I just wanted an excuse to have them kissing lots and this was the best I could do. AU with no spinning vortex of doom.

...

It will be fun, he said. You will have a great time, he said.

I didn't know what exactly I was feeling as I slowly trudged back to my room in a daze, but it certainly wasn't great. More like confused. Very confused, and very worried, because less than twenty minutes ago, I was forced to smack lips with the hottest, bitchiest girl in Blackwell.

Well, forced was a little overstated. A couple of students had planned to gather at some secret teen hot spot located in the woods just outside the school grounds, and Warren, for some inane reason, invited me. I only accepted because I felt bad for blowing his advance off once before, but the gathering was actually pretty fun and laidback. There were snacks and sodas and beers, of course, and when almost everyone was wired with some kind of buzz, some guys started a game of Spin the Bottle.

I reckoned that Warren thought he could pull a fast one on me and use the ruse of the game to finally get a kiss from me, but the joke was on him, because that chance was given to non other than Victoria Chase.

Who also totally could have passed, by the way. When the bottle had landed on me, I'd expected her to either publicly humiliate me or scream at the top of her lungs while hightailing it to the hills. But nope, she didn't even flinch when she pulled my face to hers, and then we were kissing.

Well, kissing was also a little overstated, because it was more like Victoria pressing her lips to mine while I just sat there wide eyed and stiff as a board, looking like a terrified young doe.

Boy, five seconds has never felt like a lifetime until then.

Since it was the weekend, the security around the campus was a little less strict. I soon made it to my room with only having to show my ID twice. I had just exchanged my clothes for some pajamas when a hard knocking sounded from my door.

I hesitated, because who would be visiting me, of all people, at a time like this? I got my answer when I opened the door and saw Victoria, who looked absolutely livid.

I could just stare at her for a moment. "Uh. Hello?"

Victoria scoffed angrily. She pushed me aside and stormed her way into my room. She had barely even glanced at her surroundings and she was already turning up her nose in disgust at my things. Turning to me, she crossed her arms, tapped her foot, and glared me down like I had just kicked her puppy.

"Um," I began uncertainly, but before I could get another word in, Victoria was speaking.

"You know, there are people here who would kill to get a chance to kiss me. The opportunity was practically thrown onto your lap, and you squander it by moving your lips like a dead fish."

Those words were totally unexpected, especially by how much they stung me. "Hey, give me a break! I was totally blindsided; I didn't expect you to actually do it."

"Well, why wouldn't I?" Victoria stated in a tone that heavily implied the word duh. "It was just a stupid game with stupid rules. No big deal, Lamefield."

"If it's no big deal, then why are you here, Victoria?"

Victoria tsked while wagging a finger at me. "I'm in this sad, pathetic little hippy grovel because you need to learn how to kiss properly, and I'm offering my expertise."

"Courtney and Taylor are outside recording all this, aren't they?" Is the first thing I could blurt out, because this seriously could not be happening. "Is this some sort of sick prank, because I'll have you kno-"

"Chill, weirdo," Victoria said, her hands falling to her hips. "I'm not the big bad boogieman constantly out to get you. I'm, like, genuinely concerned for what little status value in this school you have left, because it's kind of sad that you had your first kiss from me, because of a childish party game, in front of a bunch of drunk and hormonal teenagers."

I felt my cheeks flush in embarrassment. I was flustered as I stammered out, "D-don't flatter yourself, Tori. I've kissed someone before."

Well, it was more like a peck. And it was with my best friend, who had double dared me, but that still counted, right?

Victoria obviously didn't think so, as she barked out a humorless laugh that was filled with haughtiness. "I won't even bother to ask with who, because that doesn't matter. You forget that I experienced it first hand, and I must say, no skill."

I sighed, rubbing my face in exasperation. Tiredness from the long day was starting to catch up to me, and Victoria's constant snide remarks certainly wasn't helping. "I don't really get what you're trying to offer here. Are you saying that you're, what, going to be my kissing coach?"

Victoria let out a weary sigh and inspected her nails, which were and would always be flawless. "It will be a burden, I'm sure, but someone will have to do it, so it might as well be moi. I will be performing a community service act; the mayor should probably commemorate me or something."

I crossed my arms and frowned. "You're not very good at this thing called tact."

