x o x o | VERY OPEN~

Now was Verona's reaction really that much of a surprise? This girl had just confessed that touching people like... poisoned them. Admittedly she hadn't been paying good enough attention to hear that the poison came from her spit, but either way she was deadly.
She pulled her arms across her chest and stared at Penny innocently despite Penny's judgmental look. Actually, even Jace looked slightly taken-aback by Verona's reaction. Unsure of why the two were looking at her like that, Verona frowned slightly and tilted her head as if to ask 'what?'.

She watched as once again the two turned to each other and started to talk, Verona standing there forgotten. This Valentine's day was seriously a drag, out of money, ignored at her own booth, and without more that two customers. The brunette couldn't help but wonder that if she just left if the two would even notice, like seriously the two were basically blinded by the immense amount of sexual tension in the air. Verona let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, smiling at people walking by in hopes that they would approach and yet they didn't. Verona let out another sigh.

"Oh I love guessing," Verona said, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "My guess is a blonde boy who's pretty desperate to get some action." She was all playful of course, but she was a little bitter about having to watch him flirt with Penny right in front him. Verona looked over at Penny, forcefully encouraging her to laugh along. "I'm only joking," The autumn girl added with a small laugh, hoping Jace wouldn't get all butt-hurt.

It didn't take too long for Richard to find his way out of the classrooms and into the courtyard only to stop suddenly when the bright pink kissing booth caught his eye. People just casually walked past it, and he didn't really pay too much attention to it until he saw who was standing there. The great queen, her king, and... a girl he didn't know. Well, that's interesting. By the looks of it, none of them seemed particularly happy standing there. His hand instinctively reaching into his pocket, he paused as he felt only one dollar sitting in his hand. Well then, that was a strange bit of luck. Shrugging at the thought of just simply messing with Vera, he began walking over to the booth just soon enough to hear her say something about joking. He had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but whatever. He was in a slightly impish mood today. "Oh, so you aren't actually kissing anyone, then?" he asked fairly courageously as he looked at Vera and gave her a rather awkward smile. Pointing to Penny, he continued. "Is she doing the work for you while you get the money? That'd be disappointing."

Penny laughed half-heartedly as her gaze moved away from both Jace and Vera's glances until she suddenly heard another voice. Thank the Lord there was someone here to take the attention off of her. It wasn't often that she felt relieved that someone else took the spotlight, but kidding around and freaking out over her ability wasn't exactly what she had in mind for attention. Then again, she was quite surprised to see how Jace had reacted. He barely did, which was very interesting. Normally people backed away like Vera did, but he just kept going so nonchalantly. In some ways, she really thought he was legitimately offering, but she quickly brushed it off. "Looks like you suddenly have some competition, Jace. If you're going to kiss her, you better do it quick. He might be like the last one."

Jace held back his laugh at Verona's comments and hid his smile, feigning a look of hurt at her jibing comments. The blond shook his head, placing a hand over his eyes for a slightly over-dramatic. "Sure you were," He near sang, straightening out again and looking down at her with a crooked smile. Well, he wouldn't exactly call it desperate, but he had just given her a full twenty dollar bill because - in the back of his mind - he knew he couldn't pass up something like this. He would've liked to be able to say that he was just helping out a friend, if you could consider them as much, but that would've been half-a-lie. Her looks, her smile, her body, hell, even her sharp personality that drove the silent competition between them - everything about Verona was enticing. As much as he refused to admit to anyone, especially himself, he'd be damned if he said he didn't want her.

And yet, the King still had to keep up his appearences. He still had his dignity, you know. Jason glanced at the new guy who joined in with his own jokes, but he didn't pay him much mind. Between him and Penny, it was clear they were waiting for something to happen. "So impatient," Jace laughed under his breath. Were their lips to be some kind of show for them? The young man clasped a happy hand on Richard's shoulder as he stepped around him and the table, figuring it'd be easier on both of them if they didn't have to both lean over a large wooden slab.

Jace smiled at the young woman, overly clad in pink, having little issue finding her waist with his hand and pulling her close to him. They'd been like that at the dance, hadn't they? The Autumn took his over hand and brushed the stray hairs gently out of her face, leaning in closer until they practically breathed the same air and their lips were dangerously close to touching. He stopped there, though, a mischevious smiling playing. "Does this mean I've finally won?" He whispered to her, light and teasing, full knowing that she knew what he meant.

