The first chapter ~~ Before Chantell realizes Luke is not, under any circumstance, the guy she envisioned him as.

6:00 AM, the red numbers flashed off my blazing alarm clock as they forced me to get up. It was Monday; my least favorite day of the week. Sleepily, I hit the snooze button but opposed to getting up, I rolled over on my side and willed my dreams to return to me. When they refused to reappear, however, I reluctantly forced myself out of bed and began getting ready. I dressed slowly and ran my brush through my hair a few times with difficulty. Every few seconds I would reach a knot and my face would contort with pain as I tried to get it out. Even once my locks were fully combed I didn’t stop. I needed to look perfect since today was the first day back from Christmas vacation. Finally, as seven came and went, I knew I had to leave or I’d miss my bus. I snatched a granola bar off the counter and ran the block to the station. I made it just in time so I didn’t have to stand outside in the chilly Alaska weather for long.
Quite the contrast of what most people believe: Alaska is not the frozen wonderland that they’ve come to envision; at least not my little town in the big city of Anchorage. It actually got pretty warm once summertime came around, but once winter blew in, knocking on our doors and fogging up our windows, the cold season really set in. I knew something wasn’t right as soon as I took my seat. Everyone was whispering to each other about something which obviously held their interest. I was slightly offended that no one passed me as much as a glance; I had a good deal of friends at school and wasn’t used to being ignored. I turned to Benjamin, one of my acquaintances, with a questioning look in my eyes. He realized at once what I was wondering.
“New student.” He explained calmly to me as if this piece of information was quite simple, but it wasn’t. To be honest that was no explanation at all. After all, we received at least one new novice each week; this was no surprise. I opened my mouth to persist that there must be more to it but he continued before the words had left my mouth. “This one’s different.”
Different? What was that suppose to mean? I spun around to look behind me and had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from gasping aloud. It was plain to me now why the whole bus’ population was in an uproar. This boy was definitely not normal. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even look human. His eyes were brown, as was his hair, but his skin was so white that it was startling. It looked as though he had never been exposed to the sun in all his life. Not only that, but he was beautiful. I just couldn’t think of any other word to describe the way he sat on that seat with such assured confidence.
Even if I tried for hours to conceive to you the very perfection of his stature I would not succeed. He seemed to glow with radiance and there was not as much as a blemish upon his face. His clothing style was peculiar though. He sported a dark red shirt with black shorts; I shivered as I realized how cold he must be.
Benjamin had to prod me with his pencil to finally regain my attention. Embarrassed, I turned back to face him. I could almost taste his disapproval hanging in the air.
“Sorry. How long was I staring?” I inquired. I wasn’t one to take interest in gossip or boys and I found I was surprised by my sudden infatuation in the teenager seated so calmly behind me. It was as if all the time I spent mocking my fashion-obsessed friends had vanished. Now I too seemed to be drawn to the splendor of the should-be model. I bit my lip and tried feebly to push his image from my mind. But he was like an odd postcard, glued to my eyelids even when I shut them.
“Only about an eternity; but don’t worry, everyone else had their eyes glued on him even longer than that.” He chuckled irritably as if he found this amusing, but he sounded angry rather than comical. I felt the corners of my lips twitch slightly at his insolent mood.
“What’s wrong Ben?” I asked, pretending to be curious though I already knew the answer. Benjamin was so easily offended by people more attractive than himself. He was very jealous of the people entitled to the upper ranks in the social grapevine. He was, after all, nothing more than a chess nerd who wanted more than anything to be a jock. But I really didn’t care what his societal status was. Maybe that was what made me so different from all the other stereotypes – I hung out with who I wanted to hang out with, whether that be the cheerleaders, or nerds; I really never thought twice about it.
Benjamin didn’t reply so I twisted around again and began to gaze once more at the strange newcomer. But this time, to my horror, our eyes met. How could I have ever simply passed them off as brown and moved onto describing his skin? His eyes, I soon realized as I gawked into them, were far more brilliant them just caramel. They were like melting chocolate and I couldn’t look away. I felt like I was sinking into the very depths of his perfect soul. I allowed myself to smile slightly to signal a warm welcome but he didn’t grin back. Instead his eyebrows knitted together, causing his brow to wrinkle up like that of an old man. I wondered what I did to make him appear so confused but just as I was preparing myself to ask, the bus pulled to a sudden halt in front of our school. Not wanting to be late, I reluctantly turned away from him and followed my classmates’ lead as they began to disembark.
