AN: Originally posted this over at the .com/fanfic and joined the contest there of "The Smoochies" and decided to just post it here too. The plot is pretty basic and this is my very first oneshot. :) So R&R, guys :) And I seriously hope you like it. *Thumbs up*

Wanderer

I paced around my room, back and forth, going around restlessly. My hand instinctively shot up to my mouth and I started chewing on my nails, a bad habit I unfortunately got from Melanie, back in the old days when I inhabited her body. But that's a different story. Right now, I've got a whole new problem at my hands.

"Ugh, I can't take this anymore." I threw my arms in the air and fled through the doors. I was so reckless and impatient, I didn't care much on the complicated doors that Ian and I had. Screen door over here and another door over there. I would probably feel bad about it later, but I was too annoyed so I practically banged the doors and (hopefully not) possibly damaged them.

My body automatically raced to the right and rushed in the hallway, passing by other makeshift doorways covered by some improvised and alternative doors. When I finally reached the targeted room in mind, I stopped and faced the green sheet of cloth and took a deep breath.

I didn't exactly know what to expect: See Melanie with Jared (probably doing some things that I would rather not mention) or see nothing at all since it was way past breakfast time and most of the community were attending to their chores and duties for the day.

But why wasn't I in my respective task, and instead basking away in my room, wallowing in self-pity and feeling completely foolish and not being myself? That's because ever since my friends in the cave had decided to spare my life and take me away from Melanie's body, not only to save her but myself as well, and placed me into a fresh, new form…I have been looked at and acknowledged differently.

Physically speaking, I am utterly petite, making me fragile-looking and incompetent in any rough jobs in this place. And my strength and agility didn't prove my outside attributes wrong but instead supported them since I was apparently weak and wasn't that much useful but for only a couple of hours until this body I have now wears out and is drained of energy. And to top it all off, my flowing blonde locks of hair and angelic face made me even look more innocent and frail than I already was on the inside and people pitied me whenever I showed exhaustion and would instantly want me to rest instead of helping out. It frustrated me a lot.

Nobody else seemed to care, but I did. I really did. I was too comfortable with the use of Melanie's body before, aimlessly moving around and still had enough energy to spare. Even with my past conditions to be considered back when I was known as the humans' enemy, Melanie's body didn't tire as much compared to the one I had now, and with less efforts used.

So yes, I was badly disturbed and agitated. And I did not like it at all.

And this "weakness" of mine is now a part of my problem, and I needed some help or advice, specifically from Melanie.

I yanked the sheet away and let out a gust of air since it was Melanie (luckily) alone in her room, fixing some of the displayed furniture Jared and her shared. She heard me and turned around, facing me with raised eyebrows and wary eyes.

"Wanda? Is something wrong?" She dropped the book she was going to place on their shelf and instead marched towards me. She closed in the distance and brought me in a hug and I hadn't realized I had stiffened by her doorway. "Hey…are you alright? Come on, let's sit down. You want me to take you to Doc?" She asked gently. I got a hold of myself and exhaled, shaking my head and taking her offer of sitting on the mattress.

"It's just that…well, it's Ian." I whispered, not sure if she heard it.

"What did he do this time?" She asked harshly. Melanie hasn't really been a big fan of Ian since, well, Jared and him had an argument about me staying in Mel's body. It was a long time ago, but she still was rough on Ian.

"He…well…uhm…"

"Spit it out, Wanda."

"We don't exactly talk anymore, okay." I buried my face in my hands and hid from my embarrassment at how ridiculous this must sound.

"What? You don't talk anymore?" She took my hands into hers and looked me in the eyes. "Please elaborate." I sighed and told her the truth.

"Ever since I came back in this body and we all realized at how practically useless I am…"

"You're not useless, Wanda. It's just that, well, your body needs more rest now." Mel said.

"That's just it. I need too much rest but I'm not a child, I want to help." I added desperately.

"You do help!" Mel reassured. "You go out on raids and help us with the supplies." She smiled but I shook my head but continued with my problem.

