Foreplay
They were sitting in the rehearsal hall, all twelve of them, tired and exhausted after the rehearsal. They had broken up into separate groups, talking, laughing and creating a lot of clatter. Occasionally, they would stop to listen if somebody, from any group would bring up something interesting. They weren't really divided. They were just having different conversations.
"Kissing is extremely simple!" said Nilesh, immediately catching everyone's attention. He was looking at Vicky and both of them looked as if they were having a serious conversation. Vicky was looking at Nilesh in awe, hanging on his every word. "All you have to do is place your lips over the other persons' and you are good to go."
That declaration of his managed to raise quite a few eyebrows.
"I beg to differ!" said Kriya, "Kissing is not as simple as it looks."
All the girls nodded in agreement.
"What's so difficult about kissing?" retorted Rey.
"Guys are so clueless!" murmured Neha, looking disappointingly at Vicky.
"Oh, and girls are so clever?" scoffed Amar.
"Why, thanks for the support Amar." Said Sharon, calmly disregarding his sceptical, questioning tone.
Amar scowled and a soft chuckle emanated from Swayam.
Everyone turned to look at him. Girls in amusement. Boys in disappointment.
But he had eyes only for her. She returned back his secretive gaze and both their eyes gleamed, as if they shared a secret no one knew.
It had been a year since they had got into a relationship albeit they had committed themselves to it only very recently. The result of which was that they began discussing whether or not they should tell their friends about them. Every time they resolved themselves to go through with it, they would find a reason or two to refrain from doing so.
But the truth was that they enjoyed keeping it a secret. There was an odd thrill to it, a contagious excitement. But the still deeper truth was that they were scared of what it would do to them. There would be no more privacy, they would be compelled to share their intimate moments. And the thought of sharing even a single memory of theirs with someone else was unacceptable by both. The fact that only the both of them knew about it, lent a certain charm to each memory. It was their own little world where nothing else and no one else mattered. And anyone intruding upon it felt hurtful.
Maybe they needed a psychiatrist. This couldn't be normal.
But their story had never been normal. Why start now?
Maybe in time, they would come to level with that. But till then they were going to bask in the beauty of it all.
"If you think you're so smart then why don't you tell us exactly how hard it is to kiss?" said Rey, irritated.
"I'll do you one better, I'll show it to you." Said Sharon.
A stunned silence permeated the room as everyone looked at Sharon in horror.
But unperturbed, Sharon moved to the centre of the group and smirked around at them. She was going to have some fun.
"Any volunteers?" she asked.
Swayam looked at her uncertainly. He had no idea where this was headed. But he'd be damned if he let anyone other than him come near her. So without wasting time, he gave a composed smile and said-
"I'll do it."
Though he wasn't sure what he was supposed to "do".
Those horrific gazes intensified as they swivelled towards him.
All of them were too stunned out of their minds to comprehend what the hell was going on, much less intervene. So as they sat there open mouthed, Swayam stood up and knelt down beside Sharon, looking warily at her.
"Don't worry." Sharon announced. "I'm not going to actually kiss him."
His face fell a little at that. Maybe he had hoped too much.
The others relaxed a bit.
That is until they heard what Sharon told them next.
"It's not the kissing part that's hard." She said, as if she were giving a lecture. "It's the part that comes before that that's a little, um, delicate. The foreplay, if you will."
She turned her eyes towards Swayam and looked deeply into his smouldering brown ones. She smirked again before she placed both her hands on his stomach.
The reaction to that was quite amusing to Sharon.
The boys widened their eyes in surprise and incredulity at Sharon's boldness. The girls bit their cheeks and looked here and there, uncomfortably.
But the best reaction was his. As his eyes began to widen, he clenched his teeth, to stop them from widening anymore. His hands curled up into a fist, to quiet his heart which had began singing a rapid, intense tune. He put all his mental energy into stopping his breath from dancing a fast paced dance to the rhythm of his heart. But he couldn't stop the heat wave that her hand send through his body, directly towards his heart, as if fuelling it on.
One touch. So many reactions. Her smirk turned into a smile, as she looked fondly at him.
He raised one of his eyebrows and gave a small, uncertain smile asking her what was she planning on doing?
Her smile changed back to a smirk. A devilish, evil smirk.
An involuntary shiver ran down Swayam's back, more out of terror than pleasure.