So this was the new kid. Benjamin was right, he was different.
As soon as I was out in the open air I began to relax. I realized that the boy was probably rather shy and didn’t know what to say; there was no reason for me to begin to feel as if there was something paranormal about him just because he didn’t react as most when I flashed a few teeth. Once I let these thoughts dance across my mind I saw that I was being highly stupid to allow myself to believe that the young man was perplexed by my greeting. Just then a voice I didn’t recognize called out behind me.
“Wait,” It was a command that most children of the century probably wouldn’t have been able to make. Although the word was blunt and overused, the speaker held a sense of undeniable authority that was impossible to resist. I turned around, expecting to see a teacher, but instead I found myself once more gaping into the eyes of the ‘new kid’.
“I’m Luke.” He said and although his terms were casual his tone was so formal that I had to blush. He had a mature way of verbalizing that I would expect to come from a public speaker rather than a high school teen.
“My name’s Chantell.” I admitted, deciding it was best to stay on friendly grounds with him; one glance at the muscles bulging from beneath his chemise was enough to bring me back into reality. “So, where are you transferring from?” I asked as I walked, trying to keep up a conversation. We began walking in the direction of the campus and I stuffed my hands in my jacket as far as it allowed to remain warm.
“Antarctica.” His reply was quite terse and took me by surprise.
“Wow, so you moved from freezing to icy? You must love the cold.” I joked but his smile was quickly wiped from his face as a red nosed Benjamin caught up with us. He was shaking as if he had been outside for hours rather then a few minutes.
“Shawn,” He said through chattering teeth, addressing me by the nickname I hated so much. “I heard that Mr. Gordon is having a pop quiz today. We really should head to the library.” It was then that he took note of my new associate who was eying Ben with distaste at his too small clothing; in response Benjamin passed him a cold glare.
“This is Luke. He’s the guy that rode our bus this morning. Luke, this is my best friend, Benjamin.” I answered, introducing them. I didn’t approve of the hostility that seemed to have grown between them already.
“Just friend?” Luke snickered and I felt the blood rise to my cheeks in embarrassment but chose not to comment, instead I continued talking to Benjamin as if I had not been interrupted.
“He came all the way from Antarctica.”
“That’s impossible.” Benjamin cooed “There is no civilization there whatsoever!” It was just like him to try to show off his superior knowledge of geography the first moment he got. I thought for a moment and wondered if Luke had perhaps been an Eskimo. He looked the type with his deathly-pale skin and apparent ease with the down weather. I found as I passed him a quick look from head to toe that he was smiling rather brightly for the first time. Then he whispered something so low I wondered if I was meant to hear it. Something that sounded quite like ‘as far as you know’. Then, miraculously, I blinked and he was gone. As I looked around I saw he was already entering the school. I stared after him blankly for a moment in confusion and a single wonder drifted across my brain: How had he moved so fast?
“If you ask me he’s a dirty rotten liar.” Benjamin mumbled, obviously not perceiving what I had. “Antarctica has no society at all.”
”No one did ask you.” I teased and he clenched his jaw in aggravation before breathing heavily out of his snout. A cloud of white air whiffed out of his nostrils in his fury.
“Sure stand up for him!” He jeered. “You know, it’s his looks, isn’t it? I’m sick of all the crap people give you based on appearances.” I hit him on the shoulder playfully.
“Oh, knock it off, Ben; you know I was just kidding. Besides, I’m not one to critique beauty as I’m no fallen angel” I joked, he calmed down at once and seized my moment of insecurity.
“I think you’re pretty,” He mumbled and I patted him lightly on the shoulder of his heavy raincoat.
“You don’t have to lie to me, Ben.” I assured him and placed a gloved hand over his mouth when he showed signs of arguing. “Come on, let’s talk about something else.” I pleaded and he nodded slowly in defeat.
The rest of the day went by in a bit of a haze. I kept doodling Luke’s picture in my notebook rather than doing my assignments but I just couldn’t capture his true splendor. By the time third period finished I had at least a dozen sketches of him. I didn’t like the squeamish feeling in the pit of my stomach when I heard his name. It was as if my insides were being tied in a rather unpleasant knot and yet I couldn’t stop thinking about him. It was pathetic really; I had barely spoken to the boy and already I was obsessing. Maybe I would turn out just like everyone else in my grade: Boy-crazy and addicted to shopping.

