Tesia flew high above the city with a happiness she could barely contain.
She spun through the sky, twirling around herself as the wind played with her hair and made her clothes flutter slightly. Every now and then, she closed her eyes, simply letting herself be carried by the air as if nothing else in the world existed.
One turn.
Another.
And one more.
Eventually, she began to descend.
The city disappeared behind her as Tesia flew between the buildings, the night and the illuminated streets. Finally, she landed with almost exaggerated elegance on the grass of a huge courtyard.
She didn't make a sound.
In front of her stood a stone glowing fountain, its gentle trickling blending with the soft movement of the water. Beyond it was the enormous mansion where she lived with her family.
Tesia smiled with her eyes closed.
"I'm home."
And before her feet had even finished touching the ground, she floated upward again.
She drifted through an open window and down the hallway of the house as if that were the most normal thing in the world.
Her father was sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper.
He barely looked up.
"How did it go?"
Tesia kept floating.
She had such a huge smile on her face that it looked as though someone had drawn it there with a crayon.
"Super great..."
Her father slowly lowered the newspaper.
"I see. That's good, sweetheart."
Tesia continued on her way.
A little farther down the hall, her mother was busy doing something in another room.
"How did it go, honey?"
Tesia barely peeked her head into the room, her ruby-pupiled eyes still closed.
"Super wonderful."
Her mother watched her for a few seconds.
Tesia continued floating backward toward the door to her bedroom.
"That's good, sweetheart! Go change and put on your pajamas, okay?"
Her mother slowly returned to what she had been doing.
"Something good definitely happened."
The door to Tesia's bedroom closed.
Tesia remained there for a few seconds, leaning against it.
Silence.
Then...
"Hehehe..."
She launched herself straight onto her bed.
She hugged her pillow and began rolling from side to side, burying her face in the blankets while her legs kicked happily behind her.
"A date with Jean..."
She rolled onto her stomach.
Then turned over again.
"He asked me to go on a date with him..."
She hugged the pillow even tighter.
"Hehehe..."
She rolled over again.
Her hair became completely messy around her face, but she couldn't have cared less.
"A date..."
Eventually, she stopped moving.
She sighed.
Her smile remained for a few more seconds.
Until...
Her eyes suddenly flew open.
"…"
Her expression changed completely.
"N-n-n-no way..."
Tesia slowly sat up.
"I-I-I got way too nervous around him..."
The scenes from a few hours ago began replaying in her mind.
Her fidgeting with her fingers.
Her avoiding his gaze.
Her face turning red.
Her...
Fainting.
"NOOOOOO!"
Tesia grabbed her pillow and covered her entire face with it.
"That's so embarrassing!"
She fell back onto the bed and started rolling around again, although this time it wasn't because she was happy.
This was pure, unfiltered embarrassment.
"He probably thinks I'm some kind of weirdo..."
She stopped and lifted her eyes, looking genuinely sad now.
"It took me so much effort to keep my cool around him..."
She remembered all those times she had tried to act calm around Jean.
The way she pretended to be confident.
The jokes and little provocations.
The way she tried to act as though nothing could ever make her nervous.
Even though inside her head, there had only been one endless thought:
I like you, I like you, I like you, I like you...
And her heart had been beating so fast it felt like a taiko drum.
"I almost blew it that time..."
She remembered the moment in Jean's apartment.
Their faces had been far too close.
The television playing quietly in the background.
The feeling that, for a few seconds, the entire world had stopped moving, and that maybe...
Maybe that would have been her first kiss.
Tesia covered her face.
"But this time I really blew it..."
Her voice became quieter and quieter.
"I don't want him to think I'm some kind of desperate weirdo..."
She stared at her pillow.
Then she smiled.
A much warmer smile this time.
"But..."
She hugged the pillow against her chest.
"AAAHHH! I like you so much, Jean!"
She fell onto her side.
"It's your fault!"
A small laugh escaped her lips.
"For being so kind and so sweet to me..."
She stayed like that for a few seconds.
Then slowly lifted her head.
"Now that it's official, I'll try not to be so obvious on our dates..."
She sat up.
"Yeah."
She stood on top of her bed.
"You can do this, Tesia!"
She raised her fists with determination.
"He's going to fall head over heels for you all on his own!"
"Honey?"
Tesia froze.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, Mom!"
She waited a few seconds.
"…"
Then she sat back down.
"Damn..."
She looked around her bedroom.
"Okay, okay..."
Then she remembered something.
She walked over to one of the pieces of furniture and pulled out that magazine.
Her greatest secret.
The same magazine that had become her advisor and confidant.
She quickly opened it.
She flipped through several pages until she found a section that caught her attention.
She read.
Her eyes slowly moved from left to right.
"Besides looking cool and playing hard to get, you should make him take the initiative and kiss you by being irresistible."
Tesia blinked.
She read it again.
"A-a-a-a kiss...?"
Her cheeks began turning red.
"I-I-I already gave him o-one..."
She looked away.
"But..."
She lowered her gaze back to the magazine.
She turned the page.
And found a sentence highlighted in bold.
"The kiss is ON THE LIPS."
"ON THE LIPS?!"
Tesia practically threw the magazine across the room.
Her face turned completely red.
"WHAT?! ON THE LIPS?!"
She pressed both hands against her cheeks.
"That's way too soon!"
She remained frozen.
"…"
Then she thought about it for a few seconds.
"Or is it?"
Her face somehow became even redder.
"No, no, no, no!"
She threw herself onto the bed again and covered her head with the pillow.
"That's so embarrassing!"
She stayed like that for a long moment.
Until, slowly, she peeked her face out.
She looked toward the door, making sure no one was there—not even by accident—before hiding again.
Then she poked only her lips out from underneath the pillow.
She gently pressed them together.
"…"
She tried to imagine it.
A kiss.
With Jean.
Her lips trembled slightly.
"Mmm..."
She tried again.
This time, she closed her eyes.
"…"
She opened one eye.
Then the other.
She stared into empty space.
"I probably look really stupid..."
And she disappeared underneath the pillow again.