To my surprise, Victoria faltered, her expression softening into something that may or may not have been apologetic. Even though she didn't outright apologize, she did seem to genuinely regret her words. It was a side of her I had the privilege of witnessing once, and it was the side that interested me the most.

Despite the rollercoaster of a ride these last few weeks have been, this was by far the weirdest. The meanest, most popular, and (at least in my opinion) most beautiful girl in school was proposing to personally teach me how to kiss. I didn't doubt that most of the students here would kill for a chance like this, and now that it was happening to me, I almost wanted to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, or maybe question if I'd inhaled too much of that smoke lingering around those potheads.

It made so little sense that it caused me to shake my head in wonder. "Why would you-"

"Don't question it," Victoria snapped, although not as harshly as I had expected. The pink blossoming in her cheeks was also unexpected. "You know what? Forget it." She started heading towards me, right for the door.

As she passed by, I reached out with my hand.

"Wait," I said, and she did, mostly because I had grabbed her arm. She wouldn't look at me, but I had her attention. "You swear that this isn't some elaborate prank you will use to shame me later?"

Victoria turned to me, an eyebrow arching in an unimpressed look. When she saw how serious I was, she sighed, held up three fingers, and said. "I swear on my Ryan Roche cashmere sweaters."

"That's not really-" I stopped myself with a sigh.

Victoria pressed her finger against my chest and backed me up until she had me pressed against my mirror. With her arms outstretched on either side of my head, trapping me, she leaned in so close that I thought that she was just going to kiss me right then and there.

"Just think of it as a game, a stupid game with stupid rules."

"No big deal," I added in a murmur, my eyes fixated on the swell of her lips. When said lips curved into a smirk, I guessed that my answer was obvious to her.

"Exactly." Victoria stood up straight, backed away, and I found myself missing her warmth. Her gaze lingered on me before she headed to the door. With her hand on the knob, she gave me a sideways glance, mischief gleaming in her eyes. "The game has officially started, Caulfield."

...

A few hours later, I woke to someone knocking on my door at eight on a Sunday.

I must have looked like a zombie as I absently opened the door, bleary eyed, clothes crooked, and hair a wild mess. As I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I lazily smacked my lips because my throat was parched and in dire need of water.

A throat clearing made me open my eyes, focus, and they widened when I saw Victoria. My jaw also dropped, because she was standing there in running shorts and a tank that barely fell past her toned midriff, her short blonde hair swept back with a hair band.

"I'm going out for a run," Victoria told me, and I lightly frowned in confusion, because did she expect me to go with her? She rolled her eyes at my expression, pulled me by the string of my pants, and kissed me. It was over before I could even think to close my eyes and return it. "I'll find you later," she stated with a smirk and a wink, then she walked away.

I could just stare after her in awe, a warm and foreign feeling growing in my belly.

Later on, I was walking through the quad when I was suddenly grabbed and pulled towards the trees.

"It's just me," Victoria said, rather unhelpfully since I had caught a whiff of her perfume. "Are you ready?" she then asked, and, oh, we were going to do that here? Now?

I looked around, panicked, because what if someone saw us come in here? What if I was making the biggest mistake in my life by sharing such a precious thing with someone like Victoria? What if-

There was a gentle tap on my head. I came from my musing to see Victoria biting her lip, giving me a soft yet heavy lidded look I couldn't quite recognize. "Relax, dork," she said, brushing my hair away in a surprisingly tender gesture.

Victoria held my gaze as she slowly leaned forward, like she was giving me a chance to stop her, and then her lips were pressing against mine yet again. Even though I was anticipating it, my body immediately went still and my muscles locked up. I couldn't relax; my arms twitched like they wanted to flail.

Victoria started giggling, but it was light, like she was amused. She pulled back a little, bit her lip again, and, wow, she was really hot when she did that. "Just relax and move with me; it will come to you naturally."

I nodded my head in vague understanding, but Victoria didn't move. I stared at her and she stared back, grinning. Just when I was about to ask what she was waiting on, I realized that she was waiting on me to make the first move.

