no time crashing his lips against mine, moving them immediately. His eyes were closed, hands around my face, and he kept trying to get me to respond, but I couldn't. It was just so...bad.

Wow, this is probably the worst kiss I've ever had.

My eyes were open, and I could see the humored looks Oli and Naomi kept throwing me as I sat there and had to let Matty Ellington assault my face with his slobbery kisses for five more seconds. I didn't get it. What about this made the girls go crazy? It was like making out with a fish.

A sloppy, drunk fish.

That was out of water and thought my face was H20.

"Okay, that has to have been 7 seconds," I said, pushing Matty away while wiping my face off with the back of my hand.

When Reese nodded his head to confirm that it was, I got up and left, desperately needing a stronger drink. BudLight wasn't going to cut it.

Leaning against the kitchen counter, I downed a shot of whatever amber liquor I poured into my cup. Coughing at the burning sensation, along with the disgusting taste, I kept my eyes closed until the feeling went away and the taste of Matty was out of my memory.

It seemed to work, since I forgot why I was in a piss-poor mood...until my friends showed up to remind me.

"Oh my God, Bee!" Oli cackled, slapping his knee while he held onto Naomi for balance. It was funny watching her small frame try to keep this gentle giant up, and I started to smile, until he mentioned, "Matty was making the most of those seven seconds, wasn't he!?"

Perfect timing, bud.

Glaring at him, I muttered, "No, but thanks for reminding."

"No? You mean you didn't like it?" Naomi questioned, genuinely looking confused as I gaped at her.

"What, are you crazy? Of course not. The boy doesn't know the difference between a set of lips and a set of nostrils," I shared, causing Oli to choke on his drink as he started to laugh again.

"Oh, dang," Naomi mumbled sadly, which made me look at her weirdly until I remembered she was completely hammered. "Well, let's dance!"

My biracial friend was honestly one of the cutest people I knew, with her big brown eyes and adorable little nose, but even her drunk cheering wasn't going to get me on that dance floor.

"Sorry, but I think I'm just gonna head home now," I shrugged, seeing on my phone that it was past eleven.

"What?" she whined, sticking her bottom lip out. "But, why? Are you not in the partying mood?"

"Honestly, after that kiss, the only thing I'm in the mood for is digging my own grave." Looking at Oli, I asked, "You good to look after her?"

Nodding his head, he answered, "Yeah. This'll be my last drink."

"Good. I can't wait to wake your hungover asses up in the morning," I teased as I left, squeezing through all of the sweaty bodies in my way to the exit.

The next morning, I woke up with the tiniest of headaches, and I knew the extra shot I had last night was to blame. Cringing at the reason for said shot, I grabbed my towel and phone before heading to the bathroom I shared with Brynn.

Walking past her room, I peeked, only to see she wasn't there. Listening more closely, I realized two voices were talking downstairs, one of them no doubt belonging to her. Paying it no mind, I walked the rest of the way down the hall and slipped into the bathroom.

Clicking on my Ed Sheeran playlist, I undressed to the sound of Galway Girl while the water warmed up before getting into the shower right as Ed reached the chorus.

Three songs later, I felt I had scrubbed any traces of Matthew Ellington off of my body and got out, drying off before going back to my room. Pulling on a grey pair of shorts with my red hoodie, I went downstairs, the smell of blueberry pancakes calling out to me like cocaine to a starving addict.

Don't do drugs, kids.

Anyway, I peered into the kitchen, seeing my dad at the stove, flipping the source of my salivating mouth.

"Morning, Dad! Did I mention how lucky I am to be your daughter?" I asked, smiling like an angel when he looked at me. "I mean, out of all the sperm racing to be your child, I won the honor."

Shaking his head in amusement, he placed a plate of fresh pancakes in front of me, kissing my forehead before turning the stove off and taking a seat on the couch in front of the tv.

I resisted the urge to ask him to change the channel since he did just make me pancakes, but I was literally dying the more I had to hear the monotonous voice of the newscaster. Being the good girl I was, I kept my complaints to myself, opting to pull out my phone and text my friends.

"...vandalism at the Kingsley Cemetery, just a handful of miles from downtown. A set of graves were defiled last week. Beer bottles littered the sight as well as various graffiti spray-painted on the tombstones. Local authorities are looking into..."

I knew they wouldn't be up just yet, considering how late they stayed out, so while I waited for their replies, I went on Instagram. My feed was flooded with pictures from last night, and I was pretty sure once some of those girls woke up and saw their posts with sober eyes, they'd be deleting the pictures faster than they uploaded them.

"...while Florida and Louisiana look to just miss Hurricane Lola's line of fire. Mild flooding and heavy rain is all to be expected. Georgia and..."

"Thank God," Dad sighed in relief as he stood up, carrying an empty mug to the sink. "No storm for us, kiddo."

"A hurricane?" I questioned, thinking I vaguely heard that word while I wasn't paying attention.

"Yup, supposedly a level 4 monster headed for the east coast. I thought for sure we'd have to evacuate, but apparently not," he shared, refilling his cup.

"Hmm, okay. Where's Brynn?" I asked, looking around. "I thought I heard her down here earlier."

"You did. She's getting ready now so I can drop her off at your mother's. Something about them going to see your grandmother. It was a spur of the moment thing they just decided this morning. Did you want to go, too? We can wait for you."

