"Be your first kiss."

His admission felt like a bucket of ice water on my skin. It brought me crashing back down to earth with a bang.

Be my first kiss.

My first kiss.

Was this a pity kiss because I was eighteen and hadn't been kissed before?

Oh my god.

He felt sorry for me.

He offered to take you to homecoming because he feels bad for you, which is probably why he's kissing you right now.

It's a pity kiss, Molls.

He was trying to give me a first because he felt bad.

"We should stop," I breathed against his lips, feeling my body turn to stone.

It took Daryl a moment to register what I had said, but the moment he did, he froze and pulled back. "You wanna stop?"

I nodded weakly. "Thanks, though."

Breathing hard, he lowered me to the floor and took a step back before reaching into his sweats and unceremoniously readjusting himself. "You're thanking me?"

"For giving me my first kiss," I offered, voice raspy and lips swollen. "I, ah, appreciate it?"

"You appreciate…" He shook his head and stared at me like I had grown three heads. "You think I kissed you as a favor?"

"Didn’t you?"

He stared blankly at me for the longest moment before shaking his head and stalking over to the window.

"It's okay," I said, still leaning against the wall I'd been pinned to a matter of minutes ago. "We're both drunk. I won't tell anyone. We can forget it ever happened."

Holding the back of his head with his hands, Daryl stared into the darkness and exhaled a frustrated breath. "Yeah. Whatever you say, Dolly."

"And, uh, I would blame the alcohol and the weed for my earlier meltdown, but that would be a lie," I continued, pained. "I’m just…I have a lot of issues and everything that happened at school yesterday… " I blew out a shaky breath. "Uh, it doesn’t matter. Either way, I'm sorry for throwing all of that crap at you."

"Do you feel better?"

"Huh?"

"Better," he clarified, turning to face me. "Do you feel better now?"

I thought about his question for a long moment before reluctantly nodding. "Yeah." I did feel better. I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. "I do."

"Then it's okay," he said with a noncommittal shrug. "I think we both needed this blowout." He paused for a long moment before adding, "It had to happen sooner or later, right?"

"Right," I agreed with a shiver, unsure if he was referring to the conversation or the kiss.

Silence enveloped us both as we both studied one another from a safe distance.

God, he was beyond beautiful. His dark hair was all disheveled from my fingers, and his lips were puffy and swollen from our kiss. He was also still sporting an impressive bulge in his sweats.

Don’t look at it, Molly.

You're a bad friend!

"You don’t have to stay if it's weird for you," I said, giving him the out that I suspected he was desperately searching for. "I won't be offended."