It seemed like a very long time ago that Ashleigh had worried Axel would lose interest in her the moment she stopped being the girl he couldn't have. That anxiety had been overtaken lately by more relevant fears - that she'd only imagined he had any interest in her at all, that taking a risk with him would leave her hurt - but it had never really been faced or dealt with. It would hang around in the back of Ashleigh's mind somewhere until Axel at least left this flat and faced the new women he couldn't have and still chose her. Still, the way he pulled her closer - even though she was the furthest thing from unobtainable now - definitely helped. There hadn't been much space between them to begin with, so the half step Ashleigh took to show willing when he pulled really pressed her body against his.
This was much more the kind of kiss Ashleigh was used to. Apart from in school, when she hadn't understood the point of kissing, she'd never kissed unless it was part of the journey towards sex. Axel's first gentle touches had felt nothing like that, and her reaction had surprised her, but now she should be back on familiar territory. Except, even though she took the initiative to deepen the kiss, to finally fit her palms against his waist, there was still a fluttering in her stomach that had never been there with the other men she'd kissed.
She didn't pull away this time. She focused on kissing him, slowly, part of her waiting to see if the feeling would vanish. It didn't, but Ashleigh somehow didn't mind. It wasn't a bad feeling - just a new one, and it wasn't hard at all to imagine why there might be new feelings to accompany this situation. When she couldn't stay on her toes any longer, Ashleigh slowly dropped back down, still awfully close. She could feel Axel's hand on her back, even through her t-shirt. "You're still not getting away with this when we're meant to be dancing," she told him, "but I suppose it's fairly appropriate for this."