No Kiss Blogfest

Today is Frankie’s No Kiss Blogfest! For anybody who isn’t participating, the task is to create a scene or take one from a WIP in which two characters almost kiss.

This is a scene taken from my side project, called Resisting Alice. Alice is my MC in the Resistance series and Elliot is her boyfriend. The twist on the side project is that instead of it being Alice’s point of view on the events in Resisting Wonderland, it is from Elliot’s perspective.

For context, Alice has just discovered somebody in a place she never expected them to be and is panicking in a corridor of a company they’ve snuck into. I’ve taken out a few sentences from the original scene so there aren’t any spoilers.

I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to crit! Any advice or words about the scene are welcome.

***

I watched her slide to the ground, worrying about how pale her skin had become in the dim shadow of the corridor. Throwing away any act we had upheld in front of the cameras, I crouched next to her, holding her face near mine so I could try to comfort her.

Her pupils were too wide and her breaths were sharp.

Panic flashed in her eyes, and I did my best to stop it in its tracks. “Alice?”

“How could he do this to me?” she said quietly, already close to tears.

I wasn’t close enough.

I leaned in so we were close enough to kiss, knowing it was the only chance I had to get through to her. She needed reassurance. I didn’t care about danger – all I cared about was Alice.

Whispering so her shuddering breath mingled with my steady one, I said, “He’s protecting you. He still cares about you. Why would he try so hard to convince you if he didn’t? Don’t doubt him yet.”

Her glittering blue eyes closed in weariness. “I can’t believe he’s here. I never thought . . . I wanted to clear his name; I didn’t plan to find him working for them.”

She acted as if it was her fault she’d found him here. Alice was doing what she did best – blaming herself for things she couldn’t possibly control.

“You couldn’t know. He’s alive, isn’t that worth something? You haven’t lost everything. He may be here, but he’s alive, if nothing else. You have two chances in one, to find out the truth and to clear his name. Try to understand.”

“It’s so hard.”

I gave a small smile at the thought of Alice ever giving up on something because it was too hard. From that sentiment, I knew she would try, and that my words were getting through to her. She wouldn’t admit she was struggling unless she planned to combat it. Alice didn’t quit. She didn’t give up. It was a motivation which drove me to insane lengths for her, simply because she deserved nothing less.

“I know it is. All I ask is for you to try. I don’t want to see you walk away from him and regret it for the rest of your life.”

She opened her eyes slightly and drew closer to me. The tears I’d seen earlier glimmering in her eyes had vanished.

This was the only comfort I couldn’t offer her.

I was too aware of time; I was too aware of surveillance; I was too aware that to kiss her here would be almost cruel.

I remembered every kiss we had ever shared. I didn’t want to remember this one and know it stemmed from fear and panic.

I gently traced my fingers across her cheek, catching tears I hadn’t let her shed. “Not here. I don’t want to something so beautiful here. When we escape this place, I promise.”

The door slammed in the corridor. Nicholas had left the office, and we needed to be at the glass door before he was.

I pulled Alice up. Although she didn’t want to, she dropped my hand when we entered the corridor, walking away from her panic and embracing the chance I had told her to take. She wouldn’t regret it.