As I took a seat at the table I normally sat at, my friends, Genevieve, Shara, and Jasmine, were already there with their school bought lunches. I opened my brown baggie and removed my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, hardly noticing the silence which enfolded over me. Suddenly, the three of them broke into conversation at once as if in a planned rehearsal. In my shock at this outbreak, I dropped my food which splattered all over my sweatpants.
“Is it true you actually—” Genevieve began but Jasmine interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.
“We need details!” She smirked without apologizing for my spilled meal; I felt the sudden desire to get up and run.
“What are you going on about?” I asked curiously, wiping the jam off my outfit and yet truly not caring.
“Come on Chantell; work with us! We saw you talking to the new kid this morning so tell us: what’s going on?” Shara insisted and she sounded as though she were going to explode in her need for a juicy rumor if I kept her hanging much longer.
“Oh, you mean that.” I stuttered. It seemed absolutely ridiculous that they would make such a big deal about such a little thing. I almost laughed aloud when I realized that I, too, was making a rather large fuss over the matter. “We only talked for like a minute. He said his name is Luke and he came from Antarctica.”
“Antarctica?” Jasmine repeated blankly while running her long dark hair through her tanned fingers. “Isn’t that, like, where the penguins are?” I nodded my head and sighed at her ignorance. Just as I took a sip from my bottled Gatorade, my friends fell silent and allowed their mouths to drop rudely. I was about to ask ‘where’s the fire’ when I heard someone speaking behind me, a voice I had only heard once before and yet would recognize no matter what.
“Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is taken.” I rotated around in my chair and once more came face to face with the teen that looked more like an angel then any of us had a right to. I gave the room a quick scan with my eyes and saw there were plenty of seats at the other tables that were not reserved. He had chosen to come here. Maybe, and my heart jumped at the thought, he actually liked me.
“Sure, Luke!” I exclaimed and almost shoved Jasmine’s books off the table as I tried to make room. She didn’t bother to complain, though, as she was a bit preoccupied in her animated whispering with Genevieve who was giggling like mad.
Luke took a seat next to me and placed his tray gently in front of him. I wanted to smack my trio of companions across the face. Jasmine, Genevieve, and Shara were all staring relentlessly at him again, having emerged from their brief shared compliments of his obvious handsomeness. I felt embarrassed as I realized that that was probably how I looked at him on the bus when I saw him for the first time: wide-eyed and adoring. Luke reached one perfectly sculpted hand and picked up a slice of his cheese-pizza which he ate in silence. Jasmine, Genevieve, and Shara all looked away from him at once as if on cue and let their eyes wander around the room; from me, to the wall beside me, as if he wasn’t there.
“Excuse me,” Shara apologized after a moment of unbearable quiet, she got to her feet at once. “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go with you,” Chimed the other two in perfect harmony and I could tell they had this all worked out. Shara lightly brushed against me as she walked by before slipping me a wink. I knew that I could expect a few phone calls from her in particular when I got home.
I turned to apologize to Luke and saw that he was staring directly at me. I dropped my gaze so I would not become entranced again by his dazzling irises.
“So, why do you sit all the way back here?” He finally asked after a long pause on my end. I wondered what he meant and as I glanced around I noticed for the first time that our table was indeed secluded from that of the others in the room. I shrugged slightly before placing what was left of my lunch back on the table in front of us.
”Oh, I don’t know. I never realized until just now. I suppose I just like the quiet; not that you get much with those three.” I elucidate and motioned toward where the departed drama queens had just been.
“Strange.” Was all he said and he finished his food in one last bite. Luke came and ate with us everyday, and I soon found myself as the center of gossip at school. Everywhere I went it was always ‘did you hear about Chantell Evans and Luke Goldman?’ until it got the point where I was confident that there wasn’t a soul in the world who didn’t know about our nonexistent relationship. What really bothered me, though, was that a good deal of people, including my friends, got so consumed in the gossip circling around us that they would often enough come up to me and demand to know if certain absurd rumors were true and the majority of the time they weren’t. There was even a time when Jasmine stormed up to me and said “Luke kissed you? He actually kissed you and me, your best friend you should have told me first!” and then started rambling on about ‘betrayal’ before I lost what remained of my patience and began screaming at her in the middle of the hallway about how little she knew of my life.