Verona stared at Jace, a small scoff escaping her lips as he lamely attempted to look hurt by her joke. They both knew she was right and it amused her to know that she had the upper hand on the boy. One could come to the conclusion that Verona enjoyed their flirty banter, and it would be a waste of energy to try and deny it. Even she had to admit that she was very enticed by him, because lets face it, not many boys put up this much of a fight; to her it was refreshing to have someone who didn't give up so easily. Verona twirled a lock of hair around her finger, and wondered if Jace was even a good kisser anyways. I mean people talked about him being cute, but she had yet to hear anything about if he could kiss or not, guess she would have to be the judge about that.

The brunette had been so caught up in this sudden thought, that she hadn't even seen him approach, but as soon as she heard his voice she froze. You have got to be kidding me. Verona turned to face Richard, turning away from Jace for a second. "Dickie, what a pleasure to see you here." She couldn't hold back the sarcasm, but a mischevious grin crept upon her face. "Actually she's not, but I can't imagine you'd be very disappointed." I mean it wasn't like he was about to pay for a kiss... right? Oh geez, he was planning to kiss her, wasn't he? Verona's eyes grew slightly wider as it clicked with her that he probably wasn't just over here to give her a hard time. That was frightening, did he not remember how their kiss ended last time? Surely he didn't want to relive that moment.

Once again Verona found herself swimming in her thoughts, when suddenly Jace approached her. She couldn't help but feel her heart flutter lightly in her chest as he grew closer. She wasn't nervous, but was slightly uncomfortable knowing that not only Penny, but Richard was watching her in this moment. But, as he pulled her in close, Verona decided she couldn't have cared less if the two where there and instinctively wrapped her arms around him.
His words rang in her ears and brought goose bumps to her skin. But instead of admitting defeat, she let out a small laugh. "Don't be so silly Jace," Verona whispered, slowly closing the space between their lips. "I'm not giving up that easily." And with that, she kissed him.

Alright, things were starting to get a little weird. Penny didn't mind the whole kissing thing so much, it was just more of all of the tension in the air. Between her, Jace, and Verona, she could tell that Verona wasn't very fond of her, and after all of that flirting that Jace was doing, them two just suddenly all over each other was a little unsettling. Oh, whatever. They were the dance king and queen after all. But looking towards the new guy that just walked up, Penny couldn't help but stifle a laugh. The look on his face said everything. It was obvious that this guy and Vera had some kind of history. She didn't know what it was about, but by the look of pure jealousy that he was obviously trying but failing to hide, she could tell that they had a very... different relationship. Rolling her eyes, she finally decided it was time for her to leave. She had been standing around here long enough and with those two finally locking lips, she needed to go. "Alright, you two have fun. I have another class to get to," she said before she began to walk away. But instead of leaving right at that moment, she took a second to grab onto Richard's arm and drag him along with her.

Oh Richard; Oh Dickie, you lonely little sap. He was having his fun just picking at Vera and even going so far as to lay his one dollar down on the small makeshift counter before he suddenly saw Jace practically sweep Vera off of her feet. He was actually quite shocked at how fast they were so close and before he could open his mouth to say anything, they were already kissing. Yeah, he guessed that was the point of the whole booth. It was a kissing booth, but just the way that they had looked at each other... What did he mean when he said he "finally won?" What the hell was that about? And she had kissed him! Before he knew it, Richard had his hands rolled up into fists and he was gritting his teeth at the sight of the two so casually together. But instantly he was almost scared out of his skin when he was grabbed and dragged away from the table, leaving his dollar just sitting there. Of course he wasn't thinking about that, though. Instead, he glanced at Penny, a girl he had never even seen before, with a look of surprise and rage. "What the hell are you doing? Let go of me!"

Penny stopped for just a moment and narrowed her eyes at Richard before she continued to drag him along. "Shut up. I can tell you're just pissed off. They are the king and queen. Let them have their moment." Richard didn't say a whole lot after that, he just let himself be dragged away as he took a few glances back to look at the two with disgust. Whatever. He didn't need to deal with this right now anyway.

/exit Penny and Richard stage left

Don't take it too personally, Richard, this was just what happened when you stuck two professionals together.

