“Apologize?” she wondered. “You?”
“I was probably with the guys when that happened.”
“That’s no excuse,” she scolded him.
“I know,” he looked down at his feet and picked at some grass around his sneakers.
“I’m not saying it to make you feel bad,” she explained, “but you really come off as an asshole.”
“That’s not my intention.”
“Then what is your intention?”
“I guess I just want everyone to respect me.”
“Funny way of trying to gain respect,” she snorted.
“I don’t want anyone to know that I’m hurt or sad, when I feel like that. I want everyone to always see me as the winner, never a loser.”
“What’s wrong with being a loser?” she asked.
“Are you serious?” he frowned.
“Totally,” she nodded.
“Who’d ever want to be a loser?”
“I’m a loser,” Mina gave a dismissive half-shrug. “I actually value the experience of not getting what I want immediately.”
“How do you do that?”
“Well, it means I didn’t do something the way I was supposed to. I need to learn something new and that’s what we all need to do. But, you, and people like you, have this weird idea that you’re God’s gift to Earth and you know everything. Like, you don’t need to learn anything new and that’s not true. We’re all here to learn and one of the best, most effective ways to learn is from your mistakes.”
He listened to her intently and she could see in his eyes that he was warming up to the idea.
“I guess no one ever told me that version,” he admitted. “The way you put it, it really doesn’t suck to be a loser.”
“That’s the spirit,” she laughed, “and besides, guys like you could never be losers.”
“Guys like me?”
His eyes lit up, realizing she’d just handed him a compliment, without even realizing.
“Well, you know…” she was a little confused and tried to get out of it, but tough luck. He wasn’t going to let her.
“No, I don’t,” he grinned, “tell me.”
“Um, I… you know… well…”
Instead of replying, he helped her by cupping her chin with his fingers, turning her to face him and then pressing his lips against hers. Mina closed her eyes, and inside her mind, she could see fireworks. She could hear fireworks. All around them, the woods were still. The moon was shining as mightily as it could and stars flickered. Mina’s head was spinning, as his lips simply lay there on top of hers - a perfect fit.
There was no tongue, even though she was expecting it. When he pulled back a second later, she felt almost cheated that there was no French kissing, but then, she realized that this was all the more special.
“Sorry…” he smiled. “You were just so adorable, I had to do that.”
She couldn’t help smiling, too. At the same time though, she was angry with herself for liking it so much, for kissing him back. That wasn’t the plan, at least it wasn’t hers.