First Kiss
It was a spring day full of moist pink air that felt heavy in the house. Even with his windows open and his shirt off, Danny was uncomfortably warm and it was late enough in the afternoon that he was losing his ability to concentrate on his online class. He rolled his head around on his neck, his curly brown hair scratched his shoulders. He jumped out of his chair to go to the kitchen for a drink and a walk outside. The noises he heard in the kitchen reminded him that Sarah was bringing friends home after school to work on a project. He’d grab a bottled water and be out of there in no time. Hopefully, no one would have to speak to each other.
Ducking into the room with his head down, he opened the fridge as he heard a voice say his name, “Dan, I haven’t seen you for years. Do you remember me?”
Even the sound of her voice caused his skin to suddenly go all goose-pimply. He hesitated looking up, but his head couldn’t stay stuck in the here all day. He peeked around the fridge door. When he saw her his memory flashed whirling colors. She was in constant graceful, dancing motion like a beautiful moon orbiting an unsuspecting planet. “Uh, of course I do.” Danny frantically wanted out. It has taken him long enough to get over his feelings for her, if he really had. He didn’t need to see her close up, hear her sweet voice, especially saying his name.
“You’re teasing me. You don’t even remember my name.” Her smile filled her face. She curled her fingers together and folded them into a fist that she put in front of her lips and let her chocolate eyes flirt with him.
His eyes never left hers. “Hey Sarah, I’m going out for a bit. Nice to see you again, Espri.” He lifted his chin at her and turned to leave.
“I’m impressed.” She wouldn’t let him go. The other two girls in the room had been watching with slacked jaws and bewildered looks. “I was sure you had completely forgotten me.”
“Sarah mentions you sometimes. I see you around.” With Caleb, he wanted to finish, but didn’t want her to know he still cared about her at all.
“Oh? Do you go to the school games?” She asked.
“It’s a small town, Espri. You’re hard to miss” He shrugged and turned to the door.
“Wait!” The compulsion to stand there stranded him on two beige squares of linoleum. Left foot, and then right wriggling in his sneakers. “Hey Sarah, do you mind if I had a little talk with Dan? I’ll only be a minute.” Turning to face her, he watched as she stood and twisted her body toward Sarah pinching her finger and thumb together spacing out a quarter inch between them.
“Don’t be too long, we need to get this done.” Sarah said with a sigh. A hint of a smile passed Danny’s lips. Even his sister knew you couldn’t say ‘no’ to Espri.
Danny walked outside with Espri at his heels. “Where are we going?” She asked.
“I’m going for a walk.”
“Sounds great.” He was walking faster than he would have alone. Espri had to take two steps to his every one. She was silent as they walked into the trees. Abruptly, he stopped and turned on her.
“So. Why are you here, Espri?”
“We’re doing a project…”
“No, I mean here. Outside with me.” Danny swept his arms wide.
“Oh that. I just haven’t seen you for so long. I thought maybe we could talk a little.” She looked at him straight, a hopeful smile across her beautiful face.
“Talk about what? We haven’t talked for over two years and now all of a sudden you want to talk?” What he really wanted was to grab her into his arms and kiss her. Every cell in his body was vibrating with a longing and urgency. It felt like eternity that he had been fighting that impulse. It was easier when she wasn’t standing right in front of him.
“Well, I can’t forget about that one time…” She stopped speaking.
“What one time?” Was it the time he couldn’t forget about either? Had she remembered it as vividly as he did? Did she rework the outcome more favorably as he did time and time again?
“The time you took me home after the game. When I was a freshman and you were a senior.” Her words could not ring more sweetly in his ears. She had been reliving that night, too.
“Then talk.” Danny said. What she had to say about that night he was desperate to hear.
“Truthfully?” She stepped closer to him. So close. Leaning forward, looking up at him until he could smell her hair, see the flecks of gold in her eyes, feel her breath on his cheeks as she whispered, “I’d really… rather… finish what we started.” She licked her lips. “I want to kiss you.”
Danny wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly. “Kiss?” She lifted her arms around his neck, got on tiptoe, and watching closely at his eyes and lips and said, “Yes.”
His mouth fell into hers, his hands were instantly tangled in her hair. His brain was exploding with signals sent pulsing throughout all his body. That constrained love he’d had for her found its outlet at last and it wasn’t wasting a single sensation. To his surprise, her passion was just as eager and ferocious. She leaped into his arms, wrapping her thin legs around his waist and he held her tight against his chest. She threw back her head and laughed while he kissed her pulsing neck. Then her lips were back, sweetly tasting his and he wasn’t sure if he was going to die with the sheer pleasure of the moment or burst out of his skin with all the power he felt surging through him. That she was feeling what he was feeling made this the most sensational experience he could have hoped for. Espri wanted to kiss him, too. Had she been wanting it since that night?
For their first kiss, Danny couldn’t have asked for anything greater. While he had wondered about her all this time, what she would be like to have his arm around, to be by his side, to kiss, that was now the known, so had she. She expressed her shame at her innocence back then, at her inability to handle the intensity of the tingling that began to rush through her when he tried to kiss her. His musings were so much more exciting now he knew what to expect from her. Later that night he thought of their future. For she had made it certain that afternoon they had one. What and when that would be he had no idea, but no longer did he have to yearn; now he only had to wait. And while he waited, he had a new memory to keep him company. One he happily embraced.