Thinking about it, I shook my head. I loved Granny Beatrice, but she was one overbearing lady. Always wanting to talk to you, and I mean always. Plus, she was more into things Brynn related to—shopping, shopping, and shopping. If I tried to bring up my surfing or swimming, she just looked at me confused and mentioned how bad all the chlorine was for my hair.

Me explaining that there's no chlorine in the beach water did nothing.

"Nah, I'll go next time," I answered, taking another forkful of pancakes into my mouth.

"You sure? You never know when old Beatrice will finally kick the bucket."

"Dad!" I gasped, not caring that there was still food in my mouth.

Shrugging his shoulders, he defended, "What? It's not like she was an angel of an in-law. That woman hated every second I was married to your mother."

It was silent for a second, until we both burst into laughter.

"Dad! I'm ready!" Brynn shouted as she ran down the steps. "Oh, morning, sis! Didn't know you dragged your big head out of bed already."

"My big head had to be up to give my baby sister a smooch before she left me for the weekend," I retorted, watching the flash of horror in her brown eyes as I stood out of my chair.

"Bryce, don't you dare," she warned, backing up with her manicured finger pointing at me.

Smirking, I broke into a sprint, chasing her all around the room until succesfully catching her and tackling her onto the couch. If her legs weren't significantly larger than mine, I would have caught her sooner.

Peppering sticky kisses all over her face, I reveled in her whines and let her push me off of her.

"Ew! You've got syrup lips!"

Winking at her, I went back over to the kitchen, spotting our dad watching us with amused eyes.

"Okay, Bryce, I'll see you when I get home from work," he said, ruffling my hair as he opened the front door, letting a frustrated Brynn leave first before following after. "Lock up, kiddo."

Doing as he said, I locked the door and then finished my breakfast. With that done, I went back into my room and thought about what I wanted to do today. I was settling on the idea of doing absolutely nothing, when one of my friends finally decided to respond to me.

Answering my phone, I spoke loud and obnoxiously, "Good morning, Naomi!"

"I hate you," she groaned back, the sound of running water in the background on her end.

"I love you, too. Anyway, now that I have you sober, you have to tell me what's going on with you and Cooper," I pried.

"Cooper? There's nothing going on between us. Why?! Did he say there was?!"

Silly girl, you couldn't hide your interest in him from a blind man.

"No, he didn't but—"

I was interrupted by a loud honk coming from outside. Walking over to my window, I peeked through my curtains, spotting the source of the neighborhood disturbance.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," I mumbled.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Bryce?"

"Guess who just pulled up next door?" I baited, waiting for her to respond.

"Who?"

"Cooper. It looks like he brought Sean with him, too."

Sean was what you would call the forth member of Matty's little crew. It was mainly just Matty, Reese, and Cooper that hung out, but every so often, you'd see their Korean friend, Sean, join them on nights out or at school. Sean was a little too responsible for them sometimes which was probably why he wasn't as close.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," I declared, jogging downstairs.

"Talk to him about what?" Naomi questioned, sounding nervous.

"Oh nothing," I teased.

"Bryce—"

"Trust me, Naomi. When I'm done, you just might have yourself that 'fine brotha' as you like to refer to him," I chuckled, while she sighed.

"Okay, just don't embarrass me, please."

"Wouldn't dream of it, babe," I promised, hanging up as I walked up the driveway of the Ellington's residence.

"Aye, Cooper!" I shouted, causing him to turn around, not so surprised to see me. I did live next door, after all.

"Bryce," he smiled politely, although I didn't miss the confused furrow of his brows. "You looking for...Matty?"

"Ew, God no," I said. "I saw you through my window and wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, uh...I don't know if—"

"About Naomi," I clarified, causing his eyes to widen.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "What about her?"

Mmhm, go ahead and try to act cool. I can already tell you like her, idiot.

"Well, I saw you guys at the party. You didn't seem upset about the bottle landing on her. I guess I was wondering if that was because you actually wanted it to," I voiced, watching as he avoided holding eye contact. "Come on, you can tell me," I added on with a sweet smile.

When he opened his mouth to speak, I was expecting a confession, but instead, it sounding like he was angry. He also sounded disturbingly similar to...

"Bryce!"

Ughhhh, Matty.

"We'll continue this when 'Kiss From Hellington' isn't around," I said to Cooper, not caring if Matty heard.

He did.

"Woah, woah, woah! What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned, sounding offended.

Looking bored, I answered, "It means you kiss like drooling bulldog."

Hardening his gaze, while Cooper and Sean unashamedly laughed, Matty took a step closer to me. I noticed the little twitch in his jaw.

"Don't lie, Bryce."

"I'm not," I scoffed. "Award for worst kisser goes to," I held out, patting my thighs to mimick a drumroll. "Matty!"

At that, Cooper leaned onto his car for support, cackling, and Matty looked a mixture of mortified and furious.

"You know what—"

"Save it, Fish Lips," I rudely interrupted, holding my hand up like a stop sign. "I came to talk to your friend, not you."

Already walking away, I turned back to wave, loving how all it did was piss Matty off even more.

Was it the kiss you expected?
I sincerely doubt it 😉 BET YOU WERE EXPECTING SOMETHING MORE CLICHÉ 😂😂😂

Thoughts on my trickery? 🙂

Is Matty really that bad at the art of the lip-tango?