It made me flush hotly, and I bashfully adverted my eyes. Victoria just waited patiently, the hands on my waist giving me an occasional reassuring squeeze. I soon worked up the courage to just go for it. I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled her down to me. When we kissed, there were no fireworks or a sudden clarity of love. It was just… nice, and it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I couldn't tell if I was actually doing anything different from before, but judging by the low groan and the tightening of her fingers, Victoria was pleased with my efforts.

"Good," she breathed out when we broke apart seconds later. Her eyes fell to my lips, and she licked her own. It looked like she wanted to go in for more, and quite frankly, so did I.

After what seemed to be great deliberation, Victoria took a step back and gathered her things. She waited for me to do the same, and then we started heading back to Blackwell in silence, our swinging arms brushing with each step.

…

Two months. That's how long we agreed to have our arrangement.

So you don't get too clingy, Caulfield, Victoria had told me one day, after we left the unused closet we'd slipped into when we were suppose to be in Mr. Jefferson's class. I'm just doing you a favor. We're still not friends, you know.

It was only week two of the first month, and I thought that I had the hang of this kissing business. Victoria agreed with this, I guess, since she has yet to complain

We were together on her bed late one night when I felt something wet and warm brush against my lips. The sensation caused me to jolt back, but Victoria followed and resumed kissing me. When the feeling from before happened again, and I finally realized what it was and what she wanted.

I parted my lips, her tongue started wrapping around mine, and it was by far the best thing ever.

Four weeks in, I noticed that, when she really got into it, Victoria would pin me to some surface as she possessively ravaged my mouth. I also noticed that she really liked when I would sit on her lap and knot my fingers into her hair while we were kissing.

Often times we would be so engrossed with each other that we would forget that there was such a thing called class, making us fall behind with our lessons. We would always study in my room since Victoria swore that there was something about the place that ruined the mood, so when I opened the door one study night, I was caught off guard when she jumped into my arms.

"I really missed you, for some reason," was the only explanation she had before kissing me so hard that it was sure to bruise.

I had enough sense and enough strength to hold her. After closing the door, I stumbled over to the bed, falling onto it when my calves hit the edge. I had a hard time keeping up with all of the kissing and sucking and biting being done to my lips. Victoria weaved her fingers into my hair and brought us close like she wanted to merge.

The hands that I had pliantly planted on her hips slide down to her rear, and Victoria actually moaned when I instinctively gave it a firm squeeze. When she forcibly shoved me down, I thought that I had overstepped my bounds, but no. Her eyes were wild, her nostrils flared; she sat up and wasted no time with pulling her shirt over her head.

I might have actually stopped breathing then, because Victoria Chase was sitting on my lap, wearing a lacy red bra that certainly defined her chest. She took both of my hands and placed them on her breasts. She worked to discard her skirt while I was busy fumbling with them.

We kissed, my own clothes just sort of vanished into thin air, hands roamed over bare heated skin, and then everything sort of went black after that.

When I came to, I was lying in bed with Victoria curled up against my side, her head on my shoulder and her fingers making patterns on my abdomen.

"Morning," she said, although it was still dark outside.

The ugly glare was coming from the hanging lights on the wall beside us.

"Morning," I croaked out. When I turned my head, Victoria greeted me with a chaste kiss before sitting up, and I flushed at the sight of her fully naked. "Did we...uh…"

"No," Victoria stated as she swung her legs off the bed. She stretched her long limbs, and my eyes ran appreciatively over the muscles contorting in her back. "When I slid my hand into your panties, you made a weird choking noise and fainted."

"What!" I exclaimed, springing upright, not even caring about my own modesty at the moment.

Victoria chuckled, turning her head to look at me. "Relax, hippy, it's not that big of a deal. I was actually kind of flattered." She leaned over and kissed my pouting lips. "Besides, there's still a month left in our deal, so we have a lot of time to continue practicing kissing, along with other things."

That made me perk up instantly. I was feeling a little frustrated and a little mischievous, so, with a wicked grin, I leaned forward and started to kiss Victoria's neck.

"Max!" She gasped in surprise, and then she groaned, tilting her head to give me more access.

"About that deal," I said, my words ghosting over her skin, causing her to shiver, "I was wondering if I could possibly coerce you into thinking about an extension?"

Victoria inhaled sharply. She fisted her fingers into my hair and tugged until I was looking at her again. She was smirking, her eyes smoky and dark with arousal. "Show me all that you've learned and maybe I will consider it."