Learning from the Masters: Kissing Scenes
I wrote about this before, but I recently read the BEST kissing scene I had to add to my list…
To avoid spoilers, I won’t tell you the book it’s from until the bottom. I’ve also removed character names.
I go careening off onto the first exit I see. We roll past the gas station and the fast-food joints and bump across the median into a parking lot. EAST TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY, the sign says. I wrench the car into park and then I get out and walk around to her side.
When I open the door, she says, “What the hell is going on?”
“I can’t wait. I thought I could, but I can’t. Sorry.” I reach across her and unsnap her seat belt, then pull her out so we’re standing face to face in this flat, ugly parking lot next to a dark library, a Chick-fil-A right next door. I can hear the drive-through cashier on the speaker asking if they want to add fries and a drink.
I brush a loose strand of hair off her cheek. Then I hold her face in my hands, and kiss her. I kiss her harder than I mean to, so I ease off a little, but then she’s kissing me back. Her arms are around my neck, and I’m up against her, and she’s against the car, and then I pick her up, and her legs are around me, and I somehow get the back door open, and then I’m laying her down on the blanket that’s there, and I close the doors and yank off my sweater, and she pulls off her shirt, and I say, “You are driving me crazy. You have been driving me crazy for weeks.”
My mouth is on her neck, and she’s making these gasping sounds, and then she says, “Oh my God, where are we?” And she’s laughing, and I’m laughing, and she’s kissing my neck, and my entire body feels like it’s going to fucking explode, and her skin is smooth and warm, and I run my hand over the curve of her hip as she bites my ear, and then that hand is sliding into the hollow beneath her stomach and her jeans…
I love this, I love this, I love this. Why?
1. The urgency of it. He can’t wait. And if you read the book (which you should), you’ll know it took a decent amount of time for the characters to get to this point. Prolonged sexual tension is the BEST.
2. The setting. The parking lot of a Chick-fil-A. Can’t get any more romantic than that.
3. The long sentences “…and I’m up against her, and she’s against the car, and…” It really conveys the urgency of what’s going on. Love it, love it, love it.
Any other really great YA kissing scenes I’m missing? Let me know!
Scene from this amazing novel, if you’re curious.
This is a great post. It’s a tutorial we don’t see often enough. Many of us don’t write romances, but it doesn’t mean we’re exempt from relationships in our stories. I really appreciated it. Maybe you can write a series of these “for dummies.” Meaning how to use it in our own genres.
Thank you! This is actually from YA, not romance. I don’t actually read much romance–I may have been scarred for life when 12-year-old me picked up her grandma’s copy of something with Fabio on the cover and started reading words I did not understand at the time–but I generally love the romance parts of other novels, particularly YA. That’s a great idea though, thank you!
I guess you can see that I don’t read those genres either. People can have relationships in outer space, ancient Egypt, or a haunted mansion too.
I just finished All the Bright Places and this was one of my favourite parts – their relationship seemed so natural, which I feel is hard to find in YA books sometimes.
I know! I loved, loved, loved it! Not sure I’ll be able to handle the movie though…
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