the long way around [holly, open]

She knew that she could throw him off for at least a few seconds. The only problem was that when her innocent expression had only brought about a smirk to his face in the end, Holly had a moment of panic. Did she show it? No, she had found in the past that it was better to keep that hidden until the right second lest she wanted this time with Wynter to be cast into bouts of giggles and humored smiles.

Obliging his next notion, Holly swallowed a sip of sweet tea, closing her eyes and humming in content. "Sweet. Not overpowering but... just enough for you to want more," she answered softly, calmly. It was almost stunning to herself that she wasn't fidgeting or stuttering by then. She was going to push through this! If it was the last thing that she would do, it was to follow through with whatever this was!

Holly tilted her head ever so slightly to the side as she looked up at him again. "Would you like to try it?" The fair-haired girl asked him, eyes managing to keep the innocent nature that they held before.

...

Holly could have burst into a squeal of pure delight and rolled around on the ground like a child right then and there and not feel an ounce of regret for it.

Instead, she pushed herself back and stared at him for a good few seconds, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. Her cheeks were burning so hard they might have ignited into fire. Her mind felt like it was reeling back from someone punching it hard enough to spin. Even her lips seemed to tingle in response. Still looking at him, her mouth opened and closed like she wanted to say something, but couldn't think of the proper words.

It had been so delicate and swift that she hadn't even had time to close her eyes. It had been so perfect for her first kiss ever. But that only pushed her forward. From her stage of speechlessness, Holly quickly reached out her arms to wrap them around the back of his neck and pull him closer. The second kiss lasted a little longer, wanting the sensation to last on their lips. She wanted the feeling of pure bliss to cause her cheeks to go red all over again and her heart to race energetically.

When she broke her lips away from his and loosened her arms just slightly, she nodded. "Y-Yeah... Still sweet..." She murmured, unable to break her eyes away from his.

If they could stay in that embrace for forever, Holly wouldn't have minded that a single bit. With their arms entangling the other and their bodies against one another, the warmth radiated between them. After years of that annoying empty space between the two of them, no matter how small it was, it was finally closed. With her fingers gently trapping themselves in his hair and his arm pressing her nearer to him, she couldn't think of any other way for that moment to have been spent.

His smile, contagious, tugged a grin at her lips. Her face brightened significantly, more confidence than she had when she had started teasing him. As she gazed up at Wynter, she couldn't help but realize how bad she had wanted this. And with his question, it was only a matter of a few seconds to remember how long it had been for.

"Three. Almost four years now," she replied, only breaking eye contact then to close her eyes in thought. "I remember because it was on your birthday. You didn't tease me that year with the threat that you would kiss me if we stood under a mistletoe at the same time. I was mad at you for it, but I didn't understand why I was. I told Briar and she teased me for being jealous."

A carefree laugh left her lips, unable to hold it back. "Gosh, I don't know. Maybe I always had a small thought like that, though." If there were any worries from before about making her feelings present, she definitely didn't show any of them or she simply didn't think about any of them. When her blue gaze landed on his once again, Holly's brow quirked up in question as she smirked playfully. "Or perhaps you were asking how long you want our next kiss to be?"

It was the silent, impatient waiting that always caught Holly off guard, but as Wynter took his time to speak gently, she found herself not bothered by the absence of talking. It was like lighting a fire when it wasn't too cold out yet. You knew the heat would find you before the chill ever could and it was more for a time of relaxing than it was for long seconds of waiting for the embers to set the pit ablaze. Holly could get used to this reassuring flame.

It was a weird thought, having him so close. He was an adult and she was barely so. Though they had known each other their whole life, Holly couldn't place this exact Wynter at this exact moment. She wanted to keep in this embrace, to keep this same breeze flowing over them, to keep the sun in the sky in precisely the same position, to keep thinking that he could and would kiss her again... She wanted to take those thoughts and grasp onto them tightly, ensuring that she would never let them go.

"Then I wish I hadn't kept telling myself it would be a bad idea to tell you anything," she murmured in an embarrassed tone, cheeks stained pink. It didn't matter now, however. They had spent the same amount of time together and it was a clean consensus that brought them to both take a step forward that day. "This makes me so happy. That... That sounds really pathetic and cheesy, but I don't really know what else to say without it sounding worse," Holly laughed softly.