"Well, anyway, Ian's avoiding me. It's been two weeks since I've been in Pet's body and after I moved in at Ian's room, we've barely had a conversation." I stood up and started pacing around again, while Melanie just glared at me and I couldn't help but bite my nails again. "Sure, we sleep in the same room and in the same mattress. But the moment he wakes up, he goes out and does some chore and I'm stuck in my room doing nothing. When he comes back, he gives me kiss on the cheek but lasts less than 2 seconds. He says he's tired and would just go to bed, so I'm left alone again while he sleeps and I worry." I sighed in frustration and faced Melanie. "That's not normal, right? I thought we were partners!" I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. "You and Jared don't even have this ridiculous problem, neither do Kyle and Sunny." I quietly muttered.

To my surprise, Melanie suddenly laughed. Not in a mocking way, but like she was pleased.

"I'm sorry…" She said in between laughs. "It's just that you're acting more human every day." She stopped and gave me a wholehearted smile. I returned the favor but it didn't reach my eyes. She sighed and stood up from the mattress and strode to my side, putting an arm around me and tried to ease my tension.

"Cut him some slack, Wanda. He's probably just getting used to all this. And, Jeb did say that he needed more men to help him out since our community increased and they're arranging some stuff and adjusting the exit to make it more secure." Her encouraging tone didn't exactly make me feel any better.

"I just…I miss him, Mel. I feel like we're drifting apart." I whispered.

"I promise you, you're not. You just both need some time." She continued rubbing my back when she abruptly burst out. "Wait a minute!"

I jumped in my place and eyed her cautiously. "What?" I asked suspiciously.

"I have an amazing idea!" Her expression was slightly scaring me, because she had an enormous grin spread wide across her face and she emphasized the word amazing. Melanie wasn't exactly branded as the "best person to give ideas" under our household; that's what Jared is for.

"Uhm, no offense Mel, but no ideas for now. A little advice is more of what I'm looking for here." I said. From her creepy, too- happy look, she instantly turned it into an eyebrow-arched and lips-pursed type of appearance.

"What, you don't trust me?" She demanded in a firm tone. I was taken aback by her use of tone because that was a preposterous statement. Next to Ian, I trusted Melanie with my life. "How can you not trust me?" She added, her tone feigning hurt.

Oh great. She had to put that out there. She knew that those words would surely change my mind and completely make me agree with whatever she was planning.

I sighed and took a really long and deep breath, already regretting my next words. "Fine, it's not like I have anything to lose anyway." I whispered, a sentence filled with defeat. But her tough exterior changed immediately to a giddy one. She started clapping her hands and brought her arms around me and held me tight.

"That's the spirit! I knew you would definitely trust my idea." She let me go and winked at me and my subconscious was already banging the words you're going to regret this decision inside my mind with a very irritating mocking tone. "Listen, I'll meet you tonight. Don't go avoiding me now, okay?" She ordered with a smile still on her face. "I'm going to go fetch Jared and tell him my idea. It's going to be a great surprise!" She chirped and gave me another disturbing wink. I scowled visibly in front of her, vaguely afraid of her surprise but she didn't seem to care less. "This is going to be so much fun!" And with that happy note, she left the room, leaving me wide-eyed and remorseful of what I had just gotten myself into.

"Well, thanks anyway for the advice Mel." I whispered sarcastically, pathetically talking to nobody.

I was not even excited about the fact that the day was very close to an end and dinner was going to be served. Melanie's words haunted me for the rest of the day after our somewhat pointless conversation early this morning, but it didn't help that Ian did not come to the room at all for the day and nobody even asked me for any kind of help in any task. So maybe giving Melanie's idea a chance wasn't so bad.

When I entered the kitchen, I noticed that a few people were missing but when I spotted Ian, I shoved the thought away. His back was facing me and he was talking to Jared, who wore the same bothering excited expression Mel had a while back. He was probably already telling Ian about Melanie's horrendous plan. My cheeks started to pathetically blush and I ran away from the room, figuring that I wasn't at all hungry but I really did not want to sit beside Ian, Jared and Mel with an awkward dead silence between us and me mostly speculating, the reason behind it mostly because of what Mel and Jared had planned out for us.

I reached the hallways of our cave rooms but ran into Jamie, who fortunately caught me before I could fall.