“You have no clue what it’s like to have everyone bugging me all the time about everything because they make some connection between it and my ‘love life’ with Luke!” I shouted. “I don’t need you up in my face too.”
“Oh poor you,” She sneered. “You must have it so hard, getting attention for the first time in your life. I feel bad for you, Chantell.”
“What the heck are you talking about?” I roared, I didn’t care that there was a circle forming around us or even that a few of the janitors around us had began calling in teachers through their walkie-talkies to report what may result in a fight.
“Don’t play dumb, Evans. You’re popular! That’s what you always wanted, isn’t it? That’s why you hang out with me.” She jeered and I squeezed my hands into fists to help fuel out my temper.
“I have no idea who your sources are but you’ve been misled and I’m done with you.” I whispered in a deadly velvet voice, forcing myself to remain calm despite the mad desire to lash out at her. Turning on my heal, I stormed away from her, my eyes blurred with tears as I realized she was correct about everything she had said.
“It’s a bunch of hysterical garbage!” I sighed to Luke as he sat next to me with his food tray. I was still wiping the salt water from my face on my left sleeve. “People need to mind their own business.” And with that I shot a repulsive look at a group of girls who were whispering and pointing in our direction, all on which fell suddenly silent. Luke didn’t reply and instead simply bit into his apple. It looked so red next to his light skin it made me quiver and yet at the same time I liked it. I liked everything about him. I made a mental note to just relax but even that was hard. Just being around Luke made me so excited I could hardly conceal it and sometimes I would start hyperventilating just because he walked by a little too close in the hallway. You’d think I would have gotten used to him being around but his company was just not something you could grow accustom to. Jasmine, Genevieve, and Shara had stopped sitting with me. We were all very angry with each other based on the outbreak in-between classes that each of us blamed on the other side. “So, there’s a dance tonight.” I began casually, hoping Luke would catch my drift. It was a guy’s choice and so technically I really wasn’t supposed to ask him, but I figured if I dropped enough clues than Luke would take a hint.
“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that.” Luke sighed “And I was wondering if you would care to be my escort?” I gaped at him. I hadn’t thought convincing him to ask me would be so simple; I had even had half a mind to beg if he didn’t cooperate by the end of the day.
“Sure…” I stuttered and decided to look down at my salad so he wouldn’t see the pride in my face. But I could feel his eyes on the back of my head and it made me nervous. Luke stared a lot.
“Great, listen I don’t have a car so do you think I could just meet you here?” He asked indifferently and my heart began to beat wildly in my chest. He really meant it; he was going to be my date! I just about detonated from enthusiasm but held my breath for a minute so my reply would sound nonchalant. I didn’t want him to know how much I lusted after him or he might start playing hard-to-get.
“That’s okay, I guess.” I said and took a sip of milk. The bell rang and I turned to Luke to tell him I’d see him tonight but he was gone; I looked around and saw him exiting the dining area.
The first thing I did in my next class was pass Jasmine a note explaining about my rendezvous. I didn’t want her to figure it out from someone else and have another angry eruption about me not informing her right away. I decided I would do all in my power to help salvage what was left of our friendship. If she chose not to cooperate then that was her own problem. Fortunately enough, she seemed just as excited as me and told me to come over to her house so she could give me a makeover. For a while it seemed all our differences had just evaporated and that the past time of her ignoring me simply vanished, but this did not last. As a matter of fact, by the time I arrived at her house she was in a rather irritable mood.
When she opened the door and saw me she simply grunted in response and stepped aside to let me in. I didn’t have to wait long to figure out what was wrong. Within a few minutes she was blabbing away about how her boyfriend, Chad, had broken up with her at the last minute and how she would have to go to the party alone.
“Wait, Chad Henchman?” I gasped “The quarterback? You two were actually going out?” Jasmine smiled slightly. I knew she loved tittle-tattle and so I wasn’t at all taken back when she started to brag.
“Yeah, I was going to break it off at the dance anyhow. He was getting too clingy you know? Well we met after last week’s football game and he asked me to go to the movies with him.…” She went on talking for about an hour as she curled my hair and after a while I stopped paying attention and simply said ‘ooh’ and ‘you don’t say!’ every three or so minutes and that seemed good enough for her. “Did you hear me Chantell?” Jasmine demanded after I forgot to put in an ‘ooh’ for a bit too long.
