Knox's Little Annie

15

The feeling of Knox's lips still lingered on mine the next day. 

It's all I could think about as I tried going to sleep last night. I rolled around, kicking restlessly at my bed sheets for hours. Eventually I must have succumbed to sleep as I was now blinking awake.

As the morning glow filled my room and bounced off the flowers that sat so pristinely on my desk, the feeling of his kiss was back again.

I blanched even as there was no witness to my thought. Just the feeling alone causing my internal embarrassment. I let myself wonder if Knox could be having the same feeling - could be thinking about the feel of my lips on his as if they were still there and never really left.

This feeling carried me through the entire week. Not even my session with Wendy was able to bring down the sense of euphoria I carried with me.

She pried and pried to get me to talk and I relented slightly, but nothing about Knox - nothing about what I knew she really wanted to know. She still seemed skeptical of Knox and I didn't want to hear anything about it so I rightfully kept it all to myself.

It even happened again and again and even again. At random times throughout the day Knox would lean down to kiss me in one way or another. Sometimes on my temple or my cheek, sometimes on the corner of my mouth, and sometimes even giving me a full kiss as he had done in the car before.

I tried not to look too overcome with giddiness every time one of these moments happened but it was hard to contain. My crush on Knox was in full effect and was becoming hard to hide.

Not that it seemed that I needed to hide it anyway. I mean after all, it was Knox who was kissing me first - I just welcomed it with open arms.

Liam and Sean didn't seem to be the slightest bit surprised. They found it amusing, if not also totally disgusting. Their ceaseless teasing - mainly just Liam's - was unwavering and thankfully, mostly aimed at Knox.

If Liam had teased me nearly as much as he teased Knox, I would've been too embarrassed to ever show my face again.

We were even starting to fall into a routine now.

Everyday after school, Knox would either drive me home or bring me with him to Liam or Sean's house. There they would all play video games or put on car races and I would stay cuddled into Knox's side.

Serena was starting to get gradually more inquisitive. She knew I wasn't coming home right away every day and she also knew that I had gained some friends. Claiming that she noticed how exceptionally happy I had become more recently.

I thought about telling her and even came close to it a few times before I stopped myself. I wasn't trying to hold back for any particular reason, I just wasn't really sure what to refer to Knox as anymore. It seemed a bit wrong to just call him my friend as we had now established that we did in fact like to kiss each other, but he also wasn't quite my boyfriend. It just felt a bit easier to avoid the subject of our status altogether.

The Saturday a week after our first kiss, I woke up with a jolt at the sound of my phone ringing.

"Hello?" I mumbled, still groggy and half asleep. I didn't need to check the caller ID to know who it was.

"Baby..." Knox's voice purred through the phone, effectively making my stomach clench.

"Hi..." I whispered back without thinking, forgetting I had already said 'hello.'

His soft chuckle met my ears, "I'm pulling up to your house right now, be my good girl and let me in?"

I gasped, shooting straight up to look at the clock on my nightstand. It was already noon. I couldn't believe I had slept in so late. And Knox was coming over - in fact, was practically already there.

I left my phone forgotten on my bed as I dashed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair, and wash my face in record time. I barely put deodorant on when I heard his truck park outside. I bolted down the stairs, glancing around to find the house void of Serena and a note left on the counter.

Got pulled into a meeting today, will be back around dinner time :)

I let out a short breath of relief before a knock at the door sounded through the house. I didn't bother rushing to the door, not wanting to seem too eager in answering even if that was exactly what I had been doing the whole time.

Taking one more steadying breath, I smoothed down my hair once last time before I wrenched the door open to find Knox standing there in all his glory.

"Hi." I breathed out - no doubt sounding as dumb as I felt.

"Hi, Annie." He said, his breath coming out in half a laugh. His eyes raked over me, taking me in, as I stepped to the side to let him over the threshold. I squirmed where I stood, suddenly regretting not making the time to change before I came down stairs.

I led him up to my room, Knox trailing a pace behind me. I was a step away from reaching my dresser so I could pick clothes to change into when his hands met my waist and effectively stopped me.

Pulling me in against his chest, his warms hands roamed the sliver of bare skin between my tank top and shorts, sliding the top up slowly as he splayed his hand across my stomach. Hugging me from behind, he brushed his lips against my bare shoulder in a soft kiss before letting me go completely.

"My pretty girl." He hummed to himself as he sat down on my bed, his eyes still glued to me.

I all but stumbled to my dresser, body on fire as a blush burned my face. I pulled out the first thing I saw and was about to make my way to bathroom before Knox's hands caught my waist again. He pulled me to stand between his legs and I had to bring my arms to his shoulders to steady myself from the abrupt movement - the clothes in my hand dropping, forgotten, to his side.

His eyes grew dark, hungry, as they studied me. I found myself nearly squirming under his gaze yet again but did my best to hold it back. I bit my lip to hold back the noise I felt in the back of my throat as his hands slid up the side of my thighs and over my hips, his finger tips tickling my skin as they grazed by.

"Fuckin' hell, Annie." Knox all but groaned, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. He let his head fall against my still bare stomach as his thumbs brushed the underside of my breasts, his breath tickling my belly. My own breath hitched at the touch but I felt no desire to pull away.

I hesitantly stroked my hand through his hair, letting my nails graze his scalp, before he lifted his head up again to look at me.

"Liam invited us over to swim at his house if you wanted to do that." Knox said, his voice straining as he forced the change of topic.

"Okay." I nodded half heartedly, still consumed with his lingering touch.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asked a beat later, his hands growing still against my skin.

"No." I shook my head vigorously - probably too eagerly. Whatever he was doing, I didn't want him to stop now.

But he did anyways.

"Good. Go get changed." Loosing a breath, he gave my waist one last squeeze before dropping his hands and reaching for his phone.

I stood unmoving for a second too long as a small smirk started forming at the corner of his mouth. I frowned, embarrassment flooding my system. Willing myself to move, I went back to my dresser to grab a bikini before stalking off to bathroom to finally change.