"Whoa, easy there, Wanda" Jamie chuckled and I couldn't help but feel that familiar eased feeling whenever I was around Jamie. "What's with the rush? Dinner's this way. Come on" Without any time to protest, Jamie grabbed my hand and headed us back towards to the very direction I was running away from. I groaned internally and slumped my shoulders when, to make it all worse for me, we both bumped into Melanie.

"There you are!" She smiled and I knew I was out of any kind of luck in getting out of this mess. "Have you eaten you dinner? Great! Let's go." Jamie exchanged a look with Melanie, who suspiciously looked like she was suppressing laughter and so was he, but Jamie merely shrugged and waved at us and marched off towards the kitchen.

"Do we really have to go through with this?" I asked while Melanie practically dragged me through the halls of the caves. "You could at least tell me what you're planning." And let me at least prepare myself to save me from some humiliation—I mentally added.

"Nope! Like I said, this is a surprise." Mel threw back at me. "So, Jared will meet us there with Ian and this plan of mine will push through perfectly!" She was so bright and eager that I felt bad for being such a killjoy about it, but whatever was going to happen still terrified me to bits. So again, I asked another question that was next on my list of "regretted decisions".

"Where is there, exactly?" I asked monotonously, her hand still around my wrist.

"Well, we're going to the Rec Room." She looked back at me with an expectant yet mischievous expression on her face. "And we're going to play a game."

Ian O'Shea

"What do you mean she has this 'idea'"?"

"I mean, Mel has this idea about fixing this problem about you and Wanda." Jared said with a crazy smile on his face.

"Wanda? Is she alright?" The sound of her name automatically put me into a silly alert mode that wanted me to protect her instantly and drown out any other words that Jared mentioned, but of course my sudden reaction only made Jared roll his eyes.

"No, she's alright, okay? She's with Melanie right now and you--have to go with me too." He started wiggling his eyebrows and had a very distracting devious smirk that made me feel skeptical about this whole thing.

"Look, Wanda and I…we don't have a problem. Nothing's…everything's fine, okay? So, I appreciate you guys helping out but there really, seriously is nothing to help us out with." I finished with a shrug and stood from my stool.

"Oh, really now?" He looked up at me from his chair with one eyebrow raised. "When exactly was the last real conversation you had together?"

Crap. He got me.

"Uh…well, that's different! We're both busy. You know that." I defended half-heartedly.

"No, you're busy. All the time. And the bad thing is, you make yourself busy. You're deliberately avoiding her." Jared said. "Just give this a chance. I've got my doubts myself about Mel's whole idea but what's there to lose?" I sighed and hung my head, ashamed that Jared was right. I was avoiding Wanda these past few weeks, but I didn't know that it bothered her, because I only thought it bothered me. I was only doing it to protect her, to give her time to get used to things, to make her feel comfortable…especially around me.

"Come on…they're waiting for us in the Rec Room." Jared stood up and got something behind the counter and led me away from the kitchen. We started passing through the halls when I realized why on earth would we go to the Rec Room when Jeb didn't mention any soccer game or meeting or anything?

"Jared, why are we going there? Do we have a meeting I didn't know about?" I asked guardedly.

"No, no. Nothing serious, it's just, well—Mel's idea is this whole childish game…" He turned to face me and saw what he got back in the kitchen.

"What's with the bottle?" I asked. Then it hit me.

Oh no.

Wanderer

We finally entered the familiar yet still so strange and slightly painful cave room when several memories of sorts came rushing back in my mind. I frowned and felt more miserable than ever when I heard something in the middle of the room that sounded like chatter.

"Hey guys, thanks for coming." Melanie said enthusiastically.

And then I saw who she was talking to.

We were almost in the middle of the room now but there, in the center, was a circle of people consisting of four women and four men. They had lanterns with them that were set all around them and as we got closer, I could make out the faces.

It was Brandt, Aaron, Andy and Doc. But the group of girls surprised me even more; it was Lily (who was doing better every day dealing with Wes' death) Paige, Lacey (shockingly) and even Sharon. Sharon had become looser and friendlier ever since I was placed into Pet's body (for some peculiar reason—and that's also another story). Her relationship with Doc had improved grandly because of her change of heart and it wasn't completely a surprise that she would agree to whatever her cousin's plan was.

