“Matthew,” Mayra mumbled against my lips.
“Mayra,” I replied, mumbling against hers. My mom had been a big fan of the daytime soaps, and I was pretty sure that was the right response.
“Matthew…stop.”
I sucked in a breath as I pulled away. That single word felt like a punch to the chest, and my mind started spinning in a counterclockwise circle. I hated it when my mind went counterclockwise. As I hovered over Mayra and wondered what I had done wrong, I realized just what sort of position we were in.
I had one leg over her lap, practically holding her down in the seat of her car. The windows were all steamed up, and when I looked down at Mayra’s face, her lips were all red and puffy.
“Shit, shit, shit—I’m sorry!” I cried out as I backed away from her and into the passenger seat.
Mayra immediately giggled. She shifted herself up in the seat and tried to smooth out her hair a bit with her fingers.
“For what?” she asked. “Practically kissing me to death? I didn’t mind at all.”
“You said ‘stop.’” I narrowed my eyes and looked off to her shoulder, perplexed.
“Matthew, we’ve been at it for a while, and this seat is not exactly comfortable.”
“Oh.”
She leaned farther up in the seat and brought our lips together briefly.
“How about we take this inside?”
“We haven’t kissed in there before,” I told her. I couldn’t even imagine it.
“We haven’t kissed in here before,” Mayra pointed out. She waved her hand toward the foggy windows and giggled again.
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“You aren’t supposed to think about it,” Mayra said. “You’re supposed to just let it happen.”
“But if we go inside, I will be thinking about it.”
“Don’t.” Mayra shrugged her shoulders.
“I have to.” I sat with my back against the seat and ran my hands through my hair. “When we go in my house, first we do our homework. Then we drink Cokes in the living room, and then we watch TV. It’s what we do.”
“Are you telling me that we can only make out in my car?” From the corner of my eye, I could see Mayra looking at me. She was shaking her head and probably deciding I really was a nutcase.
“Probably not…” My voice trailed off. “There could be other places. Just…we can’t when we’re supposed to be doing those other things.”
Mayra let out a long sigh as she slumped against the seat.
“What about add-ons?” she asked abruptly.
“Add-ons?”
“Yeah.” Mayra sat up straighter and turned toward me again. “Like, could I give you a kiss when you bring me a Coke? As a thank-you?”
I thought about that for a little bit. When I brought her the Coke I poured for her, I usually bent down a little to place it on the coaster. Our heads were close together then, and if I just turned a little, we could kiss.
“That might work,” I said with a nod.
“I’m glad to hear there’s some room for negotiation,” Mayra said. She chuckled quietly. “Let’s get inside and see what we can work out because I am not done with you, Matthew Rohan.”
“Okay.” Wondering just what she might have meant by her last statement, I opened up the door beside me and backed out of the car while I grabbed my book bag from the floor. As I climbed out, I poked the little fish shape one more time—maybe just for good luck or something—and then shut the door.