The problem with Cora and boys is that she doesn't exactly know what the cue is to push things from two people who like each other to two people who like each other, and are both aware of that fact, and who maybe casually make out every once in a while.
Or something.
It's the kind of feeling that makes her feel inadequate as a teenage girl because she's pretty sure that this is something that girls like Lydia and Faye mastered freshman year and when she was supposed to be in her freshman year of high school, she ... had other priorities. She would be lying if there weren't moments where she wishes those priorities were different so that she would know the answers to these questions and not feel like an idiot for having to ask him.
There's also a part of her that tells her that she shouldn't want this, because Peter is her friend. Her good friend. The kind of friend that she hasn't really had and the pragmatic side of her says not to risk it. Because if she takes the risk and she's wrong, she loses him, loses this thing between them that makes everything else easy, and she can't figure out if that will hurt more than not trying at all.
The problem is, the teenage girl part of her, the one with no logic and no remorse makes her feel like if she doesn't just kiss him sometimes, that could kill her. The need makes her feel like she can't breathe and it's only gotten worse the more time she's spent with him. It's gotten to the point where it's all she thinks about when she's with him which is distracting because she should be paying attention to what they're doing and what he's saying, because Peter can get into the kind of rambles where if you get distracted for two seconds you could miss an entire tangent and Cora doesn't want to.
She likes his tangents.
(He also never seems to catch that her attention somehow always drifts down to his lips when he talks. Honestly, when he's talking is when she thinks about kissing him the most which seems pathetic and obvious and being a teenage girl sucks.)
She could ask Faye or Sarah for advice, see what they would do in this situation because they both have more experience with boys than she does, but she doesn't. Vocalizing it makes it real and there's still that part of her that's terrified of rejection, one way or another. She could just talk to him about it, like a normal person, but she can't do that either, because she can never figure out how to start.
Cora isn't really a person for words anyway. She's impulsive and does before she thinks, so in the end, that's what she does. He's talking about a movie or something with genetics - she lost track somewhere in the middle - and she moves before she can think about it too much, her hands coming to rest against his chest for balance, closes her eyes, and -
- her forehead collides with his nose. She's really supposed to be more coordinated than that.
The silence that follows is deafening, Peter pulling back just slightly, looking at her in confusion, his eyes scanning her face as though he's trying to see what she can't manage to say. Her cheeks feel like they're on fire and she can't hold his gaze, glancing away first before starting to pull away, but his hand catches her wrist and holds her in place.
"Wait."
Her eyes go back to him again, equally confused, but she lets him pull her back in, his hands moving to her waist. He nudges her in gently, not stopping until her hands were back against his chest again, lingering so closely in her space that she can't misinterpret it any other way. Her eyes look up at him, darting between his eyes and his lips, but he doesn't come the rest of the way and kiss her. She still gets to take the initiative and for some reason, that endears her to the moment even more. She takes a breath, takes her time, and slowly - carefully - leans in to kiss him again.
It only takes a second for him to kiss her back. She's never been so relieved to have a risk pay off.
cora/peter | (could have been) teleios | 741 words
Or something.
It's the kind of feeling that makes her feel inadequate as a teenage girl because she's pretty sure that this is something that girls like Lydia and Faye mastered freshman year and when she was supposed to be in her freshman year of high school, she ... had other priorities. She would be lying if there weren't moments where she wishes those priorities were different so that she would know the answers to these questions and not feel like an idiot for having to ask him.
There's also a part of her that tells her that she shouldn't want this, because Peter is her friend. Her good friend. The kind of friend that she hasn't really had and the pragmatic side of her says not to risk it. Because if she takes the risk and she's wrong, she loses him, loses this thing between them that makes everything else easy, and she can't figure out if that will hurt more than not trying at all.
The problem is, the teenage girl part of her, the one with no logic and no remorse makes her feel like if she doesn't just kiss him sometimes, that could kill her. The need makes her feel like she can't breathe and it's only gotten worse the more time she's spent with him. It's gotten to the point where it's all she thinks about when she's with him which is distracting because she should be paying attention to what they're doing and what he's saying, because Peter can get into the kind of rambles where if you get distracted for two seconds you could miss an entire tangent and Cora doesn't want to.
She likes his tangents.
(He also never seems to catch that her attention somehow always drifts down to his lips when he talks. Honestly, when he's talking is when she thinks about kissing him the most which seems pathetic and obvious and being a teenage girl sucks.)
She could ask Faye or Sarah for advice, see what they would do in this situation because they both have more experience with boys than she does, but she doesn't. Vocalizing it makes it real and there's still that part of her that's terrified of rejection, one way or another. She could just talk to him about it, like a normal person, but she can't do that either, because she can never figure out how to start.
Cora isn't really a person for words anyway. She's impulsive and does before she thinks, so in the end, that's what she does. He's talking about a movie or something with genetics - she lost track somewhere in the middle - and she moves before she can think about it too much, her hands coming to rest against his chest for balance, closes her eyes, and -
- her forehead collides with his nose. She's really supposed to be more coordinated than that.
The silence that follows is deafening, Peter pulling back just slightly, looking at her in confusion, his eyes scanning her face as though he's trying to see what she can't manage to say. Her cheeks feel like they're on fire and she can't hold his gaze, glancing away first before starting to pull away, but his hand catches her wrist and holds her in place.
"Wait."
Her eyes go back to him again, equally confused, but she lets him pull her back in, his hands moving to her waist. He nudges her in gently, not stopping until her hands were back against his chest again, lingering so closely in her space that she can't misinterpret it any other way. Her eyes look up at him, darting between his eyes and his lips, but he doesn't come the rest of the way and kiss her. She still gets to take the initiative and for some reason, that endears her to the moment even more. She takes a breath, takes her time, and slowly - carefully - leans in to kiss him again.
It only takes a second for him to kiss her back. She's never been so relieved to have a risk pay off.