"Fantastic! We're complete! Now, we just have to wait for Jared." Melanie let go of my hand and motioned for me to sit down with the group. Everyone was giggling and sniggering and was strangely grinning the way Melanie had just hours ago. I could feel my head throbbing because of my immense curiosity and I wanted to yell out all the questions that were threatening to leave my lips but I knew better than to ask Melanie since she would only silence me up. So instead, I threw Doc a sharp look because I knew you couldn't keep a secret all too well but to my greater surprise, he merely shrugged and smiled knowingly.

I was feeling disappointed and entirely gave up on the whole situation and waited for something to happen when I heard something from the entrance.

"This is ridiculous!" I heard a familiar voice complain. "I can't believe I let you drag me into this!"

"Don't be such a baby, O'Shea." Jared darted back, and I could practically hear him roll his eyes with his tone. I smiled faintly and they eventually came in the room with Jared holding another lantern in his left hand and holding something else in the other. They crossed the room when I finally landed my stare on Ian and my chest involuntarily tightened. He sighed but turned his head towards me while striding near the circle. Our eyes locked for this quiet yet fully understandable moment that seemed all too fast to end and he broke our gaze to sit down. The electric tingly feeling I got whenever I'm with Ian went all out of control and my chest ached even more, my heart desperately missing him so much.

I wanted to look at him and ask him how his day was and just run up to him and throw my arms around him and kiss him on those lovely lips of his and just be with him forever when Melanie's voice interrupted my trance and I instantly blushed at how outrageous my thoughts were.

"For those of you who don't know what exactly I've planned out tonight…" For some weird reason, I could feel some of the eyes draw to me. "It's a game most people would call Spin the Bottle." She emphasized the last words with such keenness that I had to look at her but everyone else started laughing uncontrollably. The boys were nudging each other while the girls were giggling. Even Sharon had a sly smile on her lips. I didn't exactly know what Spin the bottle was but my eyes grew wide, the name already sounded so…scandalous.

"You're not serious, are you?" I was surprised to hear Ian and shifted my eyes towards his face.

"Actually, I am." Melanie modestly said. "The rules are simple. Someone spins the bottle; whomever the tip points to kisses the person who spun it. Then the person who was pointed at gets to spin the bottle next. And the game goes on until everyone has kissed everyone in the group at least once." More sniggers, mostly coming from Brandt, Aaron and Andy. Melanie threw them and sharp look and added "And no kissing of the same sex." The chuckles ended and Lacey scoffed at their reaction.

"Okay, everyone get it? Good. Andy, why don't you spin first?" Jared said.

"Hold on a second." I muttered. Everyone's eyes were on me, even Ian's, which made me even more nervous. "Mel? Can I talk to you for a second?" I fixed my stare down on the floor; I couldn't stand all of them looking at me. "Alone." I added with finality. I stood up from the ground and heard her do the same and headed for the farthest corner away from the circle of players. When we reached the dark and quiet area, I finally couldn't take it any longer.

"Are you out of your mind?" I practically screeched out, trying my best to keep it low so the others wouldn't hear. "This is your idea?! This?"

"Relax, Wanda." Melanie simply said. "Look, I'm doing this for you, okay?"

"Oh that makes it better…" I snapped sarcastically. My hand shot up unto my forehead and turned away from her, wanting so bad to run away from this place and hide from my utter mortification since my whole secret about missing Ian and my pathetic reasons have been told to everyone else. I bet the whole cave knew, maybe even Sunny.

"It's Sexual Tension." Melanie—appallingly—blurted out. I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly yet carefully turned to face her with great disbelief in my eyes on what I was hearing.

"What?" I said with obvious astonishment

"That's what's been setting you guys apart. Sexual Tension. I mean, there might be some other valid cause but this frustration you both have is definitely there. Ian can't of course force you to do anything you don't want to do because he's too much of a gentleman and you're too innocent to even know what's happening." My jaw was slack and my mouth was open and I couldn't quite register what she was saying.

