Lessons

Kyle felt like he is going to corrupt innocent babies right now. This was supposed to be dinner, not a kissing lesson.

"So, how did it feel like, you ask?" Kyle said, rubbing his chin, "Strange at first. When .. *cough* ... her tongue touched mine, it felt like ... oh, I don't know. It's hard to describe. Wet jelly? A rather harder texture of jelly though."

Kay and the others tried to imagine it but somehow, couldn't. Kyle took up a bottle of cola and started drinking straight from the bottle.

"But doesn't the tongue get scrapped by the teeth as it goes in?" Kay asked, "Or did you open your mouth widely so it could go in?"

Kyle got into another coughing fit, tears coming out of his eyes and feeling the gas go up his nose. He really should NOT drink when she's asking questions like these.

Kay continued asking relentlessly, "So is it just tongues touching? It felt strange at first but got better? What?"

Kyle put up his hands and said, "I don't know! I pulled back immediately. It was getting too intense and I didn't want her to continue having the wrong idea."

That part was also true. In fact, they broke up almost immediately as the guy kept wanting to be intimate and even wanted to go all the way. She found out much later that he never really had any feelings for her. Instead, he knew that she had a crush on him and he thought she would be an 'easy target'.

[I'll tell you more in detail privately, okay? Please stop with such questions, Kay. I can't be too detailed here.]

[Okay. Full details, okay?]

[Of course. You just need to ask]

Then Xing Han asked, "And what about your nose? And teeth? How didn't you smash them together? Like ... whooo BAM!"

Kyle groaned and rubbed his temples. He thought it would stop since Kay agreed to stop asking.

"Well, Xing Han, you're kissing with your lips, not eating. Teeth wouldn't clash unless you're smashing your face right to her face. Also, remember that it's a kiss, not smashing two lips together."

"You put both of your hands here," Kyle said as he placed each hand on the corresponding side of Kay's face. The thumb was vertical to the ear and his other four fingers were wrapped around the nape of Kay's neck.

"This way, you can control the speed of when your faces get together. You tilt her head a bit to your left as you tilt your head to the right when you go down for the kiss," Kyle explained as he demonstated but not actually going very close to Kay's lips.

He then turned back to Xing Hand and ran his thumb over Kay's lower lip, saying, "You either kiss here," then ran his thumb over her upper lip, "or here".

Letting go, he then explained, "So it's either her bottom lip or upper lip will be inbetween your own lips, and you kiss gently so there is no danger of your teeth clashing if you do it right. Approach her slowly, and not like some speeding truck! Hold her face gently in your hands so you can judge the distance better."

After the demonstration, Kyle suddenly sat back up straight as he looked at their expressions when they looked at him. Wait. What did he just do?! Kyle groaned internally. The Mum Kylie had kicked in strongly and he unconsciously started into the teaching mode.

"You ... sound very experienced," Beatrice said, breaking the sudden silence. Then her eyes went wide open, "Do you mean to say that you continued kissing the girl? Even when you didn't have any feelings for her?"

Kyle shrugged and looked at her sheepishly, "It wasn't one of my proudest moments, I admit. In my defence, she kissed me first - and I am a normal hot-blooded guy when someone flings themselves at you like that."

"Experience, huh," Xing Han said with a smile. He leaned down closer to Kyle, his hand drapped over Kyle's shoulder as he asked, "So just how long did you kiss her for?"

Just then, the buzzer started beeping, indicating that one of their food was ready. Kyle immediately picked it up and jumped up, running away while saying, "I got this!!"

"HEY! NO FAIR!" Xing Han shouted and ran after Kyle.

Beatrice looked at Kyle going off, her face conflicted.

"Because of that experience, Kyle is never alone with any girl now," Kay said softly, but loud enough for Beatrice to hear, "He may fool about and flirt outrageously, but he doesn't touch any girl. Did you notice?"

Of course, while it was true that Kyle didn't touch girls indiscriminately, it wasn't due to that incident. Rather, he truly did not want them to have the wrong idea. He knew the sort of impact he had on people and he chose the safest route.

