The Confirmation Kiss.

"What are you doing here?" asked Tarik as he set her on the ground.

"What about you—" he clasped a hand over her mouth. One of the guards had rounded to the backyard. He pulled her gently away from the wall towards a shrub which they squatted and hid behind.

Things became awkward quickly once the light receded.

"What are you doing here?" Clea finished.

"Came to see you."

"There are guards!" She whispered strongly. "What if they caught you?"

"And you? Going into the forest and through the same way that got you lost."

They had a stare-down, then got up together.

"Okay," Clea said. "Agreed, we were both doing stupid things. Stupid cancels stupid."

"I wanted to see how you were feeling... after what happened."

"Oh, I'm great."

He shifted the hair covering her forehead and Clea tensed. "Weren't you bleeding there?"

"Oh, that. It wasn't... my blood. It was— an— a mosquito's that I must've killed, on my forehead."

"It was a bit much for a mosquito."

"Yeah," She chuckled nervously, "It mu