"But…but, this is ridiculous! This is the best you could come up with? I mean, no offense, this would be fun in a party or some ninth grade hang out but we're past the end of the world, and we're living underground, in a cave, playing spin the bottle when we've got other tasks to do, other important matters to consider!" I huffed all in one breath. I leaned against a wall and let out a long sigh. "…Not to mention that Ian will probably think very low and immature of me now" I muttered very quietly, humiliated that I admitted to this once again.

Melanie sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder, a gesture meant as either pity or sympathy—maybe both.

"I'm sorry I told them, it was the only way I could make them agree and have more people support on this, you know? And, I told Jared 'cause I knew I needed help in convincing Ian." She encouraged.

"Well, what were you thinking with this game? You could've set up a private date with him or anything else that was less…public."

"Wanda…you have to understand. A part of the reason why I did this was not just for you—I did it for them too." She lifted her hand and pointed it towards the group. "Like you said, we're past the end of the world, so where would you exactly see some 'party' or hang out happening, hmm? Our world has been taken away from us right under our noses and these types of 'silly and immature' things are the only ones we can still treasure and actually do." Her voice was vaguely breaking and pure despair lacing all over her tone, and I did not want to be the one to cause her such pain.

"Okay…fine. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll join your strange yet truthfully quite interesting human game." From me saying those words made Melanie smile so hugely that I couldn't help but grin back at her response. "But I have a question." Melanie nodded eagerly for me to continue; surely glad I was finally riding along. "What does Spin the Bottle have to do with me and Ian being, uhm, 'close' again?" Melanie unexpectedly giggled and arched a sharp eyebrow.

"Okay, see here, when the two of you are about to kiss…might as well—you know…." She smirked in that wicked impish way again but rolled her eyes when I had my forehead creased and I was shaking my head. "You guys just go ahead and make out! Or do whatever it is you decide to do." She finished with one of her infamous winks.

"Make out?" I croaked.

"Yes, make out. Now come on, they're waiting for us." She didn't even give me a chance to protest this time since she yanked my arm once more and brought us back to the game.

Ian O'Shea

This is insane. No, it's more than insane—it's insanely childish and juvenile! I mean sure, Jared was able to convince me that Melanie's idea was to 'fix' the problem Wanda and I had, but Spin the bottle? How would that possibly fix anyone's problem, let alone ours?

Jared was chatting with some of the guys when I glared at him until sure enough, he looked at me. I still had my eyebrows crunched together and my lips in a straight line while staring at him and all he did was throw two thumbs up with an innocent yet completely sarcastic smile. I wanted to storm out, but if it wasn't for Wanda being here, nothing would stop me doing that exactly.

"Sorry for the delay, but I'm ready to start now." Melanie said all merrily, coming back with Wanda. I tried to steal her attention and successfully, she glanced at me shortly but enough to catch my smile to let her know that I at least was glad to see her but she didn't quite believe it, she even looked…a little sad.

Wanda had no idea that it was killing me to actually decide to avoid her, something I thought I'd ever choose to do, but it was for her own good. And I didn't need to ask her if she was uncomfortable, I was sensitive enough to give her space to make her get used to her new host, to not push her and get her all pressure in this new found relationship we share…although I don't know how long that would take.

Whenever I came to the room, I wanted to just hold her tight and never let her go. I wanted to tell her all the thoughts that came into my mind, no matter how senseless they were. I just wanted to scream to the whole universe how much I love her…I just wanted to reach over to her right now and whisper to her how much I miss her.--and how stupid I am to ever come to this conclusion of not talking to her when I needed her so much. And now, my decision is hurting her and it troubles me that it pains her.

"Here's the bottle, Andy." Jared handed the plastic bottle to Andy and he spun the bottle while clearly ecstatically beaming. Everyone—including me, including Wanda—held their breath subtly and anticipated on who the bottle would end up pointing at. Thankfully, it didn't land on Wanda but on Paige instead. She instantly blushed and Lily laughed at her reaction, they thought nobody knew but it was obvious that Paige and Andy were dating—if you could call it that underground. But that's what they were doing anyway.

