First Kiss

So, I have always had an interest in writing and thought I would try my hand at it, pulling from a long-ago childhood experience. Let me know what you think or if it's too boring, too cliche or if I should just stop now. :)



The light from a Rocky Mountain sky filtered into my bedroom that summer morning, coaxing me to open my eyes. It was only 6 am but my lithe 12 year old body hopped right out of bed, welcoming the day.

I stretched in front of my window, looking out onto an expanse of pavement in our little piece of suburbia. I could hear the faint sounds of the morning sprinklers as the neighbors prepared for the scorching Colorado heat.

I couldn’t wait to get outside; summer was my favorite time of year-barbeques, hanging out with my friends, eating juicy watermelon, days at the pool. My tanned skin and sun-lightened hair made me look like I belonged in the outdoors, which is where I always preferred to be-a self proclaimed tomboy. I hurriedly threw on some shorts, a tank top and my favorite Keds, pulling my long hair back into a messy ponytail. I raced down the stairs of our still-sleeping house to my bike in the garage. The cool air greeted me as the garage door opened and I sped down the driveway. I was halfway down the street when I saw him: Josh.

Those startling blue eyes, freckles and black tousled hair made my heart thud in my chest. He was waiting for me, a huge smile spread over his perfect face. I wondered what could make him look that happy and then remembered that this was the boy that had gotten down on one knee at the end of our street-in view of all the neighbors-and “proposed” to me (really it was just to ask me to be his girlfriend). The thought made me return his grin with one of my own as I rode up beside him. “Hi, Josh,” I blushed just saying his name. “Hi,” was all he said as he gazed into my eyes. There was something about the way he looked at me that made me feel special and of course, made my heart flutter. I was on the cusp of leaving the pre-teen world and entering into the unknown-being a teenager-and the thoughts and feelings that coursed through me both surprised and excited me.

The minutes passed as we rode along our quiet street, and in between as much conversation as two 12 year olds could muster I could hear the “slap-slap-slap” of the baseball card hitting the spoke of his BMX bike tire. Everything seemed to be magnified in his presence-the birds sang louder, the sun seemed to fill the moment with glaring brightness and heat and the sound of my blood and the wind as we rode came in whooshes in my ears.

He finally turned and asked me, “Did you want to come to my house for a little bit? We can just hang out on the front porch and play some cards if you want.” His cornflower eyes were pleadingly hopeful and I tried to will my face not to turn red at his question. “Uh…sure, that sounds great,” I said and the grin on his face got even wider. “Race you to the stop sign,” he challenged. I forgot about everything else except pushing my pedals as fast as they could go-I was always up for anything having to do with winning, which I did more often than not. As much as I liked him, I wasn’t going to let him beat me. It was a close one as we screamed through the finish line, both out of breath and both hysterically laughing. “I WON!” I screamed, and I’m sure my eyes were bright with the victory. “I let you win,” Josh said, trying to cover up his disappointment. It didn’t last long… as we climbed off our bikes I grabbed his hand, and we walked to his corner house.

The street was waking up as we settled in on the porch as the temperature climbed-both in the air around us and between us. We started our card game and I was just as ruthless at winning at that. Maybe I was just too sore of a loser and had to win to prevent him from seeing that childish side of me. As I won the second game in a row, I peered up at him from beneath my lashes, smugly seeing his frustration with losing…to a GIRL.

“Can I ask you something?” he said abruptly. “Of course,” I responded. “I’ve been meaning to ask you for awhile and well…I was wondering…if…I could…k..kiss you”? I froze into place at his question and in my complete innocence had no idea what to say or do. Inside I was freaking out-I’d never kissed a boy in my entire life and I almost wasn’t sure how I felt about it. But I definitely was curious and my heart was doing a strange dance in my chest as the question hung in the air, unanswered. “S-sure, you can kiss me.” There was suddenly a shyness about him as he leaned over the cards towards my face…the fact that I was still frozen in place wasn’t making anything easier for him. He scooted closer to me, scattering and bending some of the cards as he did so…but I didn’t care. This was my first kiss-I had better pay attention!

Slowly, ever so slowly, his lips touched mine. It was awkward, wet and we stayed locked into place not really moving for what we both thought was a reasonable amount of time…all the while my mind was whirling and everything around us disappeared. It was just he and I in this new little world, even the cold cement front porch step disappeared from under me; there was only him and this moment. When we parted, I didn’t quite have the courage to look into his eyes-my face was burning, but after feeling his hand on mine I hesitantly looked into his patient, innocent eyes…and into the fever of first love burning there, reflected in my own.