She began moving her hands upwards. They swept across the vast expanse of his chest, curved slightly at his shoulders before gliding up his neck. She raised herself a little on her knees so that she was almost at eye-level.
This entire progress was watched shamelessly by the boys and scandalously by the girls.
But they were too far gone into their world to notice.
Their eyes were now in a permanent eye lock, speaking to each other in silent, meaningful whispers.
Her hands began sliding upwards still and finally rested on his hard cheeks, thanks to his clenched jaw.
She brought her face closer to his, as he fought to keep his thoughts from scattering. All coherency from his thoughts vanished when her nose was almost touching his.
"First you stroke your thumb gently against the cheek." She began reciting again, the smirk making a reappearance on her face, trying to remind him that it was only a demonstration. But all it did to him was stop his breath completely as if he was afraid that any minute some cruel, sadistic person will come and take this moment away from him.
She gave a few strokes on his cheek, before running her hands upwards into his hair.
"You run your hands through the hair then, softly combing your way through it." she said, her smirk disappearing as she felt his hair, sliding through her fingers.
"And then you-"
"Um Sharon, I think that's enough!" said Kriya, looking ill at ease.
Her voice shattered the world they had created around themselves and they moved away from each other, looking away awkwardly.
The boys looked disappointed and the girls looked relieved.
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After everybody left, Sharon stood alone in the rehearsal hall, packing up her stuff. A small cough alerted her to somebody's presence.
She looked around to see him standing behind her, looking at her in amusement.
"What was that?" asked Swayam.
"What was what?" she retorted, acting nonchalant.
"That little stunt you pulled off today." He said.
"You call my affection for you a "little stunt"?" she retorted, mock offended.
"Your affection?" he scoffed. "It looked to me like you were enjoying yourself at my expense!"
"Well what can I say?" she said, shrugging. "That is how I showcase my affection."
"By pulling my leg in front of all our friends?" he asked. "Is that fun for you?"
"Yes." She said, honestly. "And I do so like having fun."
"Oh you do, do you?" he asked, moving towards her. "Then who am I to deprive you of fun?"
"Swayam..." she said, looking at him warningly.
"Kissing isn't simple, is it? There is the foreplay and all." He said, holding her arms and bringing her closer to him. "Hmm. Why don't you tell me if I've got it right?"
With that, he began sliding his hands up her arms, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. His hands curved as they approached her shoulder, gently went up her neck to finally cup her cheeks.
The tips of his fingers were engulfed in the thickness of her hair and he moved his face closer to her, all the while gauging her reaction.
Her heart thundered inside her chest, muting every other sound. Her breath came out in loud, sharp gusts that tantalizingly fanned his face. Her eyes widened as she took in his face, so close to hers.
He rubbed his nose against hers, causing her to clench her fists.
He stroke her cheek gently and moved his thumb to her lips. He grazed the surface of her lips with a feather light touch making her shut her eyes tightly. He rested his forehead against hers.
His thumb returned back to her cheek as he gently skimmed her lips with his, but didn't kiss her. Her lips opened slightly in response, inviting him. But he smirked and ignored them and instead let his lips run riot on the rest of her face. He let his lips slide across the expanse of her cheekbone, not kissing, only skimming. His nose warmed her earlobes by gently grazing against her ear. He then made his way down and softly kissed her under the chin. He retraced his path to her lips, his cold breath cooling the heat generated in her, by his proximity. He once again skimmed his lips across hers, but more firmly this time. Her lips parted again, asking him to fill her, to put an end to her agony, with a power that only he possessed. He pecked her lower lip drawing a muffled moan from her throat.
And then suddenly, abruptly he drew away.
A loud gasp escaped from her lips as she realized he was no longer close to her. She felt a depressingly empty feeling rise within her, almost reducing her to tears. Her breath, which she had been holding within her, came out in a rush, forcing her to take in short, urgent breaths.
"How was it?" he smirked, folding his hands across his chest.
Her eyes flew open and she looked at him in confusion. She tried to gather back her wits after they had been scattered away so seductively.
"How was what?" she gasped.
"The foreplay." He said, his smirk growing wider.
She looked unbelievingly at him.
"It was good." She said, shaking her head, to throw away all the lingering effects of the "Foreplay". "It was really, really good." She sighed.
He looked at the havoc he had wreaked and chuckled.
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