Andy cleared his throat and gave her a shy smile, making Brandt snicker at how coy he was being. He leaned in and covered the distance with Paige and finally kissed her. It was clear that he tried to deepen it but Paige playfully pushed him away but they both seemed pretty satisfied and not to mention, their faces were tomato red. Paige got a hold of the bottle and spun it swiftly and the tip stopped across Doc. He tensed and subtly checked for Sharon's approval from the corner of his eye. Sharon rolled her eyes but was obviously holding back a smile from Doc's nervousness. The kiss was casual and it was Doc's turn to spin the bottle only for it to point at Lily. They shared a soft peck and seconds later, Lily spun and soon had a kiss with Aaron. He then clumsily turned the bottle and it went all unbalanced but it the tip hit Lacey on the knee.

He was hesitant at first and attempted to not make eye contact with her, but being the aggressive Lacey, she shrugged this off and was the one who came closer to Aaron and gave him one hard kiss that undoubtedly caught Aaron off his guard.

"Yeah, don't act like you didn't like that." Lacey surprisingly commented and wiped her mouth, eyeing Aaron sharply, who was actually stunned. The whole group tried to stifle their laughter but they did it loudly anyway, even Wanda, whose laugh and even the smallest smile I missed terribly.

Everyone was pretty much still going at it when Lacey spun the bottle and it pointed at Brandt. He stopped mid-laughter when he noticed that he was going to be kissed by the person who shot him before. Well, technically, it was the Seeker who shot him but I guess that didn't ease his awkward silence. Lacey probably sensed that too because she didn't act so insistent when Brandt reluctantly leaned in and quickly pecked her lips. Jared chuckled but his smile turned into a sudden scowl when Brandt's spin landed on Melanie. Even I couldn't suppress my laughter at that, even with my foul mood.

Wanderer

Ian unexpectedly laughed at Jared's grimace at his karma for making fun of Brandt and his bottle stopping at Melanie. I missed his laughter so bad—the way he had lines crinkling around his eyes and some inconspicuous dimples forming around his mouth. The sound of it was heaven to me, especially when I could make him laugh myself. But that didn't happen lately…

I was cut off my reverie when Mel was done kissing Brandt and spun. To everyone's bewilderment and disbelief, it stopped just to point at Jared.

"Oh, that's unfair!" Andy whined. The rest of the circle agreed and groaned while Sharon shook her head, Lacey scoffed and Ian rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Hey, don't blame us—blame the bottle." Jared said with obvious smugness. Melanie giggled and leaned in to wrap her arms around Jared's neck. Their kiss was the most intense among the others and a tiny part of me felt uncomfortable, for some weird reason.

"Okay, we don't want to see a preview of what you guys do every night." Ian interrupted. Melanie broke the kiss first and pressed her forehead against Jared before making a face at Ian, which made Jared smirk. Jared gave a chaste kiss on Mel's cheek then started turning the bottle. I quietly snickered but my attention got the better of me and my eyes unintentionally landed on Ian, so I didn't take note on who Jared was supposed to kiss now.

To my left, Lily taps me on my thigh and had a strange look on her face and whispers so lightly I barely heard her.

"Uh…Wanda?"

Ian O'Shea

I wasn't jealous. No really, I wasn't. I was more…worried. Will memories of the past with her feelings about Jared come back? Will she want more? Worse yet—will she like it?

Okay, fine, I'm jealous. But can you blame me? She's going to kiss the man she fell in love with before me—that's not something you particularly forget.

The group fell silent and the atmosphere was absolutely tense. The guys hastily dodged eye contact from me or Melanie and suddenly took interest on the ceiling or floor. Andy started whistling and Doc made small talk with Sharon. Even Mel looked fairly uneasy and shifted in her place.

Jared must've noticed our expressions and said in a plain loud voice. "Okay, quit the weirdness guys. Wanda, let's just get it over with."

What happened in the following seconds was inexplicably blurry yet clear at the same time. I felt like I was watching a thriller movie—wanting to bring my hands up to cover my eyes but peeking through my fingers to see what was happening anyway.

