My First Kiss

I think every little girl watches movies and imagines Prince Charming coming along and kissing her at the end, and then something magical happens: some sort of spell is broken.  So, even though I was 14-years-old and too old for fairy tales, I still expected some sort of magic when I got my first kiss.  I was wrong.

There were a few of us playing basketball one day after school.  The school year was almost over, and we were graduating from 8^th grade and moving on to high school.  There was the basketball court, and then a small playground next to it.  Since it was the end of Spring/beginning of Summer, we were all in shorts and t-shirts.  I sat down in the wood chips and Kevin sat down next to me and said, “Good game,” I replied, “Thanks, but my defense was kinda clumsy.”  That was my way of subtly apologizing for accidentally punching him in the stomach when I lunged forward to steal the ball from him.  He just laughed, and I knew he accepted my apology.

The other three were Josh, Grace, and Joey.  Josh was sitting at the top of the slide and Grace and Joey were nearby on the swings.  Someone suggested we play Truth or Dare.  Of course, everyone was too scared to pick a dare, so we went around telling truths, like who we had crushes on and things like that.  However, picking truth scared me more than anything they could make me to in a dare.  I mean, what would they possibly have me do?  Ring someone’s doorbell and run away?  I ran pretty fast, so I didn’t care.

Finally, Grace asked, “Emma, truth or dare?”
“Dare,” I replied.  All the boys gasped and Grace had a mischievous look on her face.
“Dare, huh?” she said, “Alright.  I dare you to make out with…Kevin.  For 10 seconds.”  Grace knew I had a crush on Kevin, even though I never actually told her.
“OK, fine,” I said, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal.  I never expected my first kiss to be on a dare.  But, I chose it and now I had to live with it.

Kevin smiled at me and moved closer and I whispered, “I’ve never made out with anyone before.”
“I know,” he whispered back, “but it’s just me, you don’t have to be nervous.”
“But what if I’m bad at it?  I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
“It’s like thumb wars, but with our tongues.  Just follow along with what I do.”

According to an 8^th grader, Kevin was experienced.  He had kissed a few girls at school, and there were rumors he touched some boobs, but I have no idea if that was ever true.  Even though we were really good friends and hung out all the time, I never thought to ask him because it wasn’t my business.

Kevin leaned in, I closed my eyes, and our lips touched.  Our mouths opened and he stuck his tongue in my mouth and I just followed whatever he did, like he said.  As soon as we started, everyone else began counting down from 10.  I didn’t think kissing was a big deal, but as I got the hang of it, it kept getting better.  At some point, everything around me became fuzzy.  The voices of the other kids counting was nonexistent, I had no sense of time, place, or anything.  I lost track of the countdown, and he must have too.

We kept kissing and finally I turned my focus back to our friends, they were all giggling and laughing.  I realized we must have gone longer than 10 seconds, and I abruptly ended the kiss by pulling away and starting to pick wood chips off my legs.  Joey said, “It looks like they’re in looooove!” and I still remember my cheeks getting hot and turning red, I was embarrassed and said, “Oh shut up, it was just a dare!” and Kevin smiled at me.  He must have known that had I picked truth, I would have been forced to say I had a crush on him. 

That was my first kiss, not super special, there were no "fireworks," but it was special enough to remember so vividly.  Sure, he wasn’t necessarily Prince Charming, I wasn’t under some spell that he broke, and years later we would encounter each other in a similar way…and it didn’t turn out well.  I haven’t talked to him in years, and even though we ended a friendship on not so good terms, I still remember him fondly and will never, ever forget my first kiss.