First Kiss

I came across a writing prompt yesterday I thought would be fun to try: Write your first-kiss micro-story. 300 words or less.

Try as I might, I wasn't able to keep it to three hundred words. I'm too wordy. So sue me. But here's my not-so-micro-story about my first kiss:

Although it was my first party of my junior high life, I wouldn’t be in junior high for another month. The great thing about this party was that the host was one of my good friends, a friend I used to play basketball with in his driveway, and he was friends with a lot of catholic school kids who were going to be attending our public school at the end of the summer. And most of them were girls. Girls I didn’t know, but I just knew they were beautiful.

And oh, how right I was. The three that stood out were Linda, my friend’s steady girl friend, Sarah, and Jesse. Oh Jesse. Jesse was a short girl with short brown hair and a smile that went on for days. And I was smitten. Oh my god she was gorgeous. I had to meet her. I had to talk to her. I had to slow dance with her.

At some point, while “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was playing on the boom-box, I was pushed into her, and we just kind of stood there for a minute, her hand on my waist, my hands on her shoulder and butt.

It wasn’t on purpose!

I quickly slid my hand from her butt to the small of her back and said her name. Jesse. And she said my name back. Chaz. She knew my name. OH MY GOD SHE KNEW MY NAME. We spun slowly around a few times and then “Wild Thing” came on we stopped. I looked into her eyes and I knew this was my chance. I was going to kiss her. My first kiss.

But her friends grabbed her away and she was gone. Off to use the bathroom together and gossip and who knows what else. The rest of the night was a blur. Linda’s mom came to pick up the girls about an hour later. I missed my chance. I would never see her again. But then Sarah ran from the car and handed me a slip of paper. Under Jesse’s phone number were the words “Call Me!” My heart stopped.

Two weeks later my friend and I went over to see Jesse. As she leaned against her mom’s car, I leaned in and kissed her. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it! I probably used too much tongue. I probably put my hands in the wrongs spots. But it was perfect.

Jesse and I are still friends to this day. She’s married with three kids and I see her every couple years. But I will always remember that one kiss we shared. We weren’t very good as a couple, but we are great at being friends. It may be the only time in history that someone used the line “but we can still be friends” and actually meant it.