“No, what did you say?” I asked, crashing back into reality.
“I said that was when Chad decided it was time to go our separate ways!” She reiterated dramatically. I sighed; pretending that I felt really bad for her, but the truth was that she was always changing boyfriends.
“Don’t worry, no guy can resist you, I’m sure you won’t be single for long.” I complimented and she launched back into her story. After another three minutes she stopped.
“So what about Luke and you?” She asked “Are you excited about going to the dance together?”
“Yes, truthfully I’m thrilled but I’m also a bit nervous. What if I do something stupid or step on his foot?” I questioned.
“Just remember not to slow dance!” she giggled. “Never slow dance on a first date or you might lead him on to think that you guys are getting serious; not that that would be a bad thing. I mean, seriously, Shawn,” I flinched slightly “have you seen his face? He’s so gorgeous, I swear I just about die when he talks to you. Anyway, don’t check out any other boys either or he’s likely to get jealous.”
“Really? Wow Jazz, I didn’t know that.” I admitted. To be frank, there was a lot about boys I didn’t understand; this was probably because in all my life I had only been on four dates and I was already in my last year of high school.
“Oh it’s really obvious. There are a lot of things you can’t do, for example…” and once again she was so engrossed in her prattling that she didn’t seem to notice that I wasn’t really listening.
Half an hour later I had fixed Jasmine’s hair and she mine. She had seemed pretty enthusiastic up until now but once again grief was written on her face.
“I don’t see the point in going; I’ll look like an idiot coming in alone.” She sighed and at that moment an idea struck me.
“Wait a second Jazz, you don’t have to go alone! I’m sure Luke won’t object to you tagging along with us for a while.” I said and she beamed.
“You really mean it, Shawn?” She asked suspiciously “Even after the way I’ve treated you for the past three fourths of a month?” I winked at her in response and realized that my next words would make up for our fight.
“Sure, after all what would friendship be if we clung to the bad moments?”
Jasmine drove us both to the dance in her viper. She was very wealthy and on the same day that she received her license, her father had taken her out to buy a car. In a way I was angry at her for having two loving guardians when I couldn’t. You see, my parents had divorced when I was very little. I hardly remembered my papa; only that he used to yell a lot and that my mother and he had gotten into a lot of fights that turned violent. I heard he used to come back from bars so drunk that he couldn’t speak right and dragged along hookers he’d picked up. I don’t know who walked out on whom, but ever since the separation my mom had been a lot friendlier though I rarely saw her. She was always working which made quality time rare indeed.
Even I have to admit that the two of us looked extremely good pulling up in such a nice vehicle at a simple school convection. I felt myself start to tremble as I glimpsed Luke leaning against the wall in a tux. He looked so wonderful that even the cheerleaders were pointing and daring one another to make a move and yet he didn’t seem to notice. Even though I was a good twenty feet away he seemed to be looking straight into my eyes as he glanced up at me. I smiled weakly and hoped he didn’t see how nervous I was.
Jasmine and I got out of the car and marched up to the school. Well, she marched, I sort of slouched. She seemed pretty confident for someone who had just been suggesting that she remain behind. I couldn’t help but wonder if her pity act had been just that: an act.
When we reached Luke, however, she slowed down a bit in uncertainty. I didn’t blame her because I knew that it must be awkward for her since she and Luke had never actually spoken to each other.
“Luke, this is Jasmine. Do you remember her from your first day of school?” I asked and he nodded whilst flashing her his most stunning smile. I heard her breath catch in her throat and I tried not to snicker. “Well I was wondering if maybe she could come with us inside.” It sounded stupid as I tried to express my thoughts into words but Luke merely nodded again without saying as much as a word.
