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I think I’m supposed to move it around. That’s what people do in movies. So I do. Swiping it from side to side. Too much spit seems to coat my lips and face, making his day old scruff drag across my chin. My nose smashes his. My teeth click against his. I stick my tongue in farther, because I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do.

Daniel makes a noise that is not a good noise. He jerks back, coughing, eyes watering, one hand coming up between us.

“O—Okay, okay—” Cough. “Quinn.”

I freeze. Spit on my chin. His too. My glasses are crooked.

I straighten my glasses, wincing. “I did it wrong,” I say.

He wheezes a laugh and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “You tried to eat my face.”

“I thought—” My face is on literal fire. “The tongue is part of it. I researched kissing once. Briefly. It said⁠—”

“It lied.” He’s still catching his breath, but he’s smiling. “I know you’re an overachiever, but maybe wait until the lesson actually starts. With kissing… it’s lips first. Tongue is a maybe. A small maybe. Not to be used as a weapon.”

“I hurt you?” I can feel the blood leave my face. Oh that’s bad. If I hurt him, I really do need this tutoring more than I thought.

“You just surprised my gag reflex.” He squeezes my hand, which I forgot I was still holding. “I’m fine. You’re fine. That was…a first kiss. Technically. We’ll make the next one better, for both of us, yeah?”

Technically? I want to sink into the floor.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey.” He leans forward and nudges my knee with his. “You went for it. That is brave as hell. We just need to turn the volume down a bit.”

I nod. He doesn’t lean back in. I wait for him to close the distance anyway, my eyes dropping to his lips.

“Not tonight,” he says, reading me like an open book. “Your brain’s going to dissect that until it understands it. If we go again right now, you’ll try to get an A on the makeup test.”

He’s not wrong.

“Then what do we do instead?” I ask.

Daniel sits back a little. He keeps my fingers in his, bringing his other hand back down. “Talk. That’s an important part of it. Foreplay isn’t just touching and tongues. It’s attention, too.”

I swallow, still tasting peppermint and embarrassment. “Okay.”

He sighs. “Okay, kissing,” he says. “Closed mouth first. Soft. You breathe through your nose. A soft glide of your lips against theirs. Maybe some smaller kisses peppered in. It’s not a war of tongues you’re trying to win. Once you do the soft kisses, you can gently use your tongue to see if they want to deepen the kiss. Then if they do, it’s like dancing. A brush of tongues together, a soft slide of lips. It should feel more like a sensual dance than a battle of wills.”

I nod. I’m already putting it in order.

“I can remember that,” I say.

“I know you can.” His mouth tips into a smile.”But knowing and doing it are different. So one step at a time. Sorta like the difference between the textbook and the lab.”

That I understand.

“So tonight was the version where I pipetted into the wrong tube.”

He laughs. “Pretty much. But hey, nobody died.”

“You could have.”

“But I didn’t, and next time will be better. Besides, you learned the most important lesson today. You stopped when you got a signal it wasn’t right. The pretty version will come later.”

Later. I want a date and a time. But I don’t ask for one.

“Okay.”