Example of an Almost Kiss Scene

They were arguing about directions. The map was wrong, the GPS was dead, and the side road had turned into a dirt path that ended at a gate neither of them could open. "I told you to turn left at the gas station," she said. "You said right." "I said left. I always say left. I am constitutionally incapable of saying right." He was laughing. She was trying not to. The sun was going down behind the hills and the car was making a sound it shouldn't be making and they were completely, hopelessly lost. "This is your fault," she said, but there was no anger left in it. "Everything is my fault. You've made that clear." She shoved his shoulder. He caught her hand. And then — the way these things happen — the laughter stopped. He was holding her wrist. Her pulse was visible in her throat. The evening air smelled like dry grass and engine heat and something blooming in the field beyond the gate. He stepped closer. She didn't step back. "Don't," she said. But her eyes dropped to his mouth. "Don't what?" "Don't kiss me on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. That's too much of a story." His thumb traced her wrist bone. "What if I almost kiss you? Is that less of a story?" "That's worse." He leaned in. Close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips. Close enough that every nerve in her body relocated to the half-inch between them. Then a car horn blared from the road behind them. They jumped apart like teenagers. The moment broke. But it didn't disappear. It just moved somewhere deeper — somewhere they'd both be carrying it for weeks.

Explore this theme

More Examples