The Virgin’s Bucket List – Episode 14
For several suspended seconds, Lindsay could hear nothing but the uneven rhythm of her own breathing. Wayne stood before her wearing Jeremy’s borrowed glasses, close enough that she could see the question beneath his confidence. He was not treating her first kiss as a joke or a prize to be claimed. He was waiting for her to decide whether she wanted him.
The difference mattered. Alyssa had designed the dare to take away Lindsay’s choice, but Wayne had quietly returned it. Lindsay glanced around the circle of expectant faces, then looked back at him and gave the smallest nod. Whatever happened next would belong to her, not to Alyssa or the laughing crowd.
Wayne lifted one hand and touched her cheek with careful fingers. He moved slowly, leaving her time to change her mind, before lowering his mouth to hers. The first contact was soft and tentative, nothing like the exaggerated kisses Lindsay had imagined while watching other couples at school. It felt warmer, quieter, and far more dangerous because she wanted it to continue.
The room erupted in cheers, but the noise seemed distant. Lindsay forgot the dare and the deadline as Wayne deepened the kiss by the slightest degree. His thumb brushed her cheek, and the tenderness in that simple movement made her chest ache. She had expected her first kiss to make her feel inexperienced; instead, Wayne made her feel chosen.
When they finally separated, Jeremy’s glasses sat crooked on Wayne’s face. Lindsay laughed under her breath, too overwhelmed to form a clever response. Wayne smiled back at her, and for one fragile moment they shared something private in the middle of the crowded room.
Alyssa shattered it with a furious accusation. She insisted that switching glasses was cheating and demanded that Lindsay complete the original dare with Jeremy. No one supported her. Even Felix pointed out that she had specified the only boy wearing glasses, and Wayne had followed the rule exactly.
Jeremy reclaimed his glasses with a grateful smile. Lindsay apologized for allowing him to become part of the spectacle, but he told her she had been the only person in the room who defended him. His kindness eased some of her guilt, though Wayne’s watchful expression suggested he disliked seeing any boy make her smile.
The bottle game resumed, yet its energy had changed. Lindsay could still feel Wayne’s kiss, while Wayne sat close enough that their shoulders touched. Neither mentioned what it meant. Calling it part of the dare would be safe, but the way he kept looking at her made safety impossible.
Alyssa disappeared into the kitchen with two cheerleaders. Lindsay assumed she had retreated to recover from losing control of the game. In reality, Alyssa was scrolling through videos recorded at school, searching for the one piece of information that could turn Wayne’s tenderness into humiliation.
Felix offered Lindsay a drink and congratulated her on surviving her first kiss. Wayne took the cup before she could accept it, checked what was inside, and replaced it with soda. Lindsay teased him for behaving like an overprotective parent, but secretly she liked knowing that he was paying attention.
Wayne asked if the kiss had been all right. The vulnerability behind the question surprised her. Lindsay admitted that it had been better than all right, then immediately looked away as heat spread across her face. His quiet laugh sent another flutter through her stomach.
He began to tell her there was something she should know about them. Before he could continue, Alyssa returned holding her phone. Her smile had recovered, but it now carried the sharp certainty of someone about to draw blood.
She projected an old cafeteria video onto the television. The recording showed Lindsay arguing with her friends about the impossible bet: find a boyfriend with an eight-pack, kiss him publicly, or streak across campus. Wayne watched the screen as Lindsay’s voice declared that she would prove everyone wrong.
Then Alyssa played a second clip, recorded earlier that week. Lindsay could be heard telling Phoebe that Wayne’s attractive friends might be her best chance to find a boyfriend. Edited without context, the two videos made every conversation and every glance seem calculated.
“She didn’t come here for you,” Alyssa told Wayne. “She came shopping.” The room fell painfully quiet. Lindsay tried to explain that the bet had begun before she met him, but Wayne’s expression had already closed.
He asked whether that was why she accepted the party invitation. Lindsay could not honestly deny it. She said the plan had changed, that the kiss had not been part of any scheme, but the explanation sounded weak beneath the evidence playing behind her.
Wayne removed himself from her side. The small distance hurt more than if he had shouted. He had believed Lindsay wanted to know him, while she had arrived intending to use his friends as possible solutions to her problem.
Lindsay reached for him, but Wayne stepped back and asked the question she had been avoiding since the beginning. “If Alyssa had never made that bet, would you have looked at me at all?” Before Lindsay could answer, he walked out of the party, taking the warmth of her first kiss with him.