When Jared was in enough distance, I wanted to tear my eyes away from them but it interested me that when their lips were intact, they both had strange expressions on their faces. Both of their eyes were open and it seemed like they were confused with their eyebrows raised and eyes speculating. It didn't bother me until they still didn't stop kissing and compared to the rest, theirs was probably the longest. Before I could think properly, my lips started moving and words uttered out of my mouth.

"O-okay, I think that's good enough. Wanda, could you spin the bottle already?" I practically yelled and took a step closer to them but Wanda was perhaps slightly startled to hear me and backed away. Her cheeks went unbelievably scarlet and darted her eyes downward. From my peripheral vision, I think I saw Melanie blow a gust of air—relief, definitely.

"That was…weird." Jared ultimately muttered.

"Agreed." She answered back with a nod. They both laughed and Wanda reached out for the bottle. I couldn't say I wasn't relieved myself when reality caught up with me and realized that that was only one guy left for Wanda to kiss. And I couldn't say I wasn't excited either.

It was silly to consider, since we've kissed before. But now that I think about it, we haven't really kissed much publicly. So yes, I was being immature but after that performance with Jared, who wouldn't feel competitive?

Wanda probably thought about the same thing because her fingers were faintly shaking but spun the bottle lightly anyway. I was still feeling a bit ecstatic when I thought about the chances of the bottle ending up at me. But destiny must be on my side because just as I hoped, the tip ended up pointing at me.

I couldn't help but form a tiny smile and noticed that Wanda had one corner of her lips raised too.

"Here comes the good part." Aaron whispered, but everyone surely heard it. Jared threw Melanie an expectant pointed glance and she gave him a smirk back.

"It's not a big deal…we like, kiss all the time, okay?" Even I was shocked as to what I just said. Not much for easing Wanda's comfort. Her eyes grew wide and she gave me a questioning look that clearly asked what are you saying? She madly flushed again and brought her head down, making her hair flow down and covered her face.

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take her being so shy all the time, even to those who knew her the best.

I stood up slowly, took two short steps towards her and her head finally raised. She still had this confused façade but I could tell from her eyes that she was anticipating on what I would do. I instinctively crouched down and I was now face-to-face with her. I gradually lifted my hand and slid it across her cheek. She fluttered her eyes before completely closing it and sighed, cuddling her cheek on my hand that made me cup her face. And then I leaned in.

Wanderer

He stood up and was coming closer instead of kissing me while sitting down. He touched me in the softest way that made me automatically close my eyes, leading me in savoring the static that went over my body because of the feel of his hand. I could feel his breath against my face and I knew he was leaning closer.

First, he gently pressed his firm lips against my cheek that made me sigh. He then leisurely grazed them down to my jaw and kissed it ever so nonchalantly.

My lips involuntarily parted and just desperately waited for us to have contact. I was expecting the kiss when I instantly felt ashamed of myself for being so ridiculous. I couldn't even get Ian to do this without Mel's childish game. Oh great, thanks Melanie.

I was having a mental breakdown and an imaginary argument with Mel about this when I didn't notice that I was actually holding my breath but sighed when cool yet somehow warm lips finally touched mine.

My chest ached once more and my heart started thumping and felt like it was doing cartwheels. Knots have been formed in the pit of my stomach and fire was everywhere, his touch brought electricity and life. I knew he was testing me first if I would feel comfortable with this because he glided his lower lip very lightly on my upper lip and detached them all too quickly.

My instincts took over because I got quite terrified when he removed his lips from mine too fast so I did what came into my mind first…I kissed him back.

It even surprised me but I guess it took him back more. When I caught his lips between mine, it turned to be a little forceful, so I pulled back only for him to do the same to me. We skipped past the whole gentle pecks and kisses like we usually did before but now it was pure…lust, I suppose.

Maybe it was Sexual Tension after all.

Ian O'Shea

I didn't want to stop and I did not know what come over to us both but this was Wanda, and I could not be too persistent with her. She was fragile—not on the inside, but her exterior was. And I knew she did not have much experience with this other than have it with me.

My hands were on her waist and her arms were wrapped around my neck, bringing us closer than we ever had before. Surprisingly, she tightened her grip on me that only meant one thing: she wanted more.

I don't know if it was appropriate for me to feel completely glad that she was enjoying this when I realized that we weren't alone right now. If I gave in, she might feel utterly humiliated when we came to face everyone and that would last for days.