We showed the woman in front our tickets and she waved us past after her eyes lingered momentarily on Luke. He seemed to notice this also and rose and eyebrow in my direction once we were inside. Jasmine seemed to relax slightly now that we were around other people. The deejay was playing a fast paced song and flashing lights hung from all the walls. Laughter and talking came from every direction as couples spoke and friends gossiped. Jasmine rushed off to greet Genevieve who was talking to a group of football players, her dark blond trimmed at shoulder-length, and I once more found myself alone with my date. Luke didn’t seem to be interested in dancing to this song and so he offered to grab some punch. I told him to go ahead because I wasn’t very thirsty and so he did. I soon regretted this decision though because the moment he left my side, a group of girls swarmed in. All of them trying to get him to join them as the song changed to a more popular, upbeat one. I watched from afar, afraid of what he’d say, but despite the fact that these teenagers were far better looking that me, he just waved them off and told them he was here with someone already. Down-trodden, most of them left, but one persistent young lady stuck around attempting to flirt. Either Luke didn’t notice or he simply didn’t care because he flat out ignored her and finally she too wandered off. A minute or so later I lost sight of him as a group of chaperons walked by, blocking my vision. I looked around wildly and spotted the back of his head as he spoke with the disc jockey. As he made his way back toward me through the crowd a slow love song began to play. I almost fainted as I realized he must have suggested this one and I remembered Jasmine’s warning about not slow dancing. What would he say if I refused? I was working out a way to say no to him when he reached me.
“May I have the honor of sharing this dance with you, Chantell Evans?” He asked in a tone that sounded as though it came from a prince asking for a princess’ hand. All the ways I had come up with rejecting him seemed to politely vanish and so I simply nodded. Soon we were gliding and when I say gliding I mean it. There was no better word for what he did and as he took me in his arms I too flowed gracefully across the floor which shocked me since I was normally so clumsy. “You look wonderful,” He complimented me and his eyes glittered with adulation as he pressed his lips to my hair.
I felt myself fade away and it was as though my essence itself was soaring around the room and before I knew what I was doing I leaned in and kissed him. He didn’t retreat, instead he kissed me full on and his breath tasted like peppermint. I felt his hands press me against him from behind; his arms were so strong as they caressed my back. Then he leaned back and pulled away as if nothing had happened and continued dancing. To me this had been my first kiss, a moment I would remember forever but to him it didn’t seem important at all.
This thought hurt me and I stopped dancing. He looked puzzled as I tugged away from his grip. “What’s wrong?” he posed as my eyes brimmed with water. I remembered I was wearing makeup and cursed the tears as they rolled down my cheeks.
“Nothing.” I snapped, hastily wiping them away. By now the majority of people had ceased their dancing and turned to look at us. For the first time since Luke and I met I was irritated with his pleasant appearance. If he had been any average guy than no one would have taken any notice to us but the fact was as it stands: he wasn’t just a normal boy.
“People don’t cry without a reason.” He explicated as he led me away from the eyes of my peers. “Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong or what?” I shook my head and pushed his hand away as he reached out to brush a stray droplet from my chin. It fell to the ground and my eyes followed it. I didn’t want to look up because I knew when I did I would see the hurt in Luke’s features. After a while he spoke. “Do you hate me?” How could he be so open with his questions while I myself struggled so when it came to my feelings for him? I realized with a start that he was too good for me; I didn’t deserve the miracle that stood next to me in the room he had guided me into. And yet I knew I could never give him up – not for the world.
“No.” I stuttered. “That’s the problem. I really like you, but just now, when we kissed, I felt like maybe you were distracted. Like you didn’t think I really mattered.” He reached out and placed his hands firmly on the sides of my face and then forced my head up so I wouldn’t be able to turn away.
“How can you even think that?” He demanded angrily “If you didn’t matter to me then why would I have asked you to be my date? Why else would I have chosen you out of all the rest of the student body? You are more special than you can imagine. I knew that from
the moment I laid eyes on you in the bus.” I smiled weakly and he looked relieved. I felt so foolish standing here in the dark with him. Even though I could hardly see him as the blackness enclosed over my eyes, I could still smell him. His sent was not that of cologne like every other guy. He had a different smell. One I had never encountered before and it made me dizzy. It was good indeed and yet I couldn’t put my finger on what it reminded me of. He inclined over and I felt the warmth of his lips on my forehead. “Do you wish to return?” He asked but I didn’t answer. His eyes searched over my face. “Are you still mad?”
“No.” I whispered “I just want this moment to last forever.”
“Then it shall.” He murmured and he caressed my neck. I kissed him once more on the lips and this time I had no doubt that it meant just as much to him as to me.

Okay, there's more but I'm still working on it... Advice? Punctuation errors anyone would like to point out?

come on people....

I'm not here to explicate your work, sorry. But I did skim through your short story, and I do enjoy it. Nicely done.

thanks Mid

Anyone else?