It was just as good as Jason had expected it to be. He let his eyes fall gently closed as Verona brought her lips to his. It left him slightly overwhelmed, to say the least, feeling his breath catch. The young man felt ecstatic and light-headed at the same time, unable to focus, his heart beating fast - he could feel the rush everywhere in his body. Was this her gift's doing? Was she even trying? 'Get ahold of yourself, Man.' The thought echoed in his mind defiantly. Jason forced himself to break away from her for a few moments, needing to retrieve some air and get a level head. He allowed himself to look at her again.

She was absolutely beautiful, he thought, his hand trailing away from her cheek and through her sleek, chestnut hair. His golden gaze lingered on her own, a light, pale green with flecks of blue that couldn't help but remind him of the ocean. And here she was in his arms, he thought again happily. Jace pulled her close again, hungrily enjoying the sweet taste of her lips. In that moment, he swore he could've gotten addicted to it all. Luckily, for the both of them perhaps, Richard's shouting had snapped him out of it, throwing them out of their little moment.

He took a step back, turning to see Penny and the other guy walk away from the entire scene. Jason let out an uneasy smile, sighing. Glancing back at her, he noticed the lone dollar on the table out of the corner of his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sweet Pea, it looks like I scared off another customer of yours..." He mused quietly, though he hadn't quite pulled away from her just yet.

When Verona was a little girl, she would curl up in her bed after a long day of coloring and would beg for her mother to tell her a story. Of course there was the classics- the Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Rapunzel- you name it, but out of all of the stories her favorite had always been The Frog Prince. It was the classic story, a princess kisses a frog and the frog magically transforms into a handsome prince.

Verona had kissed many boys and it was like she was kissing frogs that didn't turn into handsome princes. And here he was, her Prince Charming- her King, right here in front of her. It was strange to finally be kissing him, after all they were constantly trying to out flirt the other one and here they were. She practically melted into him, moving her mitten covered hands to rest gently behind his neck. She had completely forgotten about their audience until Jace pulled away to compose himself.

At first, Verona felt nothing but complete ecstasy. She returned his gaze and trailed one of her hands down from his neck, so it rested tentatively on his chest. But as Jace pulled her in for another kiss, she made the mistake of sneaking a glance at Richard. She should have been pleased with herself, the jealous look in his eyes was completely priceless. But for some reason she felt uneasy. He seemed so angry and Verona was pretty sure she knew why. Verona decided that he was still mad at her for slapping him, I mean it made perfect since. But if that was the issue, why didn't he just go away? The unanswered question burned in her mind and in an attempt to clear her mind, the girl kissed Jace back in an equally fierce and hungry way. The kiss could have lasted forever and in a way, Verona almost wished it would've, but once again Jace pulled away.

"I see that Blondie." Verona said equally as quiet as she watched Richard being forcefully guided away from the booth. The girl shook her head, he truly was the most confusing person she had ever met. And the most frustrating thing of all was that even if he made her super pissed off, she still felt pity for him. Even now, he had ruined a perfectly good moment and part of her wanted to run after him. Verona narrowed her eyes at the lonely green piece of paper sitting on the table, mocking her, and shoved the little bastard into her pocket. "It's fine, I doubt he was a good kisser anyway." Verona said mostly to herself, her face distraught as she turned her attention back to her Kind in front of her. As much as she hated to admit it, kissing Richard wasn't nearly like kissing a slimy frog as she would have liked it to be. But right now, kissing Jace seemed so much better.

Jason laughed a bit quietly under his breath. Of course he couldn't have been the only one to notice. At this point, he could practically feel the heat of the other guy's glare burning into his back. The Autumn couldn't say that he wasn't used to it - and wasn't surprised for some reason, telling by the guy's uniform that he was from spring. (And dear Lord knew he had pissed off plenty of 'Springers' in his time, but there was still something entirely off about this situation, something he wasn't getting. He shot Verona a curious look as she shoved the small bill into her pocket. There had to be more to this than a stupid boy who didn't feel like waiting his turn. "Yeah, probably not." He smiled, leaning down and kissing her again, much more tamely this time around.

It still wasn't longer than a few moments until he decided to pull away again, the image of that Spring tearing at him. With a sigh, he gently pressed his lips against her cheek for a heartbeat, something simple and sweet to try and calm them both down. "I think maybe we should finish this later, my Queen." Jason mused aloud, glancing around and catching the eyes of another student or two. "I wouldn't want to scare away any more of your potential customers." With a smirk, he slowly let go of Verona and took a few steps back. Strangely, once he did, he felt disappointed in himself - but also strangely happy he could breathe easily once again.