But she did still seem to not mind. She pushed her lips harder and to my complete surprise, I could feel something pressing against my lips.

Oh dear God. It was her tongue.

I froze in my place and contemplated. Well, to be honest, it is a game after all…

So I granted her entrance and it was the greatest thing I have ever felt in a really long time. And to top it all off on how amazing this all was, she made a little sound that sounded a lot like pleasure to me.

I smiled against her lips and let out my tongue to meet hers. She seemed like a pro already, welcoming mine with massaging touches that made me want to suppress a groan. I know I should've stopped because the game hadn't ended yet, but a force took over me and instead, I released her lips to breathe and trailed down kisses down her neck.

Wanderer

His kisses left trails of fire down my neck and even lower to my collarbone. I moved closer to him and held him tightly by the nape of his neck. A moan escaped my lips that I didn't know I was capable of making, but Ian stole my lips in a very powerful way that I figured he liked that I made the said sound.

I pressed myself harder against him and almost sat on his lap. But he grabbed my hips anyway and jerked them so I could straddle him. This time, he snakes his strong arms around my waist and brought out his tongue, which mine did not hesitate to meet. I was caught off my guard when he roughly pushed me back to the ground and then he was on top of me.

My eyes only opened for seconds but they searched anyway and glared at Ian's beautiful light sapphire irises. He smiled this ridiculously handsome boyish crooked smile and suddenly devoured my already swollen lips. We were both out of breath, but that wasn't going to stop either of us. My legs impulsively enclosed around his hips and when our tongues made contact, my back arched and to my delight, he let out a deep muscular groan that made me intensify my hold on him and I felt something poking me by my stomach. A thought rushed into my mind and I experimentally grinded my hips against him and earned a loud growl coming from his mouth.

The atmosphere felt like the temperature went high and sweat was beading on my forehead. Melanie's words echoed in my mind—make out, and the thought made me smile but Ian continued on kissing me anyway.

The sensation was too much that I felt like I was going to spontaneously combust.

I actually liked it—no, I loved it.

I didn't actually occur to me that people were in our presence, but not having to have any kind of contact with Ian like this for two weeks have driven me mad and I couldn't care less. Stare, gawk, laugh or mock all they want—what mattered was that I was with Ian. And he was with me.

Clang.

Something that sounded like metal fell which made both of our heads snap upward. It was dimmer than it was just a moment ago—but how long exactly were we doing this scene?

Ian and I were both panting and a little sweaty. His hands got a hold of my wrists and my arms were above my head, but my legs were still around his hips and I bit my lip and let out a slight giggle before pulling them down.

The strangest thing about this all though…was that it was quiet.

"Oh my god…I can't believe this was their plan all along." Ian said with a sly smirk and was looking around the cave room. I propped on my elbows and faced him with a bemused expression. "What do you me-"

And then I saw what he meant.

The room was completely empty except for one lantern—which caused the noise a while back. They left us. They left us to 'make out'.

"I've underestimated Jared and Mel, it actually worked." He mused.

I smiled and mentally noted that I should thank Melanie later on…after we were done here. "Huh. It was Sexual Tension then." I pondered to myself.

"What?" Ian asked with an amused look.

"Nothing…" I leaned in and whispered in his ear. "It's just that, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to experience this." I nibbled casually on his earlobe and his eyes grew wide while he clearly shivered.

"Well, well. Look who's learning some human tricks here?" Ian acknowledged while tickling my sides. I giggled and caught his large soft hands. I sighed and asked him one thing that bothered me all this time. "Why did you avoid me for two weeks, Ian?"

His smile faded and was replaced with a scowl. "I…I was giving you time to your new host and give you space so you could figure out the feelings you had and not because you mixed them up with the ones before when you were in Melanie's body." His voice was tiny and barely coherent. "I didn't want you to think that you only love me because you're stuck with me."

I trapped his face between my small hands and looked at him straight in the eye. ".You."

Without any warning, he kissed me once more and whispered "Thank you…. and I love you Wanderer."

What happened after that…well, you could say that the bottle pointed at him again.