Beatrice was about to retort when she thought back and realised that Kay was right. Other than Kay, she had never seen Kyle initiate any contact with any girl. He may come close physically, but he doesn't have any skin contact.

"I don't want you to have the wrong impression of my brother," Kay explained, "I realise my question to him would reveal private matters, but you're one of us now and I trust you. I was just too curious when I saw a couple's PDA earlier."

Beatrice didn't answer, as she didn't really know what to say. She was touched when Kay said that she trusted her.

The rest of dinner went by uneventfully, with Kyle and Xing Han bringing in the food that was ordered earlier. The 'kissing lessons' were finally put to rest, much to Kyle's relief and the talk settled on normal, mundane everyday stuff. Beatrice found herself loosening up and warming up to the atmosphere of the group. Having friends and being part of a group felt nice.

After dinner was over, Kyle called for a taxi. When Beatrice realised that it was for her, she refused adamantly but Kyle shushed her.

"I promised your mum that I'd make sure you get home safely," Kyle said, "Sam, you don't mind going with her to her house before going home, do you?"

Sam shrugged, indicating his agreement in the matter, "It's only natural. Can't be too careful."

"What do you mean?" Beatrice asked in puzzlement.

"You're a girl, alone, at night in a taxi. Better safe than sorry," Kyle explained.

Beatrice looked at him in amazement, "Gosh, Kyle. You sound like an old woman like that. Really?"

The taxi came and Kyle talked to the driver for a while and then gave him some money.

"Yes, Beatrice. Really. No arguments and get in. I've already paid so it'll just be a waste," Kyle said.

Beatrice sighed in resignation, "Fine." She thought his Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde persona was bad enough, now she had to add 'old woman' to the mix. He's such a weird person with all sorts of seemingly different personalities. Perhaps he has multiple personality disorder?!

Sam got in the taxi with her and she was suddenly worried. Not about the ride, but at the end of the ride. What would her parents think? She had to make sure that Sam stayed in the taxi when she got out. Beatrice was pretty sure that her parents would be waiting for her to come home so she had to keep him away in order to avoid any misunderstandings.

The bus ride would have taken 30 minutes but by taxi, it was only 10 minutes. They didn't talk, both of them just quietly contemplating and in their own thoughts. Beatrice was looking out the window, watching the scenery pass by.

When the taxi stopped, Beatrice turned to Sam and said, "Thanks. See you at school on Monday."

Sam nodded and she also thanked the taxi driver as she quickly got out of the car. It wasn't that late yet, but it was already dark. The light on her porch was on and she noticed the curtains to the window near the door had moved slightly.

It was worse than she thought. She knew that her parents would be waiting for her but she didn't think they would be at the window waiting! It was most likely her mother, so Beatrice quickly headed to her front gate.

Her heart went to her throat when she heard the taxi door slamming behind her. She turned, aghast and saw that Sam had also come out and was heading towards her. She tried to signal to him with her hands to go back to the taxi while not letting her parents in the house know but to no avail.

Sam watched Beatrice in puzzlement. What was she doing? At first, he was just sitting in the taxi and watching her walk to her house but he felt uneasy. It didn't feel right to be sitting there while she was walking alone outside. What if something happened? He wouldn't be in time to go out and help.

So he told the driver to wait while he made sure Beatrice goes in. However, another strange scene played out. She was already at her gate but the moment he got out, she didn't walk through. In fact, she was now looking at him while doing some weird chicken dance with her hands flailing about in front.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you going in?" he asked as he walked to her gate. He then opened it and motioned for her to go through first.

Beatrice felt like the air in her just left, kinda like a deflated balloon. There was no way out now so she would have to do the best that she could. Smiling at him and nodding, she walked through and headed to her door.

"You can go now," Beatrice said, urging internally for him to go.

"I'll just wait until you go in first before I go," Sam insisted.

Beatrice gritted her teeth and went to her door. Before she could take out her key from her bag, though, the door swung open and revealed the smiling faces of her parents. Beatrice's eye twitched and she groaned.

It was too late.